(no subject)

[gavemea_45]

Once back in Chicago, it quickly becomes apparent that Sam is too restless to stay in the hotel room. Dean takes over the process of running the background check on one "Meg Masters" of Andover, while Sam sets off to stake out Meg's apartment, instead.

(By unspoken agreement, they've decided to wait on figuring out what to do about Bernard's note until the immediate situation is dealt with.)

Unfortunately, stakeouts are nearly as boring as staring at the walls of a motel room. By the time Dean calls with an update, Sam's about ready to start pacing in circles around the block.

"Hey. Did you find anything?"

He can almost see Dean shaking his head. "Sorry, man, she checks out. Phone book, high school photo, the whole deal."

Sam frowns at the phone. "Man, I would have sworn..." He sighs. "What about the symbol? Anything there?"

"Yeah, that I had some luck with," Dean says. "Uh-- turns out it’s Zoroastrian. Real old school, like two thousand years before Christ old. It’s a sigil for somethin' called a Daeva."

"What the hell's a Daeva?"

"Translates to 'demon of darkness.' Nasty vicious bastards, kinda like demonic pit bulls."

Sam's quiet for a second, thinking. "Good to know. How’d you figure that out?"

"Called Dad's friend, Caleb--"

Just then the door to the apartment building opens, and Meg steps out. Sam breaks in fast. "Gotta go, Dean, she's on the move."

"Look, Sammy--"

He doesn't wait to hear the rest. Sam hangs up the phone and follows Meg.

*     *     *     *     *

The warehouse that Meg's disappeared into looks to be abandoned. There's nothing at all on the ground floor, so Sam heads up the stairs. They lead to a locked door, but he can hear the mutter of voices beyond. He looks around for another way in, and spots a broken elevator gate. Sam climbs cautiously up and looks through the bars at the top.

As it turns out, this gives him an excellent view of the room-- and of the black altar that Meg is standing before. He can see candles, a number of ancient items, and what looks to be a human heart-- and then, as Meg moves to one side, he gets a clear view of the Zoroastrian symbol.

Sam stares. What the hell?

As he watches, Meg picks up a silver bowl filled with blood, swirls her finger in it, and chants an invocation, then begins to speak into the bowl.

"I don't think you should come." She bends her head, listening. "Because of the brothers-- they're in town... yes, sir."

Silence, for a second.

"Yes. Yes, I will." Meg smiles. "I'll be here, waiting for you."

By the time Sam gets back to the hotel room, he's about ready to explode. He bursts through the door, looking for Dean.

"Dude, I gotta--"

Comments

[hopeitsworthit]

"Dude, I gotta--"

Whoa. Hearin' that in stereo is freaking weird.

"Uh. You first, Sammy."

[gavemea_45]

"No, you go ahead-- you know what, forget that."

Sam looks grim.

"It's Meg. She's been doing it all along."

[hopeitsworthit]

Dean's eyebrows go up.

"She--"

He snorts.

"Damn, Sammy, 'm starting to suspect your taste in hot chicks. Do I have to give you pointers? Avoid the psycho-killers?"

[gavemea_45]

"Give me a break-- or did you forget I told you something was sketchy and asked you to look into it?"

Sam glares at him.

"You said she checked out!"

[hopeitsworthit]

"She did!"

Dean shifts awkwardly, scowling at Sam.

"Guess she's pretty good, whatever she is."

Yeah. That's gotta be it.

[gavemea_45]

"Looks like."

Sam scowls back, then shoves both hands in his pockets.

"Which, I gotta say, isn't exactly good news."

[hopeitsworthit]

"You're tellin' me."

Dean shakes his head, scowling even more than before.

"You see anything specific, Sam?"

[gavemea_45]

"Yeah."

His voice gets a little absent, almost distracted, as he thinks back.

"She had a black altar set up-- a bunch of symbols and artifacts of power, including that one, the Zoroastrian symbol. Looked like she was using it to control the thing. And she had this big silver bowl, as well, sorta like a goblet."

[hopeitsworthit]

Dean's expression is a little disgusted and a little perplexed.

"The black altar I get, things're kinda common, in certain circles. But what the hell's the bowl for?"

[gavemea_45]

"She was talking into it. You know, the way witches used to scry with animal entrails-- haruspimancy, or at least in part."

Sam shakes his head.

"She was talking to someone, man. Or something."

[hopeitsworthit]

"Reach out and touch someone, huh?"

Dean makes a face.

"Hate to see her long distance bill."

[gavemea_45]

"In this case I don't think it's the bill she's got to worry about-- it's the bill collector."

Sam looks grim.

"Whoever she was talking to, Dean, it was someone who was giving her orders. Someone who's coming to that warehouse."

[hopeitsworthit]

"Shit."

Dean's voice is just this side of venemous.

"We've gotta be there first, then, huh?"

[gavemea_45]

"Yeah. We've gotta see who -- or what -- she's meeting."

The two brothers are in perfect accord on this. Sam adds,

"The thing I don't get is why. Why's she doing this?"

[hopeitsworthit]

"Holy shit."

Dean blinks.

"I almost forgot. Dude, I wanted to tell you--"

He clears his throat.

"I pulled a favor from a friend, Amy--over at the police department? There's something we missed about those two victims. Look here."

[gavemea_45]

"What?"

Sam walks over to the table and looks over his brother's shoulder at the stack of files.

"What'd you find?"

[hopeitsworthit]

"That first victim, the old man?"

Dean looks up, eyebrows arched, before turning back to the files in front of him.

"Lived his whole life in Chicago, but he wasn't born here. Two guesses where he was from."

He grins up at Sam, all teeth.

"First guess don't count."

[gavemea_45]

"You're not serious--"

He stares at Dean.

"Lawrence?"

[hopeitsworthit]

Dean grins, but there's nothing at all happy in the look.

"Bingo. Second victim, too. Meredith."

Beat.

"She was adopted."

[gavemea_45]

"Holy shit."

Sam drops into a chair, for once looking up at Dean.

"You think it's-- Meg's-- got something to do with the demon?"

[hopeitsworthit]

Dean shrugs, lips quirking in something more like a grimace than a smile.

"Dunno, Sam. But it looks like a pretty damn good possibility, don't it."

[gavemea_45]

"Yeah, but-- I don't get it, Dean."

He's frowning as he works through it, trying to think of anything he's missed that'd make it all make sense.

"Why Lawrence? And what do these Daevas have to do with anything? There's been nothing like that before--"

[hopeitsworthit]

"Beats me, Sammy."

Dean shrugs. At the moment (not for much longer than the moment, but--) he's all about how to get rid of this Meg bitch.

"But I say we trash the damn altar, grab your psycho pal, and have ourselves a nice little chat."

His lips purse while he thinks about that.

"Well. I'm not gonna promise to be nice, but you get the picture."

[gavemea_45]

He's already shaking his head.

"I do, but we can't tip her off. Not if we want to see who's coming to that warehouse."

Sam's glance meets Dean's.

"Or what. Especially if it's that yellow-eyed bastard."

[hopeitsworthit]

Dean's entire face tightens, jaw clenching as he swallows.

"Yeah. And I'll tell you one thing, whether or not that goddamn son of a bitch is involved, I'm pretty sure we don't want to do this alone."

And if God ain't a bastard, too, Dad'll actually answer his freaking phone this time.

Yeah. If.