Same To You

We arrive at the car park near Roy's house, and he seems to be busy as always because he is providing his services a second time today...

"If Roy is using a spell, there might be a spell book," says Sam, while looking at the house.

"Yeah, I would say you take the broomstick rider and check out the house, while Anna and I go and stop Roy from healing someone else,"

Dean suggests, while simultaneously insulting me and my car.

Cthylla giggles, while Sam nods seriously, and they start walking toward the house, completely ignoring my hurt feelings…

Maybe I should invade his dream today and give him nightmares about broomsticks... yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

After forming my evil plan, I follow them until we walk past the protester from earlier, who wants to give us a leaflet saying, "Roy Le Grange is a fraud. He's no healer!"

"Amen, brother," says Dean, taking one.

Sam does the same, saying seriously, "Keep up the good work!"

"Show them the truth, brother," I say and take one too, while Cthylla only rolls her eyes at our antics and simply walks past him.

"Thank you," says the man, shocked that someone encouraged him for once. So Cthylla turns around and grabs one too, probably after sensing his feelings.

She sees me grinning at her and says, "Shut up," before storming past me.

Afterward, we split up. Dean and Cthylla walk to the tent, while Sam and I head to the house. Since I can sense Roy and his wife inside, I stop Sam and point at the entrance door.

At the same moment, Sue Ann and a guy in a suit open it to lead Roy toward the tent.

After they leave the house, we move to the side to enter through the window.

When Sam tries to simply climb in, I stop him again and give him a pair of worker gloves, saying,

"You're breaking into a house in the middle of the day without wearing gloves. Are you hunters eager to go to prison?"

"Oh, yeah, you're right," he says and puts them on before climbing inside. I put some on too and follow him.

We enter the house and find ourselves in the living room. Then, we split up to search more effectively.

*Knock, knock.*

After finding nothing in the living room and the kitchen, I am about to go upstairs when Sam knocks on the door he had entered earlier and waves at me to join him.

I enter the room that looks like a small library and he shows me a small book bound in dark leather.

"Look at this," says Sam and opens the book that was written in Latin.

—

I turn a few pages and read through the content before saying,

"It contained images and instructions on how to keep Death, or in this case, the Reaper away.

It says you only need to create a dark altar and construct a Coptic cross with the dying person's blood inside.

After enchanting it with a spell, the Reaper won't see the victim, at least as long as the person stays near the altar.

It seems that this is how Roy managed to stay alive during his cancer."

Sam nods and then asks, "And the binding?"

"Well, the binding is split into four parts and involves a variety of ingredients, but essentially, you need three crosses this time.

One is for the dark altar, another for the place where the Reaper should go after taking a life, and a small one to give him orders.

You also need to choose a victim and mark them with your blood, though a portrait is also sufficient.

The victim's face needs to be marked there with the caster's blood and placed on the dark altar.

Finally, you simply chant the spell to give the order."

Sam thinks about it and then turns the pages, revealing some newspaper articles placed there, and says, "I think Roy doesn't use a portrait but this to mark and choose his victims."

I look at them and there are articles about six people who died in the past year. They were all involved in some drama.

For example, Marshall Hall was a gay teacher who sued his school after they discriminated against him and fired him when they discovered his sexual orientation.

"Healing people while killing those he deems immoral… and look at the latest one," says Sam, showing me an article that's only a few days old.

"Damn, we need to warn Dean and Anna and find this guy or his hard work will be in vain," I say upon seeing an article about a protester.

He's doing his best to warn people about an evil preacher, so it would be a shame if he would die...

Sam is initially confused by my words, but then he shakes them away and takes out his phone as we head outside.

"Did you guys find anything?" asks Dean, after the call connects.

"Yes, a spell book and we also know who's next on his killing list. Remember that protester?"

"What, the guy in the parking lot?" asks Dean, clearly irritated.

"Yes, Roy kills everyone he sees as immoral. We'll find him, but you two can't let Roy heal anyone, all right?" says Sam, while I focus on my perception to track down the guy.

"Sure, we'll do our best," says Dean before hanging up.

"Follow me, I found him," I say upon sensing the guy not far away. So I jog in his direction with Sam following closely behind.

—

"Help me! Please help me!"

We arrive at the parking lot and see the protester screaming and running as if he's training for the Olympics—well, either that or because an old guy in a suit is following him.

"Let me try to handle the Reaper. Don't come closer, and bring the protester to safety," I say to the younger Winchester.

Sam nods without doubting my words and runs after the protester, while I increase my speed and appear in front of the Reaper.

He sees me and suddenly stops while looking around as if unsure of what he should do.

Luckily, he doesn't know that I can't do anything to him right now, as he's not using a vessel or something similar that would allow me to harm him at the moment.

It's as if he's on another plane of existence, merely using his essence to manifest...

"Hello there. What do you say, can we chat, or will you run away?" I ask the being in front of me, while Sam catches up with the protester and tries to lead him to safety.

The Reaper sees this, and I can tell it wants to go after them, but my presence seems to frighten it for some reason.

"Are you mute or something? I'm trying to talk with you," I say, attempting to intimidate it as I walk closer. While it takes a few steps back without saying anything.

I'm not sure why it's so afraid, but this should give Dean and Cthylla enough time to stop the healing.

"Fire! We need to put it out fast!"

As if in response to me, a scream rings out from a beautiful woman, and I turn around to see fire coming out of the tent before shifting my attention back to the Reaper.

The Reaper seems to relax after seeing me stop, and then we stare at each other for a few minutes without saying anything until he sighs and vanishes.

~~~ A few minutes prior with Dean and Cthylla ~~~

"Sure, we'll do our best," says Dean and hangs up, while Cthylla looks at him questioningly.

"What happened?"

"They found the spell book, and that Roy is the asshole I thought he would be. So we need to stop him before he tries to heal more peop—"

"Layla. Layla Rourke. Come up here, child," says Roy, who is already one step ahead of Dean.

Layla looks around in surprise as the people cheer for her, then stands up and warmly hugs her mother.

"Oh man," says Dean after seeing this.

Since Dean doesn't react, Cthylla says, "We have no time to lose. I will create a distraction to stall him, while you talk to the woman," and leaves the stunned man behind.

He only snaps out of his stupor when Layla walks past him.

"Layla, listen to me. You can't let Roy heal you," says Dean desperately, grabbing her hand.

Layla looks confused at him and says, "Why not? We've waited for months for this opportunity, and he also healed you."

"Because if he does something bad, it's going to happen. I can't explain. I just need you to believe me," pleads Dean.

They both stare into each other's eyes for a second before Sue Ann says, "Layla darling, come. God has chosen you."

Layla looks conflicted and gazes at Sue Ann and then at her mother. Then shakes off Dean's hand and says, "I'm sorry," and goes towards the miracle healer.

Cthylla observes this from the entrance, then looks at the tent, takes out a lighter, and ignites it while chanting,

"Ego sum regina flammārum, ergo oboedīte mihi et mandāta mea exsequimini."

(I am the queen of flames, therefore obey me and carry out my commands)

"Ego sum regina flammārum, ergo oboedīte mihi et mandāta mea exsequimini."

The flames start to erupt from the lighter, and she controls them precisely to only burn the upper layer of the tent to release some smoke.

Then she shouts, "Fire! We need to put it out fast!"

Dean glances at the entrance where Cthylla gives him a thumbs-up, then turns back towards Roy and Layla.

Roy stops the healing, saying, "Friends, if you'd all just leave the tent in an orderly fashion... and we'll, uh, figure out what's going on out there, and we'll come back."

"No! No, please. Please don't stop. Reverend, please, please! Please don't stop, please!" screams Layla's mother.

But the reverend grabs her daughter's hand and starts to leave with her through the side entrance.

As the people begin to evacuate, Cthylla extinguishes the flames and lets them out.

While Dean looks around and sees Sue Ann standing in a corner, swaying and saying something.

He has a bad premonition and walks towards her, and spins her around.

She gasps upon seeing him and immediately hides the small cross that was in her hand in her blouse.

Dean looks at her angrily and wants to grab her, but she steps back and screams when she notices two cops entering the tent, "Help! Help me!"

Dean glances back and sees the police officers too, and retreats while glaring at the smiling woman.

~~~ Rasiel's POV ~~~

After the Reaper disappeared, I met up with Sam, and we walked towards the house.

And I was a bit pissed... I had such a good opportunity, but no tools to make the Reaper talk. Maybe I need to borrow the command cross from Roy...

When we arrived at the house, Cthylla was already waiting, and we saw Dean being dragged out of the tent by two cops, while Sue Ann was following them closely behind.

"I just don't understand. After everything we've done for you after Roy healed you… I'm just very, very disappointed, Dean,"

Says Sue Ann as Dean shakes the cops off and turns towards her angrily.

Dean's face tells me that Roy is probably not the evil one here…

The cops want to grab him again, but Sue Ann says, "I'm not gonna press charges. The Lord will deal with him as He sees fit."

Sue Ann leaves, and one of the cops says, "We catch you 'round here again, son, we'll put the fear of God in you, understand?"

Dean salutes and says, "Yes, sir, fear of God. Got it."

The policeman shakes his head and leaves him alone.

Cthylla and Sam want to go towards him, but I stop them and gesture towards the blonde woman who watched all of this and is now walking towards Dean.

"Why would you do that, Dean? It could have been my only chance," says Layla, clearly hurt.

"I know it doesn't seem fair, and I wish I could explain, but Roy is not a healer. I'm sorry," says Dean, but without explaining the whole thing to her, this won't do…

She looks at him, hurt and confused, and then turns around and walks towards her mother while Dean looks up at the sky.

While I need to hold Cthylla back, who probably feels his pain and wants to help him.

There are things a man needs to endure himself and learn from. Even Sam stays behind because he knows he can't do anything at the moment…

Layla then stops and turns again towards Dean, saying, "I wish you luck, Dean. I really do."

Dean, clearly holding back his tears, says with a crackling voice, "Same to you."

She turns around and walks away, while I can hear Dean muttering under his breath, "You deserve it a lot more than me…" before he walks towards us.

When he arrives in front of us, he runs his hand over his mouth and says, "It wasn't Roy, it was that bitch Sue Ann. We need to stop her."

That's one way to deal with pain, simply focusing on work…

Sam nods and says, "At least we know now who has the cross."

"Yes," says Dean seriously and looks at the preacher and his wife, who are talking with the mother-daughter duo right now.

"Private session tonight, no interruptions. I give you my word, I'll heal your daughter," says Roy to Layla and her mother, giving us an opportunity to stop Sue Ann and talk to the Reaper.

I also need to talk to Cthylla… I've never seen her so worried about humans, except maybe for children.