City of Angels (and Demons)

Chapter Twelve

Dean had stayed up through the rest of the day and night doing what he could to find anything similar to what had happened to Mark. It wasn't the type of demon possession Dean was used to. Most demons didn't need permission to take a vessel. And most demons didn't inhabit the vessel before a possession. From what they had gotten from Amy, it sounded like Dark had been driving Mark insane all week.

And from the security footage Sam had pulled from the tailor shop, Mark had walked in, gave in, and Dark had walked out.

Dean turned his head when he heard a whine from Chica, who was laying on the bed next to Amy, who was still asleep. It was only midmorning now, but he would let her sleep. The dog, on the other hand, probably needed to go out. And Sam was off getting breakfast, so that left only Dean to take care of the dog's needs.

"C'mon," Dean called, grabbing the leash Sam had bought when he had gotten clothes for Amy. Chica, tail wagging, jumped off the bed and walked over to him. Dean hooked her up then took her outside.

Pets weren't allowed in the rooms, but no one had been around to check. Even if someone had checked and forbid them from keeping the dog in the room, the dog would have stayed in the room anyway. Dean wasn't about to turn the impala into a kennel.

Dean's phone started ringing. "Hurry it up," he murmured to Chica then answered the phone. "No news on this end."

Sam gave a sigh. "Well, I just talked to Felix," he said. "He's up and around, but can't remember what happened the last week. He said he was supposed to be home in Brighton by now."

"That explains how long the angel's been here," Dean said, still feeling pretty mad about the angel abandoning the poor guy. "What'd you tell him?"

"The truth, to a certain extent," Sam said. "He had decided to stay an extra week, hit his head and forgot about it. He'll be on a flight tomorrow morning."

"At least someone will be away from this mess," Dean said, a tad bit jealous of the guy. But leaving didn't solve anything. "That's why it's taking you so damn long to get breakfast."

"The hospital was right on my way," Sam said. "I'll be there in a few minutes." Then he hung up.

Dean put the phone away and turned to see Chica sitting there, waiting for him. When he looked at her, she stood and started wagging her tail. "No need to thank me," he said then headed back inside.

Amy was up when he walked in and was sitting at the table in front of the laptop, an unreadable look on her face. Dean set Chica free then sat down across from Amy. Neither of them said anything. She deserved to know everything they were trying to do anyway. It was her boyfriend on the line.

"Matt and Ryan," she said, looking over at him. Dean gave her a questioning look. "They live with Mark." She turned the laptop around to face him.

He was looking at a video titled Surgeon Simulator in Real Life. He didn't know what it meant, but watching it made him a bit concerned. Especially at the end when they pretended to operate on Ryan.

Amy closed the laptop, her eyes meeting Dean's. "I've been so worried about Mark, I forgot about Matt and Ryan," she said. She was close to crying again. Dean silently hoped she wouldn't start up again.

Dean had no way of knowing if Matt and Ryan knew something was wrong with Mark. He wanted to believe that they were still okay. But after what happened to Dr. Bates, Darkiplier obviously had no problem with killing people.

"That video was weeks before Mark's accident," Dean said. He had caught the date the video was uploaded before she had closed the laptop. "He wasn't Dark then."

"How do you know Dark hasn't been working him months prior to the accident?" Amy asked. "Years even?"

Dean thought about mentioning his theory about Dark biding his time until the Markiplier community grew to a size of his liking. "We don't know," he said. It wasn't a lie since they had no tangible proof to explain otherwise. "All we know is that he's here now."

"And Matt and Ryan have no idea," Amy said. It seemed like there was something she wasn't saying, but Dean didn't have time to press her further.

Sam walked in with breakfast. Amy got up and moved across the room to where Chica was sitting. No one said anything about the case for the next half hour.

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Amy sat there on the other side of the hotel room, watching Sam and Dean talk quietly among themselves. Probably about "taking care of Darkiplier." She knew what that meant. Despite everything they had told her, she knew Mark wouldn't survive the ordeal.

Unless he was already dead.

She thought back to his behavior leading up to the accident. He had been a bit stressed, it was true. But who wouldn't, working the way he did? And he sometimes took it out on Matt and Ryan, but they were all still friends.

Then why are they quitting and moving out?

Was Darkiplier behind everything? It just took a bit of time to work Mark to the point of giving in? She wanted to believe that Mark would never give in, but who knew what had been going on in his head for the last few months?

But, Chica hadn't reacted until Mark came home from the hospital after the accident. If Dark had been influencing Mark before then, shouldn't Chica have noticed? Especially since she was the first to know Mark wasn't Mark anymore.

Amy got to her feet. "Are you gonna go after Mark?" she asked then corrected herself: "Dark?"

"Once we're prepared, yeah," Dean said when the two turned toward her. "This guy faced off against an angel and won. We just want to be ready."

"An inexperienced angel," Sam said. It sounded like there was some anger about that particular subject. She didn't understand any of it, so decided not to say anything. "Is there anything you can tell us about Darkiplier? That's not floating around on the internet?"

Amy thought for a moment. Mark had mentioned some ideas about bringing Dark back, turning him into a real character for the channel, but nothing had come from that yet. "There's really nothing I can tell you," she said. "Mark pulls his ideas from the lore the fans come up with."

"Is there anything about Dark going after the fans?" Dean asked.

Amy could guess what he was thinking. If she knew Dark the way she thought she did... "It's possible," she said, still finding it weird to talk about Dark as someone real. "Dark already got Mark. The fans would be next."

"He's probably filming a video right now," Sam said, getting to his feet. He looked at Amy. "Would Matt and Ryan -"

"They're off apartment hunting by now," Amy said, waving for Chica to come to her. "Unless Dark stopped them from going, they've been avoiding him the last couple of days."

Dean gave one nod. "They better not be there," he said then led the way out.