The Times They Are A'Changin'

[Aiden]

The tavern was particularly busy that night, and Aiden was entertaining folk behind the bar with wild stories. A few hunters even stopped in that night, some arriving at the request of Aiden for tips on Art, Casey, the Winchesters, and just jobs in general. At this moment, though, Aiden was completing the simple task of taking out the trash.

Usually he would be more aware of his surroundings, but because he was in such a good mood, his guard was down and he was just walking to the dumpster on the side of the tavern. He lifted the lid, let the bag fall inside, and then paused when he heard a voice behind him.

“Hello.”

Aiden turned slowly, and looked over the person behind him. A young woman, long dark hair, leather jacket, standing firmly. “Can I help you?”

“Maybe. It all depends, really. Are you smarter than your friend in Texas?”

“You’ve talked to Jeff?” he asked, letting his brows drop in confusion. “Are you a hunter?”

She smirked at him. “Yes,” she said, clearly to the bit about talking to Jeff. “And not really.”

“Right…are you going to tell me what you’re here for, or are you going to stand there all night staring at me?” Aiden asked harshly, quickly growing uncomfortable with the situation.

“Names Ruby. You’re Aiden, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” he said, annoyed. She was wasting his time, and she wasn’t ‘really’ a hunter which meant that little good could come of this.

“Well isn’t that convenient. I’ve been looking for you. Tried to warn your friend about some information I found, but by the looks of things, you all ignored it.” She crossed her arms. “Happen to know what I’m talking about?”

Aiden thought back to the last time he was with Jeff. Faction leader meeting. They were bringing together the information they had—and a woman named Ruby told Jeff about Lilith. “Wait, wait, wait, the Ruby that told Jeff about Lilith? The demon that apparently can't be taken down? So she's missing, what of it? It’s not like I’m jumping to find a creature that could end me and probably half the country five times over.”

“So, if she's missing the minions of hell have no leader, and there is a power struggle. Everyone knows Lilith was planning something big, and a few of her lieutenants and enemies are trying to take her place. Guess who's trapped in the middle of their big war?”

“Something big like what?” Aiden asked, but was cut off as she kept going. By the end of it, he just shook his head, scoffing. “And let me guess, other demons? Not my problem, my problem is killing demons.”

“No,” she shot back. “This isn’t some petty territory war. Think a bit bigger than that kid, or maybe a lot bigger.”

Aiden let his face go blank, clearly annoyed and unamused. Yuki, Teagan, and Elle should have been out there with him. “A new Lucifer in town, cool,” he said sarcastically. “I’ll just go prep my team and get right on that,” he added, knowing it was probably impossible to kill anything close to Lucifer.

“Wow, that’s really close, actually. But no, try the real Lucifer. Word on the street is Lilith is trying to raise him. Bring about, oh, the end times.”

End times? She meant apocalypse. “Lucifer is locked up, how the hell could she manage that?”

“Well, there's a way to get him out. I'm fuzzy on the details but Lilith had a plan, one she got started before she disappeared. Her right hand man is set to take the helm and bring about the Apocalypse. All your thumb twirling has just given him more time to form and army. Gotta tell ya, I hear it's nice and big. Ever hear about the hunters that died randomly a while back? Olive, I think was one of them...”

Great, an army of demons against how many hunters? That was why Casey was organizing factions, but even then, they sort of failed at recruiting too. “Well pardon me for not being able to kill demons. I'm sure you know that I can only cast them back to hell where they'll join up again.

She shrugged. “Yeah, that does suck. There are 2 ways to kill ‘em actually, and both are missing. And I miss that knife...”A knife…that could kill demons? Like the one that Arthur had? “You can't fight them but I know what you need to do to at least stall them, get more details.”

“And since I'm not in the pit, there isn't much I can do, now is there, since "someone is a little fuzzy on the details." And no, I don't know Olive, actually.” Something wasn’t right. Something with Ruby. “So there is a demon killing knife. A shame…”

She paused for a moment, understanding what Aiden implied. “Hey! I'm working with what I got, do you know how hard it is to get information? Especially when my sources are able to disappear?”

“How can I stall them if I don’t even know what I’m stalling them on? And yeah, actually, I do know how hard it is when sources dis—wait, what do you mean disappear?” Was she referring to demons?

“Yeah, I lent it to a Sam Winchester. Which actually brings me about to how to stall them. Have you heard anything about them? I know there's a Casey but... Oh, they either smoke out when they see me coming or got grabbed by a higher up. Damn annoying.”

She was talking about demons. Awesome, that made her all the more trustworthy. But at the same time, she knew more than he did. He would play her game, at least for a little bit longer. “Just rumors, nothing that’s definite. We've been working on it on and off for about a year, and we've still got nothing. Whatever grabbed them made sure they weren't going to be found. Your sources are demons? That's safe.”

“It's what I got to work with.”

Aiden raised a brow. And how exactly was that she was able to work with them? “Tell me, do you know what the word cristo does?” he asked, watching her eyes flare black. So she herself was a demon. So was this a trap, false information, or what? There was no way she was helping hunters willingly.

“Yes…”

“A demon,” he said with a scoff. “Makes sense, I guess. So the demons are trying to figure out where they are, and they're trying to make us hunters waste our time ,"stalling," when it'll probably just be helping you guys out.” Aiden started walking back to the tavern. “Don't bother trying to come inside.”

“I'm not like them. I'm not going to bother to explain myself to you but believe me when i say I like the world the way it is. Apocalypse happens, we're all screwed,” she called in a raised voice.

Aiden stopped, and turned around to face her. “I find it hard to believe that a demon is against the apocalypse. Isn't that what they teach you in hellspawn school? Every demon’s dream come true? Come on, try it on some other mark. Give me one good reason to believe that you're not like the rest, huh?”

“Apocalypse happens, it's hell on Earth. I come to earth to get away from hell. Where do I go after that? Heaven? Yeah, like that will happen.”

“Still not buying it.”

“Don't have too, but like it or not we are on the same team. Finding the Winchesters is as much in your interest as it is mine.”

“Yeah, well, I'm not in the business of helping demons, if you haven't heard. Got a bitch of a white eyed that can vouch for that, so you aren't getting any more out of me. If you've got anything else to say that isn't leaving or proving that we're on the same side, I will not hesitate to exorcise that little puff of cloud right out of that meat suit of yours.” He turned around, once more walking back inside.

“I can tell you where to find Ariel.”

He stopped. Find Ariel? That could be another trap. Tell Ariel Aiden planned on finding her somewhere so Ariel could kill him…or whatever it was that she wanted him for. But still, how long was the hunt for her at now? How many years? "...And of what benefit is that for you, Ruby? I know what i can get out of it.”

“Another asshole taken care of. Another contender for big bad taken care of, world peace, take your pick.”

“Alright. How do I get her?”

” You get her by helping me and helping yourself. You look for the Winchesters and I'll work the grapevine for your demon friend's whereabouts. Think you can handle that?”
Sounded easy enough, so easy that no one else had to know. “Yeah, I suppose. Your vagueness doesn't earn you trust, though, hell, I wouldn't even say we're on the same team. Just know that if you try and cheat your way out of any of this, I've got a very capable ring of friends that would be more than happy to hunt you down and shove a little salt into you.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Terrifying, you really are. Nevertheless, reading you loud and clear,” she said, waving her hands dismissively.

Aiden smirked. “You should see me when I’m angry,” he said, referring to his demon mode.

“You can’t be worse than my boyfriend, sparky.”

It was his turn to roll his eyes. “Look, you just focus on holding up your side of the deal, alright? You got what you came here for, now let me go "handle" my part, yeah? Besides, now you've given me more of a struggle of morals.” Working with a demon…was he out of his mind?

“No problem then. You find the impossible to find brothers. I'll hunt down one of hell's most vicious demons. Sounds like fun,” she said sarcastically.

“Right, fun.”

“So do we have a deal? If you’ll pardon my phrasing.”

Aiden paused. He reminded himself he was getting Ariel out of this. A little bad for the greater good. “…deal.”

“It's settled than. I'll be in touch, the bar girl has my number if you need me. She shot him a signature smirk and began walking away. The bar girl? Lori had some explaining to do. That’d come later, though; now he was going to hit those hunters up for tips on the Winchesters. And when he found them, Aiden was going to warn the Winchesters about Ruby before he told her anything about their return.

[Aiden]

The Camaro pulled into its usual spot in front of the tavern, the afternoon sun glaring on the windshield. Yuki and Teagan were inside, presumably along with Elle and CJ, and Aiden was returning from a grocery run for the hunters. The tavern had a supply of some food for customers, but the hunters got hungry and couldn't exactly take from the stuff for the customers.

A lot happened. There was now a faction in Tennessee, Art was going back to South Dakota, and now Aiden had an edge on Ariel. There were still no leads on the Winchesters, nothing at all. So when Aiden stood up when getting out of his car and spotted Ruby, he was prepared to send her off. However, she started towards him, looking rushed, frazzled.

"We need to talk," she called, walking around the car and standing right in front of him. "We're in it deep. Queen Bitch is back in town, but our dear old brothers aren't. Tell me you know something." Aiden looked her over, trying to find any sign of her knife (if she was able to track it back down, that was).

"Wait, Lilith is back?" he asked, his mind racing. That would explain the demons acting out in Tacoma, killing their own. "Is she running whatever it is with the seals?"

"Give the kid a prize," she said sarcastically. "Look, we don't have time for this. Lilith is back, and her way to let loose Big Daddy is to break the seals. Apparently you've already run into that," she summarized quickly. "We could really use Sam and Dean. I'm taking it by your lack of a real answer that you've got nothing."

"No, I don't. I've been on it since the summer, and still nothing. I've been trying, trust me, I have. But why do we need them specifically?" Other hunters could surely help out.

"We need them because we do, alright? They're skilled in ways you aren't."

"Touchy, touchy. Are you still in for our deal?"

"You want to talk about that right now?"

"Yeah, actually, I do," Aiden shot out, narrowing his eyes at her. "We've all got other problems running at the same time, so being respectful of our deal would be appreciated. Otherwise I just won't let you know when the Winchesters make contact once they show up and keep you in the dark." He could see the irritation on her face.

"What about it?"

"I want Ariel's name. Her name from her human life."

"You've got to be kidding me. What good is that going to do you, Wonder Boy?"

"Just get it, alright?"

"Fine, but Ariel should be the least of your problems. If seals are breaking, we need the Winchesters, we need to hold off the demons, deal with our new friends, and you don't even know how many demons are on the move. There's a nice challenge coming to the West coast, even."

"It's one demon coming. I think we can take it."

"Have fun with that then, I wouldn't want to be you. Anyway, You hear anything you summon me, yeah?"

"Yeah, I guess," he said hesitantly. She was right, he just didn't want to boost the demon's ego. If Lilith was back and their only fighting chance was the Winchesters, they were screwed. He needed to text Casey, call Deacon, Jeff and Harley, and tell the rest of his own faction.

He glanced back at Ruby, but she was gone. "Awesome," he said with a sigh.