Supernatural 10 - Rite of Passage (39 page)
Read Supernatural 10 - Rite of Passage Online
Authors: John Passarella
Bobby decided to stay at the cabin for a few days, long enough for Roy’s out-of-state family to make funeral arrangements for his old friend. Roy would be buried in a plot next to his wife and son.
Bobby walked out of the cabin with Sam and Dean to say goodbye before they headed to Maine to investigate a series of flayed human corpses.
“If we hadn’t showed up on his doorstep,” Dean said, “Roy would still be alive.”
“Hunters don’t retire, not knowing what we know,” Bobby said. “Roy was … on an extended sabbatical. If not the oni, something else would’ve brought him back.”
“He tried to get Dalton to see things from his grandmother’s point of view,” Dean said. “That set the kid off.”
“He was too far gone,” Sam said. “Maybe even doomed from the start.”
“Not a day went by, Roy didn’t think about the family he’d lost,” Bobby said. “Family held power for him—the presence of it, and its loss. But family is what you make of it. When it works, you hold onto it, because you never know when your ride’ll be over.”
After their goodbyes, Sam and Dean climbed into the Monte Carlo, Dean behind the wheel and Sam kicking back in the passenger seat. As Dean backed out of the gravel driveway, Sam glanced over at him.
“How are you dealing with … everything?”
“The life?” Dean asked and shrugged. “Hundreds died, but stopping the oni, I figure we saved thousands. So, yeah, it’s a grind and it never ends, but that has to count for something.”
“I almost forgot,” Sam said and removed something from his jacket pocket. Ripping off the cellophane wrapper, he hung a cardboard pine tree air freshener from the rearview mirror.
“It won’t help,” Dean said. “I’m ditching this car first chance we get.”
Sam smiled, enjoying the moment.
Though Dean wearied of the unending series of battles and the futility of trying to achieve a lasting victory, Sam was determined to enjoy his life on the road for what it was. He wouldn’t let the daily struggle to maintain a vise-like grip on his sanity define him. A short life wasn’t the only possible bad outcome to the hunter life. Some things were worse than death.
Dean switched on the car’s radio. As if echoing Sam’s thoughts, the classic rock station was playing “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”
Acknowledgments
In the UK, thanks to my editor, Jo Boylett, and Cath Trechman at Titan Books for bringing me back to write another
Supernatural
novel. Thanks to my US editor, Christopher Cerasi, at Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. for the vote of confidence and for wrangling this project between continents. Thanks to Nicholas Knight for summarizing the
Supernatural
monster list during a time crunch. And thanks to Rebecca Dessertine for her early feedback and support. The guidance all of you provided is much appreciated.
Thanks to Greg Schauer, owner of Between Books in Claymont, Delaware, for years of support and encouragement. Thanks to everyone who entered the “use my name for a character” contest. Your enthusiasm for
Supernatural
is inspiring. Special thanks to my Twitter followers who helped me focus and re-focus during (seemingly) endless nights of
writing. And continued thanks to the Logan Township New Jersey police department.
Finally, I wouldn’t have the pleasure of writing
Supernatural
novels if not for show creator Eric Kripke and the entire cast and crew for bringing his vision to life.
About the Author
John Passarella won the Horror Writers Association’s prestigious Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel for the co-authored
Wither
. Columbia Pictures purchased the feature film rights to
Wither
in a prepublication, pre-emptive bid.
John’s other novels include
Wither’s Rain, Wither’s Legacy, Kindred Spirit
,
Shimmer
and the original media tie-in novels
Supernatural: Night Terror, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ghoul Trouble, Angel: Avatar,
and
Angel: Monolith. Supernatural: Rite of Passage
is his tenth novel. In January 2012, he released his first fiction collection,
Exit Strategy & Others.
A member of the Authors Guild, Horror Writers Association, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, and the Garden State Horror Writers, John resides in southern New Jersey with his wife, three children, a dog and a cat. He is also a web designer and webmaster for a few
New York Times
bestselling authors.
John maintains his official author website at
www.passarella.com
, where he encourages readers to email him at
[email protected]
, and to subscribe to his free author newsletter for the latest information on his books and stories.
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