How to Save a Life (Book Two/The Life Series/Supernatural)

No Rest for the Wicked

At home, with Dean's deadline less than 24 hours away, we were gathered in the living room.

Dad placed an old tracking device over a map of the United States on the desk. The device had three wooden 'legs' coming out from a glass or crystal ball at the top. The ball had a flat, metal piece going around it with symbols on it. Further down the legs, there was another metal piece, only bigger. From the ball hung a pendulum device that was sharp on the end so that it could pinpoint a specific place.

"So, you need a name, that's the whole kit and caboodle," Dad told us. "With the right name, right ritual, ain't nothing you can't suss out."

"Like the town Lilith's in?" Sam asked.

"Kid, when I get done, we'll know the street," Dad told him, starting the ritual, starting the swing for the pendulum. Sam, Dean and I watched. The pendulum began to search over the map until it suddenly stopped. "New Harmony, Indiana."

I looked up. "And we have a winner."

'All right," Sam told us, pushing the pendulum away. "Let's go."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Dean told us. "Hold on. Let's all shut up there, Tex."

"What's the problem?" Sam asked.

"What's the problem?" Dean repeated. "Come on, where do I begin? I mean, first of all, we don't even know if Lilith holds my deal. We're going of Bela's intel? Now when that bitch breathes, the air comes out crooked. Okay? Second, even if we could get to Lilith, we have no way to gank her. And third, isn't this the same Lilith that wants your giant head on a pike? Should I continue?"

"Ain't you just bringing down the room?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, well, it's a gift," Dean told us.

"I'm sorry, so then what are we supposed to do, Dean?" I asked.

"Just 'cause I gotta die doesn't mean you have to, okay?" Dean asked. "Either we go in smart, or we don't go in at all."

"Okay, fine," Sam told him. "If that's the case, I have the answer."

"You do?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Sam answered. "A sure-fire way to confirm it's Lilith and a way to get us a bona fide demon-killing ginsu."

Dean looked at Sam in realization. "Damn it, Sam. No."

Dean turned away, pacing.

"We're so past arguing," Sam told him. "Dean, I am summoning Ruby."

Dean turned to face Sam. "The hell you are. We have enough problems as it is."

"Exactly," Sam told him, walking closer to Dean. "And we've got no time and no choice, either."

"Come on, man," Dean told him. "She is the Miss Universe of lying skanks, okay? She told you that she could save me. Huh? Lie. She seems to know everything about Lilith, but forgot to mention, oh, right, Lilith owns my soul."

"Okay, fine," Sam told him. "She's a liar. She's still got that knife."

"Dean," I told him.

"For all we know, she works for Lilith," Dean told us.

"Then give me another option, Dean," Sam told him. "I mean, tell me what else."

"Sam's right," I told him.

"No, damn it!" Dean told us. I raised my eyebrows at him. We all looked at each other for a moment. Dean calmed down. "Just no. We are not gonna make the same mistakes all over again." We looked at him in confusion. "You guys wanna save me, find something else."