In the Belly of the Whale 3/3
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Chapter 3
The Road with Kali
After an entertaining (for Tricia) trip into Beaumont to get Henry some clothes and a shaving kit of his own, followed by a family dinner at John’s in which the boys did most of the talking and Daphne began to thaw toward Henry somewhat, Henry found himself about as ready as he could be to drive up to Illinois... on Sam’s motorcycle... with a Hindu goddess as his passenger.
His Men of Letters training had not even come close to preparing him for this.
“Worry not,” she said as she settled into the sidecar and strapped on a helmet. “I shall keep you perfectly safe.”
Henry stifled his qualms with a sigh. “Well, John said he trusts you. I suppose he knows you better than I do.”
“He does. And for his sake, I will tolerate the distrust.”
“I’m not a hunter,” he noted as he started the engine.
“Nor do I kill indiscriminately.”
“But you did help kill Abaddon... and I guess I owe you for that.”
“Of course. She was a creature of basest evil.”
He couldn’t disagree or think of anything else to say, so he lifted the kickstand and backed out of the driveway.
There was a small radio on the bike, but he left it off. Kali kept him entertained with wordless Eastern tunes. It was a long drive nonetheless, full of countless curiosities (“What the devil is a Smart Car?”) and shocks (the sheer volume of interstate traffic) and odd adventures (like finding diners that would serve burgers rare and a decent motel in the Ozarks when Kali admitted she’d never learned to drive).
The clerk offered them a single, and Kali glared at him. “Sir, I have very specific sleeping needs. I require a bed to myself.” The amused expression Henry gave at that convinced the clerk that these were married people with a little eccentricity, so he gave them a double. And somehow it didn’t surprise him at all when she settled into a meditative pose on top of the covers and completely ignored him as he got ready for bed.
The only thing he wanted to know was, “Would you prefer the light left on?”
“It makes no difference,” she replied without opening her eyes. “But humans prefer to sleep in the dark, do they not?”
“Yes. Thank you.” He turned out the light and rolled onto his side, arms crossed. Anyone who knew his grandsons would have recognized the oldest’s preferred sleeping posture a mile away. “Good night, Carol.”
“Good night, Henry,” she answered, sounding somewhat amused.
Despite everything, he was asleep in minutes. When a nightmare woke him some hours later, he glanced over to see her still sitting where she had been, but now with four arms extended and a weapon in each, and she was facing the window-on watch.
“Go back to sleep,” she ordered quietly. “It was only a dream.”
He thought of arguing, then realized he felt... safe. Protected. And he closed his eyes and tumbled back down.
He woke again with a start around 7 to find her licking blood from the fingers of one hand. She waved toward the table with her other hand on that side, indicating the continental breakfast waiting for him. “I have eaten,” she stated. “That is for you.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask what you’ve eaten,” he said, weaving his way to the bathroom.
“Only a demon.”
He yelped and finished quickly, racing back out. “What? When?”
“Half an hour ago. It was not looking for you.”
He relaxed, but only slightly. “Who was it looking for?”
“No one. Only trouble. It was newly come from Hell and wished to celebrate with a spot of torture.”
“The person it was possessing?”
“Was already dead. The mere shock of possession was too much.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
She smiled. “I told you I would keep you safe.”
He returned the smile and sat, eating his breakfast. Then he began to pack up.
Just then Kali’s phone rang. “What?” she answered sharply, then listened. “I see. I’ll tell him.” Then she hung up and looked at Henry. “It’s just as well that we stopped here. That was Bill. The angels have found that Larry Ganem survived the attack.”
“He survived? Let’s get to-”
“He’s not in Normal. He’s in Lebanon, Kansas.”
“Okay, so we go there.”
She pulled a map out of the air. “Pack. I’ll find the directions.”
He nodded and went back to work.
She hummed thoughtfully. “It seems we will have to pass through Lawrence.”
“Very well....”
“Should be of interest to you to see where your son was raised.”
“Just wish I could have been there.”
“Yes, well, wishes are neither horses nor motorcycles.”
He chuckled. “Okay, let’s roll.”
She cleared away the trash with a wave of her hand and was back to looking fully human by the time they checked out. The clerk smiled knowingly when they returned the key, but Kali mostly ignored him.
“All right,” Henry said as they settled themselves and their gear onto the motorcycle. “To Kansas.”
And suddenly the bike’s radio began to play, “Carry on, my wayward son...”
“What is that?” Henry asked as Kali began to laugh.
“A band called Kansas. That’s one of your grandsons’ favorite songs.”
So Henry listened as he drove. The music was much harder than the rock ’n’ roll he’d been used to in the late ’50s, but the words, cryptic as they were, gave him something to ponder. It seemed to speak of comfort, of rest.
He didn’t know if rest would be possible for him now, knowing what he knew, knowing the mistakes he’d made... but if it were, the surest way to find it was to complete the mission that had sent him to this year in the first place.
The drive was pleasant, and Kali turned out to be excellent company. The weather wasn’t even all that bad for mid-February. When they reached Lawrence later that day, though, Henry pulled the motorcycle into a gas station. It was going on fumes and making sputtering noises, so he figured it was time to get it something to drink.
Scarcely had he put the nozzle into the gas tank, however, when he heard, “Mercy goodness, Henry Winchester!”
He turned to see a heavy-set dark-skinned woman bustling toward them. “You have me at a disadvantage, uh...”
“Missouri Mosely, honey, and no, you don’t know me. I’m a friend of John’s. And I see he sent you with Ka-er, Carol here.”
Kali’s eyebrows rose. “You’re a seer!”
“Yes, ma’am, of a kind.”
“Henry, seers are very special, and always to be trusted if they are on our side. And if she is a friend of John’s....”
“Not just a friend,” Missouri said gravely, turning back to Henry. “I’m the one who told him the truth about what killed Mary-and don’t you blame yourself for that, now. That attack was designed to get you out of John’s life. You wouldn’t have lived through it anyhow; you know that.”
“I’m here now, Ma’am,” he said softly.
“That you are, and you’re doin’ the right thing. But you may not like what you’re about to find. You need to find it, don’t get me wrong. But there’s a reason they wanted you gone.”
“What would that be?” Kali asked.
Missouri hesitated. “I’ll just say everything went according to plan up until Dean decided he and Sam had had enough.”
“Yes, I’ve heard that before,” Kali said softly. “Would one child’s decision truly make that much of a difference?”
Missouri chuckled. “You know Cazadore.”
“I know Cazadore,” she agreed. “And I know Dean. I also know the forces they were against.”
“So you’ll understand if I say Sam was meant to run. To rebel. To reject everything John taught him. So yes, one child-the Righteous Man-his choice made all the difference.”
Henry licked his lips. “Sam was meant to be vulnerable.”
“I’d say suggestible. But there, you don’t need me to stand here and tell you what might have been!”
“I....It might help?” But it sounded weak to his own ears.
“Henry. That plan’s dealt with, it’s gone. Your boys are safe. You’ve got to deal with the here and now-including the fact that they still hunt when they can.”
“They... They were supposed to be legacies. Never hunters.”
“But someone didn’t want them to be legacies-especially Sam. You need to find out why. And then you need to work out just how you’ll fit with their life as it is, not the way you thought it should be.”
“How do we do that, Miss Missouri?”
She smiled a little and shook her head. “I ain’t a magician or a fortune-teller. I don’t know everything. But you go talk to your friend Larry. He can help you.”
“Thank you.”
“And Henry... I’ll tell you the same thing I’ve told John. You need me, you call.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She pressed something into his hand as she pulled him into a warm hug. “You can make this work, honey. You just need to try.” Then she was bustling back to her own car, waving goodbye.
Henry looked down at his hand to find a note with her phone number-wrapped around a $20 bill, and on the back was written, Jay Bird’s Diner, my treat.
They found that diner a short time later.
Missouri didn’t meet them there, but Kali got a far-away look in her eyes for a moment. “This was where they dated most.”
“John and his bride?”
“Yes. Especially when he came back from Vietnam. This was where he made up his mind to propose to her.”
Henry smiled.
“It’s only a shame she never told him she was a hunter.”
Henry’s head snapped up, eyes huge. “... SHE was a....”
“I believe you knew her father. Samuel Campbell.”
Henry snarled, eyes narrowing.
Kali put a hand on his wrist. “Henry. Samuel and Deanna were killed before John and Mary wed. Your grandsons didn’t know Samuel-until they were old enough to resist his biases.”
“They didn’t let him get away with anything?”
She chuckled. “It was one of the last attempts to salvage the plan. An angel had brought Samuel back to life and sent him to kill Sam. How do you think they reacted?”
“Did they run him through?”
“No, but only because Samuel had just enough of an open mind to judge on the basis of the evidence. Eventually he settled in Cazadore and died again of a heart attack last summer. I hear there was a lot of swearing when he first ran into John, though.”
Henry laughed.
“Mary wasn’t like her father, though. She wanted a normal civilian life. And she loved John and her sons more than life itself.”
“I would have liked to have met her.”
Kali just smiled like she had a secret and tucked into her barely-cooked burger.
“That smile makes me nervous.”
“No.” Her smile turned feral. “This smile should make you nervous.”
He shivered and looked down at his plate.
She chuckled. “Eat. We still have another four hours to drive.”
“Okay.”
As they left the diner half an hour later, Kali observed, “Stull is not far from here. What have the Men of Letters taught you about Stull?”
“There are legends, but it’s just that. Legends.”
She looked him in the eye. “To Westerners, I am a legend.”
“This is true. I’ve heard a hellmouth is in the cemetery.”
“Not just any hellmouth. It was there Michael and Lucifer were to have dueled to the death-while possessing Dean and Sam.”
His head snapped around. “I haven’t heard THAT detail!”
“That was why Missouri said Sam was to have been suggestible, so he could be groomed to be Lucifer’s vessel. But he rejected that path, thanks to Dean.”
Henry blew the air out of his cheeks. “Thank God for Dean.”
Kali’s only response was a wry smile.
“Now where?”
“Lebanon.”
He pointed the bike in that direction.
It was late when they finally reached the tiny town of Lebanon. “I hope Larry hasn’t gone to bed yet,” Henry said, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the street lights. “I’d hate to have to find a motel at this hour-or worse, someplace to camp.”
“Look, most of the lights are on.”
“Guess we’ll have to risk it.” With that, he turned in at the driveway she indicated and shut off the bike.
A tired looking woman opened the door. “... Henry!”
“Hi, Fannie. Sorry to drop in unannounced, but I didn’t have your number.”
“It’s been over fifty years....”
“I know. I’m so sorry. May we come in? Uh, this is... Carol Cooper. She’s a friend of my grandsons.”
Larry sat in the living room-blind and suspicious.
“Pax Christi tibi, Laurencius,” Henry said as he walked in.
Larry sucked in a breath. “Pax Christi tibi, Henricius... Carol, is it?”
“Namaste,” Kali replied.
His shoulders stiffened as he sat up straighter. “Namaste. You are Hindi.”
“And you have nothing to fear from me.”
“My dear, there is something to fear from everything.”
“Would that explain the quality of the warding on this house?”
“Absolutely.”
“Is it really the best you can do?”
Henry had known Kali just long enough to catch the derisiveness of her tone. He frowned, worried.
Larry didn’t understand what she was getting at, however. “It is necessary.”
“And yet it allowed Death’s daughter to pass without the slightest twinge. I know hunters who have done better.”
His sightless eyes widened. “Kali-Ma!”
“You old fool! You are fortunate that Abaddon chose to follow Henry. Loki, Michael, and I killed her.”
“Three pantheons... working together? That is... unprecedented.”
She smiled. “That’s Cazadore.”
“I’ve heard of that town.”
Henry finally dared to speak up. “That’s where my son is-you remember John. He and his sons and their families all live there.”
“That town is nothing but a myth. No hunters can work together the way they claim.”
“Larry, I’ve seen it. People wear anti-possession charms openly. There are wards everywhere. John told his boss that I was his father, and Mercer didn’t even flinch. And Loki teaches history at the high school!”
“You aren’t Henry. Henry would not accept this. You’re imposters!”
Henry responded with an Enochian password that only he and Larry knew. “Have Fannie test me with silver or salt if you want,” he continued. “But I am the man you gave that box to all those years ago.”
“Abaddon has infected you! She is...” Fannie injected him, and he wailed as he sagged in his chair.
“I’m sorry,” Fannie said. “His mind... it’s been gone for a while.”
Henry frowned, concerned. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Years of paranoia took its toll.”
“But... without him, how can I find out what I’m supposed to do with the box?”
Fannie frowned. “Box?”
Henry pulled the small brass box out of his pocket. “He gave me this and told me to keep it safe, but I don’t know what it is.”
“He used to tell me you had a key.”
“A key. Key to what?”
Fannie shook her head. “Key to everything the Men of Letters had collected. It’s somewhere close, but I don’t know anything else.”
Henry ran a hand over his mouth and looked at Kali.
She nodded. “Thank you, Mrs. Ganem. I hope you can find help.”
Fannie frowned. “But... begging your pardon, Mahakali... couldn’t you do something?”
“I?”
“You are a goddess.”
Kali walked over to Larry’s chair and bent over him. “Yes. But there are things I am prevented from doing. Even I must submit to the will of One Greater.”
Henry sighed. “Can you at least find out where we’re supposed to go?”
“That I can do.” She put her hand on his forehead. There was a small flash of light and then she frowned. “... Mrs. Ganem, please take him to a doctor that can scan him completely. This is not mere paranoia; there is something in his brain.”
Fannie gasped. “Like a tumor or something?”
“I can’t say. The doctor can tell. I am not a medical person.” She stood and turned her hand over, holding it out to Henry. “But I can do this.”
Co-ordinates stood out in relief on her palm.
Henry sighed in relief. “John was right. Thanks, Kali.”
They walked out, and as she settled into the sidecar, she said, “Yes, John was right. And we are close.”
“How close?” Henry asked as he started the engine.
“Less than fifty miles.”
He pulled the bike back onto the street and followed her directions to what looked like the middle of nowhere. There was just enough moonlight, however, that he could make out a door set into the side of the hill a few feet from where they’d stopped.
Kali walked up to it. “... my skin is tingling. Wards are embedded in the soil.”
“Guess that’s a good sign.” Henry pulled out the box, fumbled with it a moment, and finally got it open. “We have the door; we have the key...” He put the key into the lock, and it turned.
He heard the soft sound of unsheathing swords behind him. “I shall protect you,” Kali said.
“Um, thanks, but what I really need-” He pushed the door open to find the space beyond pitch black. “Is a flashlight.”
A finger tapped his shoulder and a hand reached around with a flashlight.
He chuckled. “Thanks.” Then he switched it on and headed inside. There he found a fuse box and activated the lights.
Directly in front of him was a balcony and a staircase that led down to a command center, complete with lighted map table and computer bank. But over to one side sat a small table that held a chess board, with a game in progress, cigarettes in the ash tray, and a coffee cup that, judging from the staining, had been abandoned half-drunk.
“What happened?” Henry breathed.
Kali shook her head, her weapons and extra arms gone. “My senses are dampened here. But I think they received a call warning them to come to Normal to confront Abaddon.”
“It’s... horrible.”
“They were too few. Too ill-prepared. Yet they thought they were ready.”
“We thought... hunters are below us. And yet... that’s what we needed.”
“Perhaps-though the hunter who then had the weapon you needed might not have been willing to aid you with it.”
“No. I suppose not.”
“You are fortunate that Dean has it now.”
“Yes. Very fortunate.” He sighed and began to dismantle the chess game.
She looked at him, head tilted. “Must you do that now?” Her tone was curious, not... well, not any more impatient than usual.
“What?”
“Clear away the game. I would have thought you wanted to see the library.”
“Library. Yes, I forgot. Forgive me.”
“There is nothing to forgive. I was simply confused. But come.” She pointed toward a large open doorway.
He followed her and gasped when he walked into the place.
She went over to one of the short bookcases. “Many of these books have been thought lost for centuries.”
“This....This was thought lost in the Alexandria fire!”
“And this... Parvati dictated this one herself.”
“These are... amazing.” He smiled warmly. “Absolutely amazing!”
“Amazing, yes. Yet incomplete.”
“So somewhere in here is what I was never meant to see.”
“Perhaps. In this bunker, certainly, but....” She walked over to one of the walls and ran multiple hands over it.
He waited, trusting her now.
She muttered something under her breath until-“AH!” she cried in satisfaction as a secret panel moved aside to reveal a safe.
“A safe...” he breathed.
“You will have to open it, I think. It’s heavily warded.”
He walked over and studied it carefully. Then he put his hand on the dial... and it spun of its own accord. He gasped. One by one, the tumblers clicked into place, and the door popped open. As soon as he got over his shock, he pulled out several sheets of parchment.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I... don’t know yet.”
She pointed toward the tables in the middle of the room. “Let’s sit.”
He gave her some of the papers and settled in to read.
The papers Henry was looking at were all in Latin, charters and the like, documenting the founding of the Men of Letters by lay Dominicans who had studied under Albertus Magnus with St. Thomas Aquinas.
But Kali was stymied. “This is a language I do not know,” she finally admitted, handing the pages back to him.
“It’s Latin.”
“The beginning is. But here-‘Þa sweord engles Michael’...”
“The sword of the angel Michael.”
“You can read this?”
“Yes. It’s English.”
She frowned. “No, it isn’t. I’ve known English since the British first invaded India.”
“This is Middle English-perhaps a few words in Old.”
“But it speaks of Michael’s sword-that’s Dean.”
He hissed and read the next passage out loud. “The sword of the angel Michael and the vessel of Lucifer shall arise from the... noble house of Winchester....” He ran a hand over his mouth and nose, his voice trembling as he read on. “And the first seal shall be that the righteous man shed blood in Hell. As he breaks, so shall it break. The last s-shall be the blood of Lucifer’s first. In the west shall Lucifer rise and claim his vessel, and above the mouth of Hell shall Michael take up his sword and s-s-slay his b-brother....” He broke off, shaking. “No. N-No... No.”
Kali put one hand on each of his wrists and another on each of his shoulders. “Henry. It can’t happen now. Not like this.”
“... it... can’t?”
“No. Hell’s claim on Sam has been broken and cannot be restored. And Cazadore has seen to the rest.”
“This... prophecy... has been thwarted.”
“It has-because it was never Yahweh’s plan. Only Lucifer’s.”
“And thus... thwartable.” Henry began to smile.
She smiled back slightly. “Yes.” Then she moved one hand to tap the parchment. “But you see why certain powers wanted to ensure John never learned of this.”
“Because he would have done everything he could to stop it.”
“Including marrying someone other than Mary Campbell.”
“Or if he had been a blind devotee to this cause....”
She shook her head. “We can’t know. But as it was, he did marry the right woman, pursue the right path after she was killed, and let his fear for his sons’ safety blind him to the way he was hurting them.”
“And then, somehow, Dean broke the cycle. Derailed the prophecy.”
“Because he loved his brother.”
“Who was not a monster, no matter what this says.”
“No. Was not and is not. His soul is Yahweh’s, and so is Dean’s.”
Henry smiled. “This shall never come to pass.”
“Thanks to Dean.”
“Thanks to Dean.” He sighed. “Should I destroy this?”
“No. Put it back with the others... and let it serve as a reminder that not even the Men of Letters could know everything.”
Henry nodded. “Humility. I like that.”
“Although... perhaps you might add a post-script?”
“Telling what truly happened?”
“In as much, or as little, detail as you like. None but your line can open that safe in any case.”
Henry gathered up parchment and ink and sat down again, beginning to write.
Kali left him to it, wandering through the library and trying out a few of the swords that were on display.
One full hour later, Henry was finished.
“It’s after midnight,” she observed as he shook pounce over the ink to dry it. “Perhaps you should try to rest.”
“Okay.” It was a measure of how tired he was that he didn’t argue.
He put the parchments back into the safe, which closed on its own, as did the secret panel. Then Kali led him to a hall where there were some bedrooms and ushered him into one.
He collapsed into the bed and got a weird mental image of weapons on the wall, vinyl records in a stack on the dresser and a blonde woman’s picture propped up against the lamp. Then his eyes closed and he knew no more.
Sensing a presence woke Henry up. It was a bit of a shock to find Bill Cooper sitting at the end of his bed. “How the blazes did you get in here?” he asked, his voice hoarse with sleep.
Cooper shrugged. “Carol invited me.”
“But... why?”
“We are going to gift this bunker to Cazadore.”
That was a real shock, and Henry sat bolt upright. “You’re-how?!”
“We can create a wormhole tunnel.”
“A... a what?”
Cooper touched his forehead and he understood.
He huffed. “That’s like... something out of science fiction.”
“It is, yes.”
“So how will it work? Will there be a portal open all the time?”
“No. There will be a door keyed to your family and friends.”
Henry nodded. “Good. That’s more secure. But we can still come here at any time, right?”
“At any time.”
“Good, good-oh. Sam’s motorcycle is still outside.”
Cooper snapped his fingers. “It’s in the garage now.”
“Thanks.” Henry sighed. “Archangels and goddesses... y’know, this is a lot to get used to.”
“I’m a history teacher, and she’s my eccentric cousin. Just happens to be a little... handsy.”
“I HEARD THAT!” Kali called from the hallway.
Henry shook his head and laughed helplessly. “Yet another reason I can’t go back to ’58. No one would believe me.”
Cooper smiled. “So, are you about ready?”
“No-which is to say, ready as I’ll ever be.”
Cooper smiled. “Then go and let Carol make you some breakfast-THAT ISN’T STILL BREATHING-” A knife came through the wall and Cooper caught it, laughing. “... and I’ll make the ‘boom tubes.’”
Kali was still muttering dangerously in Sanskrit when Henry came out into the hall.
“Now I know you’re family,” he said. “You bicker, but it’s clear you hold fond affection.”
She looked at him through narrowed eyes for a moment, then chuckled. “I like you.”
“Thank you.” He followed her into the kitchen and sat down.
She quickly fixed him an Indian-style breakfast and waited while he ate.
“Done,” Cooper said as he walked in just as Henry was finishing.
And a second later Sam called, “Uh, hello?!”
“Down here!” Cooper called.
Henry jumped up and went back toward the command center to find Sam looking lost and Dean following him through a door that seemed to be a portal.
“Sam, what the hell are you-” Dean fussed but broke off when he noticed their location. “Where the hell are we?”
“Do you remember,” Henry said as he walked toward them, “I told you about the Men of Letters?” He spread his hands. “Welcome to their treasure trove.”
Both boys were looking around in a mixture of confusion and awe and not paying much attention to him. “So... this is what you were supposed to hide from Abaddon?” Sam asked.
“Yes.”
“Huh,” they both said at the same time.
“So how the hell did Bill get it in our basement?” Dean asked.
“Technically,” Cooper said, “I didn’t. You’re in another state right now. Teleportation. Go back through that door and you’ll be back in your home.”
“What state?”
“Kansas,” Henry replied.
“Goodbye.” Dean spun on his heel and started back toward the portal.
“Hey, hold on,” Cooper called.
Sam grabbed Dean by the collar and pulled him back, eliciting a squawk.
“What is this?” Henry asked.
“Dean swore he’d never go back to Lawrence,” Sam explained.
“Well, that’s good, cause this ain’t Lawrence,” Cooper said.
Dean shook off Sam’s hand and frowned. “It’s not? But Dad-”
“No, this is Kansas, but not all of Kansas is Lawrence.”
Dean rolled his eyes.
“This is Lebanon.”
Dean blinked. “Okay, random.”
Henry laughed. “The town. Where we are. Lebanon, Kansas.”
“So basically the middle of nowhere.”
“Literally. Yes.”
Sam huffed. “Dean, don’t you think we ought to at least take a minute and check it out?”
“All right.”
And that was when Sam spotted the library.
Dean watched, amused, as his little brother was drawn like a moth to a flame.
Henry followed, chuckling. “Here, let me show you around.”
They followed him and were introduced to what Henry had called their legacy. Sam was openly awed, and though Dean tried to feign disinterest, his eyes were sparkling. Henry guided them through it all. It took hours.
None of them realized it, though, until Daphne called Dean, wondering where he was.
“... Kansas,” he blurted out.
Her “WHAT?!” was audible to everyone.
“Bill set up some kind of... honey, come to the basement!” And he ran to get her.
“What in the world...” she gasped as she came through the portal.
“Lebanon, Kansas,” he said. “Look, honey-look at this.” He guided her to the library.
She gawped at it. “Sweet merciful heavens....”
Dean kissed her cheek and let her alone.
After she’d regained her composure, she said, “We’re going to need to put some kind of lock or password or something on that door. Can you imagine if the girls were to wander in here without us?”
“Consider it done,” Cooper smiled.
“Thanks, Bill.” She fanned herself. “Mankind. I haven’t seen this many rare books in one place since... ever.”
“This is why we couldn’t let it fall into the wrong hands,” Henry said. “But our hands... are the right ones.”
She looked at him suspiciously. “And by ‘our’ you mean?”
“Yours, Madam Librarian. Dean’s and Sam’s and our entire family’s.”
“Even though we’re hunters?”
He met her eyes. “Yes.”
She held his gaze a moment longer... and finally smiled.
Delighted, he smiled back.
Dean put an arm around her shoulders, but he looked at Henry when he said, “C’mon. Let’s go home.”
Chapter 3
The Road with Kali
After an entertaining (for Tricia) trip into Beaumont to get Henry some clothes and a shaving kit of his own, followed by a family dinner at John’s in which the boys did most of the talking and Daphne began to thaw toward Henry somewhat, Henry found himself about as ready as he could be to drive up to Illinois... on Sam’s motorcycle... with a Hindu goddess as his passenger.
His Men of Letters training had not even come close to preparing him for this.
“Worry not,” she said as she settled into the sidecar and strapped on a helmet. “I shall keep you perfectly safe.”
Henry stifled his qualms with a sigh. “Well, John said he trusts you. I suppose he knows you better than I do.”
“He does. And for his sake, I will tolerate the distrust.”
“I’m not a hunter,” he noted as he started the engine.
“Nor do I kill indiscriminately.”
“But you did help kill Abaddon... and I guess I owe you for that.”
“Of course. She was a creature of basest evil.”
He couldn’t disagree or think of anything else to say, so he lifted the kickstand and backed out of the driveway.
There was a small radio on the bike, but he left it off. Kali kept him entertained with wordless Eastern tunes. It was a long drive nonetheless, full of countless curiosities (“What the devil is a Smart Car?”) and shocks (the sheer volume of interstate traffic) and odd adventures (like finding diners that would serve burgers rare and a decent motel in the Ozarks when Kali admitted she’d never learned to drive).
The clerk offered them a single, and Kali glared at him. “Sir, I have very specific sleeping needs. I require a bed to myself.” The amused expression Henry gave at that convinced the clerk that these were married people with a little eccentricity, so he gave them a double. And somehow it didn’t surprise him at all when she settled into a meditative pose on top of the covers and completely ignored him as he got ready for bed.
The only thing he wanted to know was, “Would you prefer the light left on?”
“It makes no difference,” she replied without opening her eyes. “But humans prefer to sleep in the dark, do they not?”
“Yes. Thank you.” He turned out the light and rolled onto his side, arms crossed. Anyone who knew his grandsons would have recognized the oldest’s preferred sleeping posture a mile away. “Good night, Carol.”
“Good night, Henry,” she answered, sounding somewhat amused.
Despite everything, he was asleep in minutes. When a nightmare woke him some hours later, he glanced over to see her still sitting where she had been, but now with four arms extended and a weapon in each, and she was facing the window-on watch.
“Go back to sleep,” she ordered quietly. “It was only a dream.”
He thought of arguing, then realized he felt... safe. Protected. And he closed his eyes and tumbled back down.
He woke again with a start around 7 to find her licking blood from the fingers of one hand. She waved toward the table with her other hand on that side, indicating the continental breakfast waiting for him. “I have eaten,” she stated. “That is for you.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask what you’ve eaten,” he said, weaving his way to the bathroom.
“Only a demon.”
He yelped and finished quickly, racing back out. “What? When?”
“Half an hour ago. It was not looking for you.”
He relaxed, but only slightly. “Who was it looking for?”
“No one. Only trouble. It was newly come from Hell and wished to celebrate with a spot of torture.”
“The person it was possessing?”
“Was already dead. The mere shock of possession was too much.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
She smiled. “I told you I would keep you safe.”
He returned the smile and sat, eating his breakfast. Then he began to pack up.
Just then Kali’s phone rang. “What?” she answered sharply, then listened. “I see. I’ll tell him.” Then she hung up and looked at Henry. “It’s just as well that we stopped here. That was Bill. The angels have found that Larry Ganem survived the attack.”
“He survived? Let’s get to-”
“He’s not in Normal. He’s in Lebanon, Kansas.”
“Okay, so we go there.”
She pulled a map out of the air. “Pack. I’ll find the directions.”
He nodded and went back to work.
She hummed thoughtfully. “It seems we will have to pass through Lawrence.”
“Very well....”
“Should be of interest to you to see where your son was raised.”
“Just wish I could have been there.”
“Yes, well, wishes are neither horses nor motorcycles.”
He chuckled. “Okay, let’s roll.”
She cleared away the trash with a wave of her hand and was back to looking fully human by the time they checked out. The clerk smiled knowingly when they returned the key, but Kali mostly ignored him.
“All right,” Henry said as they settled themselves and their gear onto the motorcycle. “To Kansas.”
And suddenly the bike’s radio began to play, “Carry on, my wayward son...”
“What is that?” Henry asked as Kali began to laugh.
“A band called Kansas. That’s one of your grandsons’ favorite songs.”
So Henry listened as he drove. The music was much harder than the rock ’n’ roll he’d been used to in the late ’50s, but the words, cryptic as they were, gave him something to ponder. It seemed to speak of comfort, of rest.
He didn’t know if rest would be possible for him now, knowing what he knew, knowing the mistakes he’d made... but if it were, the surest way to find it was to complete the mission that had sent him to this year in the first place.
The drive was pleasant, and Kali turned out to be excellent company. The weather wasn’t even all that bad for mid-February. When they reached Lawrence later that day, though, Henry pulled the motorcycle into a gas station. It was going on fumes and making sputtering noises, so he figured it was time to get it something to drink.
Scarcely had he put the nozzle into the gas tank, however, when he heard, “Mercy goodness, Henry Winchester!”
He turned to see a heavy-set dark-skinned woman bustling toward them. “You have me at a disadvantage, uh...”
“Missouri Mosely, honey, and no, you don’t know me. I’m a friend of John’s. And I see he sent you with Ka-er, Carol here.”
Kali’s eyebrows rose. “You’re a seer!”
“Yes, ma’am, of a kind.”
“Henry, seers are very special, and always to be trusted if they are on our side. And if she is a friend of John’s....”
“Not just a friend,” Missouri said gravely, turning back to Henry. “I’m the one who told him the truth about what killed Mary-and don’t you blame yourself for that, now. That attack was designed to get you out of John’s life. You wouldn’t have lived through it anyhow; you know that.”
“I’m here now, Ma’am,” he said softly.
“That you are, and you’re doin’ the right thing. But you may not like what you’re about to find. You need to find it, don’t get me wrong. But there’s a reason they wanted you gone.”
“What would that be?” Kali asked.
Missouri hesitated. “I’ll just say everything went according to plan up until Dean decided he and Sam had had enough.”
“Yes, I’ve heard that before,” Kali said softly. “Would one child’s decision truly make that much of a difference?”
Missouri chuckled. “You know Cazadore.”
“I know Cazadore,” she agreed. “And I know Dean. I also know the forces they were against.”
“So you’ll understand if I say Sam was meant to run. To rebel. To reject everything John taught him. So yes, one child-the Righteous Man-his choice made all the difference.”
Henry licked his lips. “Sam was meant to be vulnerable.”
“I’d say suggestible. But there, you don’t need me to stand here and tell you what might have been!”
“I....It might help?” But it sounded weak to his own ears.
“Henry. That plan’s dealt with, it’s gone. Your boys are safe. You’ve got to deal with the here and now-including the fact that they still hunt when they can.”
“They... They were supposed to be legacies. Never hunters.”
“But someone didn’t want them to be legacies-especially Sam. You need to find out why. And then you need to work out just how you’ll fit with their life as it is, not the way you thought it should be.”
“How do we do that, Miss Missouri?”
She smiled a little and shook her head. “I ain’t a magician or a fortune-teller. I don’t know everything. But you go talk to your friend Larry. He can help you.”
“Thank you.”
“And Henry... I’ll tell you the same thing I’ve told John. You need me, you call.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She pressed something into his hand as she pulled him into a warm hug. “You can make this work, honey. You just need to try.” Then she was bustling back to her own car, waving goodbye.
Henry looked down at his hand to find a note with her phone number-wrapped around a $20 bill, and on the back was written, Jay Bird’s Diner, my treat.
They found that diner a short time later.
Missouri didn’t meet them there, but Kali got a far-away look in her eyes for a moment. “This was where they dated most.”
“John and his bride?”
“Yes. Especially when he came back from Vietnam. This was where he made up his mind to propose to her.”
Henry smiled.
“It’s only a shame she never told him she was a hunter.”
Henry’s head snapped up, eyes huge. “... SHE was a....”
“I believe you knew her father. Samuel Campbell.”
Henry snarled, eyes narrowing.
Kali put a hand on his wrist. “Henry. Samuel and Deanna were killed before John and Mary wed. Your grandsons didn’t know Samuel-until they were old enough to resist his biases.”
“They didn’t let him get away with anything?”
She chuckled. “It was one of the last attempts to salvage the plan. An angel had brought Samuel back to life and sent him to kill Sam. How do you think they reacted?”
“Did they run him through?”
“No, but only because Samuel had just enough of an open mind to judge on the basis of the evidence. Eventually he settled in Cazadore and died again of a heart attack last summer. I hear there was a lot of swearing when he first ran into John, though.”
Henry laughed.
“Mary wasn’t like her father, though. She wanted a normal civilian life. And she loved John and her sons more than life itself.”
“I would have liked to have met her.”
Kali just smiled like she had a secret and tucked into her barely-cooked burger.
“That smile makes me nervous.”
“No.” Her smile turned feral. “This smile should make you nervous.”
He shivered and looked down at his plate.
She chuckled. “Eat. We still have another four hours to drive.”
“Okay.”
As they left the diner half an hour later, Kali observed, “Stull is not far from here. What have the Men of Letters taught you about Stull?”
“There are legends, but it’s just that. Legends.”
She looked him in the eye. “To Westerners, I am a legend.”
“This is true. I’ve heard a hellmouth is in the cemetery.”
“Not just any hellmouth. It was there Michael and Lucifer were to have dueled to the death-while possessing Dean and Sam.”
His head snapped around. “I haven’t heard THAT detail!”
“That was why Missouri said Sam was to have been suggestible, so he could be groomed to be Lucifer’s vessel. But he rejected that path, thanks to Dean.”
Henry blew the air out of his cheeks. “Thank God for Dean.”
Kali’s only response was a wry smile.
“Now where?”
“Lebanon.”
He pointed the bike in that direction.
It was late when they finally reached the tiny town of Lebanon. “I hope Larry hasn’t gone to bed yet,” Henry said, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the street lights. “I’d hate to have to find a motel at this hour-or worse, someplace to camp.”
“Look, most of the lights are on.”
“Guess we’ll have to risk it.” With that, he turned in at the driveway she indicated and shut off the bike.
A tired looking woman opened the door. “... Henry!”
“Hi, Fannie. Sorry to drop in unannounced, but I didn’t have your number.”
“It’s been over fifty years....”
“I know. I’m so sorry. May we come in? Uh, this is... Carol Cooper. She’s a friend of my grandsons.”
Larry sat in the living room-blind and suspicious.
“Pax Christi tibi, Laurencius,” Henry said as he walked in.
Larry sucked in a breath. “Pax Christi tibi, Henricius... Carol, is it?”
“Namaste,” Kali replied.
His shoulders stiffened as he sat up straighter. “Namaste. You are Hindi.”
“And you have nothing to fear from me.”
“My dear, there is something to fear from everything.”
“Would that explain the quality of the warding on this house?”
“Absolutely.”
“Is it really the best you can do?”
Henry had known Kali just long enough to catch the derisiveness of her tone. He frowned, worried.
Larry didn’t understand what she was getting at, however. “It is necessary.”
“And yet it allowed Death’s daughter to pass without the slightest twinge. I know hunters who have done better.”
His sightless eyes widened. “Kali-Ma!”
“You old fool! You are fortunate that Abaddon chose to follow Henry. Loki, Michael, and I killed her.”
“Three pantheons... working together? That is... unprecedented.”
She smiled. “That’s Cazadore.”
“I’ve heard of that town.”
Henry finally dared to speak up. “That’s where my son is-you remember John. He and his sons and their families all live there.”
“That town is nothing but a myth. No hunters can work together the way they claim.”
“Larry, I’ve seen it. People wear anti-possession charms openly. There are wards everywhere. John told his boss that I was his father, and Mercer didn’t even flinch. And Loki teaches history at the high school!”
“You aren’t Henry. Henry would not accept this. You’re imposters!”
Henry responded with an Enochian password that only he and Larry knew. “Have Fannie test me with silver or salt if you want,” he continued. “But I am the man you gave that box to all those years ago.”
“Abaddon has infected you! She is...” Fannie injected him, and he wailed as he sagged in his chair.
“I’m sorry,” Fannie said. “His mind... it’s been gone for a while.”
Henry frowned, concerned. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Years of paranoia took its toll.”
“But... without him, how can I find out what I’m supposed to do with the box?”
Fannie frowned. “Box?”
Henry pulled the small brass box out of his pocket. “He gave me this and told me to keep it safe, but I don’t know what it is.”
“He used to tell me you had a key.”
“A key. Key to what?”
Fannie shook her head. “Key to everything the Men of Letters had collected. It’s somewhere close, but I don’t know anything else.”
Henry ran a hand over his mouth and looked at Kali.
She nodded. “Thank you, Mrs. Ganem. I hope you can find help.”
Fannie frowned. “But... begging your pardon, Mahakali... couldn’t you do something?”
“I?”
“You are a goddess.”
Kali walked over to Larry’s chair and bent over him. “Yes. But there are things I am prevented from doing. Even I must submit to the will of One Greater.”
Henry sighed. “Can you at least find out where we’re supposed to go?”
“That I can do.” She put her hand on his forehead. There was a small flash of light and then she frowned. “... Mrs. Ganem, please take him to a doctor that can scan him completely. This is not mere paranoia; there is something in his brain.”
Fannie gasped. “Like a tumor or something?”
“I can’t say. The doctor can tell. I am not a medical person.” She stood and turned her hand over, holding it out to Henry. “But I can do this.”
Co-ordinates stood out in relief on her palm.
Henry sighed in relief. “John was right. Thanks, Kali.”
They walked out, and as she settled into the sidecar, she said, “Yes, John was right. And we are close.”
“How close?” Henry asked as he started the engine.
“Less than fifty miles.”
He pulled the bike back onto the street and followed her directions to what looked like the middle of nowhere. There was just enough moonlight, however, that he could make out a door set into the side of the hill a few feet from where they’d stopped.
Kali walked up to it. “... my skin is tingling. Wards are embedded in the soil.”
“Guess that’s a good sign.” Henry pulled out the box, fumbled with it a moment, and finally got it open. “We have the door; we have the key...” He put the key into the lock, and it turned.
He heard the soft sound of unsheathing swords behind him. “I shall protect you,” Kali said.
“Um, thanks, but what I really need-” He pushed the door open to find the space beyond pitch black. “Is a flashlight.”
A finger tapped his shoulder and a hand reached around with a flashlight.
He chuckled. “Thanks.” Then he switched it on and headed inside. There he found a fuse box and activated the lights.
Directly in front of him was a balcony and a staircase that led down to a command center, complete with lighted map table and computer bank. But over to one side sat a small table that held a chess board, with a game in progress, cigarettes in the ash tray, and a coffee cup that, judging from the staining, had been abandoned half-drunk.
“What happened?” Henry breathed.
Kali shook her head, her weapons and extra arms gone. “My senses are dampened here. But I think they received a call warning them to come to Normal to confront Abaddon.”
“It’s... horrible.”
“They were too few. Too ill-prepared. Yet they thought they were ready.”
“We thought... hunters are below us. And yet... that’s what we needed.”
“Perhaps-though the hunter who then had the weapon you needed might not have been willing to aid you with it.”
“No. I suppose not.”
“You are fortunate that Dean has it now.”
“Yes. Very fortunate.” He sighed and began to dismantle the chess game.
She looked at him, head tilted. “Must you do that now?” Her tone was curious, not... well, not any more impatient than usual.
“What?”
“Clear away the game. I would have thought you wanted to see the library.”
“Library. Yes, I forgot. Forgive me.”
“There is nothing to forgive. I was simply confused. But come.” She pointed toward a large open doorway.
He followed her and gasped when he walked into the place.
She went over to one of the short bookcases. “Many of these books have been thought lost for centuries.”
“This....This was thought lost in the Alexandria fire!”
“And this... Parvati dictated this one herself.”
“These are... amazing.” He smiled warmly. “Absolutely amazing!”
“Amazing, yes. Yet incomplete.”
“So somewhere in here is what I was never meant to see.”
“Perhaps. In this bunker, certainly, but....” She walked over to one of the walls and ran multiple hands over it.
He waited, trusting her now.
She muttered something under her breath until-“AH!” she cried in satisfaction as a secret panel moved aside to reveal a safe.
“A safe...” he breathed.
“You will have to open it, I think. It’s heavily warded.”
He walked over and studied it carefully. Then he put his hand on the dial... and it spun of its own accord. He gasped. One by one, the tumblers clicked into place, and the door popped open. As soon as he got over his shock, he pulled out several sheets of parchment.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I... don’t know yet.”
She pointed toward the tables in the middle of the room. “Let’s sit.”
He gave her some of the papers and settled in to read.
The papers Henry was looking at were all in Latin, charters and the like, documenting the founding of the Men of Letters by lay Dominicans who had studied under Albertus Magnus with St. Thomas Aquinas.
But Kali was stymied. “This is a language I do not know,” she finally admitted, handing the pages back to him.
“It’s Latin.”
“The beginning is. But here-‘Þa sweord engles Michael’...”
“The sword of the angel Michael.”
“You can read this?”
“Yes. It’s English.”
She frowned. “No, it isn’t. I’ve known English since the British first invaded India.”
“This is Middle English-perhaps a few words in Old.”
“But it speaks of Michael’s sword-that’s Dean.”
He hissed and read the next passage out loud. “The sword of the angel Michael and the vessel of Lucifer shall arise from the... noble house of Winchester....” He ran a hand over his mouth and nose, his voice trembling as he read on. “And the first seal shall be that the righteous man shed blood in Hell. As he breaks, so shall it break. The last s-shall be the blood of Lucifer’s first. In the west shall Lucifer rise and claim his vessel, and above the mouth of Hell shall Michael take up his sword and s-s-slay his b-brother....” He broke off, shaking. “No. N-No... No.”
Kali put one hand on each of his wrists and another on each of his shoulders. “Henry. It can’t happen now. Not like this.”
“... it... can’t?”
“No. Hell’s claim on Sam has been broken and cannot be restored. And Cazadore has seen to the rest.”
“This... prophecy... has been thwarted.”
“It has-because it was never Yahweh’s plan. Only Lucifer’s.”
“And thus... thwartable.” Henry began to smile.
She smiled back slightly. “Yes.” Then she moved one hand to tap the parchment. “But you see why certain powers wanted to ensure John never learned of this.”
“Because he would have done everything he could to stop it.”
“Including marrying someone other than Mary Campbell.”
“Or if he had been a blind devotee to this cause....”
She shook her head. “We can’t know. But as it was, he did marry the right woman, pursue the right path after she was killed, and let his fear for his sons’ safety blind him to the way he was hurting them.”
“And then, somehow, Dean broke the cycle. Derailed the prophecy.”
“Because he loved his brother.”
“Who was not a monster, no matter what this says.”
“No. Was not and is not. His soul is Yahweh’s, and so is Dean’s.”
Henry smiled. “This shall never come to pass.”
“Thanks to Dean.”
“Thanks to Dean.” He sighed. “Should I destroy this?”
“No. Put it back with the others... and let it serve as a reminder that not even the Men of Letters could know everything.”
Henry nodded. “Humility. I like that.”
“Although... perhaps you might add a post-script?”
“Telling what truly happened?”
“In as much, or as little, detail as you like. None but your line can open that safe in any case.”
Henry gathered up parchment and ink and sat down again, beginning to write.
Kali left him to it, wandering through the library and trying out a few of the swords that were on display.
One full hour later, Henry was finished.
“It’s after midnight,” she observed as he shook pounce over the ink to dry it. “Perhaps you should try to rest.”
“Okay.” It was a measure of how tired he was that he didn’t argue.
He put the parchments back into the safe, which closed on its own, as did the secret panel. Then Kali led him to a hall where there were some bedrooms and ushered him into one.
He collapsed into the bed and got a weird mental image of weapons on the wall, vinyl records in a stack on the dresser and a blonde woman’s picture propped up against the lamp. Then his eyes closed and he knew no more.
Sensing a presence woke Henry up. It was a bit of a shock to find Bill Cooper sitting at the end of his bed. “How the blazes did you get in here?” he asked, his voice hoarse with sleep.
Cooper shrugged. “Carol invited me.”
“But... why?”
“We are going to gift this bunker to Cazadore.”
That was a real shock, and Henry sat bolt upright. “You’re-how?!”
“We can create a wormhole tunnel.”
“A... a what?”
Cooper touched his forehead and he understood.
He huffed. “That’s like... something out of science fiction.”
“It is, yes.”
“So how will it work? Will there be a portal open all the time?”
“No. There will be a door keyed to your family and friends.”
Henry nodded. “Good. That’s more secure. But we can still come here at any time, right?”
“At any time.”
“Good, good-oh. Sam’s motorcycle is still outside.”
Cooper snapped his fingers. “It’s in the garage now.”
“Thanks.” Henry sighed. “Archangels and goddesses... y’know, this is a lot to get used to.”
“I’m a history teacher, and she’s my eccentric cousin. Just happens to be a little... handsy.”
“I HEARD THAT!” Kali called from the hallway.
Henry shook his head and laughed helplessly. “Yet another reason I can’t go back to ’58. No one would believe me.”
Cooper smiled. “So, are you about ready?”
“No-which is to say, ready as I’ll ever be.”
Cooper smiled. “Then go and let Carol make you some breakfast-THAT ISN’T STILL BREATHING-” A knife came through the wall and Cooper caught it, laughing. “... and I’ll make the ‘boom tubes.’”
Kali was still muttering dangerously in Sanskrit when Henry came out into the hall.
“Now I know you’re family,” he said. “You bicker, but it’s clear you hold fond affection.”
She looked at him through narrowed eyes for a moment, then chuckled. “I like you.”
“Thank you.” He followed her into the kitchen and sat down.
She quickly fixed him an Indian-style breakfast and waited while he ate.
“Done,” Cooper said as he walked in just as Henry was finishing.
And a second later Sam called, “Uh, hello?!”
“Down here!” Cooper called.
Henry jumped up and went back toward the command center to find Sam looking lost and Dean following him through a door that seemed to be a portal.
“Sam, what the hell are you-” Dean fussed but broke off when he noticed their location. “Where the hell are we?”
“Do you remember,” Henry said as he walked toward them, “I told you about the Men of Letters?” He spread his hands. “Welcome to their treasure trove.”
Both boys were looking around in a mixture of confusion and awe and not paying much attention to him. “So... this is what you were supposed to hide from Abaddon?” Sam asked.
“Yes.”
“Huh,” they both said at the same time.
“So how the hell did Bill get it in our basement?” Dean asked.
“Technically,” Cooper said, “I didn’t. You’re in another state right now. Teleportation. Go back through that door and you’ll be back in your home.”
“What state?”
“Kansas,” Henry replied.
“Goodbye.” Dean spun on his heel and started back toward the portal.
“Hey, hold on,” Cooper called.
Sam grabbed Dean by the collar and pulled him back, eliciting a squawk.
“What is this?” Henry asked.
“Dean swore he’d never go back to Lawrence,” Sam explained.
“Well, that’s good, cause this ain’t Lawrence,” Cooper said.
Dean shook off Sam’s hand and frowned. “It’s not? But Dad-”
“No, this is Kansas, but not all of Kansas is Lawrence.”
Dean rolled his eyes.
“This is Lebanon.”
Dean blinked. “Okay, random.”
Henry laughed. “The town. Where we are. Lebanon, Kansas.”
“So basically the middle of nowhere.”
“Literally. Yes.”
Sam huffed. “Dean, don’t you think we ought to at least take a minute and check it out?”
“All right.”
And that was when Sam spotted the library.
Dean watched, amused, as his little brother was drawn like a moth to a flame.
Henry followed, chuckling. “Here, let me show you around.”
They followed him and were introduced to what Henry had called their legacy. Sam was openly awed, and though Dean tried to feign disinterest, his eyes were sparkling. Henry guided them through it all. It took hours.
None of them realized it, though, until Daphne called Dean, wondering where he was.
“... Kansas,” he blurted out.
Her “WHAT?!” was audible to everyone.
“Bill set up some kind of... honey, come to the basement!” And he ran to get her.
“What in the world...” she gasped as she came through the portal.
“Lebanon, Kansas,” he said. “Look, honey-look at this.” He guided her to the library.
She gawped at it. “Sweet merciful heavens....”
Dean kissed her cheek and let her alone.
After she’d regained her composure, she said, “We’re going to need to put some kind of lock or password or something on that door. Can you imagine if the girls were to wander in here without us?”
“Consider it done,” Cooper smiled.
“Thanks, Bill.” She fanned herself. “Mankind. I haven’t seen this many rare books in one place since... ever.”
“This is why we couldn’t let it fall into the wrong hands,” Henry said. “But our hands... are the right ones.”
She looked at him suspiciously. “And by ‘our’ you mean?”
“Yours, Madam Librarian. Dean’s and Sam’s and our entire family’s.”
“Even though we’re hunters?”
He met her eyes. “Yes.”
She held his gaze a moment longer... and finally smiled.
Delighted, he smiled back.
Dean put an arm around her shoulders, but he looked at Henry when he said, “C’mon. Let’s go home.”