The ghosts you chase... (Ren/Cas)

[ZZZ - R.I.P. - Ren Mercer]

-Beaver Creek, OH-

She had cut her teeth on a ghost hunt her first time out and since then she had been itching to try her hand at one again. When she had passed through the city she had heard a story about a haunted church and was intrigued. It would be a few days before Bobby expected her to come calling from her latest case, an investigation into a possession near Baltimore so while passing back though Michigan she decided to stop and investigate. She got herself a hotel room and quickly text messaged Bobby that she was looking into something before heading out.

In the hotel room she read over her journal entry of that first fateful hunt, convinced that this time she was going to make all the right moves and not get caught off her game. She put together a ghost kit, including an iron bar, a canister of rock salt, lighter fluid, matches, and loaded her rifle with rock salt, heading out into the dusk.

St. Anthony's had been been deserted for at least a decade, maybe more, and the pieces of plywood that boarded the door had been part way tore down. The outside was overgrown with both grasses and weeds. Beyond the church you could see the fence that surrounded the graveyard. She pulled out a paper, checking it over to make sure that she remembered the name, Mark Littleton. As far as she was able to research he was a grounds keeper at the church who had been killed by a jealous husband. The poor guy hadn't been guilty of the adultery that the husband had killed him for but dead was dead and ghost was ghost.

She motioned Hunter forward to sent the area and almost had a heart attach when he leaped into the tall grass and a flock of birds came flying out. She stood there a moment, her heart pounding in her chest, willing herself forward toward the graveyard. As she passed the church doors she stopped, hearing a voice inside. It could be the ghost, she knew that, but she also knew she would feel bad if there were civilians inside. Those words that Simon told her coming back to her, “Hunters stand between people and the darkness that exists in the world. It doesn't matter who the person is or what they have done, it's your job to fight tooth and nail to make sure that the person sees the next day. Like them, hate them, you need to be ready to lie down your life for them.” That was the philosophy that she lived each day by now, it meant as much to her as that old Spider-man credo of “With great power comes great responsibility.” Yes she was a geek, that wasn't important now.

She looked inside the doorway to the church, seeing rows and rows of pews stretching out, leading up to the alter. She carefully walked into the church, calling out “Hello, is anyone in here?” She didn't know wither or not to hope someone was there. If they were they may have questions, if not then it might be the ghost, and inside the church she wasn't close to the graveyard.

[Deleted]

Castiel was busy. Very busy, so much in fact he hadn’t seen Dean OR Sam for some time for that matter. Truth was, he was looking for the Key of Soloman. A very powerful artifact that would help them against Lucifer. Whoever held the key, would be able to command demons. Castiel knew this would help stop the many demons from breaking seals if he should get this. Still, he was on his own. He seemed to be on his own a lot lately. More then a lot actually.

The angels hadn’t been anywhere to be found, and Castiel had tried getting through to a few of them. This worried him. He knew he was slowly breaking away from them, and he wanted to try to make up for that somehow. He felt if he found the Key of Solomon everything would be alright and be back to normal. At least on his end.

He found a church, in Ohio, and the clues he found led him to this church. He thought perhaps he was getting close, but started to realize he wasn’t. He was trying desperately to find this artifact, and was coming up with no luck. He figured of course it wouldn’t be easy though, because it was ancient. Still...it would be helpful, and he knew that he would gain his respect back with his fellow angels.

Castiel turned as he thought he heard someone. He frowned when he realized he had. Was it a hunter? Or just a civilian? He had no idea. He turned around and saw a women there. He hadn’t really seen her before, and he frowned a bit. What was she doing here? Was she looking for the key also? He figured most likely not and maybe she was just out to find something else. Peace perhaps, or something more. It sounded as though she had been chasing something. 

Castiel decided to investigate, because if it WAS a civilian, then they wouldn’t exactly be in the greatest of places at this time. Not when he was there looking for the key, and demons could have followed him.

Castiel walked over to the young woman and stared at her, “My name is Castiel,” he said unafraid to tell the truth about what he was, “I am an angel of the Lord,” he explained, “What are you doing here this time of night?” he asked. “This place could be QUITE dangerous,” he told her.

[ZZZ - R.I.P. - Ren Mercer]

“My name is Castiel,” “I am an angel of the Lord,”

Her features softened at that.

Aww bless, he’s kinda soft in the head.

As she looked over this somewhat poorly dressed drifter, she stepped fully into the church, looking around a moment, before focusing on the possible crazy, hopefully harmless, guy in a trench coat.

“What are you doing here this time of night?”

She hesitated a moment. What was she supposed to say?

I heard a legend about a ghost and I’m here to dig up a body and burn it?

Yea….so not telling this guy that. For one, he might take it at face value as the truth, which it was mind you, but what sane person would just believe it? Second, he might be the ghost! She looked him over carefully, noted he was breathing, wasn’t pale, and you couldn’t see through him. Yep, defiantly not a ghost.

So now what to do? She could pretend she was the groundskeeper….problem with that is she didn’t look like a groundskeeper, she had a dog, and the grounds did not look kept at all. She could pretend to be a police officer…but no badge. Of course there was that other little problem as well, she was a terrible liar. She could never get away with even one little lie to most people. Before she even opened her mouth to lie she’d get that guilty look in her eyes, already sorry for what she was about to do. Finally she settled on a half truth, of course to her conscious the half truth was the same as a whole lie, so that guilty look crossed her features as she opened her mouth.

“I’m with search and rescue and I’m scouting out a place to hold some training sessions. This place may not be the most stable structure, maybe you shouldn’t be here.”

She already knew that the lie was horrible, how could it not be? Search and rescue scouting a place that’s unsafe to hold training sessions in? Maybe she should have told him she was the thirteenth apostle of cookie baking? Maybe the prophet of pastries? Either might be more believable.
As she spoke to him, Hunter slowly walked forward to scent him. As he caught the scent and feeling of Castiel the little beagle’s tail started wagging as those big brown puppy dog eyes looked up to him, begging for attention. Obviously the little hound approved of Castiel, even as his owner questioned the man’s sanity.

[Deleted]

Castiel wasn’t buying the story she was giving him. There was something more to this girl, though he didn’t know what, yet… he looked at her, “As I have said, I am an angel of the Lord,” Castiel said to her after she explained to him why she was in the church. “My name is Castiel, I am not afraid to be here,” he said to her. He looked at her for a moment. The thing was, Castiel knew something was going on in this church and it didn’t take much for him to figure that out. Something was happening and Castiel could feel the presence in here. This church was old, very old, and it was also one with the legend of a ghost, he knew that.

“You are a hunter,” He said to her. He could tell by how she was acting, the way she was giving him a story, and all her mannerisms. “It does not bother me that you are here if you are looking for something, but I am looking for something as well,” Castiel said to her. “Perhaps we can help each other,” he said.

He wasn’t sure if he should tell her he was looking for the key of Soloman or not, but he thought maybe she knew of it, if she really was a hunter. Still, he wasn’t sure he could trust anybody here yet, but he wondered if Dean and Sam had heard of her.

“I am looking for a key,” Castiel said to her, “Perhaps you know of it,” he explained. “It is called the Key Of Solomon,” he said. “Perhaps you can help me,” he said.

He had been looking everywhere and he was concerned that demons might have already chased him in here, most couldn’t get into a church at times, but these demons that would follow him would be able to. Some were powerful enough to.

Castiel had been concerned for his brothers and sisters in Heaven, something was not right at all about what’s been going on up there lately. He looked at Ren for a moment, “it is not safe here, if I was followed by Demons, then we are both in danger,” he said “The demons that would follow me are very powerful,” he explained looking around to make sure he wasn’t.

[ZZZ - R.I.P. - Ren Mercer]

“My name is Castiel”

“Well hello Castiel, I’m Ren.”

She had no idea whey she had just told this possibly unstable, probably crazy individual her real name. It might be a credit to her trustworthy nature that she had told him, or her naivety.

“You are a hunter,” Perhaps we can help each other,”

Her jaw dropped a little at that as she now did a double take. She couldn’t for the life of her imagine how he knew that. She never thought she looked like a hunter, honestly she didn’t really look like a search and rescue worker either, but she was one.

“The demons that would follow me are very powerful”

“Oh sh*t.”

She clasp her hands over her mouth, embarrassed at the fowl word, but it summed up her distress quite well. She looked to Castiel, slapping the side of her leg to call her dog back to her. Hunter gave one last pleading look to Cas, asking for attention before he walked back to Ren’s side.

After gaining her composure, Ren started looking Cas over carefully, mostly looking at his back from where she stood.

“So like a really real Angel?”

Gesturing to his back then she brought her hands together, thumbs clasping, as she waved the rest of her hands back and forth to indicate wings.

“Wings and all? Cause, wow, that would be amazing.”

Part of her doubting his story, the other part slowly starting to believe him, she was sadly gullible and naive. Then two things he said sunk in, there might be demons following him here and that he was looking for the Key of Solomon.

“So Solomon like the guy in the bible who was going to cut the baby in half? I didn’t know he had a key. What does it do? Also, I’m not equipped to handle demons, I am here on a ghost hunt. I know an exorcism though, memorized it, also got an anti-possession tattoo so I’m good on that front.”

As she kept talking the aforementioned ghost shimmered into the church behind her and thanks to her rambling she didn’t notice a thing.

[Deleted]

Castiel nodded when Ren Introduced herself, “It is a pleasure to meet you,” he said. He wasn’t too used to human customs, though he was getting better. Since he had hung out with Dean and Sam, everything seemed to move pretty easy for him. Dean taught him a lot about human emotions, and Sam…. Was something different in himself.

When Castiel told her about the demons and she said her swear word he could only smile. He could tell that she was not an experienced hunter because most hunters would have spoken back to him about this, and told him that they would just kill the demons. Dean often spoke that way to him. Ren was different though and Castiel could tell. He liked her. She listened to him.

“I’m really a real angel..yes,” Castiel said to her with a smile. Most people didn’t believe angels existed, and Castiel only showed himself to the hunters. Not necessarily the civilians. Still, he felt for her safety she should know who he was. He wasn’t exactly getting his orders from anyone anymore. Or at least, they seemed to be at a standstill for now.

“Yes, I have wings,” Castiel said to her. “Why would that be amusing?” he was fairly confused. He did not understand why humans found wings amusing to them. It was a part of his body, as an arm or a leg was a part of theirs.

“Yes, Solomon has a key, and it…controls demons,” Castiel said “It is important for me to find it,” he explained, “If its in the wrong hands it will be disastrous….” He added.

“You are inexperienced….” Castiel said to her, “I can see, perhaps you should come with me in case the demons come towards us, this way I can help ward them off…” he said.

He hoped she wouldn’t argue with him. He didn’t want to find her later on or anything and not be able to save her. He did not wish to find her dead.

[ZZZ - R.I.P. - Ren Mercer]

“Why would that be amusing?”

”Amazing, not amusing. What’s so amusing about wings? Well I suppose if they glitter if they were fairy wings all glittery in the sunlight they would be amusing, especially on a guy angel. Of course that would be the last thing in the world you’d expect hua? So do you hide your wings under that coat?”

Sometimes Ren defiantly had the gift of rambling. It might come from the fact that her main social interaction came from a four legged furry companion who really couldn’t answer her back. It could also be because she was now pretty scared, not having expected to face demons as well as a ghost. Course it could also be that she was talking to an angel and had about a million questions for him.

“Yes, Solomon has a key, and it…controls demons, “

”Well that could be a handy thing to have hua? Well not that an angel wouldn’t have any issue handling a demon hua? You could probably just snap your fingers and send them back to hell right?”

Shut up, shut up, just shut up. She kept thinking, not able to stop talking, probably embarrassing herself in front of this angel.

“You are inexperienced….”

She blushed softly at that, yes she was inexperienced as a hunter and embarrassed by the fact that it showed. As he invited her to go with him she took a few steps forward. Before she could make it further a warning bark from Hunter made her turn around just as the ghost had moved to push her forward. She was able to move out of the way of it’s hands but luck was only going to go so far. Her ghost hunting gear was still in her bow bag and the ghost was right in front of her now.

[Deleted]

Castiel nodded, he had misunderstood her, “My apologies,” he said to her with a small smile.

Castiel’s wings. She was asking question about his wings. He didn’t usually talk about them much at all, if any. Truth was, he wondered if he spoke to soon about his angelic abilities. Should he have waited a bit to tell her? Or not have told her at all? She was a hunter so…she probably figured he existed in the first place, and still, now was the time for angels to start appearing towards humans. More then a few humans knew about them already.

“My wings ARE hidden behind my coat, but if I took my coat off you would not see them. They are mostly hidden behind the human vessel I reside in.” Castiel explained. “Most humans can not see angels at all,” he said to her.

He nodded when she started talking about Solomon’s key, “Yes, I could just vanquish a demon, but the key would be helpful,” he explained to her with a smile.

He looked her over again. She certainly WAS an inexperienced hunter, that was for certain, so why would Castiel need….to do anything about it? Would he just move on now or would he try and help her? He looked at her for a moment, “Come with me,” he said to her softly. She was already in this, and he couldn’t very well leave it be.

She would be in danger if he tried. He couldn’t leave her alone, but….on the other hand he had to find the key of soloman. Would she get in the way if she helped him? He wasn’t sure now.

As the ghost attacked Ren, Castiel stepped in between her and the spirit. "You shall leave now," he said to the spirit. He placed his hand on his head and the ghost vanished. Castiel nodded and looked at Ren, "He will not bother you again," Castiel said.

[ZZZ - R.I.P. - Ren Mercer]

She looked up at Castiel, eyes wide with surprise, now fully believing that she was standing in the presence of an Angel of God. First thought, “I should have gone to church in the last few years”. Second though, “does he know that when I was twelve I got tipsy on communion wine?” Third though, “am I dead?” Final thought, “woah, didn’t Dean and Sam Winchester have an Angel named Castiel in those Carver Edlund Supernatual books?” Suddenly it was strange for her, (yes, meeting an Angel was strange but this was moreso) an odd feeling that she might have just left the realm of sanity to some strange fantasy land where the characters from one of her favorite series had just come to life. Most fiction did have some sort of basis in reality, to some extent, but after having met Bobby Singer, hearing him talk about Sam and Dean, she was sure she had taken leave of the real world. How much else might be in this new reality? It wasn’t like she didn’t know that Hunters were real, herself being one, she had just though that Edlund had tapped into that reality that Hunters and a few myriad of threats they faced were real too.

The first time she had read the books she was seventeen and she loved them. She even went as far as dressing up as Jo for that Halloween, not that anyone recognized her (they were rather obscure books, like that one TV show about the cowboys in space, but that’s another fandom). Now she was considering going back and reading them all again, studying them like textbooks that would help her become a better hunter.

Of course all this was kind of a moot point right now. Currently she was standing in front of an Angel who offered for her to go with him, who had saved her. She did the only thing that felt natural to her, her way of thanking him for helping, she wrapped her arms around Castiel in a hug.

”I’ll totally help you look for that Soloman’s whatchamacallit. Thanks for saving me.”

[Deleted]

Castiel smiled a bit as he looked at Ren. He was always happy to help of course, and now it seemed like he may have needed help as well. The two of them perhaps COULD help each other but Castiel simply wasn’t sure how that would work. He would have to transport her if she was to be with him constantly OR he would just simply have to wait for her call to see if she found anything. Either way, he knew that he should give her the benefit of the doubt. Castiel wondered if she knew of him. He knew that many people heard of the Winchester novels, and he knew that he played a part in it.

Still though, Castiel felt like he was loosing a part of himself in this war. Everything was going….not according to God’s plan, at least, he didn’t think so. Did God WANT them to have freedom? Or was he just forced to obey orders the rest of his life? He was starting to have doubts and he knew that scared him. He looked at Ren again as he was thinking of what their next plan of action would be.

He knew they had to continue to search the entire church, and he also knew that could be done in a moment of time if he did it his way. He hoped perhaps she would have clues of the book of Solomon. Still…if she didn’t that was okay too.

“Come with me,” Castiel said again. He wasn’t exactly feeling ‘chatty’ at the moment, and he didn’t want to tell her all about this war and why he needed the key in the first place.

“It is a key,” He explained again. “A key that will let whoever holds it control the demons,” he said. “It is vital that I find it, so we must start now,” he explained. “It is here, I can feel it….” He hoped he was right.

[ZZZ - R.I.P. - Ren Mercer]

Had Cas asked if she knew of the Edlund books he'd probably have a squealing fangirl on his hands, eager to go over every adventure with him to ask questions. Yea she was really a geek.

“Come with me”

“Sure I'd love to. Quick question thought, shouldn't we salt and burn the ghost's remains so it doesn't come back? Oh also can my dog come too?”

Speaking of the little dog, he had now begun to sniff at Cas' shoes, licking them in places where he smelled something that might have been edible, little tail working itself back and forth in delight. The pup didn't care about what was going on or who the trenchcoat guy was, he just wanted attention from the new person.

Listening to Cas, Ren nodded along blindly, accepting his words on faith.

“It is a key, a key that will let whoever holds it control the demons....”

“Key, controls demons, got it.”

Moving away from the Angel she headed to the run down alter of the church and started to look around.

“Maybe there is a back room to this place where something like that would be?”

Her old church had a rectory behind the alter, a door which she would slip back to when she wanted to talk to her parents after they finished with their duties at church, her mother a eucharistic minster and her father a lecture. She knew that in the rectory they had locked up the wine and the unblessed eucharist and it was also where the various tools the priest used in mass, most of it gold so it had to be secured. She also remembered rows and rows of robes and the smell of frankincense in the air. She moved to the door next to the alter, trying it and finding it locked.

“From what I remember the priceless stuff is kept back here or where the priests live, in the offices.”

[Deleted]

“Salt and burn the ghosts remains?” Castiel looked at her and nodded. With a wave of his hand, he took out salt, then lit the bones on fire. Easy enough for him since he had his powers and everything. “Taken care of,” he said to her with a nod. Castiel sighed, thinking that this ghost was NOT the reason he was there, nor was this hunter. Castiel didn’t want to have to explain himself over and over and over again.

“Yes, the key controls the demons,” Castiel repeated, “This is why it is important that the angels gather the key,” he said again.

“A backroom…” Castiel nodded, “Yes that is a possibility,” he could easily ‘poof’ the two of them to the backroom, but he decided that he would rather just try to walk there with this new hunter he met. He didn’t want to scare her too much on the first day together.

After finding the door to the alter locked Castiel frowned. Well, the door being locked wouldn’t be a problem for him. He poofed inside the room and then opened the door for Ren to come in, “This is the room then?” he asked her.


(Sorry tried to make it longer lol I'm tired, but I think we should try and wrap this up soonish since the site is going through changes. )

[ZZZ - R.I.P. - Ren Mercer]

Looking with her new Angelic friend for most of the day and into the night, the strange trio of inexperienced hunter, Angel, and beagle came up with nothing. By the time Ren was so exhausted she couldn’t see strait anymore Hunter had passed out near the front passenger side tire of Shelby, snoring happily in the dirt. Sweaty, hungry, and completely convinced that had the relic been here they would have found it, Ren turned to Cas with a look of shame in her eyes, sure that since they hadn’t found it that it was probably her fault since Angels were kinda perfect weren’t they?

“So, Mister Castiel Sir, I really don’t think your Soloman thing is here and I’m really sorry about that. If you do come up with another idea of where it is or need some help with something else I am totally up for that.”

She pulled out her card, feeling kinda silly about it cause you know, he’s an Angel so he could probably just find her anywhere, but it might be rude to not give him her cell number.

“Just call me, anytime, day or night and I’ll answer and be there just as quick as I can be no matter what.”

The girl honestly meant it, not because this was an Angel before her, she’d make the same offer for anyone she had met and worked with, as others before Cas had found out. Blessed with a loyal heart, instead of a cut throat hunting style, the young hunter might have something up on others out there when it came to friends to call on for help when she needed it.