Sam "so that was the last of the neighbors. Just like the rest. "
I looked at Dean who had zoomed out "Dean?"
no reaction.
I shook him "Dean"
Dean "yeah"
Me "you okay?"
Dean nodded "yeah. I'm fine"
Sam "just say, we got nothing. No one saw anything unusial going no at the house the day the baby disappeared"
Cass "if this is truly The Darkness we're talking about, it's more of a time bomb than a baby. "
Dean "yeah, but it is still a baby, right? I mean, The Darkness i saw was an adult. So it still has to, uh, to grow up"
Cass "the Darkness is almost infinite power. I'm not sure what "growing up" means in this case"
Sam "well, God kicked this thing's ass once before, right?"
Dean "yeah, it'd be nice if he put down the mai tai and show up for work. "
Cass "i wouldn't count on it"
Sam "it's possible he's around. Closer than we think, you know?"
Dean "what make you say that?"
Cass "I believe he made a fairly definitive statement when he walked away. "
He stood up and took a step but the chains stopped him. We had to chain him.
Dean "sorry about those, Cass. Till we know whats going with you, you're still a bit of a wild card. You know?"
Cass sat back down.
Sam "i hate to say this but you both know who we might need to help deal with the Darkness"
I groaned annoyed "hell naw"
Sam "he was God's scribe. He did hear about everything"
Cass started to growl.
Dean "you okay, pal?2
Cass "it's the curse"
Sam "we were hoping your angel wiring would fight it off or slow it don at least"
Cass "it appears i simply respond differently from humans"
Dean "if you were human, you'd be gone. With you, it's like it's digging deeper."
Sam "you know, Rowena's the only one who can remove it"
Dean "we're doing everything to find her, okay? but so far, we got nothing."
Sam "Well, it's getting worse"
Castiel groaned.
--
Dean was on the phone "come on, Crowley, pick up! i've left you a dozen messages. Why isn't he answering the phone?"
Sam "because he's a dick"
I leaned back in my seat "nothing new"
Dean "He's gotta have Rowena in his sighs. I mean, she did try to take him out"
Cass "He's not gonna deliver Rowena to us just so she can lift the spell. He'd rather let it do whatever it's gonna do to me"
Dean "He's gotta be up to something"
Me "nothing new"
Sam "Metatron is also off the grid."
He looked at Cass "He stole your car in Blaine, Missouri, right?"
Cass nodded "yeah"
Sam "yeah, uh, no accidents, incidents, violations or anything remotely interesting involving a crappy '78 Continental Mark V."
Cass "you think it's crappy?"
I smirked.
Sam froze.
Dean "Eye of the beholder"
Me "and if i said that the Impala was a piece of wasted metal?"
Dean pointed his phone at me "Then you're moving out"
I smiled amused.
Cass "He's a shut-in for centuries, former scribe of God. you wouldn't think he would be a good driver"
Sam "you know what? I'll look for unusual occurrences at places he might hang out"
Cass didn't react.
Sam "Cass. "
Cass looked at Dean.
Dean "Places Metatron might hang out?"
Cass "uhm...He loves waffles. You could try places that have those"
Dean "okay, so every restaurant in the entire country"
Cass started to have some sort of attack. He fell to the ground.
Dean "Cass?"
We rushed over to him.
i turned him on his back "hey, Cass, you okay?"
Cass breathed out "relative to what?"
Dean "do you know where you are? what's the date?"
Cass "Earth. Several billion years from the beginning"
The boys helped him sit up.
Dean "Come on, buddy"
Cass "it's like i was inside a blender that was set to purèe for a tomato salsa. "
Dean asked amused "and you're the tomato?"
Cass "in this analogy, yes. "
Me "okay, Cass? what the hell was that? "
Cass "i blacked out for a lot of it, but i don't...i don't know, it overwhelmed me. i.-I couldn't control it"
Dean "let's get him up. Come on. Come on"
They helped him on the chair.
Dean "we gotta find that witch"
Sam nodded "yeah"
Cass "what can i do to help?"
Sam shook his head "no, no. you just, uh, sit there, take a breather"
Cass nodded "okay. I'll do my best"
Then he groaned in pain "it's difficult with these voices. "
Dean froze.
Sam's jaw dropped "now there are voices?"
Dean took a step back "are these voices telling you to hurt someone?"
Cass shook his head "no, guys, i'm hearing Angel Radio"
Dean shrugged, nodding.
Cass "It's a lo of chatter. They're - they've been looking for me since i escaped, as well as scouring the earth for the perp. "
Sam, Dean and i looked at each other.
Cass "It's slang for "perpetrator."."
I nodded.
Sam "yeah, thank you. um, any, any perp in particular?"
Cass "Metatron. They're doubling the effort to find him, so if we need to get hold of him, we'd better do it soon"
Dean "Yeah, before the God Squad does. All right, well, first things first"
Sam looked at his computer "Listen to this, may be something here. Uh, in Denver, three women were at this Cafè Elta, when their waiter, for no apparent reason, stabbed and killed one. One survived, and the third vanished after furniture seemed to slide around by itself. What do you think?"
I looked at Dean.
Dean was on the phone talking to someone "uh ,who's your lead on the Cafè Elta investigation?"
--
I sat down next to Cass at the table. Sam and Dean had left to go and catch Rowena.
Cass looked at me.
I asked him confused "something wrong?"
Cass "you're just like me"
I looked even more confused.
Cass "you're immortal. You'll live forever "
I nodded "i know what "immortal" means, Cass. but what do you want to tell me what that?"
Cass "Dean's not like us. He's not immortal. "
I nodded, sighing "i know"
Cass "He'll die when he's old and you'll live still looking like this. You'll have to watch him die"
i nodded "i know, Cass, i know that. You don't have to remind me of it, okay?"
Cass "Elena, you have to talk to him-"
I snapped softly "Cass, please, shut up! stop talking about it, please"
Suddenly he zoomed out again.
I asked worried "Cass?"
He looked at me, confused "what?"
I sighed and leaned back in my chair.
In the dungeon.
I walked over to Rowena who was chained to the chair and trapped in the devil's trap.
Me "Where's the Book of the Damned? The Codex is in there, but the Book is not. so where is it?"
Rowena "do you take me for a fool? Like i'd run around with those two spectacularly powerful items any where in proximity!"
Me "At least we got the Codex and Charlie's code-breaking. so what do you want with the book?"
Rowena "or so you hope. That's what i admire in you, Elena. The plucky optimism"
I scoffed, amused "I'm not Sam, Rowena, okay?"
Dean "Sam, why don't you go grab Cass so Florence Nightingale here can do her stuff?"
Rowena smiled.
Sam walked out.
Dean sat down on the chair and put his feet on the table.
Rowena looked at him "you do recall our deal? First i de-spell the angel. Then i go free. "
Dean "Except for one thing. "
Rowena "there were no exceptions in our arrangement"
Dean "the Book. Gonna need that baby back"
Rowena shook her head "The Book was never mentioned in our negotiations"
Dean "Well, now it is"
Rowena "our deal -"
Dean "our deal says whatever i want it to say. You're gonna play by my rules because i have your son on speed dial. "
Rowena "Call him. If i'm dead, you've got a big fat pile of nothing. No book. Ever. and your friend with the bent halo? He goes foaming-at-the-mouth mad and dies. Your turn"
she eyed him "your eyes. so burdened. What happened, precisely, when i removed the Mark? the book wasn't specific. Yes, i read quite a bit of it. What the hell has Dean Winchester unleashed upon the world?"
Sam rushed in "Dean! Lena!"
Dean "yes"
Sam "hey !i can't find Cass!"
We looked at him.
Dean "what?"
Sam "He's no there. He-He broke free. He's gone"
Dean turned to Rowena who smirked.
Night. In the car.
Dean was driving while i was driving shotgun. Rowena was in the backseat handcuffed.
Rowena "so absurd driving in circles"
Dean "We're not driving in circles, all right? We're locked onto his phone's GPS. We're tracking his location"
Rowena "i have no idea what you just said, but i'm sure i could do it faster"
Me "yeah, maybe you could, but you would have to do a spell, which means we would have to take the cuffs off. Which is something that will not happen"
Rowena "there's not trust? Are we not a team?"
Dean and i said "no"
Rowena sighed.
--
Rowena "you wouldn't think a road trip with such a strapping lad and a princess of hell could be this tedious. Shall we have a wee sing-song?"
I shook my head annoyed "please, no"
Rowena "i've myself to blame. I should never make deals with Winchesters, since they seem unable to hold up their end of the bargain"
Dean "Meaning what?"
Rowena "oh just that thing with Elena-"
I shook my head "i am not a Winchester"
Rowena scoffed amused "oh please you are one of them"
I rolled my eyes.
Rowena "Well, like i said. That thing between Elena, Crowley and myself"
Dean looked at me for a second "What? what's she talking about?"
I sighed and leaned back in my seat. Damn it.
Rowena "oh, surely, you knew Elena made a deal with me to kill my son if i removed the Mark of Cain from your arm"
She chuckled "Well? Is the Mark gone? Yes. Is Crowley Dead? No"
Dean was shooting me glares while also concentrating on the road.
Rowena chuckled fake shocked "you didn't know? He didn't know?"
I sighed and looked at Dean "Dean, i was going to tell you, obviously, but nothing happened so, i, i figured there was no point, you know?"
Dean "no point, huh?"
i sighed.
Rowena "I mean, i see what Dean's saying. your wee pal Castiel wouldn't be in this pickle if you'd done what you promised. I would have had no reason to cast the Attack Dog spell if Crowley were already dead. Excellent point. "
Dean "it's not my point. Elena knows my point. Keyword, "secrets."."
I clenched my jaw.
Rowena "i'm just glad i got the conversation flowing. Couple relations are a specialty of mine. "
I looked at the GPS map "wow"
Dean "did he stop?"
I nodded "yeah. And he's close"
--
We got out of the car.
Dean grabbed Rowena "All right, he's gotta be around here somewhere, so i'll head up the street. you guys head the other way. "
Rowena "are you joking? i'm in heels"
Me "so am i"
Dean rolled his eyes "women"
In the warehouse.
I saw Cass beating the crap out of Dean. I took the cuffs off of Rowena and aimed a gun at her head.
She started to chant something.
Cass let go of Dean and looked at us.
I looked at Rowena "do i need to remind you these are witch-killing bullets?"
Rowena "Calm down"
Then she started to chant again.
Cass fell to his knees, shaking like mad before he blacked out.
Dean "Cass, Cass?"
Cass groaned.
Dean sat him up "Cass"
Suddenly Rowena made my gun fly away and i got thrown against the metal railing.
I groaned.
Then i looked up and she was gone.
At the bunker. Next day. morning.
I sat down across from Dean.
His face started to bruise a little.
Dean sighed and held the cool pack against his wound "you should've told me"
Me "about what?"
Dean "The deal"
I sighed "Dean, come on. What use was in there to tell you about it? i didn't kill Crowley, okay?"
Dean "my point is that you didn't tell me. you should've told me about the deal so that moments like the one earlier in the car don't happen"
Me "Dean, i am sorry"
Dean nodded before standing up "I'm gonna get a shower"
Then he walked out of the room.
I looked after him and sighed.