Saints or Sinners | {BOOK 3}

29| Mrs. Tran

"Chin up, gentlemen, Eleanor. I'm a professional," Crowley said when Kevin left the room.

"This ain't over by a long shot, Crowley," Dean growled.

"Really, Dean, who writes your stuff? A marshmallow? Come on, Kevin. Chop, chop."

There was a pause as Crowley waited for a response from the Prophet.

"Kevin?"

Dean raised the knife as Crowley took a step forward, but the demon snapped his fingers again and the knife glowed red until Dean dropped it.

"Aah!" he cried out.

"Ready, kids?"

The demon king walked past us with Channing on his heels.

"Kevin!" he called out again.

Dean picked up the knife and we hurried after them in time to see Kevin pull a cord that caused holy water to dump on both Crowley and Channing.

"Guys, run!" Kevin yelled.

We all took off out the front and dove into the Impala with me and Kevin in the back and Sam and Dean in the front. Crowley and Channing came out onto the porch as we started to pull away. I saw Crowley mutter something to her, and then black smoke poured from Channing's mouth. Kevin cried out as we all watched as Crowley made a hand motion and Channing's neck snapped. She fell to the ground and we sped off.

⁘

When we pulled into a gas station thirty minutes later, Dean's phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered, listening a moment. "Wrong number."

I narrowed my eyes at him as he hung up.

"Automated jackass," he scoffed, avoiding looking at me. "Alright, anybody want anything?"

"I'm good," Sam replied.

Dean turned around in his seat, still avoiding my gaze as he looked at Kevin. Kevin remained silent like he had been for the past half hour.

"Kevin?" Sam tried. "How you holding up?"

"Awesome," Kevin bit out sarcastically. "The King of Hell just snapped my girlfriend's neck. How about you?"

Sam and Dean exchanged a look and I bit my lip.

"Alright, listen to me. I'm sorry about your girlfriend, okay? I am," Dean began. "But the sooner you get this, the better. You're in it now, whether you like it or not. That means you do what you got to do. I'm hitting the head."

I glared at him as he climbed out, making his way toward the bathroom. I waited for all of thirty seconds, and then also climbed out of the car.

"Ellie-" Sam called after me, but I didn't listen.

I headed in the direction Dean went, finding him standing outside talking on the phone.

"Yeah, I hear that," he said. "Listen, Benny, not to beat a dead horse. What we did down there is what we had to do. Now, I don't regret it for a second. But... you know, maybe until we both adjust, it's best we don't talk for a while."

I quirked an eyebrow, but stayed silent so he wouldn't know I was listening.

"One day at a time, just like we talked about, right? What's that?"

He listened to whatever Benny was saying for a moment.

"Listen, you got an emergency, you call me, you hear? Nah, don't worry about her, I can handle it... Yeah."

Dean hung up, turning to head back to the Impala, and stopped short when he saw me.

"Eleanor-"

"Save it, Dean."

I turned on my heel, walking back to the Impala without giving him a chance to say anything else.

⁘

Kevin wanted to go see his mom and Sam sided with him while Dean and I were against it. We were both sure that it was a trap and that as soon as Kevin showed his face at home, Crowley would swoop in with his demon minions and snatch them both up. Kevin just kept insisting that he needed to make sure his mom was safe since Channing had already died. So, we made a day's trip in the opposite direction to stop at his house in Neighbor, Michigan.

Turned out, Dean and I were partially right. There were demons keeping an eye on the Tran house. They were possessing the mailman and a gardner. Sam, Dean and I worked together to take them both out. Then, when we went inside with Kevin, we threw holy water on Mrs. Tran, but she was clean. However, her friend she was with was not. Sam did a reverse exorcism to force the demon back into the meat suit and Dean stabbed her with the knife.

"Eunice!" Mrs. Tran cried.

"That's not Eunice," I said.

Kevin sat down on the couch beside his mom while we gave her The Talk.

"Mrs. Tran, your friend was possessed by a demon," Sam informed her.

"Have you ever seen 'The Exorcist'?" Kevin asked.

"Is that what you've been doing all year- watching television?" Mrs. Tran asked her son. "Did you really have to kill her?"

"The demon would have warned Crowley where Kevin was if we didn't," I said gently.

"And Crowley is the one who kidnapped you?"

"Yeah," Kevin confirmed. "He needs me to translate his stupid tablet so he can take over the universe or something."

"Which is why we need to get to it so we can slam the gates of Hell forever with Crowley inside," Dean explained.

"So that things like that don't ever happen again," Sam finished.

Mrs. Tran turned on the couch so she was facing Kevin.

"Prophet of the Lord, huh? It does have a nice ring to it. I'll get packed."

She got to her feet and we all stood as well.

"We're gonna need a safe house since Crowley's been to the cabin, so-" Dean started.

"Safe house?" Mrs. Tran cut in. "I thought we were going to get the tablet."

"Uh, we are," I said, gesturing to us and Kevin. "You're taking a trip to a demon-free zone."

"And risk letting Kevin fall into the hands of Crowley again? I don't think so."

"Mrs. Tran, all due respect, but Dean and Ellie are right," Sam said, turning on his puppy-dog mode. "Crowley- he's not just a killer. He trades in torment. And if he can figure out a way to separate your soul from you, he'll take that soul to Hell and- and roast it till there's nothing left but black smoke. Look, it's best if you let us handle it."

"I understand. But it's not my soul I'm worried about. It's my son's."

Mrs. Tran fixed us all with a hard stare, arms folded over her chest.

"Kevin, you want to back us up here?" Dean looked at the teenager. "Came all the way here to drag her out of the fire, and now she wants to jump right back in."

"Like I can tell her what to do?" Kevin shrugged.

Dean turned back to look at Mrs. Tran, and then chuckled, shrugging.

"Alright. Coming with us has conditions- uh, hex bags to stay of the bad guys' radar and, uh, you're gonna have to get inked up."

"Do what now?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah, uh..." Sam pulled his shirt open to reveal his own tattoo, "you too, short stop. Keep the demons out."

"Fine," Mrs. Tran agreed.

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"What, like it's my first tattoo?"

Kevin stared after his mom in shock as she left the room to pack and I rolled my eyes as I saw Dean smirking a little in admiration.