Fighting Demons: Chapter 8 "Discovery"
Author: snuggle_muggle
Title: Fighting Demons: Discovery
Fandom: Supernatural/Dresden Files crossover
Characters: Harry, Sam, and Dean
Prompt: #3, "Sanctuary"
Word Count: 2120
Rating: PG
Genre: Supernatural/Mystery
Summary: Some interesting questions are asked.
Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Kripke; Murphy and Dresden belong to Jim Butcher, and they both belong to many others. However, I'm willing to have them over for a nice vacation.
Spoiler Warning: Some non-specific spoilers for 3:12 of SPN, "Jus in Bello," nothing that I think would spoil the episode for you if you haven't seen it already.
Notes: This is chapter 8 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; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7;
Discovery
Karrin dropped his hand once they reached the door of the pub, and much as Sam missed the contact, he knew it was probably better that way. Dean and Dresden were standing up at the table and Dresden was settling the bill.
"Ah, Sammy. Feeling better?" Dean smiled at him and winked and Sam wondered if he suspected anything had happened with Karrin. Probably not, but then Dean sometimes surprised him, even now.
"A bit. Sorry I sort of lost it." This was said more to Dresden than to Dean. As brothers, they were sort of used to forgiving each other for little outbursts of temper here and there. When you were together almost constantly for day after day, it just wasn’t physically possible to avoid getting on each others’ nerves once in a while.
"Don’t mention it. Your brother and I were thinking of heading back to my place. I need to look a few things up."
"Works for me."
"Fun as that sounds, Harry, I think I better head back to the station. Got some things to take care of this afternoon." Karrin smiled at Sam. "But I’m sure we’ll touch bases again later tonight or maybe tomorrow. And Harry, I want the information on those other murders that are tied in with these demon/angel things."
"Fine." Dresden agreed, but he looked a bit grumpy at the idea. Sam thought it was funny how Murphy seemed to keep him in line. He couldn’t help but think that this was more because the wizard really liked her than because of any deference to her badge or her supposed "meanness."
Karrin drove away in her cruiser and Dresden folded himself into his wreck of a vehicle. Sam and Dean sat down in the Impala and waited for Dresden to lead the way to his, what had Karrin called it?, his lab. Sam wasn’t quite sure what to say once they were alone. He wanted to tell Dean about kissing Karrin, but didn’t think Dean would take it very well. Then he decided he would try to apologize for bringing up the whole Crossroads Demon thing, but he truthfully didn’t feel bad about it. They had been at least mostly truthful with Dresden and it seemed that he might actually be capable of offering them something in return for that honesty. The multicolored Beetle chugged out of the parking lot before Sam actually had time to tell Dean anything. "So, what’re we doing with Dresden?"
"He’s trying to figure out what these fallen angel sons-of-bitches want with real demons from his Neverland place. Says that as far as he knows, they can only possess humans."
"Guess that makes sense, since we’ve never seen anything else possessed."
"That’s what I told him. He seems pretty decent, really. I don’t know if he really does magic or anything, but he seems to know what he’s doing in the monster-hunting department, anyway."
"I, uh, I’m sorry about the whole-"
"Don’t worry about it, Sam. It was bound to come out one way or the other."
"Did you mention about, uh, my supposed job?"
"No, figured that was probably best left up to you to explain."
"And Lilith?"
"Hell, no! I don’t even like to mention her name!"
"Okay, well, don’t you think it’s fair we warn him? She’s not messing around. She’s killed quite a few people while she’s hunting for us."
"I know, but we haven’t heard from the wench in more than two months - maybe she’s given up."
"Right. Those sorts of creatures give up pretty easily."
"Shut up, Sam."
Sam did shut up, but only because they were pulling up in front of a large home that looked like it had been built in the 1920s. It had what some might call elegant bones, but Sam just thought it looked run down. "I thought he lived in an apartment-type place?"
"Me, too."
Dresden approached Dean’s window. "What do you think of it?"
Dean opened the door and stepped out. "It’s, uh, bigger than we expected."
"See, I told you that I could easily afford a new car."
"Yeah, I guess." Sam got out of the car as well and both he and Dean looked at the house. Sam didn’t know what he had expected, but this was definitely way out of their league. Dresden snorted behind them and when they looked at him, he was smirking.
"Come on, I really just live down in the basement. The whole thing’s apartments now." Dresden led them down a set of stairs to a metal door that looked like it had seen seriously better days. He looked a little askance at them. "I’ve warded the place, of course. I, uh, well, would you mind coming in without being invited?"
"What?"
"Well, I don’t know that much about you, you know. Not really."
"Whatever." Dean stepped forward. "Should we go first?"
"No. I’ll go in first. Just follow after me, okay?" He said something and then pushed very hard on the metal door, which seemed to shudder in its frame before grudgingly moving a few inches inward.
Sam shrugged and so did Dean but they did as he asked. Sam felt a push against him as he passed over the threshold and he almost stepped back but Dean was behind him so he kept going. Dean looked nervous as he stepped into the room, too, so Sam knew it hadn’t been a figment of his imagination. The room was tidy and the furniture looked very comfortable, like you could throw yourself into it and relax completely. There were plenty of thick rugs on the floor and the whole place had a welcoming air of a little sanctuary away from the outside chaos. He had to admit it surprised him. "This is nice." Dean tried to shut the door behind him, but couldn’t budge it. He made a strange face at Sam.
"Thanks. It’s a bit more home now and -" He was cut off by a very large dog who ran in from what Sam assumed was the bedroom and butted against Dresden. "Oh, this is Mouse. I hope you don’t mind dogs."
"Mouse?" Sam thought nothing he had ever seen looked less like a mouse. The dog was absolutely huge. He was gray, but that seemed to be the only mouse-like thing about him.
"He was small when I got him. And quiet. So it sort of fit." Dresden looked around. "Mister’s around here somewhere, too. Or maybe he’s out. Anyway he’s sort of a cat."
"Sort of?" Dean was tentatively holding out his hand for the huge dog to sniff. Neither of them were particularly comfortable around animals and Sam figured that was because they had never had a chance to have a pet. He hoped neither of them were allergic. Dresden moved behind them and pushed his shoulder against the door to close it.
"Yeah. I think he’s part mountain lion, too. You’ll see what I mean if you meet him." Dresden waved vaguely at the sofa. "Go ahead and sit down. Do either of you want anything to drink? I think I’ve got Coke." When neither of them said anything, he reached over to the coat rack and pulled down a rather ratty-looking plaid flannel robe. "Okay, I’m going to head downstairs for a few minutes. I want to look a few things up in my lab. I’ll hurry." He pulled up a trapdoor that Sam hadn’t even noticed before and stepped down, closing it behind him.
After he had disappeared, Sam and Dean looked at each other. "He’s quite peculiar." Mouse had taken to Dean and was currently slobbering on his knee. Dean was trying to pet him naturally, but it wasn’t working very well and Mouse kept pushing his head further into his lap to get the petting started again.
"No kidding, Sam. No kidding. And what was with the whole coming in uninvited thing?"
"Don’t know for sure. I think some things have to be invited in, like vampires, but I don’t see what that has to do with us."
"Didn’t that Murphy say something about us being vampires?"
"Well, yeah, but he didn’t invite us in, so if we were vampires, I don’t think we could have come in."
"Maybe it was a test."
"Maybe." Sam shrugged again and stood up, maneuvering around the quivering back half of Mouse, who was licking Dean’s arm now, frantically, and Dean was scratching his enormous head hoping to calm him down. He strode over to the bookcase, looking at the titles arranged on the shelves. There seemed to be a wide variety of books, some on the occult, which he fully expected, but there were also some classics. Sam didn’t want to think about Karrin, afraid that Dean would see something in his face that would make him ask questions.
"Hey, Sam, I think I will have that Coke after all."
"Okay, I guess he won’t mind. I’ll get it since you’re . . . occupied." He laughed. "That dog is more into you than most of your girlfriends."
"Oh, shut up, Sam."
Sam looked around the small kitchenette. It was rather old-fashioned but very clean. The man was a lot neater than Sam would have expected for a single guy. Of course, maybe he could just twitch his nose and clean like Samantha on Bewitched. He laughed at his own silly ideas and opened the refrigerator. Except, it wasn’t a refrigerator. It was an ice box, an actual ice box. He grabbed a Coke out of the almost-empty space and headed back into the main room where Mouse, now apparently content with Dean’s half-hearted petting had climbed up onto the spot where Sam had been sitting, his huge head still resting in Dean’s lap. "Here you go. He has an ice box, like an old-fashioned thing."
"Really? Wow, that’s kind of bizarre."
"Yeah. And in fact, look around. He’s got oil lamps, a coal stove, candles. I don’t think he has electricity down here."
"There’re plugs." Dean pointed at a stretch of wall where one outlet peeked defiantly from behind the coat-rack.
"But nothing’s plugged in."
"Maybe he doesn’t keep up with the bill."
"Maybe. Still bizarre, though." Sam sat down on one of the chairs facing the couch. "You have a friend for life in that beast."
"Seems like it. Maybe he could like you for a while?" Dean looked hopefully at Sam but Sam shook his head.
"Wouldn’t want to stand in the way of true love."
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes and then there was suddenly a heavy pounding on the door. Both of them jumped up and Mouse looked unhappy at the loss of his new best friend and pillow. "Who could that be?"
"Dresden! Open this door!" The voice was familiar and Sam felt an odd combination of anticipation and nerves, because Karrin Murphy did not sound happy.
"I think it’s Karrin."
"Yeah, do you think we should let her in?" She was still pounding frantically and yelling even louder. "Why don’t you call down at him and see? I don’t want to take any chances. Remember he said the place was warded."
Sam crossed to the trapdoor and lifted it up. He had no idea how far down Dresden was so he decided he’d better yell. "Uh, Dresden?! Karrin’s here and she’s not happy! Should we let her in?!" There was a rather strange odor coming from down there, mostly dampness, Sam supposed, although he may have been cooking some sort of strange thing, too. It was also pretty dark. There seemed to be some light way down there, flickering like candlelight.
"Sure. Just pull hard on the door. You may have noticed it’s difficult. I’ll come up in a minute. I’m almost finished." He didn’t sound that far away and Sam was a bit embarrassed at how loud he’d been.
It took both of them some serious effort to open the door and Mouse was trying to help which made Sam laugh, so he couldn’t pull very hard, but they finally got it open. Karrin was pushing hard from the other side and once she could squeeze her way through the gap, she scowled hard at the two of them, pushing with just as much force against Sam’s chest with both hands, forcing him back into the room. "You’re supposed to be dead! Both of you! And if you’re not dead - then you should be under arrest! You were both wanted by the FBI before you were killed! Who are you really, and what do you want with Harry? And before you answer, remember that I’ve got a gun! And it’s hard to get in trouble for murdering a dead man!"
Title: Fighting Demons: Discovery
Fandom: Supernatural/Dresden Files crossover
Characters: Harry, Sam, and Dean
Prompt: #3, "Sanctuary"
Word Count: 2120
Rating: PG
Genre: Supernatural/Mystery
Summary: Some interesting questions are asked.
Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Kripke; Murphy and Dresden belong to Jim Butcher, and they both belong to many others. However, I'm willing to have them over for a nice vacation.
Spoiler Warning: Some non-specific spoilers for 3:12 of SPN, "Jus in Bello," nothing that I think would spoil the episode for you if you haven't seen it already.
Notes: This is chapter 8 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; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7;
Discovery
Karrin dropped his hand once they reached the door of the pub, and much as Sam missed the contact, he knew it was probably better that way. Dean and Dresden were standing up at the table and Dresden was settling the bill.
"Ah, Sammy. Feeling better?" Dean smiled at him and winked and Sam wondered if he suspected anything had happened with Karrin. Probably not, but then Dean sometimes surprised him, even now.
"A bit. Sorry I sort of lost it." This was said more to Dresden than to Dean. As brothers, they were sort of used to forgiving each other for little outbursts of temper here and there. When you were together almost constantly for day after day, it just wasn’t physically possible to avoid getting on each others’ nerves once in a while.
"Don’t mention it. Your brother and I were thinking of heading back to my place. I need to look a few things up."
"Works for me."
"Fun as that sounds, Harry, I think I better head back to the station. Got some things to take care of this afternoon." Karrin smiled at Sam. "But I’m sure we’ll touch bases again later tonight or maybe tomorrow. And Harry, I want the information on those other murders that are tied in with these demon/angel things."
"Fine." Dresden agreed, but he looked a bit grumpy at the idea. Sam thought it was funny how Murphy seemed to keep him in line. He couldn’t help but think that this was more because the wizard really liked her than because of any deference to her badge or her supposed "meanness."
Karrin drove away in her cruiser and Dresden folded himself into his wreck of a vehicle. Sam and Dean sat down in the Impala and waited for Dresden to lead the way to his, what had Karrin called it?, his lab. Sam wasn’t quite sure what to say once they were alone. He wanted to tell Dean about kissing Karrin, but didn’t think Dean would take it very well. Then he decided he would try to apologize for bringing up the whole Crossroads Demon thing, but he truthfully didn’t feel bad about it. They had been at least mostly truthful with Dresden and it seemed that he might actually be capable of offering them something in return for that honesty. The multicolored Beetle chugged out of the parking lot before Sam actually had time to tell Dean anything. "So, what’re we doing with Dresden?"
"He’s trying to figure out what these fallen angel sons-of-bitches want with real demons from his Neverland place. Says that as far as he knows, they can only possess humans."
"Guess that makes sense, since we’ve never seen anything else possessed."
"That’s what I told him. He seems pretty decent, really. I don’t know if he really does magic or anything, but he seems to know what he’s doing in the monster-hunting department, anyway."
"I, uh, I’m sorry about the whole-"
"Don’t worry about it, Sam. It was bound to come out one way or the other."
"Did you mention about, uh, my supposed job?"
"No, figured that was probably best left up to you to explain."
"And Lilith?"
"Hell, no! I don’t even like to mention her name!"
"Okay, well, don’t you think it’s fair we warn him? She’s not messing around. She’s killed quite a few people while she’s hunting for us."
"I know, but we haven’t heard from the wench in more than two months - maybe she’s given up."
"Right. Those sorts of creatures give up pretty easily."
"Shut up, Sam."
Sam did shut up, but only because they were pulling up in front of a large home that looked like it had been built in the 1920s. It had what some might call elegant bones, but Sam just thought it looked run down. "I thought he lived in an apartment-type place?"
"Me, too."
Dresden approached Dean’s window. "What do you think of it?"
Dean opened the door and stepped out. "It’s, uh, bigger than we expected."
"See, I told you that I could easily afford a new car."
"Yeah, I guess." Sam got out of the car as well and both he and Dean looked at the house. Sam didn’t know what he had expected, but this was definitely way out of their league. Dresden snorted behind them and when they looked at him, he was smirking.
"Come on, I really just live down in the basement. The whole thing’s apartments now." Dresden led them down a set of stairs to a metal door that looked like it had seen seriously better days. He looked a little askance at them. "I’ve warded the place, of course. I, uh, well, would you mind coming in without being invited?"
"What?"
"Well, I don’t know that much about you, you know. Not really."
"Whatever." Dean stepped forward. "Should we go first?"
"No. I’ll go in first. Just follow after me, okay?" He said something and then pushed very hard on the metal door, which seemed to shudder in its frame before grudgingly moving a few inches inward.
Sam shrugged and so did Dean but they did as he asked. Sam felt a push against him as he passed over the threshold and he almost stepped back but Dean was behind him so he kept going. Dean looked nervous as he stepped into the room, too, so Sam knew it hadn’t been a figment of his imagination. The room was tidy and the furniture looked very comfortable, like you could throw yourself into it and relax completely. There were plenty of thick rugs on the floor and the whole place had a welcoming air of a little sanctuary away from the outside chaos. He had to admit it surprised him. "This is nice." Dean tried to shut the door behind him, but couldn’t budge it. He made a strange face at Sam.
"Thanks. It’s a bit more home now and -" He was cut off by a very large dog who ran in from what Sam assumed was the bedroom and butted against Dresden. "Oh, this is Mouse. I hope you don’t mind dogs."
"Mouse?" Sam thought nothing he had ever seen looked less like a mouse. The dog was absolutely huge. He was gray, but that seemed to be the only mouse-like thing about him.
"He was small when I got him. And quiet. So it sort of fit." Dresden looked around. "Mister’s around here somewhere, too. Or maybe he’s out. Anyway he’s sort of a cat."
"Sort of?" Dean was tentatively holding out his hand for the huge dog to sniff. Neither of them were particularly comfortable around animals and Sam figured that was because they had never had a chance to have a pet. He hoped neither of them were allergic. Dresden moved behind them and pushed his shoulder against the door to close it.
"Yeah. I think he’s part mountain lion, too. You’ll see what I mean if you meet him." Dresden waved vaguely at the sofa. "Go ahead and sit down. Do either of you want anything to drink? I think I’ve got Coke." When neither of them said anything, he reached over to the coat rack and pulled down a rather ratty-looking plaid flannel robe. "Okay, I’m going to head downstairs for a few minutes. I want to look a few things up in my lab. I’ll hurry." He pulled up a trapdoor that Sam hadn’t even noticed before and stepped down, closing it behind him.
After he had disappeared, Sam and Dean looked at each other. "He’s quite peculiar." Mouse had taken to Dean and was currently slobbering on his knee. Dean was trying to pet him naturally, but it wasn’t working very well and Mouse kept pushing his head further into his lap to get the petting started again.
"No kidding, Sam. No kidding. And what was with the whole coming in uninvited thing?"
"Don’t know for sure. I think some things have to be invited in, like vampires, but I don’t see what that has to do with us."
"Didn’t that Murphy say something about us being vampires?"
"Well, yeah, but he didn’t invite us in, so if we were vampires, I don’t think we could have come in."
"Maybe it was a test."
"Maybe." Sam shrugged again and stood up, maneuvering around the quivering back half of Mouse, who was licking Dean’s arm now, frantically, and Dean was scratching his enormous head hoping to calm him down. He strode over to the bookcase, looking at the titles arranged on the shelves. There seemed to be a wide variety of books, some on the occult, which he fully expected, but there were also some classics. Sam didn’t want to think about Karrin, afraid that Dean would see something in his face that would make him ask questions.
"Hey, Sam, I think I will have that Coke after all."
"Okay, I guess he won’t mind. I’ll get it since you’re . . . occupied." He laughed. "That dog is more into you than most of your girlfriends."
"Oh, shut up, Sam."
Sam looked around the small kitchenette. It was rather old-fashioned but very clean. The man was a lot neater than Sam would have expected for a single guy. Of course, maybe he could just twitch his nose and clean like Samantha on Bewitched. He laughed at his own silly ideas and opened the refrigerator. Except, it wasn’t a refrigerator. It was an ice box, an actual ice box. He grabbed a Coke out of the almost-empty space and headed back into the main room where Mouse, now apparently content with Dean’s half-hearted petting had climbed up onto the spot where Sam had been sitting, his huge head still resting in Dean’s lap. "Here you go. He has an ice box, like an old-fashioned thing."
"Really? Wow, that’s kind of bizarre."
"Yeah. And in fact, look around. He’s got oil lamps, a coal stove, candles. I don’t think he has electricity down here."
"There’re plugs." Dean pointed at a stretch of wall where one outlet peeked defiantly from behind the coat-rack.
"But nothing’s plugged in."
"Maybe he doesn’t keep up with the bill."
"Maybe. Still bizarre, though." Sam sat down on one of the chairs facing the couch. "You have a friend for life in that beast."
"Seems like it. Maybe he could like you for a while?" Dean looked hopefully at Sam but Sam shook his head.
"Wouldn’t want to stand in the way of true love."
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes and then there was suddenly a heavy pounding on the door. Both of them jumped up and Mouse looked unhappy at the loss of his new best friend and pillow. "Who could that be?"
"Dresden! Open this door!" The voice was familiar and Sam felt an odd combination of anticipation and nerves, because Karrin Murphy did not sound happy.
"I think it’s Karrin."
"Yeah, do you think we should let her in?" She was still pounding frantically and yelling even louder. "Why don’t you call down at him and see? I don’t want to take any chances. Remember he said the place was warded."
Sam crossed to the trapdoor and lifted it up. He had no idea how far down Dresden was so he decided he’d better yell. "Uh, Dresden?! Karrin’s here and she’s not happy! Should we let her in?!" There was a rather strange odor coming from down there, mostly dampness, Sam supposed, although he may have been cooking some sort of strange thing, too. It was also pretty dark. There seemed to be some light way down there, flickering like candlelight.
"Sure. Just pull hard on the door. You may have noticed it’s difficult. I’ll come up in a minute. I’m almost finished." He didn’t sound that far away and Sam was a bit embarrassed at how loud he’d been.
It took both of them some serious effort to open the door and Mouse was trying to help which made Sam laugh, so he couldn’t pull very hard, but they finally got it open. Karrin was pushing hard from the other side and once she could squeeze her way through the gap, she scowled hard at the two of them, pushing with just as much force against Sam’s chest with both hands, forcing him back into the room. "You’re supposed to be dead! Both of you! And if you’re not dead - then you should be under arrest! You were both wanted by the FBI before you were killed! Who are you really, and what do you want with Harry? And before you answer, remember that I’ve got a gun! And it’s hard to get in trouble for murdering a dead man!"