Cowboys and Angels

20. Book of the Damned

A hooded figure with a sword sticking out of their backpack entered a dark, smoky alleyway and ducked behind a dumpster. Two men looked for the hooded person. Charlie slid off her hood. One of the men took out a special compass. After it pointed to the direction, he put it away, took out his gun, and pointed in the direction to the other man who already had his gun out. They went further into the alley and one man began looking in the dumpsters. When he lifted the second dumpster lid, Charlie stood up and stabbed him in the neck with her sword. She jumped out of the dumpster and kicked him out of the way and slashed the gun hand of the first man, Jacob Styne, causing him to drop his gun. He laughed.

Charlie pointed the sword at his chest. "Who the hell are you? And why are you following me?"

"I ain't following you." Jacob replied. "I'm following what you got in your bag there. That don't belong to you, girl. Belongs to my family."

"Yeah? Well, sorry Gambit. Finders keepers."

"It's beyond your understanding. Hell, you can't even read it."

"Are you always so condescending when someone's pointing a blade at you?"

"Now you look here. You can cut me down, but my people will never stop." He raised his hands. "And you can tiptoe through the tulips like you did in Russia, or you can stow away on the back of a train like you did in Alaska, but soon enough my kin will find you." Charlie noticed his tattoo on his wrist. "This ends with you being dead." Jacob grabbed the sword away from Charlie. As she ran away, he picked up his gun and shot at her back.

"Aah!" Charlie cried as she was hit in the back. She climbed through a hole in the fence and ran.

Jacob ran to the fence and kept shooting. "You can't run forever little girl."

BUNKER - LIBRARY

Sam was at his laptop and answered his phone. "Cas?"

Castiel, from her car, questioned, "Can I just kill him now?"

"You know I can hear you, right?" Metatron told Castiel.

"No, we need him alive for now. Look, after he gives you your grace back, you can do whatever you want with him."

"Well, I'd like to kill him slowly," Castiel said.

"I am like two feet away from you."

"Anything on the Mark of Cain?"

"Every word -- crystal clear."

"No. I mean, I've have been digging for something, for anything, but... I don't know, Cas."

"There is an answer out there. We will find a cure for Dean."

"I don't know why you'd want to cure that little firecracker now. He's finally interest..." Castiel punched Metatron in the face. "Ooh!"

"Well, just keep digging."

Sam looked up to see Dean enter the library. "Yeah, uh, no one here by that name. Sorry." Sam hung up.

"Sam?" Castiel called.

"Lose reception? Or did he just hang up on you?" Metatron wondered. Castiel turned and looked at Metatron, who began laughing. "He hung up you, didn't he?" Castiel punched Metatron in the face again. "Ooh!"

MEN OF LETTERS LIBRARY

Sam said, "So, I've been checking through everything again, double-checking and triple-checking, and..."

"The Mark is a curse," Dean interrupted.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"No, Sam, it's a...it's an actual curse."