Part 3 - Because it really did just keep going - Objects in Mirror
Title: Objects in Mirror – SPN fanfic
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Part 3
Rating: PG-13 Language, err…off screen deaths (it helps keep things in budget), off screen sex (sorry)
Spoilers: Occurs sometime after Dead in the Water. Vaguely. Since this is a Crossover with a book most of you probably haven’t read “Requiem for the Devil” (great book BTW) I suppose there are spoilers for that, although it’s all fairly self explanatory
Description: Gen story, structured like an episode. I wanted to cross Bob, a character from Requiem, and Azariah, a err., um character from the Book of Tobit. So I did. The boys hunt down something that’s eating people in a small college town in Arizona. Vague enough?
Disclaimer: I own none of it. Oh, well.
~~~~~
Sluggo's Coffee
On a long and lonesome highway, east of omaha. / You can listen to the engine moaning out it’s one lone song / you can think about woman, or the girl you knew the night before, /But your thoughts will soon be wandering, the way they always do.
Place was packed with students. Entry point was crap. Big long narrow hallway. One entire wall was windows looking out over the square outside. Place'd be the first to go in a zombie attack. At least everyone would die well caffeinated. There were about a zillion choices.
Dean glanced over at where Sammy was camped out at a tiny table, his back to the windows. Sammy, Sammy, Sammy. His coffee was probably even cold.
Dean ordered some coffee with a funky name for himself and a half calf decaf vanilla something coffee for Sammy. He was starving, so he got some blueberry muffins. Dean hoped they were less healthy than the little 'All Natural Sign' seemed to say they were.
Dean walked over to where Sammy was sitting with the coffee and muffins.
He smiled at the chick at the next table as he walked around. She had on this tight little t-shirt that said, "Good kitty gone bad." and she definitely had something under the hood. She smiled at him and looked away. Glanced back again. Dean smiled at her. Never hurt to do some ground work. Life's fast and then you're somewhere else.
Sam was scowling at the laptop. Muttering. Took the coffee. Almost took a sip and then put it down without drinking anything. Scowled some more. Typed and clicked, click, click. Dean said, "You've been at that for a while. Got anything on Junior?"
"I've tried every combination of search terms I can think of." Sam was taking this a little personally. Sam said, "I've tried Lucretia Codex. Cat headed butterflies. Aztec Lucretia obsidian. Stone butterflies. Obsidian butterflies. All I'm getting are Laurel Hamilton links."
Dean shook his head. "So, what you're saying is you've lost your mojo college boy, while I am still just full of mojo."
Sam didn't bite. He got that look that said Google would be his bitch. "I'm sure if I just keep trying, I'll find it."
The woman looked at Dean again. Chewed on her rather nice lower lip. Wrote something on a piece of paper and stood up. Excellent. He liked it when they gave him their number without asking. Showed enthusiasm. Dean liked enthusiasm. And flexibility. Enthusiasm and flexibility.
She walked over to them. She smiled kinda good kitty shy. She said, "Umm...I wouldn't normally do this, but...um here."
Sam rolled his eyes and said, "Dean I don't believe you."
Dean looked at the paper. It wasn't a phone number. Unless her parents were really cruel, it wasn't her name.
She said, "Umm...I couldn't help but overhear your conversation and your friend's been, um, muttering.." She stuck her hands in her pockets. "And well, the word you're looking for is Mixlitpoca. And the Aztec butterflies have a jaguar head, not a cat head."
Sam just stared at her. Dean kicked him under the table and said, "Thanks. I don't know how much you overheard, but my brother and I, we're just talking."
The woman shook her head, "It doesn't matter. I uh...the only reason I know is I'm writing a novel and, I've been doing some research. Well, umm, actually, if you don't mind wading through Elizabeth quotes and bits about 16th century artillery, I could just send you my notes." she shrugged in a really nice way. Good kitty. Bad kitty. Send me your email.
Sam said, "Um, thanks." and clearly too much thinking was going on.
Dean said, "Yeah. Thanks. That'd be great."
The chick laughed, "Seriously, I wouldn't do this normally but...whatever. What's your email address?"
The universe was working the way it was supposed to. Dean scribbled his address on a scrap of paper and handed it to her.
She smiled and went back to her computer, clicked a few things and then called over, "I sent it. You should get it in a moment." Then, she packed up her stuff. Waved and left the cafe.
Sam said, "Okay, that was weird."
Dean spun the computer around and logged into his email. "What do you mean?"
"I mean we're sitting in one of a half dozen internet cafes on campus and we sit next to the one person who has exactly the information we need. Don't you find that suspicious?" Great. Sammy had that sitcom family lecture look. Blah, blah. Normal dad's don't teach their sons to throw knives; they play catch. Blah, blah. Problems should be solved in twenty minutes. Blah. Blah. Boring.
"Uh, no." Dean refreshed the screen for incoming mail. " If we walk up to a house, the neighbor will be standing there waiting to give us the town dirt. If we call one of Dad's contacts, then that's exactly the guy we should have called. And if we sit in an internet cafe, the person who sits next to us will not only know the information we need, but will send it to us in 38 bulleted pages. With a table of contents and a list of references." Dean shook his head. "And I thought you were anal." Dean tabbed down the document.
Going, going, "But it's not normal. That's not the way the world works."
"Whatever dude. That pretty much is how our world works. That was a coincidence. A really hot coincidence. But when a chick is wearing a gold medallion with an Aztec symbol on it, that's not a coincidence. Ask around, you, meaning me, find that she used to date Howard, was getting flaky in all her classes, and has been going on to her friends about getting back at everyone through some sort of Aztec curse voodoo." Dean paused and looked at Sam. Dean said, "Wow Dean that was amazing. How did you find all that out?" He picked up his muffin. "Mojo. Pure mojo. Like this muffin." Dean took a bite of blueberry goodness. "Dean gave up tabbing and did a Find for Mix.
"Oh." Sam's face wrinkled on itself. "So, Cyndi."
"Looks like." Dean scrolled down the page and said, "Get a load of this. The Mixtitpocys are the spirits of Aztec warriors that were dishonored on the battlefield. Some sort of out of balance thing." Sam came around to stand behind Dean. Cool. Distraction achieved. "After death, their spirits became these jaguar butterfly things in the service of the demon goddess Itz-pap-a-lot-l to protect her treasure." He looked at the scanned images in the document. "Huh, ugly mama. Bet she was fun at parties."
Sam tilted the computer away from Dean and tabbed down. Sam held up the drawing of Junior next to the monitor. He said, "Interesting. They can be summoned by using certain symbols, and by mixing things that are opposites. Fire and water. The earth of a cave in a mountain in the air." Sammy tabbed some more and reached the next section.
Apparently there was a horrible earthquake in China in 1556 and Queen Liz had been one sarcastic bitch, but there wasn't anything on how to lay the little Mixis to rest. Course, there was always the formatted Appendix at the end of the doc. Maybe, he could set Sammy up with this chick. Do him some good to get laid.
Dean said, "What I don't get is where the Aztecs are coming from? Thought their crap mostly showed up around Mexico City." Drank some more of his coffee. Whatever the hell syrup stuff they put in it was pretty tasty. Not that he would ever admit to it.
Sammy's face cleared. Lecture mode achieved. Sam loved showing off his big brain. Sam said, "When the conquistadors got here, there were all sorts of legends about cities of gold in the north. It's not all that far fetched to think that an Aztec army got up to something around here. Got their butts handed to them by the locals. Or they were the locals. Ended up these insect things protecting treasure sacred to Itzpapalotl." Show off. He wasn't even looking at the word. Sam said, "We should check out that village. Wherever they're coming from, its somewhere around there." Sam started writing down the names of the reference books.
"Finally!" Dean felt itchy and antsy. Past time to go shoot something. Take things apart, so stuff could be put back together again.
Sam closed the computer. "We still don't know how to kill these things."
"Blessed explosives? Junior looks pretty brittle." Dean leaned back in his chair. "Real question is what are we going to do about Cyndi?"
"We can't do anything. She's a person." said Sam.
Yeah, they hadn't had This conversation a billion times. "Dude, she's killing people."
"We don't know that for sure." Sam started shoving stuff into his pack. Fast sharp movements. "We should go talk to her.
"What did you get hit with the stupid stick this week," said Dean. "It's not like she's just going to admit to it. Maybe we should just call the police. Hey, this psycho chick's siccing mutant butterflies on people who piss her off. Give her ten to twenty.
"That gold piece she's wearing, it must be from Itzpapalotl's treasure store. Everyone who's died before probably got too close and were attacked. Cyndi's figured out how to use it to control the Mixlitpoca."
"And you think she's just going to hand it over." His all natural muffin was sitting like a blueberry lump in his stomach. "Sure. Why not. Let's go talk to the crazy chick."
~~~~
SW Arizona State
For never-resting time leads summer on /To hideous winter and confounds him there; /Sap cheque'd with frost and lusty leaves quite gone, / Beauty o'ersnow'd and bareness every where:
The sky was cloudy again. Weird for this late after the Southwest monsoon season. Then again, the hurricanes were up into Greeks this year. Maybe it was all global warming after all. The habitats of Abominable Snowmen cast adrift when their chunks of ice broke off. Urban sprawl creeping up on violent butterflies and red cap mounds. Maybe he was thinking to avoid thinking.
They were getting to know their way around campus. Past Fallher Plaza, round the huh, Hoover tower. It felt strange to be familiar with a campus that wasn't Stanford. It seemed so long ago. It seemed like yesterday.
A crowd of students swirled by them. A blond girl bumped into Sam and for a moment, his heart skipped a beat. But she wasn't and he wasn't and that's all there was to it.
Professor Montoya's office door was closed, but the light was on. Sam could hear voices. Cyndi was yelling, "This is all your fault." It sounded like Bob said something muffled in response.
Sam looked at Dean, who shrugged non-committally. Opened the door and walked in. Dean said, "We're back. The door was unlocked."
Bob was leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. "That's my cue to leave." He wrinkled his nose like a rabbit. He said, "Seriously, I never do this, but remember Winchester, be who you are."
Cyndi said, "Bob! I swear if you tell them anything."
"Tell us what?" said Dean.
Bob punched Dean in the shoulder. "Yeah, bitch, you got your freebie." Bob looked at Cyndi. Wrinkled his nose like a really, really pissed off homicidal rabbit. He said, "Bub bye." and walked out to of the room.
Cyndi looked bad. Not undead bad, but really unhealthy. She said, "I don't have to tell you anything."
Sam tried to smile soothingly. He said, "My brother noticed your medallion when we were here earlier. I was wondering if I could take a look at it."
Dean mouthed the word smooth and picked up a ceramic pot on the wall and sniffed it, said, "Huh."
Sam ignored him.
Cyndi held her hand over her heart. The medallion. "You know don't you?"
"Yeah. We brought you something," said Dean. He pulled the mayonnaise jar out of the backpack and put it on the desk. "Look familiar?" The Mixlitpoca hissed at Cyndi.
Cyndi said something low and guttural and opened the jar. The Mixlitpoca fluttered out of the jar and landed on her hand. Cyndi idly stroked its back.
Sam said, "Why are you doing this?" Sam leaned forward across the desk. In that moment, it felt like if she would just answer the question, things would click into place. If there could be a why for any of it.
"It's all Bob's fault." She kept petting the Mixlitpoca. "I only meant to scare Howard."
"And the Professor. She dump you too?" said Dean.
Sam closed his eyes. Dean!
Cyndi said, "She was going to fail me. Bitch." Cyndi lifted her hand and crooned to the snarling butterfly, "Failed her."
"So, basically you're on the crazy train." said Dean. "This is stupid," He stepped forward, reached across the desk and gave the chain around Cyndi's neck a quick yank. It didn't break.
Cyndi stepped back. "Ow!" The Mixlitpoca floated into the air. Circled around Cyndi's head, growling. She said, "I don't believe you did that."
"Huh." said Dean. "Nice sturdy chain you got there."
Cyndi felt the back of her neck and looked at her hand. There was a faint smear of blood on her fingers. "I'm bleeding. You cut me. Bastard. You're going to be So sorry."
Cyndi started to scream, "Help."
Outside the door there was the sound of running feet. Great two guys. Not students. Screaming girl. Bunch of deaths around campus. Great.
Dean swung the window open and slid into the window sill. He said, "Quit screwing around Sammy. Come on."
The door opened. Sam jumped out the window after his brother. There was a brief scramble before they melted into the herds of students heading to their cars.
When the reached the car, Dean looked at Sam over the hood. He said, "Dude that was sad. So now what?"
Sam said, "Something's been bugging me for the last couple of days." Patterns. Coincidences. Sam said, " I think I have an idea."
~~~~~
The desert
11:00 p.m.
Dean
Take a look to the sky just before you die / It is the last time he will / Blackened roar massive roar fills the crumbling sky
Cloudy night. City lights back that'a way. They couldn't see for shit. Sort of a goat trail leading up the mountain, but with their dinky little flashlights, it looked like any other break in the scrub.
They struggled up the rocky hillside, scattering shale and lizards. The air had that smell the desert gets after rain. The wind was picking up and it smelled damp. Green. Given the whole rain, get devoured pattern going on here, Dean wanted to get to the dead creatures part of the plan.
He glanced back down towards the village dig site, now just a faint grid of glow lights and black.
Dean's feet slipped on the loose rocks and he fell on his butt, but he managed to not fall on his pack.
Sam spun around at the noise and fell face forward. Dean shone his light at Sammy.
Sam's face was covered in yellow-brown dust. "Dangerous dirt." said Dean. They both laughed. Dean said, "If you bring up finding the trail, I swear, I'll throw you down the mountain."
Sam said, "Yes kemo sabe." They continued climbing.
Rocks. Dirt. Scrub. Carefully put one boot in front of the other and followed the wavering line of the mountain trail towards the cave mouth that Sam's survey map said overlooked the village.
It started to sprinkle. The landscape briefly lit in black and white, sharp shadows against every bush. The cave entrance was still high above. In the distance, there was a rumble of thunder.
They climbed faster. The sprinkles turned into rain. They were getting soaked. Fabric sticking to the skin of his arms and legs. Cold water dripping down his spine.
In the dark, time seemed like it was taking forever. Broken only by flashes of lightening and nearing thunder.
The bushes rustled. Dean just knew they were filled with snakes and rats and bugs. His legs itched. Give him a basilisk over a snake any day. Dean started humming For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Sam laughed.
They kept climbing.
As they reached the cave mouth, Dean's flashlight shone on something pink and purple laying on its side in the entrance. He said, "I don't believe it."
Sam said, "Huh, something that's in between."
Dean picked a plastic pony with purple wings. Drawn on its sides with a felt pen were the Mixi's rounded symbols. Dean said, "Guess Mixi's not picky. Gotta say, I'm disappointed. You hear Aztecs and you figure it'll be all ripped out hearts, not my Little Pegasus Pony."
Sam took it from Dean for a closer look. "Dude, how do you know its My Little Pony?"
Dean shown his light in Sam's face. "How do you?"
They smirked at each other, their teeth glowing in a brief flash of lightening.
Dean pulled his shotgun out of it's plastic bag. Tapped his flashlight around the barrels. Tried to tell himself the cave was full of monsters and creatures and not one single rattlesnake. There was a dry rustling sound from deeper in the cave. Let it be Mixi and not bats.
They dropped to the cave floor and a bunch of something flew out the cave entrance over them. Dean pointed the shotgun up, but it was too hard to tell. Whatever it was flew too fast.
When it was clear, they stood up and started walking into the cave. Wasn't hard to tell which way to go. At every branch of the cave, there was some half assed plastic toy or other thing marked with symbols. Blood. Both. Though, the toy centaur from Clash of the Titans was pretty cool.
Cave went left and right and round and up and down. It was getting hot. Steamy. Came round a bend and fresh rocky rubble lay scattered on the cave floor. Revealing a narrow crack in the rock. A rope dropped down into the dark. Dean pointed his light down. The flashlight glittered off something um, glittery. A big ass ugly statue of that Itzy demon thing squatted in the middle of a piles of some seriously cursed treasure. From what he could see, Mixis were hanging from every surface in the cave.
"Ladies first," said Dean.
Sam said, "Ha." or something equally lame and climbed down the rope.
Once in, Dean could see that the cave itself was pretty cool. The walls were covered in these tubes of dripping rock. They looked slick and smooth. He reached out to touch one.
Sam said, "Dean don't."
"What? Why?" Dean pulled back his hand. "Does it have something to do with Mixi?"
"Uh, no. It's just your hands have bacteria on them. This is probably a pristine environment. It'll cause all sorts of damage to the cave."
Dean looked at Sam, all serious. "Dude you are such a freak. You do remember the second half of the plan right?"
"Yeah. Forget I said anything." said Sam. Sam looked at his watch. "Now for the fun part."
Dean sighed. He hated waiting.
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