Dean sped down the highway as fast as the Impala's engine would allow. At this hour, out in the middle of nowhere, he didn't have to worry about other drivers, or about speed traps.

He let his eyes wander, from time to time, to Sam, sleeping in the passenger's seat. Part of him wanted to prank his little brother. Draw on his face, or stick something in his mouth, and take pictures with his phone. He could do it without losing focus on the road. God knew he had done it before.

But he usually did it because he was bored. He was anything but.

He had his brother back.

Not even just back in the car with him. They were on a case together. They'd spent a good amount of the time the night before trying to reach hunters to see if anyone else had any personal experiences with Lionel Luthor. So far, they had come up empty handed. It wasn't even necessarily because of the late hour—hunters kept odd hours, so that didn't matter much. But while many people had heard of the most powerful man in Kansas—in truth, one of the wealthiest in the world—most had never met him. Dean didn't volunteer any information about why they wanted to know.

They didn't bother stopping for breakfast, since both of them skipped it most of the time. They grabbed a burger halfway through Colorado and kept at it. They didn't speak much. Part of it was to avoid the tension—Dean doubted they could talk much without fighting, right now. But at least for Dean, the silence felt worth it. Having Sam with him just felt right.

His phone buzzed a couple of towns west of Smallville. Dean picked it up. "Hello?"

"Dean? It's Caden, I was returning your call."

"Hey, good to hear from you," Dean said. Caden was a friend of his, though he didn't really know Dean's dad. Dean had worked with him on a haunting a couple of years before. They'd saved each other's bacon a time or two since. Nice guy, if not the brightest. "Let me guess. You've heard of Lionel Luthor, never met the guy."

" . . . Actually, we work together."

Sam piped up, "What's he saying?"

"Hang on, Caden, Sam's here with me, we're working the case together." Dean lowered his cell and put it on speaker. "Talk to us."

"Hello?"

"We can hear you," Sam said. "How do you know Lionel Luthor?"

"Ah, Luthor called me about . . . I wanna say four months ago? Sounded pretty spooked on the phone, same as anyone who calls me for help. Anyway, he had a ghost problem. Heard of me by reputation, asked if I could come take a look."

Dean blinked. "Lionel's mansion was haunted."

"It was a pretty typical hunt. The ghost was his wife, she was upset about his parenting or something. Ran into a couple of snags, but no casualties. Anyway, he was relieved, and impressed, and, uh, well, you know who he is. Offered to pay me."

"Did you take the money?"

"Nah. He asked if he could give me a token of his appreciation, though."

Dean looked up at Sam, who looked as alarmed as he felt. "What did he give you?" Sam asked.

"Tell you the truth, it didn't look like much. Like a cheap crystal souvenir you'd get at some trading post in the boonies. Said he picked it up on his travels, supposed to be some sort of explosive? He'd been told it was powered by damned souls, there was a trigger word to make it blow."

Dean winced. "You didn't buy that, did you?"

"Course not. Til I got desperate one day, takin' out a vampire nest down in Tampa."

"Vampires?"

"Yeah. Didn't expect there to be so many of 'em, and I didn't bring enough backup. Happened to have it on me."

"Don't tell me it actually worked."

"Biggest blast I ever saw. Took out every vampire in the place. But you know what the craziest part was? Didn't singe the hair on any of us hunters."

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"Caden," Sam said, "did it ever occur to you it might be some kind of dark magic?"

"Course it occurred to me. But that nest had taken eight lives we knew of, and they were just getting started. We were toast, if I hadn't had that bomb on me. Far as I was concerned, Lionel Luthor had saved my life. A hell of a lot of lives, that night."

"Do you think he had any idea what he'd given you?" Dean asked. He knew better than to think Lionel had stumbled into something that powerful accidentally, but he wasn't sure where Caden stood.

"He didn't know at the time. Uh...his house was all full of sigils and stuff, devils traps, and he had all these little green crystals everywhere, but I don't think he had any idea what he was doin' with 'em. None of 'em were any use against ghosts, which was all he was dealing with when I came by."

Every once in a while, Dean and his dad came across someone trying to use the supernatural for their own gain. Usually, they were dead within weeks. Dean had to wonder if Lionel might be a different story. "I see."

"So anyway, I give him a call, tell him what happened with the crystal. He sounds kinda stunned, thanks me for telling him. Says he'll look into it, trace the steps backwards. I thought that'd be the end of it."

"But it wasn't." Dean wished he'd put out some kind of warning about Lionel to everyone he knew sooner.

"He calls me a couple of weeks later. He's not only looked into where the thing came from, he figured out how to make more of 'em. Just needed the souls, and he taught me how to trap them. Next few times I dealt with a haunting, I trapped the spirit instead of burning the bones. Solved the problem all the same, but now I had a power source. Delivered it to a courier, and a couple of times since then, he's sent me another bomb."

"Does he ask for anything in return?" Dean asked.

"Uh, not really. Just the souls."

Dean cleared his throat. Even if he didn't know Lionel, it sounded too good to be true. "You ever think he might have some ulterior motive?"

"Sure, but I can't think what it would be. Frankly, can't say I care. Can't tell you how many more lives I've saved since I started working with him."

Dean felt like his heart was sinking into his stomach. "Did you tell anyone about your deal?"

"Yeah, got a few other hunters doing the same thing."

"Anyone I know?"

"Don't think so. I can send you a list."

"Yeah, please do that."

"Sure. Curious what brings you to ask about Luthor. He reach out to you?"

"Not me. My old man."

"Well, far as I can tell, he's not hurting anyone. A little obsessed with weapons development, and I guess that goes for the supernatural and not. Still never could figure out what he was doing with those green rocks."

Every bit of the story made Dean's blood pressure rise further. He wanted to tell Caden to stay far, far away from Lionel Luthor, but Caden had been working with Lionel more than he'd ever worked with Dean. There was probably a lot more trust there, and Dean couldn't risk his words making their way back to Lionel through Caden. He'd have to hold off until he had something more than suspicion. "Got it. Thanks for calling back."

"Thinking you might work with him? I can connect you."

"I'll think about it. Thanks."

"Yep."

Dean hung up and turned to Sam. "What's that sound like to you?"

"Bad news," Sam said.

"You think?"

"I can't figure out what Lionel's trying to do," Sam said. "I mean, capturing human souls, that sounds a little . . ."

"Off the rails?"

Sam shook his head. "But we just burn their remains. If this saves lives . . ."

"But it's Lionel Luthor."

"Right. What's his angle?"

"I don't know. But we're going to find out." A part of Dean wanted to be relieved that maybe his father wasn't in immediate danger, but then, his dad was a lot more old fashioned when it came to hunting methods. He wasn't sure how Lionel would respond if their dad refused to be a part of his plans, but he had his suspicions about how it would go over.

Dean called Lex's cell, but Lex didn't pick up. He often didn't, during the work day. He thought about trying the Kent farm, but then realized Chloe might be able to get a message through sooner, and he called her instead.

"Hello?"

"Chloe? This is Dean Winchester."

"Oh, hi, Dean. Um, we've been researching nonstop, we haven't made much progress."

"We have. I'll tell you about it when I get there. I'm about an hour out. Until then, you stay away from the mansion, do you hear me?"

"Sure thing."

Dean had no doubt that was a lie. "I'm serious, Chloe."

"I hear you."

Definitely a lie. He hung up, dropped his phone, and pressed the petal to the metal.

----------------------------------------

Chloe shoved her phone in her pocket and continued to pick at the lock.

She didn't blame Lionel for not having guarded this particular entrance as thoroughly as the others. It was awfully hard to find; if Chloe hadn't spent so much time around the mansion when Lex had lived here, she wouldn't have known where it was, either.

If her sources were correct, the alarms would be deactivated at this time in this little corner of the mansion as well. As soon as she could get in, she could investigate—or, if she was lucky, maybe even get a message to John Winchester.

The lock turned, and Chloe couldn't help but grin. Lex had done so much to help her over the past few years. Their research projects always made her feel like anything was possible, but she rarely got to live that out. Moments like these, she felt like she was pulling her weight in the job he'd given her. He might even be proud of her.

Slowly, she pushed the door open to an empty hallway. This area was even less guarded than she thought. Slipping her lockpick into her back pocket, she took a couple of hesitant steps inside.

The guard didn't come in from around a corner. He truly materialized in front of her.

Chloe gasped and took a step back, fumbling for the pepper spray she'd brought, but her limbs froze when the guard blinked, and his eyes turned black.

And her whole body was thrown up against the wall.