Hells Bells

The Monster at the End of This Book

"Uh, can I help you?" The bald man behind the desk of the comic book store asked.

"Yes, Agents DeYoung, Shaw, and West." We held our badges up. "Just need to ask you a few questions."

"Notice anything strange in the building the past few days?" Sam asked.

"Like what?"

"Some other tenants reported flickering lights." Dean told him.

"Uh, I don't think so. Why?"

"What about noises? Any skittering  in the walls, kinda like rats." I added.

"And the FBI is investigating a rodent problem." He furrowed his brows.

"What about cold spots? Fell any sudden drops in temperature?" Sam asked.

"I knew it!" The guy smiled. "You guys are larping aren't you?"

"Excuse me?" Dean raised his eyebrows.

"You're fans."

"Fans of what?" Sam asked.

"What is larping?" Dean sounded disgusted.

"Like you don't know. Live action role playing, and pretty hard core too." The guy pointed at our outfits.

"Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about." Dean looked over himself.

"You're asking questions like the building is haunted, like those guys from the books. What are they called uh, Supernatural." He stood up off his stool. "Two guys and that girl sometimes, fake IDs with rock aliases, hunt down ghosts, vampires." The guy listed. "What are their names? Uh Steve and Dirk? Sal and Dane?"

"Sam and Dean." Sam suggested nonchalantly.

"That's it!" The guy yelled. "And the girl had a weird name and she was half angel or half demon." My eyes widened. "Her name was Ava or Ana or something."

"Ace?" I asked.

"Yes! Yes!" The guy pointed at me.

"You're saying this a book?" Dean asked.

"Books. It was a series. Didn't sell a lot of copies though, it had kind of an underground cult following." He walked over to the bargain bin, pulling a book out. "There. That's the first one I think."

"Supernatural by Carver Edlund." Dean read. The cover was too built guys with an impala in the background. "Along a lonely California highway a mysterious woman in white lures men to their death."

"Give me that." Sam took the book. "We're gonna need all the copies of Supernatural you got."

We went back to the motel to read. Yes, read. Dean and I actually read multiple books.

"This is freaking insane. How does this guy know all this stuff?" Dean laid on his side with a book.

"He knows about the threesome I had at that bar in Illinois." I laid on my back on the other bed with my feet on the wall. "I didn't even tell you guys that."

"And I'm glad you didn't." Dean gave me a disgusted look. "Everything is in here and I mean everything. From the racist truck to me having sex, I'm full frontal in here dude. How come we haven't heard of them before?"

"They're pretty obscure. Almost zero circulation, started in '05. Publisher put out a couple dozen until it went bankrupt." Sam sat at his computer. "And the last one, No Rest for the Wicked, ends with you going to hell."

Dean got up, looking at the laptop. "I'll reiterate, freaking insane."

"Did you read, The Blonde with the Blood?" I asked, putting the book down.