TWENTY-TWO

Dean cocked his shotgun as he stepped out of the dining car. Julia followed him holding the jar containing the pieces of tablecloth. She salted the door behind her and went after Dean.

“Hey second string!” Dean called into the night air. He and Julia stepped into the next car. A long wooden bar extended down one side.

“Wow, swanky. Hey Lilith’s handmaid, where you at?”

Eisheth appeared between them and the dining car. Great. Now Dean was going to have to make a deal with Eisheth and get around her before Sam detached the car from the train.

Two more demons popped up from behind the bar.

“Drink?” Dean asked as he moved toward them.

“Who is she?” Eisheth pointed at Julia.

“My little sister. She comes with me everywhere. Always tagging along. Sort of like you and Lilith.”

“That whore? I was shut away for thousands of years while she got to play out in the world.”

“Oh come on, she’s family, you gotta love your sister. Well, maybe not. I mean she did get to shack up with Lucifer way more often than you did. Do you think they have a china pattern?”

“Retribution comes to those who wait.”

“I think it’s ‘good things,’ but whatever. So Eisheth, how about we make a deal? I give you the scroll, and you go on your merry way. And while you’re at it, you can let these poor people who your friends are knocking around in go. They can just jump out of them and leave them in peace.”

“War doesn’t leave anyone unscathed.”

“Semantics, Eisheth. About the scroll.”

“Is that it?”

Julia placed the ancient jar on the bar.

A possessed bartender reached for it, black eyes flashing.

“Leave it!” Eisheth eyed the guy. “It’s not yours to defile. It’s my responsibility.”

“So this is all about responsibility? Fantastic. I admire that in a demon. You take your job seriously. I get it. Now we’re just going to scoot on out of here.”

“Wait! I want to see it,” Eisheth hissed.

Dean hoped that Sam was just about done playing model train because things were getting bad down here.

Sam was in fact hanging onto the side of the train, in between the bar car and the passenger car. He was struggling with the hitching mechanism when he realized the steel levers that hooked the train cars together required a key. He scaled the ladder once again.

Sam sprinted across the tops of the cars. He looked into the distance. It was dark, no lights—he couldn’t see anything speeding toward him as he ran. One tree branch or tunnel would do him in. Could he die in the past? He was pretty sure he could.

Sam jumped down to the platform of the engine. He tried the door, but the lever wouldn’t budge. Sam banged on the door until the engineer emerged out of the darkness. He was a tall guy in striped overalls. Just like you would expect. Sam motioned for him to let him in.

“Who are you?” the engineer asked as he pushed open the door a crack.

Sam played dumb. “I seem to have lost my way.”

In a flash, he shoved himself through the opening and gave the engineer a smack to the nose with his elbow. The man fell to the ground.

“Where’s your hitching key?” Sam demanded.

The prone engineer pointed to a long steel rod hanging on the wall.

“When you feel the train get lighter you push this thing full throttle, okay?” The man nodded.

Sam leapt out of the car and scaled the ladder once again.

Dean heard Sam run across the roof for the second time in five minutes. He must be close.

“Why do you want to see it?” Dean challenged. “What’s on it that’s so important.”

Eisheth’s eyes flashed red again.

“You know what I think?” Dean continued. “I think you’re torn, because you promised your husband that you would protect this thing for him. But at the same time you know what it says. It’s how to kill him, isn’t it?”

Dean saw Julia glance at him out of the corner of his eye. Her look said, Surely this isn’t the best way to negotiate with a demon?

Ignoring her, Dean carried on goading Eisheth.

“You know what else I think? I think that you’re pissed Lucifer gave you the babysitting job, and now you just might want to read that little battle plan for yourself. You know, take your husband’s job, sort of like a senate seat.”

Eisheth lunged at Dean. He knocked her back with the butt of his shotgun.

“No touching.”

Eisheth lunged at him again, just as the train sped up dramatically. Through the window he could see the passenger part of the train start to pull away. The split-second distraction enabled Dean to push Julia toward the dining car.

Eisheth spun around and attacked Dean. He fell to the ground, face first. The shotgun skittered away from his reach.

Julia darted forward and picked it up, blasting Eisheth in the shoulder and knocking her off Dean. The two bartenders came after Julia, but in a surprising move she coupled a round-house kick with a flash of a blade.

The gashes to the demons’ bodies flared orange and they dropped to the ground. Ruby’s knife!

“What the —! Julia run!” Dean screamed as he rolled over and kicked Eisheth in the chest, sending her flying across the bar.

Dean turned toward the door. Sam was waving urgently. He was now in the process of unhitching the bar car.

Dean leapt to his feet and got halfway out onto the platform, but Eisheth was close behind. She grabbed him and pulled him to the ground in the doorway. Below him, Dean could see the levers clicking as the car struggled to detach. Sam was pushing heavily on the lever.

“Time to go, Dean.”

Eisheth got her hands around Dean’s throat. He struggled to breathe.

“Wow, 3,000 years in a jar hasn’t done anything for your dental hygiene,” he croaked.

Dean managed to get his knees up and reverse donkey-kick Eisheth back into the bar car.

“Now!” Sam screamed.

Julia opened fire on Eisheth. The salt bullets penetrated her body, each shot pushing her further back into the bar car.

Dean rolled backward into the dining car just as the bar car split off. The rest of the train hurtled down the tracks.

Eisheth was left standing in the bar car, cursing.