I stood with Dean in Bobby's basement with folded arms, waiting for Castiel to talk to us about Sam.
The panic room door opened and Castiel came out, rolling down his sleeves. "His soul is in place."
"Is he ever gonna wake up?" Dean asked.
Castile shrugged. "I'm not a human doctor, Dean."
"Could you take a guess?" I asked.
"Okay. Probably not."
"Oh, well, don't sugarcoat it." Dean said.
"I'm sorry, Dean, but I warned you not to put that thing back inside him."
"What was I supposed to do? Let T-1000 walk around, hope he doesn't open fire?" Dean said.
"Let me tell you what his soul felt like when I touched it. Like it had been skinned alive, Dean. If you wanted to kill your brother, you should have done it outright." Castiel said, then vanished.
"That was helpful." I said, looking at Dean. "Should we go check what Bobby's doing?"
"Yeah. Let's go." Dean gestured me your the stairs first, and he followed closely behind; the two of us finding Bobby at his desk.
Bobby poured each if us drinks as we sat across from him. "Like my daddy always said, just 'cause it kills your liver don't mean it ain't medicine. Sam still asleep?"
"Yeah." Dean answered as he took a drink.
"He'll wake up. Somehow, he always bounces back after everything he's been through." Bobby said.
"He's never been through this." Dean said, spying the newspaper Bobby had out. "Job?"
"Might be." Bobby nodded, handing Dean the paper.
"Can I help? Send me to the library? Anything?" Dean asked.
"Couple goes up in a light plane. Wreckage was just found in the woods." Bobby explained.
"Couple of Buddy Hollys?" I got up from my chair and walked behind Dean, peering over his shoulder.
"Doesn't really seem like News of the Weird." Dean said.
"Pilot was found seventeen miles away, flambéed." Bobby said.
"Oo. Flambé. My specialty." I said with a sudden interest. "Anything else?"
"Girl's just gone. No body, no nothing." Bobby said.
"Okay, I'm not changing the channel." Dean said.
"Dean." Sam said suddenly, making us turn to where he stood in the doorway.
"Sam?" Dean stood up, walking over to Sam and hugging him.
Sam went over and hugged me, then Bobby.
"Good to see you." Bobby said.
"Wait. I saw you—I—I felt Lucifer snap your neck." Sam said.
Bobby shrugged. "Well, Cas kind of—"
"Cas is alive?" Sam looked at Dean.
"Yeah, Cas—Cas is fine. Sam, are you okay?" Dean asked.
"Actually, um...I'm starving." Sam said.
"Come on. I'll make you something." I led the three men into the kitchen and Bobby sat down at the table with Sam as Dean helped me make sandwiches.
"You glad to have Sam back?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"Good." I took two plates from the counter and set them in front of the two men at the table, grabbing four beers from the fridge and setting them in front of us as I sat next to Sam.
"How you feeling, Sam?" I asked.
"Better now." Sam answered as he swallowed a bite of sandwich.
"So, Sam...what's the last thing you remember?" Dean asked.
"The field. And then I fell." Sam answered.
"Okay. And then?" Dean asked.
"I woke up in the panic room." Sam answered.
"That's it? You really don't remember—" Bobby looked at him.
"Let's be glad. Who wants to remember all that hell?" I interrupted.
"Well, how long was I gone?" Sam asked.
"About a year and a half." Dean answered.
"What? I was downstairs f—I don't remember anything. So, how'd I get back? Was it Cas?"
"Not exactly." Dean shook his head.
"Dean, what did you do?"
"Me and Death—"
"Death?! The horseman?" Sam said.
Dean nodded. "I had leverage. It's done."
"You sure?"
"It's over. Slate's wiped."
"Well, isn't this just neat and clean?" Bobby said.
"Yes, it is—for once." Dean nodded.
"Is there anything else I should know?" Sam asked.
"No. Another beer?" Dean said after a moment of hesitation.
"I'm gonna head on out to the yard." Bobby said, standing up and leaving the three of us.
"You two talk over things, catch up. I'll be upstairs." I said, giving the brothers a glance before walking away, heading up the stairs and into a large room; sitting down in the middle of the green-carpeted floor and closing my eyes.
My memory dived back into the crackling flames of Hell, and the further I dove, the more pain I could feel as my wound over my heart ripped open and started leaking blood again.
"Princess Bianca." Asmodeus looked at me with surprise.
"Hello, Az."
"I take it you're here to ask me if the remaining rulers are still alive?" he asked, smiling. "Don't worry, little bird. We're not going to war anymore. From what I hear, it's only me, Crowley, and Dagon still alive."
"You're saving your own skins?"
"Of course. We don't want to risk death, now. And from what I hear, you need us to stay alive." Asmodeus said.
"I'm finding a way around that." I admitted.
"Yeah?" He placed a hand over my chest, and I went still. "Better make it fast. The longer you're here in my realm, the more you bleed in the real world. And I'm sorry to say, that if you die there, you don't get a second chance. You're dead as a doornail, buttercup."
My eyes snapped open and I looked down to see the entire front side of my shirt to see a dark red soaking it.
A light knock came on the door and Sam poked his head through, his eyes going wide when he saw me.
"Are you okay?!" he came in hurriedly, closing the door.
"I'm fine. This happens when I spend too long in Hell now." I got up and walked towards the dresser, opening it and seeing all men's shirts. "You guys couldn't spring for some women's clothes?"
"No. Sorry. Just wear something of Dean's or mine for the time being." Sam said, walking around the room.
I stuck my tongue out at him and pulled off my shirt, balking it up and whipping it at his face before finding one of Sam's grey flannels and buttoning it up, rolling the sleeves five times until the sleeves stopped at my forearms.
"You better take me shopping later today." I said, pointing a finger at him as he looked back at me.
"Okay. I will." Sam held up his hands. "I'm going to get some shut-eye."
"Good. I'm going to find Bobby." I said, and left the room; heading outside into the yard filled with broken-down cars, and finding Bobby and Dean talking by another old Impala, beers in hand.
"Hey, Bianca." Bobby waved me over.
Dean look a drink of his beer and looked at me, his eyes glued to the shirt on my body. "Why are you wearing Sam's shirt?"
"Mine had blood on it." I shrugged.
"Why did your have blood on it?!" he asked.
"Nothing that you need to worry about." I shut him down, looking at Bobby. "...what sup with all this?" I gestured around my face. "The whole poopface?"
Bobby sighed. "It's Sam. I'm glad he's better. I really am. But...that kid went straight-up Menendez on me not ten days ago. And now it's all just...erased? Sorry. I'm having a bit of a hard time even looking at him."
"It wasn't Sam." Dean said.
"Well, maybe it wasn't all Sam, but it was him, Dean." Bobby answered.
"Well, what do you want to do, Bobby? We tell him everything?"
"No. Just wish I could, that's all." he said.
"Yeah, but if we start throwing that crap at him, we don't know what's gonna happen. It could crack the wall." I pointed out.
"I know. I know."
"So, you know what? As far as I'm concerned, it's a gift horse, and I'm not looking for teeth. I'm sending Death a damn fruit basket." Dean said.
Bobby looked at Dean. "He's gonna find out, you know. One way or another, someone'll tell him, or he'll figure it out on his own. He's not dumb. He should it hear it from us."
"Can we just leave it alone for the moment, please?" Dean asked.
Bobby held up his hands. "Okay. But you guys better prep for the B side, 'cause when Sam realizes we're shining him, it ain't gonna be cute."
"Hey, guys, so, Sam's sleeping, so we can get on the case." I said.
"Good idea. Let him rest. We'll call him later." Dean said, and the two of us headed over to the Impala.
"Call me from where?" Sam appeared behind us.
"Oh. Uh, there's this thing in Oregon." Dean answered.
"Great. I'm in." Sam said with a smile.
Dean held out his hand to stop Sam from getting into the car. "Whoa, whoa. You just got vertical."
"Exactly. I'm up. I'm good."
"Well, a few more days of crap cable couldn't hurt." he said.
"Right. Because that's what you did when you got back from hell." Sam answered with a roll of his eyes.
"All right. You, me, Bobby, and Bellamy."
Bobby shook his head. "Oh, you three go on ahead. You got this covered. I, uh, forgot I promised that idjit Rufus I'd work the phones for him, so..."
"You sure?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You three enjoy catching up, okay?" he gave us a smile and left the yard.
"What was that?" Sam asked in confusion.
"One part age, three parts liquor." Dean answered, opening the back door for me and closing it before they got into the car, starting it up.
We drove long into the night, listening to Jethro Tull's "A New Day Yesterday" and Sam getting off the phone with local PD.
"Uh, you got it, officer. Thank you. You too." Sam took the phone away from his ear and hung up. "So, get this—besides the crash, there were two other disappearances in town this week."
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah, last weekend, a college girl vanished from her apartment. On the seventeenth floor. Then, three days ago, another girl didn't make it home from school." Sam looked back at me.
"They know each other?" Dean asked.
"No. No connection. Just young and female, like the plane-crash girl."
"What would disappear a girl out of the sky, anyway?" Dean asked.
"Good question." Sam said, waiting a moment before speaking again. "So you never even tried, huh?"
"Tried?" Dean said, confused.
"To go live a life...after. You do remember you promised that, right?" Sam said.
Dean nodded. "Yeah, I remember."
"So, why didn't you try?"
"What makes you think I didn't?" Dean looked at Sam.
"'Cause look at you. Look at this. You're exactly the same."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Dean said, then sighed. "I was with them for a year—Lisa and Ben."
"A year?" Sam echoed. "Then what?"
Dean shrugged. "Didn't work out." he reached to the volume on the radio and turned it up.
========
"You're, uh...Penny Dessertine's sister, right?" Dean said as we walked up to the latest victim's sister's house.
"Mm-hmm."
"Uh, we'd just like to ask you a few questions." I said.
Penny sighed. "Look, the cops already came by. I'm tired. So, if you don't mind—"
"I—I understand. Really, I do. I know how hard this must be. We'd just like to figure out what happened. This will be quick. I promise." Sam butted in.
"Okay. Fine. Come in." Penny opened the door and we walked into the house. "Penny was very shy. To herself. Not at all what you'd call adventurous."
"What, like flying through a lightning storm in a two-seater?" Dean asked.
"She was terrified of that thing. She just did it for Stan." Penny said.
"Stan?" I asked, "boyfriend, fiancée, or husband?"
"Uh—boyfriend," Penny said, "They were just starting to get serious. She didn't want to seem, you know...not interested. I just wish I'd told her to stay home. We don't even have a body to bury." Penny said.
"Okay. Um..thank you for your time. I think we got everything we need." Sam said, and the three of us walked out of the house.
We got into the Impala and drove down to the nearest motel that we were staying in for this case; I sat on the bed with a book of lore on my lap as I flipped through the pages.
"Hey. Guys." Sam said suddenly from the table.
"What do you got?" Dean asked.
"Uh...well, looks like those other two missing girls both baked cookies for the lord."
"What is that? Code?" Dean asked.
"No. Church choir, bake sales, promise-ring clubs—the works. They were good girls. But Penny wasn't even a Christian, so—"
"I have another theory. Penny's diary." Dean pulled out a diary.
"Did you steal that from her room while we were talking?" I asked.
"I love that you even asked me that." Dean said with a smile, opening the diary. "So girl-nappings. What if it's not about religion, what if it's about purity?"
"You mean you think they're all virgins?" I asked.
"Penny was twenty-two." Sam said.
"Yeah, with a pink room." Dean nodded. "And stuffed teddy bears.
"Fine. But you really think—"
"'I've decided I'm going to give Stan my most precious gift.'" Dean looked up from the diary.
"Wow. That sounded really creepy coming out of your mouth." Sam said.
He shrugged. "I think I delivered it."
"You know, you—you could have led with 'the diary'. You know? Anyways, let's say you're right. Fine. Who would want virgins?" Sam asked.
Dean shrugged again. "You got me. I prefer ladies with experience."
========
"Virgins, huh?" I said as we stood outside the hospital room as Sam interviewed the person who got attacked.
"Seems like. At least the three of us are safe from that." Dean joked, sitting down in a cushioned chair.
"Well..."
"Wait." Dean stood up quickly. "I thought you said you, and I quote "slept with many demons over the years."
"I did. Sort of." I answered, scratching at the back of my neck. "We did...do it, to an extend. Just—not enough to actually get it done."
"So....you're still a virgin?" he asked awkwardly.
"...yeah." I sat his expression of surprise. "I know. It's weird, right?"
"Just a little bit. But. We'll get through this. And you are staying by me or Sam until this is over." Dean said, and the two of us walked back into the room.
"It happened so fast." Melissa said as she laid in the hospital bed.
"It's all right, Melissa. What came at you? You can tell us." Sam said.
"It—it looked like a...a giant bat. You think I'm making it up, right? That's what the other man said." Melissa said.
"Well, I'm not the other man." Sam answered.
"It came right at me. It was huge. I swear. That's how I got this." Melissa leans forward and pulls her gown back, showing us large gashes on her back.
"So, it attacked. And then what happened?" Dean asked.
Melissa shrugged. "I don't know. I passed out, and when I woke up, it was gone."
"Is there anything else you can think of? Anything you can tell us, even if it doesn't seem important?" Sam asked her.
"Well, my ring got lost. Or else that thing stole it, if that makes any sense."
"What kind of ring?" I asked.
"Gold. Promise ring." she answered.
"Promise ring. So, uh...from, like, a church? Like like a purity ring?" Dean asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"I got to ask. Uh, Melissa...look, nobody is, uh, judging anybody here, okay? Believe me. But...should you really be wearing that ring?" Dean said.
"Well, I-I mean, I-I am—"
"Really?" Dean raised his eyebrows.
"Matt Barne didn't count!" she shrieked.
"Okay. Thank you, Melissa." Sam said with a smile, and ushered the two of us out of the hospital room and into the elevator, where we walked into the parking lot.
"So, what, you think Batman tried to rape her?" Sam asked.
"Well, he does carry a lot of rage. But he rejected her because she was already dehymenated, huh?" Dean answered.
"You think?" Sam asked.
"I think it just goes to show that being easy's pretty much all upside." Dean answered, and we got into the car.
"So, what kind of thing likes virgins and gold?" Sam asked.
"P. Diddy?" Dean suggested.
"You know, it's comforting." Sam said.
"What's that?" Dean asked.
"I died for a year, came back, and you're still not funny."
"Shut up. I'm hilarious."
We drove back to our motel and went to do our research on anything about the facts that we got.
"This can't be possible." Sam said from the computer.
"Try us." Dean said.
"Um, I googled "fire," "claws," "flying," "stealing virgins," and "gold," and it all takes me to the same place."
"Where?" I asked.
"World of Warcraft fansites." Sam answered.
"I don't know what that means." Dean said.
"Dragons." he turned the computer to us.
"Wait, what?" I looked at the screen. "Oh, my gosh! This has been my entire life! I've always wanted to meet a dragon! Under different circumstances, this would be awesome."
Sam smiled at my enthusiasm. "Either way. Not possible."
"Actually, it might be." Dean said.
"How? In what reality?" Sam asked.
"It's been a strange year. We should get a second opinion." Dean got out his phone. "Bobby? What do you know about dragons? Seriously...could you make a few calls? Humor me. You're a gentleman and a scholar...everything's fine. Sam and Bellamy say hey."
"You okay?" Sam asked.
"Yeah." Dean room the phone from his ear.
"Bobby say anything?"
"Nope." He shook his head, looking at Sam as he flipped through an old leather journal. "Dad never wrote anything about dragons. I promise. I'd remember if I read The Neverending Story in there."
"Hey, did we hunt a skinwalker lately?" Sam asked.
"Doesn't ring a bell. Why?" Dean asked.
"I don't know. Just...déjà vu or something. Are you sure? I could have sworn—"
"You got to remember, your eggs are still a little scrambled, right? But, yeah, I'm sure."
"All right. Yeah. Never mind."
"Hey. So. Dragon nerd, huh?" Dean leaned back on the bed on his elbows, looking at me as I sat cross-legged at the head of the bed.
"A fair amount, yes." I answered.
"How much is a fair amount?"
"Put it this way. If you need to know the different types of dragons and their habits, I'm your girl."
"Awesome."
"Uh.....guys." Sam said, getting our attention, and he looked at us oddly. "Nerd-flirt later."
"Dude. We're not—" Dean's phone rang, and he answered it, sitting up. "Hey, Bobby. What do you got?...Dr. Visyak, S.F.U. Got it. Thanks. All right. I'm going to San Francisco, figure out how to kill these things. You figure out where they are." he said, and hung up gain.
"W-wait. D-did Bobby say where they like to park?" Sam asked.
"No."
"Great. Back to the lore." Sam sighed.
"Which says what? That they live in Middle-Earth?"
"Most dragons actually live in caves up in high mountains so they have a better view to hunt their prey, or gather treasure." I said.
"You're such a nerd." Dean said with a smile at me.
========
I rang the doorbell to Dr. Visyak's giant house.
"Yes?" he answered.
"Dr. Visyak. My name is Dean Winchester." Dean said.
"Office hours are Monday and Friday." he said simply.
"Bobby Singer sent me. Hello? Hi." Dean said.
The door opened and Dr. Visyak came out, stepping aside and letting us in before closing the door. "Bobby Singer. Tell him something for me next time you see him."
"Hmm?"
"Actually, just kick him in the jewels. That's more poetic."
"No love lost between you two, huh?" I said as we were led into a large living room.
"No. Just the opposite. But that's his story to tell. He's the idiot. So, what's this about?" she asked.
"Well, uh...dragons." Dean answered.
"Really?"
"What, no twelve-sided-dice joke?" Dean asked.
"We can joke about them because they've disappeared. But they aren't funny. At all."
"Well, one just flew in stateside." I said.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Fits the lore to a tee." Dean nodded.
"But how? I mean, why? It's been seven hundred years."
Dean shrugged. "Banner crop of crazy all the way around these days, doc."
"So you want to know how to kill it."
"That's right."
"Well, you need a blade."
"Uh...okay. What kind of blade?" Dean asked.
"One forged with dragon's blood." she answered.
"So you need one to kill one, but you got to kill one to make one. How does that work out?" I asked.
"Well, there aren't many dragon swords around anymore. Five or six, tops, worldwide. I mean, there's the sword of St. George, and, of course, there's Excalibur. And there's—"
"You know a lot about this stuff, don't you?" Dean asked.
"Well, I sure as hell better. I have one in the basement." she said.
"You have one." Dean said.
"CAN I PET IT?!" I asked excitedly.
"Not unless you want to get taken. And I'm not letting that happen." Dean said, but he smiled happily at me excitement.
"Finding it took two decades, countless hours, and some really bad sex with an eastern European ambassador, but, yeah." Dr. Visyak walked over to a door and opened it, showing us a sword embedded in a boulder.
"That is not real. Is that real? Is it Excalibur?" Dean asked.
"No. This...is the Sword of Brunswick. Love of my life."
"So, uh, what's with the cement shoe?"
"You know, binding sword to stone used to be all the rage. To protect them." she answered him.
"All right, well, how do we get this puppy out?" Dean asked
"Well, come on. You know this one. We need a brave knight who's willing to step up and kill the beast." Dr. Visual said with a laugh.
"Right. All right, well, I'll, uh, give it a whirl. Do you mind?" Dean asked, talking over and going pull the sword out of the stone, but was unable to and falls.
"Ouch." I smiled, "you okay?"
"Fine," he stood up and gestured towards the stone. "You wanna try?"
"Yeah, no. There's no way I'm able to lift that outta that stone." I answered with a shake of my head.
"Well, I have another idea." Dean said.
"What's that?" the doctor asked.
"Well, you're not gonna like it." Dean said.
"What's that?" she asked.
"Bellamy, mind getting the explosive from the trunk?"
I shut up and went to grab the explodes from the trunk, appearing back in the room and hooking them up to the stone.
"You know what? I-I-I don't like this at all. You do realize that this is the single most valuable artifact you have ever touched." Dr. Visyak said.
"It's also the only weapon we got. Look, I know what I'm doing, okay? I actually learned it all from Bobby. Hey, whatever happened there, you know he's at least a genius at this. Do you want me to kill that dragon or not?" Dean asked her.
"Okay..."
"Time to go explod-y!" I said, grabbing the detonator and the three of us backed up as I hit the button, hearing a muffled explosion.
"Okay. Now..." Dean walked up to the sword and pulled it ouf, having it fall apart. "You've got insurance for this, right?"
========
"And what are we supposed to do with this, Dean? Give it a booster shot?" Sam asked as Dean and I gave the broken sword to him in the motel.
"It's what we got. All right? We're just gonna have to get a little closer. That's all. Where are we on the caves?" Dean replied.
Sam shook his head, handing the sword to me. "Nowhere. Sewers, on the other hand...here. Check this out."
We walked over to where Sam was pointing to a map. "So, two of the disappearances happened within a mile of here. So I think we start there and work our way around."
I wrinkled my nose at the thought of going in sewers. "Awesome. Who doesn't love sewers? Let's go."
Sam looked up at us as we went towards the door, opening his mouth to say something.
"What?" Dean asked.
"Nothing. Uh, yeah, let's go." Sam rolled up the map, and headed out the door as I followed.
"Woah, woah," Dean blocked the doorway, suddenly serious. "Where do you think you're going?"
"To see a dragon?" I answered in the form of a question.
"Uh, no. No, you're very much not." Dean shook his head. "In case you missed it, dragons kinda kill virgins. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you said you still were one."
"Um....yes. But I'm coming. Okay?" I said, stepping to the side.
He held out a hand to block me, his hand pressing against the doorframe as he looked at me. "You're not coming, okay? As much as I hate to admit it, you're growing on me."
"Thanks. Now move."
"Uh, no." he shook his head. "We need you safe."
"I've stayed alive this long! And in case if you hasn't noticed, I'm stubborn when it comes to dying. Thank my vampire mother for that." I slid under his arm and walked down the motel steps.
"Hey. What was that about? I saw it from here." Sam said as he leaned against the passenger's side door.
"Nothing you need to worry about, Sam." I said, and got into the back seat.
========
"Ugh! God. Just when I get used to a smell, I hit a new flavor. Dude, we have been here for hours. There is nothing. I think the lore is off. Hey, what if, uh...what if dragons like nice hotels?" Dean asked as we wandered through the sewers.
"What is that?" I pointed to the floor behind Dean, shining a flashlight on it as he looked back, looking at a pile of gold.
"Holy crap." Dean leaned down and picked up a gold watch from the pile. "Okay, maybe there are dragons here." he handed me the watch and began to grab more of the gold.
"Wait. Dean...not now. Check this out." Sam said, walking off towards an altar at the end of the hall with a leather-bound book on the altar.
"A little arts-and-crafty for a giant bat, right?" I shone the flashlight down at the pages as I looked at them.
"Hello? Is someone there? Hello?" A female voice said from somewhere in the sewers.
The three of us wandered deeper into the sewers and found a bunch of girls trapped under the grates of the sewers.
"Hey. We're gonna get you out." Sam said as he went to lift the grate.
"Quick. He's coming back." the girl said in a terrified voice.
A hand roughly yanked me into the air and the girl screamed as Dean drew the dragon sword.
"Where do you think you're gonna stick that?" the dragon asked menacingly, inhaling deeply and looking at me with a grin. "Another one. Such a shame we have to kill such a pretty face."
I smashed my knee into the dragon's nose and he howled in pain, dropping me to the ground; Dean grabbed me and pulled me behind him as he cut a deep slash into the dragon's arm.
"Aah! Where did you get that?" the dragon howled.
"Comic-Con." Dean answered, "you still wanna meet dragons?"
"No. These douches ruined it for me!" I answered.
The dragon roared and knocked the sword out of Dean's hand, and it fell between the grates. The dragon approached Dean, his hand glowing brightly, but I rushed away from Dean and chucked a stone at the dragon's head, having him snarl and turn to me.
"What the hell are you doing, Bianca?!" Dean shouted to me as he reached for the sword in the grates. "You're gonna get yourself killed!"
Dean is grabbed by another dragon, who holds him high up in the air, and Sam finally manages to kick away the dragon he was fighting, reaching down and grabbing the sword from between the grates. Stabbing the dragons holding me and Dean, and the one remaining one escaped.
========
I sat in a chair in Bobby's garage as Dean sat across from me, the pile of gold in front of him. "Quit giving me the silent treatment."
He just looked up at me, then looked back at the watches.
I looked at Sam for help, but he just walked out of the garage. "Come on. I'm sorry, okay?"
He continued to stay silent.
Now I was getting angry. "Dean!" I shouted, gaining his attention. "Why are you mad at me?"
He pressed his lips together in a thin line, standing up and walking over to stand in front of me. "Maybe because you almost died back there?! If Sam or I got hurt, I could live with that pain—it would go away eventually. But if you died, I would be pissed as hell and kill everyone in the room responsible!"
I stood up quickly, glaring up at him. "I don't care about me dying, okay? Living with you humans is so tiring sometimes!"
"Well, I do!" Dean argued, "I didn't exactly expect to care about what happens to you, Bianca, but I do!"
"Yeah? Despite me being a hellish freak of a demon, I care about you too!"
"Then why are we yelling?!"
"I don't know!" I shouted back.
"Dean." Sam appeared at the garage entrance.
"What, Sammy?!" Dean shouted at his brother, whipping his head towards him.
"Woah. Um...did I interrupt something?" Sam asked.
"Sam," Dean said, an angry look still on his face. "What. Is it?"
"I just wanted to say that I am so...so sorry. I can't even begin to say."
"For what?" Dean asked.
"You know what."
"Did Bobby..."
Sam shook his head. "Cas."
Dean chuckled dryly. "Cas. Friggin' child."
"You should have told me, Dean."
"You weren't supposed to know." Dean answered, all the anger gone from him now.
"What I did? To Bobby? To Bianca? To you? Of course I should know." Sam said.
Dean sighed. "Sam, Death didn't just shove your soul back in, okay? He put up the great wall of Sam between you and the things that you don't remember. And trust me when I say that the things you don't know could kill you. That's not a joke."
"All right. But I have to set things right. Or what I can, anyway."
"It wasn't you." Dean said.
"You know, I kind of feel like I got slipped the worst mickey of all time...and I woke up to find out that I had burnt the whole city down. And you can say it wasn't me, but...I'm the one with the zippo in my pocket, you know? So I'm not sure it's that cut and dry. And, look, I a-appreciate you trying to protect me. I really do. But I got to fix...what I got to fix. So I need to know what I did."
"But you don't know how dangerous that could be." Dean said.
"What would you do?" Sam asked, nodding when Dean stayed silent. "Right. Same thing."
"Sam..."
Bobby came out to the garage. "Guys, something I think you ought to see."
"Give me and Bella—" Dean looked back at me.
"No. We'll continue this later." I said, walking past the two brothers and heading into the house with Bobby, the Winchesters following as we all gathered around Bobby's desk, littered with journals and lore books.
"Now, as near as I can figure it, this dates back around the fourteenth century." Bobby said as he placed a hand on the journal.
"What language is it?" Dean asked as we looked at the scribbles.
"Da Vinci code. Real obscure Latinate. Gonna take me my golden years to translate it all. Oh, and, uh, FYI—that ain't paper." Bobby said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's human skin," Bobby said, pointing to a passage in the journal. "Okay. I'm fairly clear on this first bit. It basically describes this place. It's like the backside of your worst nightmares. It's all blood and bone and darkness. Filled with the bodies and souls of all things hungry, sharp, and nasty."
"Monsters?" Sam guessed.
Bobby nodded. "It's monsterland. According to this, it goes by many names, most of which I can't pronounce, but I'm thinking you know Purgatory."
Dean groaned. "Purgatory? Awesome. Well, that is good to know. So, you're saying that these, uh, dragon freaks were squatting in the sewers and reading tone poems about purgatory?"
"Oh, no, no, no. They're reading an instruction manual." Bobby answered.
"What?"
"Yeah. If you're nuts enough to want access to a place that gnarly, this book will show you how to open a door." Bobby said.
"Door to purgatory. Well, I know a demon who would have loved to have known about that. So, how do you open the door?" Dean asked.
He shrugged. "Ask Cloverfield. I'm pretty sure he's got that page. And it gets worse."
"Worse?" I echoed, stopping my pacing around the room.
"This ain't talking about how to take a vacation over there. This is all about opening a door to let something in." Bobby told us.
"Bring something here. What?" Sam asked.
"I'm working on it." Bobby said.
"Could you give us something?" Dean asked.
Bobby nodded. "I got a name. Mother."
"Mother? M-mother of what? Mother of dragons?" Sam asked.
"I wish. It says it a few times here. Mother of all." Bobby answered.
"What the hell does "mother of all" mean?" Dean asked.
"I don't know." Bobby answered.
I halted my pacing once again, groaning softly and rubbing my eyes. "Oh no..."
"What is it, kid?" Bobby asked, "you know who it is?"
I looked at the three men as they looked at me. "I got a hunch. I just really hope it's wrong. Because boy does she hate me."
"What? Who hates you?" Sam asked.
"Aside from the millions of demons in Hell and on Earth?" I sighed, crossing my arms loosely over my chest. "Eve."