Family Matters

Dean pulled the door open the rest of the way and we stepped inside.

"How can I help you?" the Alpha asked.

"We got some questions for you, Skippy." Dean moved closer to the cage. "Since you're going nowhere fast."

The Alpha laughed. "Don't be so sure."

"Yeah? Locked down pretty tight." Dean gestured to the cage and chains. "And with all that dead blood rushing through your veins, not sure you got enough juice to fire up that psychic Bat-signal of yours."

"True. Not near enough juice for that, Dean." 

"I didn't realize we were on a first-name basis."

"Of course we are. After all, you were my child for a time. Dean, tell me, did you enjoy it?"

Dean stepped up to the cage. "I'm asking the questions here, Fright Night." He flipped on the machine, sending electrical currents right through the vampire.

"When your kind first huddled around the fire," the Alpha said once it faded, "I was the thing in the dark. Now you think you can hurt me? I have all night. You do not. Anyway, I'm happy to tell you whatever you want to know."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Why?" The Alpha repeated. "Because soon I'll be ankle-deep in your blood, sucking the marrow from your bones." He looked at Dean and I. "That is after you watch me do just that to your children. An eye for an eye. You killed mine."

"So you're really it." Sam said. "The first of your species."

"The very first." The Alpha confirmed.

"But if you're the first, who made you?" 

"Well, we all have our mothers. Even me." 

"And that means what exactly?" I asked.

The Alpha laughed. 

"What's with the big surge of vamps lately?" Dean asked. 

"We're going to war."

"Why? What's going on? Why did Samuel bring you here?" Sam questioned. 

"You smell cold." The Alpha said. "You have no soul. What an oddity. Do you feel how empty you are? What is it like to have no soul?"

"Answer my question."

"You first."

"You're in the cage."

"The thing about souls, if you've got one, of course, is they're predictable. You die, you go up or down. Where do my kind go?" The Alpha asked.

"Alright, enough with the sermon."

"I'm trying to answer the question. Now, when we freaks die, where do we go? Not heaven, no hell, so?"

"You didn't answer the question." I pointed out. 

"Legoland?" Dean suggested. 

"Little rusty on our Dante?" The Alpha asked. 

"Purgatory." Sam realized.

"Purgatory? Purgatory's real?" Dean asked. 

"Oh, stupid cattle." The Alpha said, laughing a little. "Of course. And it is filled with the soul of every hungry thing like me that ever walked this earth. Now where is it? That is the mystery. And that is what your kind-hearted granddaddy is trying to beat out of me."

"Samuel brought you here to find out where purgatory is?" Sam asked.

"But why?" I asked. 

"I keep telling him 'how would I know such a thing?' But he refuses to untie me." The Alpha stated. 

"You know exactly where it is." Sam said. "Why does Samuel care about any of this?"

"He doesn't care. He does as he is told."

"Well, if the old man's Kermit, whose hand's up his ass?" Dean asked.

"That's a wonderful visual, honey, thank you." I said.

The sound of a gun cocking made us turn around. Samuel, Christian and another hunter friend of theirs stood in the doorway.

"Evening, guys." Samuel said.

____

We all stood in the hall as Christian tossed the last weapon he took from Dean onto the floor. 

"You know, I have seen some stupid in my time, but you take the crown." Dean told them.

Christian moved toward me.

"Putting Jaws in a fishbowl? How you think that's gonna end?" Dean continued as Christian patted me down for weapons. "Hey, hands off."

"Let me save you the time." I rolled my eyes, dropping my machete down. I pulled my gun from the waistband of my jeans, the knife from my bra and the one from my boot. I dropped them to the floor with the other weapons.

"I don't know what kind of game you think you're--" Dean said.

"What, do you think I'm doing this for kicks?" Samuel cut him off. 

"I think you got the rest of these feebs convinced your John Wayne. So whatever you're doing, whatever you're hiding...it's gonna put you and everyone around you in the ground."

Samuel raised his gun. Dean shot forward, grabbing it and tossing it down the hall. He shoved Samuel back. Sam dove at Christian. I ducked under his arm to grab my gun.

"Dean." I tossed him his weapon.

He caught it.

A gun cocked, stopping us all.

"Hi." Gwen said from down the hall.

"Bitch." I muttered. 

"Gwen." Dean said, setting his gun down before straightening up. "And I thought we had something special."

Then a scream echoed throughout the building.

"Grab your stuff." Samuel told us before taking off down the hall.

I grabbed my weapons from the floor as we followed. 

When we reached the room, the Alpha wasn't in the cage. There was a dead body on the floor and the large tank of dead man's blood was shattered, the liquid now covering the floor.

____

"How much dead man's blood we got left?" Samuel asked.

Dean moved to my side after inspecting the cage.

Christian held up to syringe-fulls of blood. 

"How long till the Alpha's 100 percent?" Dean asked.

"Hour, maybe less." Samuel stated. "We need to get him dosed up and back in the cage."

"No." Dean said. 

"What do you mean no?"

"I don't know what your plan was but playing catch is not on the table. We take the thing's head off or it kills us all. You know that. Okay. We split up, clear every room." Dean demanded. "You get a shot, you take it. It's not gonna kill him but dude will move a lot slower without kneecaps. And if we make it through this, you, men, and Sam are having one hell of a family meeting." He pointed to Samuel. "Come on, Si, you're with me."

"Is it the wrong time to remind you how much I love it when you take charge?" I asked, following him out into the hall.

_____

Dean and I walked back into the room where we decided to meet back up to find three possessed hunters holding the Alpha down--Christian being one of them. 

Samuel was lying on the floor as Sam stumbled to his feet. 

The demons and the Alpha disappeared.

The sound of clapping made us turn to look at the catwalk above us. Crowley stood there. "Well, that was dramatic."

"Crowley?" Sam asked.

"Hello, boys and girl. What an unexpected treat." Crowley walked down the stairs. "How are the goblins? Hedgehog, how are you? Still jonesing for a hit of monster blood?"

"Bring Christian back now." Samuel demanded.

"I'm sorry?" Crowley asked. 

"My nephew. The one you just crammed a demon into!"

"Oh, no, I had him possessed ages ago." Crowley waved it off. "But I do have a surprise for the lovely couple. You remember Thomas, don't you? Yes, well, he was supposed to be here."

Dean went tense beside me, moving to stand in front of me. "I killed him."

"Not very well." Crowley replied. "Samuel, really. I keep an eye on my investments." 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You know each other?" Dean asked. 

"Not in the biblical sense. More of a business relationship, I'd say." Crowley answered. 

"You're Crowley's bitch." Sam stated. 

"That makes me happier than it should." I mumbled. 

"It's not what you think." Samuel tried to defend himself.

"It's precisely what you think." Crowley corrected. "That Alpha he's caught me is getting him a gold star."

"Since when do you give a crap about vampires?" Dean asked. 

"Since, uh...What's today? Friday?" Crowley moved toward us. "Since, let's see, mind your business."

"You may as well share with the class, Crowley." Sam stated as said demon moved toward the door. "We know you're looking for Purgatory."

"So you heard about that?" Crowley asked, turning to face us again.

"Yeah. You wanna tell us why?"

"Isn't is obvious? Location, location, location. I'm a developer. Purgatory is vast, underutilized and hell-adjacent, and I want it." Crowley told us.

"What for?" Dean asked.

"Best shut your gob. Employees don't question management."

"We ain't your employees."

"Of course you are. Have been for some time now, thanks to gramps. I don't keep Captain Chromedome around for his wit, do I? Samuel knows things. More than any of you, actually. Walking encyclopedia of the creepy and the crawly. And I knew you two are so hung up on the family loyalty nonsense...he said jump, you'd get froggy." Crowley shrugged. 

"Yeah, well, game's over." Dean told him.

"Yeah, well, 'fraid not. Not if you want to ever see Sam's soul again. Or get Saige to quit her extracurricular activities."

"You're bluffing." Sam stated.

"Tell them, Samuel."

We looked at the older man.

"He pulled us all back, me, Sam, Saige, her old man." Samuel admitted.

"What? You knew?" Sam asked.

"No. It takes big-time mojo to pull that off." Dean pointed out. "You're nothing but a punk ass crossroads demon."

"Was a punk ass crossroads demon." Crowley corrected. "Now? King of Hell. Believe me, I've got the mojo. I snap my fingers, Sam gets his soul back. Or you can be you and I shove Sam and Saige right back in the hole. Can't imagine what it's like in there. And I can imagine so many things. So we clear? Me Charlie, you angels. Job's simple enough. Bring me creatures. Aim high on the food chain, please. Everybody wins. It's been a pleasure. See you soon." And with that, the demon disappeared.

"It's time to go. Get the van." Samuel told Gwen.

"You're letting a demon call the shots?" She asked.

"Nothing's changed. We hunt. Period." Samuel snapped. "Don't worry about him, I'll take care of it. You trust me or not? Get the van, Gwen."

She stormed off.

"Working with a demon, huh?" Sam asked.

"Sounds pretty stupid to me." I added. 

"You're not who I thought you were." Sam continued.

"You don't know anything about me, son." Samuel snapped. 

"So what's so important that you're the king of hell's cabana boy, huh?" Dean asked. "What'd he offer you? Girls? Money? Hair?"

"Dean Winchester." I jabbed my elbow into his ribs.

"What?"

"I got my reasons." Samuel said. He headed for the door, which Dean was blocking. "You gonna make a move? Go ahead."

"Or what?" Dean asked. 

"Or nothing. I'm not gonna do anything to you, Dean. You boys...you're my family. So the way I see it, you got two choices: put a bullet in your grandfather or step aside."

Sam pulled a gun.

Dean stepped between then, lowering Sam's gun.

"He sold us out." Sam stated.

"I know. Let it go." Dean told him.

"Why?"

"Get out of here." Dean demanded.

Samuel did.

"First of all, you've been around Saige to long. I think Millie is right. You're whipped." Sam stated. 

"That wasn't her exact words, was it?" I asked.

"No. She said you told her not to repeat it in front of you."

"I did."

"Anyway, what now?" Sam asked. 

"We can't work for Crowley, for starters." Dean stated. "Second of all, I am not whipped."

"You sure about that? The Crowley thing." Sam clarified.

"I don't think you understand." Dean said. "Demons bone you every time."

"Oh, no, I get it. I do. Believe me." Sam replied. "Just running the math. Do we really have another choice?"

"We can stab him in his throat."

"I like that idea." I said. 

"And get my soul back how?" Sam asked. "Just saying. Seems like we gotta play ball. At least for the moment."

"I have done some stupid things in my time, but punching a demon's clock?" Dean asked, beginning to pace.

"True. You have done very stupid things." I agreed. 

"Look. Just until we find another way." Sam said.

"And then?" Dean asked. 

"And then we track Crowley down, give that son of a bitch what's coming to him. You with me, Dean?"

____

"I have an idea." I took the glass of whiskey from Dean's hand before straddling his lap as he sat on the couch. 

"You're not allowed to think after we go to bed, it's when you get all your ideas." Dean joked. "Then you manipulate me into agreeing."

"I do not." I smiled, leaning in to give him a quick kiss. "You love my ideas." 

"Uh-huh, sure." Dean slid his hands up my thighs to my hips. He flipped me around onto my back before settling between my legs with his head on my chest and arms around me. "You can tell me after a nap." 

I brushed my fingers through his hair, making him let out a hum of approval.