The End | {BOOK 5}

18| Ketch, the Spell, and a Giant Plush Dinosaur

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, did you just..." I trailed off, glaring at Ketch.

"No, they vanished before it went off. But you're welcome."

"Congratulations," Dean also glared, voice dripping with sarcasm, "you just helped Lucifer escape."

Ketch narrowed his eyes, opening his mouth to respond with whatever smart aleck comment he had come up with.

"Put another way," it came, "I opted out of my own escape and put myself in harm's way to save your lives. Again."

And there it was. I rolled my eyes, turning away so I wouldn't have to even look at him.

"Alright, alright," Sam spoke up before Dean could argue with the Brit more. "How did you get out of the trunk?"

"I'm Ketch," the Brit replied, all pompous and full of himself per usual. "I found the demon bomb in your weapons cache and I thought with Lucifer's weakened state it might make a dent."

"Well, it seems his 'weakened state' may have been greatly exaggerated," Cass informed him.

"Yeah, exactly and Jo?" Sam added. "What's the deal with her?"

"I don't know," Cass shook his head. "In Heaven she was nothing. She was a low level functionary."

"Yeah, well, now she's Satan's gal pal," Dean shot back. "That's awesome."

"Gentlemen, ma'am, this may once again fall on deaf ears, but I shall have another go," Ketch addressed us. "Clearly, Lucifer is more dangerous than we thought. I propose we pool our resources and go after him together."

"Dude, why would we ever trust you?" Sam snapped.

"Fine, as proof of my sincerity, I shall come clean. I'm working for Asmodeus. Happy?"

"Whoa, what?" I raised my eyebrows. "How is that supposed to make us feel better?"

"It's not," he aptly replied. "It's supposed to present an opportunity. If I'm working for him then I can pass information on to you."

"Oh, right," Cass nodded. "And you would do that for us?"

"For everyone. I know you think I'm a monster."

"Because you are," I glared.

"But even I must draw the line somewhere," Ketch continued, ignoring my comment. "And letting Lucifer free on the earth? Well, as it turns out, that's my line. Not to mention the whole Michael situation. I know you want to kill me. I know you can't forgive me, but if you think about it, I'm the lesser of, well, at least three evils. All I ask is that you wait to murder me until after I prove useful. Hm?"

I looked over, Sam, Dean and Cass also getting in on the look as we communicated silently with each other.

⁘

Since Donatello didn't have a soul, reading the demon tablet corrupted him and he tried to kill Sam, Dean, Cass and me. Cass managed to strip the correct spell from his brain, but it left him in a coma in the hospital. The spell took four major ingredients: the grace of an archangel, a fruit from the Tree of Life, the Seal of Solomon and the blood of a most holy man. With Lucifer MIA, we couldn't get archangel grace and Cass went to Syria to try and track down fruit from the Tree of Life, which left us to find the other two ingredients.

Really, if left us to find one ingredient, because Sam wasn't having any luck finding anything on the Seal of Solomon. However, he did find a black market site online for religious relics and thought one of the sellers was legit. So, we were able to go after the 'blood of a most holy man', or, as Sam put it, 'blood of a saint'. While we were trying to get it, we got mixed up in the middle of a mob battle. We ended up meeting Father Lucca, who apparently got called a most holy man by the Pope, so we got what we needed. One down, three to go.

⁘

Dean grunted as he fought a giant green dinosaur plushie in a pawn shop. While he did so, I jumped in and tackled the dinosaur to the ground. While I held it down, Dean ran over and poured liquid on it.

"Holy oil!" he said. "Okay, move."

I rolled out of the way as Dean dropped his lighter on the dino. It roared and thrashed on the ground as it started to burn. After several seconds, it exploded, raining costume parts and stuffing all over the store.

"Oh!" I gasped, blowing a piece of hair out of my face. "Pfft."

"Whoa," Dean breathed, staring around at the mess.

The shop owner rose slowly from behind the counter.

"Is it over?" he asked.

"Yeah. Yes," I nodded. "Sorry about the mess."

"You two just took down an evil plushie that was trying to kill me. We're all good."

Another man walked into the shop, calling out.

"Alan? Everything okay in here?"

"Oh, uh, hey, Jay," the owner, Alan, greeted him.

"I heard the ruckus next door, and I... What in the... What... holy heck?" Jay looked around at the mess in surprise.

"It- it was a-a..." I stammered, unsure how to explain.

"Did they do this?" Jay demanded, looking over at Alan.

"No. Nah, it was a... defective product," I cut in. "Yeah, sometimes the batteries in these... giant stuffed dinosaurs just explode."

"Yeah, never buy anything from Mooselyvania," Dean chuckled.

"Mm. Exactly," I nodded.

"Mm," Dean hummed.

"Okay," Jay eyed us skeptically.

"Uh, guys, this is Jay," Alan introduced us. "He's the big man around this neighborhood. Owns practically the whole damn thing- the Chinese joint, the laundromat."

"Great. Great, great, great," I smiled. "Yeah, that's very cool. Can you guys give us a second?"

"Great," Alan nodded.

I grabbed Dean's arm, pulling him a little ways away so we could talk privately.

"Nice cover," Dean smirked at me.

"What the hell was that?" I demanded. "I mean, we rolled into town because people were seeing a lizard monster. And yes, we tracked it here, but no way did I think we'd end up-"

"Killing Barney?"

"Yeah."

"Was pretty satisfying though, wasn't it?" Dean grinned. "Probably just a cursed object."

"Well, it didn't act like a cursed object. We should probably do some digging."

"Everything alright?" Jay asked, coming up beside us.

He eyed us suspiciously, Dean and I returning the look.

"Yeah. Yeah, great," Dean nodded.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Uh, we were just gonna head out."

"Oh, hold up," Alan stopped us. "You two saved my life. Anything you want, it's yours."

"We could never," I shook my head. "We're- we're just happy we could help."

"Wait, uh, anything?" Dean asked, eyes lighting up.

"Hm," Alan hummed, holding his arms out.