Supernatural--Cold Fire (35 page)

He’d restrained himself in the pontianak’s lair when it counted most. To keep Sam safe. To complete the hunt. When any unreasoned action would have meant failure, he’d remained rational, master of his own actions.

In Dean’s book, that counted as a win.

* * *

Sam looked up as Castiel’s Lincoln approached, maneuvering into the herringboned parking space next to the Impala, on the passenger side.

Sam glanced at Dean, careful not to stare. His brother seemed totally relaxed, so Sam counted the hunt a success. It had kept Dean occupied with something other than endless hours of research and dark thoughts of what the Mark would eventually cost him.

Though Dean had held back in the pontianak’s lair, allowing Sam to ease into striking position and stop Riza, Sam had noticed the strain of Dean’s effort to control the Mark.

After they emerged from the underground room, Dean had commented, “Took you long enough.”

“Had to line up the perfect shot,” Sam countered.

“Excuses.”

“Hey, it worked.”

After all, even Dean couldn’t argue with success.

In the cold light of day, Sam knew Dean’s battle wouldn’t end well. They hadn’t postponed the inevitable, they’d only ignored its approach for a few days. For now, Dean seemed happy to win the battles, but Sam intended to win the war. However, noble intentions only went so far. Eventually, time would run out, and with each failure to find a solution, the probability of defeat became more certain.

Castiel opened his door and stood up, close enough to Sam to read his solemn facial expression.

With a frowning glance at the cheap motel behind them, Dean slapped the hood of the Impala and said, “Let’s go, gentlemen. It’s bunker time.”

When Dean climbed into the Impala and started the engine, Castiel caught Sam’s arm and said, “We won’t give up, Sam.”

“No,” Sam said, nodding in agreement. “We never do.”

But sometimes, not giving up was not good enough.

Not by a long shot.

An author spends a lot of time writing alone, but a book doesn’t happen solely by his efforts. With that in mind, I am indebted to the following people:

At Titan Books, thanks to my editor, Natalie Laverick, for welcoming me back, for her support and patience, and for helping guide
Supernatural: Cold Fire
through the publishing process. At Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., my gratitude goes out to Chris Cerasi and Victoria Selover for their feedback and suggestions.

For providing timely insight into childbirth during the early sixties, thanks to Randi Hutter Epstein, M.D., M.P.H.

At home, thanks to Emma Passarella and Luke Passarella for saving me precious time and tedium by gathering notes I needed for my writing process.

My enduring gratitude goes out to Greg Schauer with best wishes for Between Books 2.0. We need you!

Book after book, I remain grateful to Tangerine Dream for providing the soundtrack to my writing zone.

Finally, thanks to Eric Kripke for creating
Supernatural
, and special thanks to Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins for bringing these characters to life so well that for a short time they can live inside my head.

John Passarella won the Horror Writers Association’s prestigious Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel for the coauthored
Wither
. Columbia Pictures purchased the feature film rights to
Wither
in a prepublication, preemptive bid.

John’s other novels include
Wither’s Rain, Wither’s Legacy, Kindred Spirit, Shimmer
and the original media tie-in novels
Grimm: The Chopping Block, Supernatural: Night Terror, Supernatural: Rite of Passage, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ghoul Trouble, Angel: Avatar
, and
Angel: Monolith.
In January 2012, he released his first fiction collection,
Exit Strategy & Others. Supernatural: Cold Fire
is his twelfth novel.

A member of the Horror Writers Association, International Thriller Writers, International Association of Media Tie-In Writers and the Garden State Speculative Writers, John resides in southern New Jersey with his wife, three children, a dog and a cat.

John maintains his official author website at
www.passarella.com
, where he encourages readers to send him email at
[email protected]
, and to subscribe to his free author newsletter for the latest information on his books and stories. To follow him on Twitter, see
@JohnPassarella
.