Ch. 20

One week.

It had been seven long days since Dean or Sam had heard anything from Percy Jackson; the guy who was supposed to be helping them avoid Michael and Lucifer and help them prevent the apocalypse from being unleashed. The guy showed up to stop them from being eaten by his apparent monster half-sister and saved Sam and then disappeared off the face of the earth. No amount of prayers or calls worked.

It wasn't that he wasn't answering Dean's prayers that worried the two Winchester brothers, it was that Castiel and Balthazar had shown up a couple days earlier looking for him only to reveal they hadn't seen him in as long either. The same went for Anna. Neither angel had seen or heard from either since they left on a little mission only to not be seen again.

Percy had vanished and seemed to be making a point of not being able to be found by anyone.

Despite the less than stellar situation the two Winchesters were in, they were not going to sit on their asses and wait for the apocalypse to start before they did something about it.

They were about thirty minutes outside of the small town of River Pass, Colorado. Bobby had gotten a call from his old hunting partner, Rufus Turner, about a demon infestation that was currently enveloping the small town. They weren't exactly sure this was where they should be going considering the APB out on them for all demons, but without some kind of guidance from Percy, they decided it was about the only thing to do at the moment.

As Dean pulled the Impala up to the town line and around the corner he slammed on the brakes, barely stopping the car as they came up to a small bridge that looked like a bomb had gone off on it. The two brothers got out of the car and got a closer look at the remains of the bridge.

"What happened?" Sam asked more to himself than anyone else.

Dean just shook his head as he looked around for a cause of the collapse but found nothing. It looked like the bridge just kind of imploded on itself. He glanced at the river to see it dirty and polluted, even more so than from the mere destruction of the bridge into its waters.

"So what do you want to do?" Sam asked looking at his brother.

Dean was silent for minute as he looked at the wreckage of the bridge and then beyond it where the city wasn't more than one hundred yards behind it.

Without a word he retreated back to the Impala and opened up the trunk, revealing his small arsenal of monster hunting weapons. He grabbed two sawed off shotguns and tossed one to Sam along with a handful of rounds before he loaded up the pockets of his leather jacket as well. He grabbed a few small miscellaneous items including Ruby's knife and shut the trunk.

"We'll walk into town and see what we can do. Bobby said Rufus is in there with Ellen and Jo. We'll figure out exactly what's going on and then make a plan from there." Dean said quickly to which Sam nodded.

Dean put a hand on the roof of the Impala, "I'll be back for you girl, just hold tight."

Sam shook his head at his brother's antics before they both took off towards the bridge, hopping across the wreckage until they reached the other side. Dean put a couple rounds in the shotgun as he and Sam carefully made their way into the small town watchful for any sign of demons.

They made it inside the town without seeing a sign of anything, human or demon. But the minute they stepped onto Main Street, the sound of gunfire to their left made them both dive for cover as more and more rounds went off, some aimed for them and other aimed across the street.

The two brothers dove behind a large metal dumpster before Dean peaked out from behind to see they had unknowingly walked straight into the middle of a gun fight; both sides armed with assault rifles and entrenched in buildings on opposite sides of the street. Dean looked a little closer to see one of the gunmen was an older looking African American man making his eyes widen.

"Rufus is in that building across the street." He hissed into Sam's ear. "Go around and find out what is going on. I'll slip into this building and ambush the demons."

Sam looked a little unsure but one glance at his brother's expression told him it wasn't open for discussion.

He nodded and slipped out from behind the dumpster before taking a long path to the other side of the street, one that had cover for him the entire way.

Dean watched his brother until he was out of sight before he too left the cover of the dumpster and slipped back into the alley where he made his way to a side door. His shotgun was gripped in one hand as he checked the handle which he was pleased to find was unlocked. He slipped inside silently as made his way down a hall and towards the stair at the end and towards where he could hear the gunfire originating from.

Dean crept up behind the closest demon which was in a side room by herself before he placed the barrel of the shotgun to the back of her head.

"Move one inch and I'll scatter your brains all over this building hell-bitch."

The demon froze up and didn't reply right away, almost as if it were thinking about how to respond.

"Dean?"

Dean's eyes widened as he recognized the voice.

"Ellen?"

"Yes it's me you dumbass. Now lower that gun before I kick your ass clear across town." She growled.

Dean's eyes widened but he kept the gun leveled at the back of her head. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flask which he unscrewed with his mouth before dumping the contents on Ellen's head.

Dean paled a little when he heard growling coming from in front of him and it was not the sound that a demon being doused in holy water would be making.

"You better have a damn good reason for that or so help me..." Ellen hissed leaving Dean to fill in the blanks as he finally lowered his shotgun.

"I thought you were a demon... What are you doing? Why are you in the middle of a street fight?"

"Well I was in the middle of trying to kill a few demons before we got overrun until you showed up." She growled back.

Dean looked at her strangely, "What do you mean, Rufus is over there?"

Ellen's face turned to one of the confusion, "No. Rufus is on the other side of town. I got separated from him and Jo a couple hours ago."

Before Dean could speak again, someone ran into the room, immediately pointing the assault rifle in their hand at Dean.

"Stop. He's with me. He's come to help." Ellen said quickly to the man who tentatively lowered the rifle.

"The demons retreated. It looks like we're safe, for now anyway." The man said.

Ellen nodded, "Get everyone back down to the basement. We'll figure out our next move there."

The man gave a stiff nod and left Ellen and Dean alone again in the room.

"Ellen what the hell is even going on here?"

She just shook her head, "We came to help Rufus but the minute we met up with him, we were under attack. That's when we got separated. I end up running into this group holed up in the basement."

She noticed the look of nervousness of Dean's face, "Dean, what is it?"

"Sam, I sent him to find Rufus... to the other building."

-x-

Sam crept his way towards the other side of the street. Dean had disappeared from view, ducking into the building to ambush the demons. Sam cursed his brother's recklessness. It was clear that no matter what he said, he still didn't trust Sam. Not that he could really blame his brother, this entire situation was pretty much his fault. He had been the one who had chosen to go with Ruby over his own flesh and blood and that ended up in the Devil being freed and the apocalypse being jumpstarted. But if they wanted to make any progress on this impossible task of stopping the world from ending, they needed to work together and that meant Dean needed to do whatever it is he had to in order to trust him again.

He found a side door to the building they had seen Rufus in as he silently slipped inside. He walked in a few feet and was about to call out for Rufus when the butt of a rifle slammed into the back of his head, sending the younger Winchester to the ground in a motionless heap.

The next thing he knew, Sam found himself chained to a chair. His vision slowly began to clear as he looked around, his eyes widening when he saw Rufus and Jo, both looking at him like he was the scum of the earth.

"Guys, what the hell is this?" He said tugging on the chains.

Rufus stepped closer to him, Sam's eyes widening when he saw his pure black eyes.

"You're not going anywhere, I did those up myself. I've got you right where I want you, you evil son of a bitch."

Sam just looked confused but before he could speak, he was backhanded hard across the face before being doused in water.

Jo stepped back, looking perplexed by Sam's non-reaction to the holy water.

Before Sam could even speak though, Rufus grabbed hold of his chin, pulling his head back and forcing him to open his mouth.

"Wait!" Sam pleaded. "Just wait a minute."

In response, Jo began pouring salt into his mouth and down his throat and he coughed and choked violently.

Rufus began chanting an exorcism ritual in Latin while Sam continued coughing, trying to clear his airways. After a minute, Jo poured more holy water down his throat but this only help to clear his airways as he caught his breath.

"Just wait, come on." Sam pleaded. "Something is not right, you can see that."

Jo grabbed Rufus' arm and pulled his back a few feet.

"Why isn't it working?"

Rufus looked just as confused as she did. Something wasn't right, he just couldn't figure out what it was.

Sam watched them closely, hoping they would figure out what was going on. Movement in the corner of his eye brought his attention to the door where a middle aged man stood watching the scene with interest. His hand went to his finger where he twisted a ring.

Sam wasn't really sure who this guy was or what the hell this was about but he opened his mouth to speak when Rufus spun around and slugged his across the face again.

"I don't know why it didn't work but he's not as strong as he thinks. We'll get it out of Sam, if it's the last thing we do."

-x-

Dean followed Ellen towards the basement; they walked in silence until Dean broke it.

"So, you're hunting with Jo now? I thought you didn't want her hunting?"

Ellen stopped as they reached the basement doors.

"I can't stop her, she's an adult now."

Dean nodded, "So, you'd rather be with her so you can watch her?"

Ellen narrowed her eyes, "Is there a problem with that? After she vanished when she was taken by your little angel buddies, I thought it'd be better to keep her close."

Dean's face lost a little color as he thought about that and also what they did after Percy had gotten them out of there. He had no doubt Ellen would relieve him of an important appendage if she ever found out about that night.

"No," Dean quickly said pushing that thought from his mind. "That makes sense."

Ellen's eyes stayed narrowed, "She never did tell me the full story with that. What happened?"

Dean's eyes widened a little but he quickly caught himself, "That dick Zachariah was trying to force me to say yes by threatening Jo until Percy showed up, kicked his ass a bit and got Jo and I the hell out of there."

"And it took him a day to get to you two?"

"Time ran differently wherever it was he had us. That's how Percy explained it anyway." Dean replied hastily.

Ellen eyed him for a moment before she nodded, "Where is your little angel friend anyway? We could sure use his help here."

"Missing in action," Dean said dejectedly, "haven't heard from him in a couple weeks. We've been trying but nothing. Cas can't find him either. It's like he vanished from the planet."

"You don't think..." Ellen asked cautiously.

"No." Dean said abruptly. "He knows how to take care of himself. He's laying low and I'm sure he's got a good reason to do it. He'll come around when we need him, he always does."

Ellen looked unsure but nodded as she opened the doors to the basement where Dean found around twenty people, a mix of men, women and children; all looked nervous and scared while some held guns, everything from handguns to assault rifles.

"What is this?" He asked looking around the room.

Ellen sighed, "This is what I found when I got here. They've been holed up here for a couple days."

"We need to get these people out of here."

Ellen shook her head, "Already tried that; there used to be more but we were cut off by the demons."

"Demons?" Dean asked looking at an elderly man with a bandaged up gunshot wound. "Using guns?"

She just held up her hands showing she had no explanation for that.

"Something doesn't add up here. Demons don't use guns, they don't have to."

Before he could ask more, pounding at the door sent everyone in the room into an alarmed state.

"Let me in, it's me, Roger." The voice from the other side of the door said.

A younger guy went to the door, checking the peephole before opening. A middle aged man stormed into the room, a look of panic on his face.

"I saw them. They're coming for us. Right now." He said frantically.

"What do you mean said? How exactly do you know that? And where did you even come from?" Dean asked a little suspiciously.

The man turned, looking at Dean confused as his hand drifted to his finger, touching it before he backed up looking panicked.

"Demons! They're demons!" He yelled pointing at Dean and Ellen.

Ellen looked at the other people in the room but before she could even get a word out, they began screaming and scrambling to load their weapons. She grabbed Dean's arm as they made a mad dash for the door, the sounds of gun being cocked in the background quickening the pace of their fleeing.

The two barely made it out the door as gunfire followed in their wake, debris from the doors landing behind them as they made a beeline for the street.

-x-

After several minutes of failed exorcisms and Sam being forced to take heavy amounts of salt and holy water being shoved down his throat, Rufus and Jo seemed to have given up, walking out utterly confused about the whole situation and why Sam was immune to everything they tried.

As the youngest Winchester sat still chained to his chair inside a devil's trap, the middle aged man he had seen in the doorway reappeared, watching him with an amused expression.

"Who are you?" Sam growled. "Or what are you?"

The man stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him as he did. He grabbed a chair and spun it around before sitting on it backwards as he rested his arms on the backrest and continued watching Sam with amusement.

"Haven't figured it out yet? Well, I'll give you a hint Sammy boy." The man said enjoying his mockery of the hunter immensely. "I was recently in Sudan. Before that, I was in Europe back in the 1930's and 1940's. I have three brothers I'm waiting to hook up with before we have an awesome time."

Sam's eyes widened a little, "I know who you are. You're War."

The man grinned, "Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner."

Sam scowled, "There aren't any demons in this town, are there? You're tricking them; turning the people on each other."

War shrugged nonchalantly. "Really, you're doing this to yourselves. I really haven't done much, just knocked out a bridge here, add a little hallucination there, and then sit back with a little popcorn and enjoy the show."

"You're making them see demons! You're doing this to them." Sam spat back.

War rolled his eyes, "I've hardly done anything besides give a little nudge in the right direction. I'm Jell-O shots at a party; just lowering inhibitions and letting your true natures come out. You really are vicious little animals."

Sam glared at the Horseman. "I'm going to kill you."

War laughed to himself, "Now that I would like to see. I'm a Horseman Sam, you can't kill me. Now, I think it's time for me to get moving on. This show has almost run its course and I've got some more business to attend to."

Sam looked confused as War stood up, kicking his chair across the room before he twisted his ring, blood starting to drip down from his head as he threw himself to the ground screaming. A few seconds later Rufus barged into the room as War pointed at Sam with a terrified expression.

"He did it! He said they're coming for us right now!"

Rufus turned to Sam, his own eyes looking black as night before he took the rifle in his hands and slammed the butt of it into the side of Sam's head knocking him unconscious yet again.

-x-

Dean and Ellen kept running until they had put the building far behind them. They ran almost clear across town before they stopped, crouching down to rest behind a vehicle that had been flipped over.

"What the hell was that?" Ellen asked catching her breath.

Dean just shook his head, unsure what was going on in this town.

"Psssss."

Dean nearly jumped out of his skin. Ellen pulled out a gun and pointed it behind Dean before she was suddenly thrown back against the car, the gun falling out of her hand in the process.

Dean spun around with his own gun only to be slapped hard across the face. When he looked up, he froze.

"Zoë?"

Said demon just rolled her eyes, "No, it's God."

Dean shook his head, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for Percy of course. I haven't seen him in almost a week."

Dean's eyes widened, "What? Where has he been?"

Zoë shrugged, "I'll leave that for him to tell you. I thought he'd be lingering around you and Sam considering the little bromance the two of you seem to have."

"Is he here?"

Zoë didn't answer right away. Her eyes went to Ellen who was still pinned against the car.

"Are you calm now?"

Ellen narrowed her eyes, "Dean, why are you buddy buddy with this hell bitch?"

Dean looked a little nervously at Zoë but she seemed undisturbed by the insult.

"She's different. She's with Percy. It's... it's uh... complicated. But just relax Ellen, she's not against us."

Ellen looked unconvinced.

"She'd also kill you before you reached that gun again so if you don't want to take my word for it then you can chalk it up to self-preservation."

Ellen glared at the demon for another minute before she grudgingly nodded, "I'm calm."

"Good." Zoe said releasing her before turning back to Dean. "Have you figured out what's going on here?"

Dean looked at her questioningly, "You know?"

"Of course, it should have been simple; a little rusty on your Revelations, Dean?" She asked with an eyebrow raised and a little amusement.

"What?"

"And there fell a great star from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell upon the river, and the name of the star was Wormwood. And many men died. Revelations Eight Ten." Zoe recited from memory. "You should have looked at the omens before charging in here half-cocked."

"Wait, what does this mean?" Ellen asked speaking up.

"They are the omens that prelude the coming of the Four Horsemen. And judging from that red Mustang parked out on Main Street, I'd say you're dealing with War."

Dean looked at the wife of Percy Jackson warily, "What can we do? I mean, we can't kill a Horseman, can we?"

Zoë shrugged her shoulders again, "Kill him? Probably not, but neutralize him, yes you can. You need only figure out the way."

Before Dean could say anymore, Zoë vanished, no trace of her having been there at all.

"Well that was helpful." Ellen said dryly. "I expect you'll explain the demon friendship thing later, correct?"

Dean nodded, "Later. Right now, we need to get to Sammy. If they think he's a demon, who knows what they're going to him."

Ellen didn't argue as they abandoned their little hiding spot and made their way closer to the only building with any signs of life in it. The chimney smoked showing that someone was indeed there.

Dean made his way silently up the steps. He peered in the window before ducking away so as not to be seen. After a minute, he looked inside again where he noticed the trip wire strung up in the window, set to blow away anyone trying to get in that way. He stepped back to the steps where Ellen hid in the bushes. He looked around for a minute before plucking a brick up that lined the garden next to the home. Ellen looked at him confused but he just hurled it into the widow setting off a huge explosion that shattered any other window within fifteen feet of the bomb.

Dean snuck up, hiding to the left of the window as he waited. Rufus came running up to see who set off the explosion when he was grabbed roughly and dragged through the window where Dean pinned him to the ground.

"Hold up Rufus, I'm not what you think."

Rufus struggled as Dean tried to hold him down. He managed to slip out from under Dean and hit him with a hard right hook. Dean fell back slightly dazed as Rufus climbed back to his feet preparing to attack again.

Dean ducked under another punch and wrapped his arms around Rufus, throwing him to the ground.

"Damn it Rufus! Stop and think about this; the omens, it's War!"

Rufus threw a hard right into Dean's gut making him turtle.

"Damn right it is!" He growled pulling out a knife that he swung at Dean's midsection. Dean blocked, smacking Rufus' forearm with his fist before he turned, kicking the elder hunter in the side of the leg and grabbing him in a headlock.

"The Horseman, Rufus! It's the Horseman, War! He's turning us against each other; there are no demons in town."

Rufus' struggling slowed a little, "What?"

"You're hallucinating."

His struggling stopped, "I am?" He asked as he watched Dean's black eyes slowly turn back normal. "And did you figure this out by yourself, genius?"

Dean rolled his eyes and pulled Rufus to his feet, "You okay now? We need to stop these people before they rip each other apart."

Rufus slowly nodded.

"Where's Sam?"

"Upstairs, chained to a chair. We thought he was possessed."

Dean opened the door and came face to face with a handgun.

"Are we all on the same page?" Ellen asked looking more at Rufus.

Dean nodded and ran upstairs while the other three froze when they heard multiple gunshots.

"We need to stop them before they kill each other." Rufus said as he took off into the house with the two girls hot on his trail.

Dean burst through the door to find a bloody and battered but otherwise fine Sam still tied up.

"Dean, it's War."

"I know, I just don't know how he's doing it." He replied cutting his brother free of his binds.

"I think it's the ring. He twisted it right before Rufus turned angry and knocked me out."

Dean's eyes widened as he remembered Roger twisting his ring before the entire room turned on him and Ellen.

"Come on," Dean urged pulling his brother up. "We need to find him before these people tear each other to pieces."

The two Winchesters managed to make their way through the slowly dwindling gunfire and out to the street where they quickly found Main Street.

Fifty yards up, the saw War making his way towards the Cherry Mustang parked on the sidewalk. Both took off to run after him when a familiar looking black Impala came skidding around the corner, slamming straight into War and sending him toppling over the vehicle and onto the ground.

"My baby," Dean said in disbelief.

They sprinted down the street where the Impala stood now idling a few yards away from where War was picking himself up, his broken leg making it a difficult task.

Dean pinned the Horseman down with a knee to the back.

War began to laugh, "Alright, alright you've got me. Now, you don't really intend to try and kill me with that little pig poker." He said looking at the knife in Sam's hand.

Before he could react, Sam pinned his arm down with a foot, grabbing his hand and cutting off the finger with the ring on it before the Horseman could even figure out what they were doing.

War let out a short scream before he simply vanished the second the ring was cut from his finger.

Dean looked up, confused how his car was even here or who was driving it. Before he could say anything, a familiar individual poked his head out the window.

"I'd hold on to that ring if I were you. Never know when it might come in handy."

"Percy?" Dean asked shocked.

Said archangel just winked as he vanished, the light sound of wings flapping the only hint of his departure.

Dean reached down and pulled the ring off the bloody finger, looking at it closely for a minute.

"What was that about?" Sam asked looking at the place Percy had vanished from with a confused expression.

Dean slowly shook his head, "I don't know. He seems almost spooked."

Sam raised an eyebrow, "What could make an archangel scared to linger in one place for too long?"

Dean tucked the ring in his pocket and looked at his brother seriously, "I don't know but whatever it is, I'm pretty sure I don't want to find out."

A/N

Okay, so this isn't the story I intended as my newest, but it's better. That other one will be put on hold while I'm on this one and Seven Kingdoms of America. The next chapter and onward will be written by me, so far it has been all by Anaklusmos14. Hope I can make just as good chapters.