TWENTY

Dean and Sam found Walter and Julia’s car. Julia opened the door, and Dean noticed she must have decided now was a good time to freshen up because she had styled her hair and put on a fresh blouse and skirt. The brothers squeezed into the sleeper cabin. It had two pull-down beds, one on each side of the roughly six foot-square space. Velvet jumper seats ran parallel on either side of the car. Walter was sitting down, studying the book that he and Sam had retrieved from the Bible Society.

“So what’s next, sports fans?” Dean said. “We just going to sit around here and do our summer reading list? ‘Cause I’m still trying to finish James and the Giant Peach.”

“Sit down. I’ve found a couple of citations that might relate to what I think is possessing James.” Walter looked at Dean and Sam over a pair of smudged reading glasses. “And yes, in lore they are very often found with Lilith. But not only Lilith, there are other demons which are identified with them as well.”

“Like who?”

“Like Satan’s wives, Eisheth and Agrat Bat-mahlat.”

“Wait, Satan’s wives?” Dean didn’t like the sound of that at all.

Sam blanched. “So we’re dealing with pre-biblical scrolls, which most likely have pre-biblical demons like Lilith protecting them? That could be a bloodbath.”

“What do you mean?” Julia gripped her hands together.

“It means that everyone on this train could be in danger,” Sam explained. “It’s impossible to get everyone off. We’re going to have to demon-proof the entire train.”

“How?”

“Okay, well, we can trap them or we can kill them with a knife—that we no longer have.”

“Can a demon jump from body to body? I don’t want to be possessed by a demon.” Julia’s voice caught in her throat as she continued, “If you guys spend so much time around demons how come you don’t get possessed?”

In unison, Sam and Dean loosened their ties and pulled at their collars, revealing their protection tattoos. Julia blushed as she looked at Dean’s.

“Oh. I see. Okay then. So what’s our next step?” she asked.

The boys formulated the plan. First they would need to get Eli into a safe place. Then they would have to set it up so that as James followed Eli, they could trap him in a Devil’s Trap. The unfortunate thing was James, the real James, was probably toast. The guard dog was having a field day, probably pissing all over everything. There was no way the man’s body was going to come out unscathed, especially after the gunshots and that fall he took. After that they were going to have to relieve Eli of the scrolls. And they had to do that carefully, because no one knew what else was lurking in the jars. Then there was Eli. They didn’t know anything about him. The safest thing now was to just assume he was human, he would bleed like everyone else.

“So what do we do first?” Julia asked.

“I think dinner,” Dean said with a smile.

“Really?” Sam asked.

“I reckon the dining car is going to be our best bet for the showdown—set up salt and Devil’s Traps. Later tonight, when it’s closed down, we draw Eli in there. James stays out, we rough up Eli, take his milk money and run.”

“I’ll stay here. There are still a hundred questions I have. I’ll order in.” Walter made himself comfortable.

“I’ll go.” Sam said.

“Why don’t you stay here with Walter. Or start marking up the other end of the train, away from us?” Dean motioned with his eyes toward Julia, who was paying no attention to him.

Sam shook his head. “Fine.”

Dean grinned at Julia. “I guess it’s just you and me.”

She looked at him. “I think you need to wash your face first.” She motioned toward the small bathroom.

Dean opened the door and, looking in the mirror, noticed a large smudge of soot on his cheek. He rubbed it off with some spit and his fingers.

“Good as new. Let’s go sweetheart.” Dean opened up the cabin door. “Food’s on you, money bags.”

Sam handed Dean a half-dozen red wax pencils out of the duffel bag. “Mark as you go.”

Posing as a young couple in love, Julia took Dean’s arm as they negotiated the narrow hallways to the dining car. At each door leading to a new car, Julia would keep look out while Dean pulled up the carpet. On the bare floor he drew a Devil’s Trap, and then laid the carpet back over it.

“What about the windows?” Julia asked.

“Hopefully we’re only dealing with one. But if there are more demons coming, we’ll have to salt the windows and any other way they could get in.”

The dining car was functionally opulent, with white linen tablecloths, plush springy red-velvet seats and flowers in crystal bud vases on each table. A maîtred’ led them to a table. Dean pulled out Julia’s chair for her.

“I didn’t know you could be such a gentleman.”

“It’s a working dinner, sugar nips, don’t get any ideas.” Dean squinted at her. “Plus, there’s our guy now.”

Eli Thurman was reading a newspaper while shoveling beef bourguignon into his mouth. The case—presumably containing the scrolls—was placed firmly between his knees. Dean looked around, and noticed that on the other side of the door, at the far end of the car, James was pacing past the window, glancing in frequently to check on Eli.

“Wow, that guy is hardcore.”

“Hard what?”

“Never mind.”

“So can I ask you a question?” Julia smiled at Dean.

“Sure.”

“Who are you guys, really?”

Dean looked into Julia’s eyes. He instinctively knew better than to trust her. But something pulled at him from inside, he felt some sort of connection to her. He resisted.

“I’ll lay it out straight. We are exterminators of a sort. And I am in the family business. But what I do and how I do it, it’s best if you don’t know.”

“But you know about demons, inscriptions within ancient pre-biblical urns. You mentioned a knife that can kill demons. And it’s not the first time you’ve run into whatever almost killed my father,” Julia said carefully. “It seems to me that there is much more to you than meets the eye.”

“There’s always much more than meets the eye—but we haven’t known each other for that long,” Dean said with a wink.

“So, my life is in your hands and I’m just going to have to trust you?”

“Basically.” Dean looked down at the menu. “No burger?”

“I’m serious. I want to know who you are.”

Dean closed his menu in a huff.

“Okay, listen lady, I know you’ve been playing it pretty cool up till now, but I don’t trust you or your dad. I don’t know what your bag is and I don’t want to know. But in my experience a gun-toting pretty face only leads to one thing. Trouble. So I’m steering clear of you. We’re here to get the scroll and get back home. We can pretend this is all for one and one for all musketeers crap, but when the time comes I’m going to do my job, just make sure you do yours.”

Julia didn’t blink, she didn’t even blush.

“You think I’m pretty?”