Fighting Demons: Chapter 5 "Admitting It"
Author: snuggle_muggle
Title: Fighting Demons: Admitting It
Fandom: Supernatural/Dresden Files crossover
Characters: Sam, Dean, Murphy, and Dresden
Prompt: #031, "Monster"
Word Count: 1800
Rating: PG
Genre: Supernatural/Mystery
Summary: The promised lunch finally happens and between bites, the Winchesters admit why they're hunting demons.
Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Kripke; Murphy and Dresden belong to Jim Butcher, and they both belong to many others. I'd be willing to discuss the possibility of renting them for a while, however.
Spoiler Warning: References to the Finale of Season 2. It's vague enough that I don't think it would ruin it, but it might lessen the suspense.
Notes: This is chapter 5 of my continuing Dresden/Supernatural crossover, written for my fanfic 50 prompt table, located here. Also, this is the book universe of Dresden, not the TV universe.
Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4
Admitting It
Dean looked extremely displeased, but Sam ignored his bad mood and checked the computer again. The search engine had failed him, but he honestly wasn’t surprised. The only real thing he had been able to punch in was "knights and demons" because nothing else the sergeant had said had made any sense in his opinion. He had tried "fairies" and also "passing as vampires" but fairies was too vague of a term with about a million hits and passing as vampires had exactly none. "Knights and demons" had two web pages listed as possibilities but Sam could tell instantly that these were game sites manned by teenagers looking for others to play role-playing games. He shut down the internet access and closed the computer again before looking at Dean, who had been remarkably silent over the five minutes or so Sam was studying the results.
"Well?"
"It just is different, okay? I don’t know the words - you know I don’t." It bothered Dean very rarely that his formal education had been so sparse but Sam could tell this was one of those times.
"All right. Don’t get grumpy. I’m just saying that maybe we should approach this whole lunch thing with an open mind."
"Fine. Open mind. Got it. But if he starts waving his wand or cooking anything in a cauldron, I’m not eating."
"We’re going out to eat, Dean. Remember, they were teasing about who was going to buy-"
"Kidding, Sammy, kidding. Lighten up a bit."
Sam thought that was pretty rich. Dean was the one acting like he had something stuck up his behind and had since they had arrived, and now he was lecturing him on relaxing? However, in the hopes of preserving some semblance of calm, he bit his lip and stared out the window for a bit, hoping that this Dresden guy hurried. He was extremely hungry now that Dean had pointed out how long it had been since their last meal, and since he had passed on eating that greasy grilled cheese sandwich at dinner, for him it had been even longer. Fortunately, only about another ten minutes had passed in the strained silence of the car before he appeared and Sam walked over to him.
"How’d it go?"
Dresden blinked vaguely, and Sam had the sense that he had interrupted his thinking about something fairly tricky. "It went okay, I guess. I didn’t get arrested, which is always a good sign. Karrin is driving her own car to lunch because she hates driving around with me in the Blue Beetle there, but I can’t drive in the police car with her. You probably want to take your own, too. That way, if you decide I’m completely cracked, you’re not dependent on me for transportation."
"That’s fine. There’s no way I could fold myself into that thing, anyway. I don’t know how you do it."
Dresden laughed. "It’s not easy, I admit. But I’m used to it now. And of course the fact that all of the padding has been removed from the seats, the door, and the roof gives me more room, so that’s helpful."
Sam could feel his eyes widen and tried to school his face into a more neutral setting. "You did that on purpose?"
"Of course not. I was just . . . . Oh, never mind. Most people never do figure out when I’m joking around with them. I’ll try not-"
"Sorry. I’m just not quite sure what to expect from you, I guess."
"Understandable." Dresden glanced at the Impala, where Dean was still sitting behind the steering wheel. "He doesn’t trust me at all."
"He’s, well, he’s got a lot going on right now. Sorry if he’s been rude."
"You don’t have to apologize for him. It’s fine. I’m used to skeptics. Hopefully, we can at least come to some sort of an understanding over some really great food."
"Yeah, that would be good." Sam didn’t have a chance to elaborate further, because right then the Sergeant came tearing around the corner in her car.
"Let’s go, Dresden. I’m hungry. Are we heading to Mac’s?"
A few minutes later, a strange caravan left the parking lot. Dresden was in the lead with the police car close behind and Dean had grudgingly agreed to bring up the rear. They didn’t go far, but it was far enough that Sam and Dean were able to have yet another argument. Sam was doing his best to be patient with Dean, but both of their nerves had been stretched to the limits over the last few weeks, and when they were both as tired and hungry as they were right now, it didn’t take much to get them going at each other.
The little pub was fairly crowded and to say it had atmosphere would be an understatement. It actually reminded Sam a little bit of a hunters’ bar - everyone here seemed to be the same sort of rough-around-the-edges type as they were used to seeing when they met other hunters. There was something kind of off about the arrangement of the tables in the room, but Sam didn’t even take time to wonder about that because the heavenly smell of cooking food drove almost every other thought from his head. He wasn’t exactly sure what smelled so good, but he knew he wanted some of it. Sergeant Murphy sniffed appreciatively as she entered behind them. "Mac makes the best steaks I’ve ever had. I highly recommend them. And the beer is great, too." She wrinkled her nose and sniffed again. "Of course, I can’t have any since I’m still on duty. Too bad." They found a table against one of the walls and settled in while Harry nodded companionably to a few people who spoke to him. Sam assumed it was Mac himself who came over and took their orders, although there was precious little conversation. There were a few grunts on Mac’s end, a nod or two from Dresden, and all seemed to be understood.
While they waited for their food, the four of them didn’t speak much. Sergeant Murphy’s cell phone rang and she looked nervously at Dresden before she got up and went outside. The three of them left at the table looked at each other and Dean cleared his throat. "She seems, uh, nice."
Dresden smiled and Sam wasn’t sure what it meant. The man played his cards close to his vest, that was certain. "Yeah, unless she wants to hurt you. She can do that pretty effectively if she puts her mind to it." After that, they were silent again. Sam looked around the room, assessing the different individuals seated at the different tables without appearing to do so. "This is sort of a practitioners’ hang-out," Dresden said after another minute. "It’s neutral ground, so people of different stripes feel pretty comfortable coming here."
"Practitioners?" Dean asked before Sam had a chance to do so.
"Mumbo-jumbo. There’s quite a few of us around, you see." He winked and Dean actually laughed. "I’m just the only one that advertises." Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, Murphy came back into the bar and she was followed to the table by Mac, bearing his offering to the Food Gods. Sam took one bite of his perfectly-cooked steak, and tried not to moan in pleasure. He followed another bite with a swig of some dark-brown beer and this time, the moan just slipped out.
"Oh, that’s fantastic." Murphy looked longingly at the bottles of beer and Sam offered her his. "Just have a sip. None of us have seen a thing." She smiled gratefully and without even wiping the top took a rather large drink. Sam put his lips back on the bottle immediately after and could have sworn he tasted strawberries. He tried not to think about how her actual lips would taste, reminding himself that there seemed to be something between her and Dresden, but it didn’t help.
They ate in silence and another bottle of the brown beer appeared by Sam’s elbow just as Karrin was finishing the last sip from his first one. Dresden looked at him appraisingly again and Sam tried to look trustworthy. There was protectiveness in Dresden’s eyes now and Sam hoped he passed this inspection. As they all finished up their steaks, crossing their knives and forks on their empty plates, they all leaned back in their chairs. The room had emptied quietly as they ate and when Sam glanced around again, he could see that now it was just them and Mac in the bar. Dresden didn’t look unduly surprised. "Well, I guess it’s time to talk. Tell me why you’re looking for demons."
"Told you already. That’s what we do. Not only demons, of course. Really any sort of monster that needs killing, we kill it."
"Such as, what?"
"We’ve sent quite a few ghosts into the light." Dean chuckled deeply. "Or the dark in most cases. We’ve fought zombies, a killer scarecrow, a djinn, a shapeshifter, and even a ghost who tricked us into thinking he was an angel that had gone to the bad side. Like I said, just about anything."
"And you do this, why?"
"Let’s just say it’s a family business. It started when Sam here was a baby and my dad fought them for years."
Dresden didn’t say anything for a minute. "I assume your dad’s dead?"
"Yep. Demon got him."
"So that explains-"
"Not really. It all gets more complicated than just revenge."
"I’m listening."
Dean looked rather helplessly at Sam. It was obvious that he didn’t quite know how to start. Sam decided it was best just to spit it out. "We sort of accidentally opened a hell mouth - all the increased demon activity around here is partly our fault. We’re trying to do as much as we can to repair the damage."
With that announcement, Dresden didn’t jump back or scream or hit them with his big staff. He just sort of stared at them. "You accidentally opened a rift into the NeverNever and summoned demons through it?"
"We didn’t do any summoning - God, no! Someone else did all that stuff. We were trying to stop it. But, well, we didn’t do a very good job obviously. And I don’t know what the NeverNever is. Is it what you call Hell? Cause these demons came straight from there, let me tell you. I’ve talked to one or two of them and they are rather reluctant to go back, to put it mildly. They seem to be enjoying their holiday and are anxious to make it a permanent arrangement. Apparently, the weather here is a vast improvement over that at home."
Title: Fighting Demons: Admitting It
Fandom: Supernatural/Dresden Files crossover
Characters: Sam, Dean, Murphy, and Dresden
Prompt: #031, "Monster"
Word Count: 1800
Rating: PG
Genre: Supernatural/Mystery
Summary: The promised lunch finally happens and between bites, the Winchesters admit why they're hunting demons.
Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Kripke; Murphy and Dresden belong to Jim Butcher, and they both belong to many others. I'd be willing to discuss the possibility of renting them for a while, however.
Spoiler Warning: References to the Finale of Season 2. It's vague enough that I don't think it would ruin it, but it might lessen the suspense.
Notes: This is chapter 5 of my continuing Dresden/Supernatural crossover, written for my fanfic 50 prompt table, located here. Also, this is the book universe of Dresden, not the TV universe.
Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4
Admitting It
Dean looked extremely displeased, but Sam ignored his bad mood and checked the computer again. The search engine had failed him, but he honestly wasn’t surprised. The only real thing he had been able to punch in was "knights and demons" because nothing else the sergeant had said had made any sense in his opinion. He had tried "fairies" and also "passing as vampires" but fairies was too vague of a term with about a million hits and passing as vampires had exactly none. "Knights and demons" had two web pages listed as possibilities but Sam could tell instantly that these were game sites manned by teenagers looking for others to play role-playing games. He shut down the internet access and closed the computer again before looking at Dean, who had been remarkably silent over the five minutes or so Sam was studying the results.
"Well?"
"It just is different, okay? I don’t know the words - you know I don’t." It bothered Dean very rarely that his formal education had been so sparse but Sam could tell this was one of those times.
"All right. Don’t get grumpy. I’m just saying that maybe we should approach this whole lunch thing with an open mind."
"Fine. Open mind. Got it. But if he starts waving his wand or cooking anything in a cauldron, I’m not eating."
"We’re going out to eat, Dean. Remember, they were teasing about who was going to buy-"
"Kidding, Sammy, kidding. Lighten up a bit."
Sam thought that was pretty rich. Dean was the one acting like he had something stuck up his behind and had since they had arrived, and now he was lecturing him on relaxing? However, in the hopes of preserving some semblance of calm, he bit his lip and stared out the window for a bit, hoping that this Dresden guy hurried. He was extremely hungry now that Dean had pointed out how long it had been since their last meal, and since he had passed on eating that greasy grilled cheese sandwich at dinner, for him it had been even longer. Fortunately, only about another ten minutes had passed in the strained silence of the car before he appeared and Sam walked over to him.
"How’d it go?"
Dresden blinked vaguely, and Sam had the sense that he had interrupted his thinking about something fairly tricky. "It went okay, I guess. I didn’t get arrested, which is always a good sign. Karrin is driving her own car to lunch because she hates driving around with me in the Blue Beetle there, but I can’t drive in the police car with her. You probably want to take your own, too. That way, if you decide I’m completely cracked, you’re not dependent on me for transportation."
"That’s fine. There’s no way I could fold myself into that thing, anyway. I don’t know how you do it."
Dresden laughed. "It’s not easy, I admit. But I’m used to it now. And of course the fact that all of the padding has been removed from the seats, the door, and the roof gives me more room, so that’s helpful."
Sam could feel his eyes widen and tried to school his face into a more neutral setting. "You did that on purpose?"
"Of course not. I was just . . . . Oh, never mind. Most people never do figure out when I’m joking around with them. I’ll try not-"
"Sorry. I’m just not quite sure what to expect from you, I guess."
"Understandable." Dresden glanced at the Impala, where Dean was still sitting behind the steering wheel. "He doesn’t trust me at all."
"He’s, well, he’s got a lot going on right now. Sorry if he’s been rude."
"You don’t have to apologize for him. It’s fine. I’m used to skeptics. Hopefully, we can at least come to some sort of an understanding over some really great food."
"Yeah, that would be good." Sam didn’t have a chance to elaborate further, because right then the Sergeant came tearing around the corner in her car.
"Let’s go, Dresden. I’m hungry. Are we heading to Mac’s?"
A few minutes later, a strange caravan left the parking lot. Dresden was in the lead with the police car close behind and Dean had grudgingly agreed to bring up the rear. They didn’t go far, but it was far enough that Sam and Dean were able to have yet another argument. Sam was doing his best to be patient with Dean, but both of their nerves had been stretched to the limits over the last few weeks, and when they were both as tired and hungry as they were right now, it didn’t take much to get them going at each other.
The little pub was fairly crowded and to say it had atmosphere would be an understatement. It actually reminded Sam a little bit of a hunters’ bar - everyone here seemed to be the same sort of rough-around-the-edges type as they were used to seeing when they met other hunters. There was something kind of off about the arrangement of the tables in the room, but Sam didn’t even take time to wonder about that because the heavenly smell of cooking food drove almost every other thought from his head. He wasn’t exactly sure what smelled so good, but he knew he wanted some of it. Sergeant Murphy sniffed appreciatively as she entered behind them. "Mac makes the best steaks I’ve ever had. I highly recommend them. And the beer is great, too." She wrinkled her nose and sniffed again. "Of course, I can’t have any since I’m still on duty. Too bad." They found a table against one of the walls and settled in while Harry nodded companionably to a few people who spoke to him. Sam assumed it was Mac himself who came over and took their orders, although there was precious little conversation. There were a few grunts on Mac’s end, a nod or two from Dresden, and all seemed to be understood.
While they waited for their food, the four of them didn’t speak much. Sergeant Murphy’s cell phone rang and she looked nervously at Dresden before she got up and went outside. The three of them left at the table looked at each other and Dean cleared his throat. "She seems, uh, nice."
Dresden smiled and Sam wasn’t sure what it meant. The man played his cards close to his vest, that was certain. "Yeah, unless she wants to hurt you. She can do that pretty effectively if she puts her mind to it." After that, they were silent again. Sam looked around the room, assessing the different individuals seated at the different tables without appearing to do so. "This is sort of a practitioners’ hang-out," Dresden said after another minute. "It’s neutral ground, so people of different stripes feel pretty comfortable coming here."
"Practitioners?" Dean asked before Sam had a chance to do so.
"Mumbo-jumbo. There’s quite a few of us around, you see." He winked and Dean actually laughed. "I’m just the only one that advertises." Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, Murphy came back into the bar and she was followed to the table by Mac, bearing his offering to the Food Gods. Sam took one bite of his perfectly-cooked steak, and tried not to moan in pleasure. He followed another bite with a swig of some dark-brown beer and this time, the moan just slipped out.
"Oh, that’s fantastic." Murphy looked longingly at the bottles of beer and Sam offered her his. "Just have a sip. None of us have seen a thing." She smiled gratefully and without even wiping the top took a rather large drink. Sam put his lips back on the bottle immediately after and could have sworn he tasted strawberries. He tried not to think about how her actual lips would taste, reminding himself that there seemed to be something between her and Dresden, but it didn’t help.
They ate in silence and another bottle of the brown beer appeared by Sam’s elbow just as Karrin was finishing the last sip from his first one. Dresden looked at him appraisingly again and Sam tried to look trustworthy. There was protectiveness in Dresden’s eyes now and Sam hoped he passed this inspection. As they all finished up their steaks, crossing their knives and forks on their empty plates, they all leaned back in their chairs. The room had emptied quietly as they ate and when Sam glanced around again, he could see that now it was just them and Mac in the bar. Dresden didn’t look unduly surprised. "Well, I guess it’s time to talk. Tell me why you’re looking for demons."
"Told you already. That’s what we do. Not only demons, of course. Really any sort of monster that needs killing, we kill it."
"Such as, what?"
"We’ve sent quite a few ghosts into the light." Dean chuckled deeply. "Or the dark in most cases. We’ve fought zombies, a killer scarecrow, a djinn, a shapeshifter, and even a ghost who tricked us into thinking he was an angel that had gone to the bad side. Like I said, just about anything."
"And you do this, why?"
"Let’s just say it’s a family business. It started when Sam here was a baby and my dad fought them for years."
Dresden didn’t say anything for a minute. "I assume your dad’s dead?"
"Yep. Demon got him."
"So that explains-"
"Not really. It all gets more complicated than just revenge."
"I’m listening."
Dean looked rather helplessly at Sam. It was obvious that he didn’t quite know how to start. Sam decided it was best just to spit it out. "We sort of accidentally opened a hell mouth - all the increased demon activity around here is partly our fault. We’re trying to do as much as we can to repair the damage."
With that announcement, Dresden didn’t jump back or scream or hit them with his big staff. He just sort of stared at them. "You accidentally opened a rift into the NeverNever and summoned demons through it?"
"We didn’t do any summoning - God, no! Someone else did all that stuff. We were trying to stop it. But, well, we didn’t do a very good job obviously. And I don’t know what the NeverNever is. Is it what you call Hell? Cause these demons came straight from there, let me tell you. I’ve talked to one or two of them and they are rather reluctant to go back, to put it mildly. They seem to be enjoying their holiday and are anxious to make it a permanent arrangement. Apparently, the weather here is a vast improvement over that at home."