Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural
Voodoo Revenge
Danny writhed on the table, his wrists secured by metal shackles to the top of it. His legs were in the same predicament, and he was very conscious of the fact that his captor had left him half naked, whoever the hell they were. He had come here to New Orleans in order to find out what had happened to another hunter, Raman, who had gone missing.
He had found Raman all right. And then he had woken up in this mess.
The room he was in was dark, illuminated by softly lit candles. He could hear Raman breathing heavily in the darkness, but couldn't make out the other hunter. Danny strived to free himself from his manacles, but they were simply too strong for him to move. He looked at the table beside him, seeing some sort of symbol drawn on to it. He gulped, as he heard a rustling, and a soft voice came through the shadows.
"So nice of you to join me. It won't be long now till the one I'm after, the one I've missed so much, is here. But you've been a great help." They said sweetly, and he watched as a headless voodoo doll was laid on the table beside him.
Dried herbs were then scattered, and a drumbeat was begun, but there was no rhythm to it. Danny shivered as he heard screams and evil sounding laughs, his bare chest going frigid with fright as it happened.
His captor then began to chant, inciting dark forces, the drumming accelerating as they did so, and Danny looked around desperately.
"Please, don't! Whatever you're doing, don't!" Danny pleaded, desperate to be set free.
Ghosts, monsters, he could handle. Magic was something else entirely, and whatever was going on here was clearly part of some larger and more sinister plan.
"Oh great goddess Erzulie, this soul I offer thee! Take his spirit, take his soul, into your loving arms, so that I may be loved in return!" his captor chanted, and the flames flared, and Danny was panicking, desperate to get free, desperate for any form of rescues, but none was coming.
"To the loa Ghede I do beseech, while I offer his soul freely, please, allow me your gifts and his body!" his captor cried.
Danny was thrashing as the chant continued, sweat running down his bare chest as dark coalescing spirits spiralled around the room, the room becoming totally frigid, the candles flaring, the building creaking as it happened.
"Great Bosou Koblamin, take this boy in payment for the enemy you will soon receive! Patience will be rewarded and you will have the greatest prize, and I will have what I desire!"
Danny felt tears in his eyes. He was terrified, the noises were getting worse, the flames expanding and contracting alternately, and then purple lights swirled around her arms as she stood between the two tables, the dark smoke coalescing, glinting red, yellow and green sets of eyes staring down at him greedily, and the Louisianna night was filled with screams.
XX
Dean entered the room, carrying breakfast, and cast a cursory glance over Sam's sleeping form, which was currently wrapped up in a ball, the covers snugly about him. Dean looked a second longer, to make sure his brother was still breathing, and then set about cooking breakfast.
He was still in an incredibly good mood. Three days before, Sam had possessed the body of Zachariah, who had escaped Purgatory because of Castiel, and had killed Sam brutally and framed Dean for the murder. Sam had possessed Zachariah just before Dean himself had died, and had resurrected their friends Jody and Marion, restored Bobby and resurrected himself to boot, before helping to destroy the angel once again. Since then, Dean, his mind restored by his angelic baby brother and no longer going crazy, and also ecstatic that his brother had returned to him from the dead, had been as if he was on euphoria, fussing over Sam and actually enjoying himself for the first time in ages, and the last three days he had just allowed himself to relax and enjoy spending time with his little brother.
"Sammy." He called loudly but softly, and smiled as his brother woke up blearily, mussing his long hair and looking at his brother in confusion.
"Since when do you get up before me?" he asked curiously, and Dean smiled.
"Since I've been in a very good mood because my brother resurrected himself and came back to me, since I saw that local deli down the road, which before you ask I walked there and back from without so much as smiling at a woman or even hinting I could get kidnapped, and since you said yesterday you fancied an omelette, so I got up early to make you one." He said cheerfully, scooping it onto Sam's plate and setting it on the table.
Sam smiled at him as he sat down, and immediately tucked in to the omelette. Dean had always made the best omelettes, and it was something he had always managed to make look like an omelette, whenever Sam made them they wound up looking like a splat on the plate.
"You know, I could get used to you running around after my every whim and fancy." He said, as Dean sat down, heretically squirting tomato sauce onto his plate as he did so, and tucked in himself.
"Yeah, don't get used to it. Beginning to miss old, miserable me?" he asked with a grin, and Sam shook his head.
"No, euphoria you makes a nice change. Oh, Jody texted last night. Her and Marion are safely in Canada." He reported, and Dean nodded in approval.
"Good. At least I can't be blamed for murdering you seeing as you're living and breathing right in front of me. Hey, you hear that Bobby? Your girlfriend's safe!" Dean called with a smile, and Bobby flickered in beside them, looking at them grumpily.
"She is not my girlfriend." He said grouchily, and Sam grinned.
"Not through lack of trying." He said, and Bobby glowered at him.
"Shut it you." He said grouchily, turning on their TV and flicking through the channels.
Dean watched his brother as he ate, just glad his brother was there. Brandon had nearly destroyed them. Hell it had destroyed Sam. Dean still couldn't get the image of his brother, lying on the bed, blood soaking him, a knife in his gut, his head at an unnatural angle due to the viciousness of the murder Zachariah performed upon him. And then, the bastard had sent visions to Dean to try and make him think he had done it, torturing him with images of Sam being tortured in Hell and begging Dean to save him, and asking why he had killed him. He knew that there was no way he ever wanted to go through something like that again, especially if it meant losing his brother.
"You're looking at me like that again." Sam said patiently, and he rolled his eyes.
"Come on Sammy, what do you want from me?" he asked, and Sam shook his head.
"You didn't look at me nearly so much the last few times I've come back from the dead." He reminded him, and Dean waved it off.
"First time, I knew I was making a deal so you could live. Second time, I didn't actually see it. Third and fourth times you were fixed right away. Fifth time I was with you, and sixth time, I didn't know you were alive. So there." He said, and Sam snorted in amusement.
"Alright, fine, but do you have to keep watching me so intently? It's very unnerving, you're like Cas when you do that, and you don't like it when he stares at you relentlessly." He reminded, and Dean shrugged, ignoring the reference to his ex angel friend.
"Sorry Sammy. I'm just happy you're back, is that so wrong?" he asked, and Sam shook his head.
"Of course not, I'm glad I am back. I was a spirit for too long, I didn't really fancy being a ghost, it would take all the fun out of winding you up." He said, and Dean grinned.
"Not to mention it hurts when he shoots you." Bobby chimed in, and Dean rolled his eyes.
"Aww Bobby, get over it already!" he said, and Sam laughed, just as his mobile rang.
Looking at the number curiously, he accepted the call.
"Hello?" he asked hesitantly.
"Sam, it's Marge." The voice came from the other end, and Sam realised who he was talking to.
Marge was a hunter like they were, who happened to specialise in witchcraft. A short and stout woman, her hair tied back into a severe bun, she looked a very unapproachable and scary type, but she was really one of the best known and most liked hunters in the circles they travelled in. She had been one of the hunters present in Angel Pine the last time Dean and Sam had been there, where they had kidnapped Walt and Roy before they had gleefully killed them for what they had done to them.
"Hi, Marge, how did you get this number?" he asked, as Dean and Bobby both frowned.
"Garth was in here a few days back, spreading the word that that idiot angel friend of yours had set loose a ton of nasties we've already dealt with, and he gave me it then. Seems only fair that someone other than Garth has a direct line to the best hunters in the world." She said in amusement, and Sam grinned.
"Thanks. And Garth's alright." He said defensively, and she laughed slightly.
"I know he is kid, he's my nephew. Still, just because I'm his aunt doesn't mean I don't know he isn't wired together quite right. Think his daft mother dropped him too many times when he was a baby." She reminisced, and Sam snorted in amusement.
"Anyway, aside from Garth being a little odd, what can I do for you?" he asked, and Dean was now looking at him with professional interest, which he was willing to take over the intent stare he'd been receiving the last three days.
"Well, firstly I wanted to make sure you were alright. Rumour had it that you had been murdered." She said, and Sam smiled.
"Yeah, more or less, I came back though." He said, and she sighed in relief.
"Good. The last thing I need is another hunter going the same way as poor Bobby Singer. Anyway, seeing as you aren't dead, I wonder if you can do me a favour?" she asked, and Sam scribbled 'favour-Marge?' on a piece of paper, and Dean shrugged.
"What do you need?" he asked.
"Remember Danny?" she asked, and he nodded.
"Yeah, the young kid who was at the bar the night Walt and Roy had their fateful 'accident'."
"That's the one. By the way, seeing you boys made his day, you're like his heroes." She said, and Sam smiled a little.
"I hope he preferred me to Dean." He said.
"Yeah. Modelled his look on Dean but his personality seems much more like yours." She responded, and Sam stuck his tongue out at Dean.
"So what's up with him?"
"Well, I like to keep an eye on him and Diamond. Now, I know where she is, she and a friend are chasing after a wendigo up north somewhere. But Danny said he was going looking for Raman, you know, the other hunter who was in here that night. He's been missing for days, no one's seen or heard from him, and I have to confess I was getting slightly worried. So, Danny went off to look for Raman and no one's seen hide nor hair of them since." She explained, and Sam frowned.
"Could they have just gone to ground somewhere?" he asked, and she hissed through her teeth nervously.
"I don't know. I mean, Raman was definitely in New Orleans when he vanished, but he wasn't working a case, he was just passing through and that's the last I heard of him, that was the last anyone heard of him. I suppose Danny might have gone slightly native, gotten distracted and gone off with some girl, but he doesn't seem the type, and I do sort of look out for him and now, he hasn't been seen in days either. So I was sort of hoping that if you two are in the area, then you could hopefully take a look at New Orleans, see what's going on, see if you can find them?" she asked hopefully.
"Yeah, sure, we're just at the border of Louisiana, we can be there by tonight. Any ideas where they were?" he asked, and she gave him the name of a motel.
"Danny was definitely staying there before he vanished, but that's all I know. Him and Raman have probably just met up and gone on a five day drinking binge or something like that, but still, it doesn't seem like them and I'm slightly worried."
"Alright Marge, we'll look into it for you." Sam promised.
"Thanks Sam, you're a star. Just set an old woman's mind at ease. Take care." She said, and Sam hung up the phone.
"Hunt?" Dean asked, and Sam shook his head.
"No, search and rescue. Danny and Raman have both vanished, and Marge is worried about them. And seeing as how they were both in New Orleans..." he said leadingly, and Dean groaned.
"Crap. Voodoo." He grumbled, and began to clean stuff away so they could leave while Sam went for a shower.
XX
They finally reached the motel, Dean cursing at the people who had been parading around in front of the car, as they had driven through some sort of street carnival to get to where they were going.
"Finally! Get us settled in would you, I need to go!" Dean said, and was gone before Sam could say anything, but he did laugh as he watched his brother all but sprint to the loos inside the building.
"You know, he always did leave it to the last minute." Bobby commented as Sam put the flask in his pocket and collected their gear.
A few minutes later, Dean came out of the bathroom in their room, looking grumpy.
"Sam, you got us a girly room!" Dean moaned, and Sam and Bobby both looked at him in confusion.
"How in the blazes can a room be girly?" Bobby demanded, asking Sam's question for him.
"It doesn't have a shower!" he said as if it were obvious, and Sam grinned.
"First off, not having a shower doesn't make it girly. And secondly, there's no showers in the place, I asked." He said, and Dean harrumphed, and Sam looked at him in amusement.
"Aww, does that mean grumpy Dean is back? What happened to happy Dean?" he asked, and Dean glowered at him.
"He'll come back when I can get a shower. So, did you get anything out of him on what room Danny was in?" he asked, and Sam nodded.
"Yeah, but he didn't believe I was a plain clothes FBI." He said, and Dean looked at him in concern.
"Are you sure we should be pretending to be FBI? Considering the Leviathans are bound to be on to us, shouldn't we go for something else?" he asked, and Sam shrugged.
"And do what? It's obvious we're not from around here, it would attract too much attention. And over the last few years we've lost too many hunters, and I'm not willing to let Danny and Raman be another two, so I reckon we might as well go with it. Besides, it's not as if they'll know anyway." He said, and Dean relented, dressing into his suit with his brother.
"So you actually are FBI, sorry." The proprietor said in a slow, southern voice.
"Yeah, and you're lucky we don't charge you for wasting our time. Now, Agent Evelyn and I," he said, and Sam glowered at him, and Dean had to suppress a grin, "are looking for a young man, in his early twenties. Quite tall, blond hair, you seen him?" he asked, and the man nodded.
"Yeah, he came in a few days ago. I take it you want to see his room Agent Crabtree?" he asked, and Dean nodded, all the while feeling the glare Sam was giving him.
"So, when was the last time you saw him?" Sam asked, and the man pondered the question.
"Must have been a few days ago, two, three at most, which is odd. I mean there are many things that can draw a tourist here, but usually they always return home. I haven't seen or heard him since." He said, opening the door.
"Ok, thanks. We'll take it from here." Dean assured him, and the man shut the door and headed back to his desk.
"Seriously, Crabtree and Evelyn? And I'm Evelyn?" Sam demanded, and Dean laughed.
"Sorry Sammy, it was too easy, I couldn't resist. Besides, you're the one who said you wanted to get happy Dean back." He said smugly, and Sam hissed at him through his teeth, making Dean's grin all the more superior.
"Looks like Danny suspected Raman disappeared for a reason." Dean said, examining the things that were on the desk.
Sam looked at them, which also included newspaper reports from alternative culture papers, all spreading rumours of a powerful new practitioner in the area. There was also the card of another motel, and Danny had scribbled 'Raman?' on it.
"That's not all. Look at this. The press cuttings are bad enough, but he's got copies of receipts from stores, all used in some serious stuff. And the map is marked, look, an area he was looking at?" he asked, and Dean nodded.
"Seems like it doesn't it? And look at this, two reports of others disappearing, one of them a known crocodile killer and another one a good voodoo follower. Looks like he was working a case then." He said, and Sam frowned.
If there was one type of case that both the boys hated, it was a voodoo/hoodoo case. Creepy stuff was practiced in the shadows by dark voodoo followers, practising black hoodoo magic. The followers of the white magic were all very well and good, and they'd even worked with a few once or twice. But the dark users, well, they just freaked both boys out. And the fact that crossroads demons were also quite closely linked with such things, both boys had a rather large aversion to the entire subject.
"So, we looking at hoodoo?" Dean asked miserably, hating the thought of it.
"Don't know. Danny certainly seemed to think so though. You drive, I'll look through the stuff he's got around here." Sam said, collecting everything.
"Alright. Hey, do FBI members get to arrest carnival goers?" Dean asked brightly, and Sam grinned.
"Yeah, real ones do. You don't, you just have to suffer them like everyone else." He said, and smiled as Dean pouted.
XX
"I was just about to empty his room, he hasn't been seen for days, not been in, not paid his room, not answered room service, it's like he's just vanished." The woman in charge of the motel Raman had been staying at reported.
"Did he give any indication of where he might have been going?" Sam asked, and she shook her head.
"Not really. The last time I saw him he was heading out to get some dinner, and he just didn't come back. Mind you people hereabouts have been saying that there's been disappearances recently. Rumours there's a powerful new practitioner in town, it's making people uneasy. Why you looking for him?" the woman asked, her dark eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"We think he might be in trouble so we're trying to find him. Can we see his room?" Dean asked, and she reluctantly nodded and allowed them into his room a few minutes later.
On the way over, Sam had studied the things Danny had gathered. The kid may be young, but he was certainly well organised, he knew his stuff. It seemed like he had indeed begun to suspect something was amiss when the crocodile hunter went missing the same time as the white magic follower. He had begun to investigate further, showing that the police, who had their hands full with the carnival that was on this week and also usually adopted a wait and see approach to such matters due to the propensity of people to vanish due to voodoo rituals, were relatively useless. He had also shown the area where the people had vanished, and it seemed like they were all in the area they were currently exploring, right on the outskirts of the city, and Dean had pointed out that they were quite close to the swamps too. That meant that there was a wide area in which people could easily go missing.
"Look, Raman was investigating the disappearances too." Sam said grimly, showing him the cuttings.
"So what, you think whatever it is he was investigating might have gotten him and Danny?" Dean asked, and Sam shrugged.
"Could be. But we don't have much to go on, like what they learned, all we have is Danny's notes. And while the kid may be good, he can't tell us what we don't have." He said, and Dean was already shaking his head upon seeing the look on Sam's face.
"No Sammy, we aren't splitting up." He said sternly, and Sam sighed.
"Dean, look, I know you're scared..."
"I'm not scared!" he snapped, and then immediately felt bad when Sam recoiled slightly, looking at him reproachfully.
"Dean, you lost me. And believe me, I know how much losing one another sucks. But I'm back. See? I'm alive, and you know deep down that you're being stupid." He reasoned, but Dean shook his head stubbornly.
"Sammy, I know I'm being stupid. But you don't get it. I lost you. And it hurt. And I'm not eager to go out and give someone else a chance to go and do the exact same thing to you all over again. Someone out there is picking off guys, and the last thing we need is for you to be kidnapped, especially when we have so little to go on."
Sam glowered at him.
"So what, because of what Zachariah did you suddenly don't trust me to hold my own?" he demanded angrily, and Dean rolled his eyes.
"No, of course not Sammy. Look, you're right. I am scared. I'm terrified someone is going to come along and take you away from me for good. Zachariah murdered you Sam, and what's more, he nearly got me to give up on even trying to fix things because he kept messing with my head. I never want to go through something like that again. And besides, neither of us like hoodoo. I'd rather keep you close ok? Just to make sure."
Sam still looked angry, and hurt, and he knew that from Sam's point of view Dean was effectively saying that he wanted to keep him close to make sure he didn't get into trouble, made sure he was there if there was something he couldn't handle, and after everything they'd been through, he knew full well Sam could hold his own, sometimes a hell of a lot better than Dean himself could. He knew Sam would be thinking his brother was going back to not trusting him to do the job right, because one thing had gone wrong.
"Sammy, listen to me. It's not that I don't trust you. I do! I trust you with my life, I trust you to have my back, I trust you to clear up my messes, to fix me up...but I know how much it sucked, what happened in Brandon, from your side, not being able to help when you wanted to. I know you had no control over what Zachariah did and no way of stopping him, you couldn't help getting killed by the son of a bitch. That wasn't your fault. But, it sucks from my side too, and it's just too early for me to let go alright? I do trust you Sammy. It's the bad guys I don't trust. Zachariah killed you Sammy, and we got lucky, because if it were anyone other than a demon, you wouldn't be standing here with me, you would actually be dead. Mind you, I'd probably be a drooling mess or dead too, but that isn't my point. Someone or something out there is picking off young guys, young guys both you and me fit the pattern of. It's hoodoo, which I've never liked, and it's also our first hunt since you died. I'm not having a go at you Sam, I haven't suddenly lost faith in you. You're a damn good hunter, sometimes, though not often, you're better than me. It's just, I want to keep us together on this hunt, so we can tackle whatever it is that took Danny together, preferably without the usual death threat. Is that really so bad?" he asked pleadingly, and Sam looked down at his shoes.
"I suppose not." He admitted, slightly reluctantly, and he grinned.
"Good. Anything in Danny's notes that might help?" Dean asked hopefully, but Sam shook his head.
"Not that I can see. But the places that he marked the disappearances as all taking place all come from a district downtown. Should we check it out?" Sam asked, and Dean nodded.
"Yeah, I think so. Come on, the sooner we find out what we're dealing with, the happier I'll be." He said grimly as they headed for the door.
XX
Outside the motel, a figure was watching the room where the Winchesters were staying.
"They are here at last. When they return, bring them both to me." Their master's voice commanded, and both gave grunts of acknowledgement as she dropped the link to them.
Soon their master would be pleased with them.
XX
"Well, that was a waste of time." Dean said, his concern for the two missing hunters rising, two hours later.
After changing their clothes back at the motel, they had gone around the area Danny had marked as a potential feeding ground for whatever it was he was hunting, and all they had found of any interest was the restaurant Raman had been in before he vanished, and a bar the crocodile hunter had frequented before his disappearance.
"No kidding. All we found out is that Raman had gumbo before he disappeared. You reckon they were snatched on the way home?" Sam asked, considering they had found no sign of any sign of any wrongdoing with their investigations.
"Maybe. But surely the motel owners would have noticed?" Dean theorised, but Sam shrugged.
"Well, not necessarily. The crocodile hunter lived at the top of a tenement, he could have been taken in the stairwell and no one would be any the wiser. The voodoo guy lived alone, so no one would know, but we do know his house wasn't broken into. Raman's motel is relatively secluded, and ours is on the outskirts. It would have been pretty easy to nab them on their way home from somewhere." He mused, but Dean shook his head.
"Really? With the entire city dancing and partying the night away? Seems pretty bizarre to me." He said as they headed up the street to where their motel was.
Which, now Dean looked at it, was pretty isolated, and also, quite dark, and he edged closer to Sam just in case. The lights were spaced too far apart, and the light of the motel was the only major light source. He looked around. There were parked cars casting large shadows, and he was sure the bushes were moving more than they ought to be in the light wind.
"Umm, Dean?" Sam asked quietly, looking around nervously.
"Yeah?"
"Sort of glad we didn't split up now. This place is creepy." He said worriedly as they strode quickly for the motel, both of them readying their guns.
The lights didn't provide nearly enough light, and the wind was gentle, but it still made the street seem incredibly creepy when the bushes started rustling as they got nearer. There was then a clang from behind them, and the two brothers turned as one, weapons raised, to see what had made the noise.
Nothing was there. Dean turned again, to view the bushes, which were no longer shaking as much.
"Sammy, what do you say we get inside?" he asked nervously, memories of Palomino Creek preying on his mind.
"Good idea." Sam said, his gun still held aloft as he looked around the relatively dark street.
And then the lights all went out, and Dean swore viciously as it happened, and also as Sam walked into the back of him.
"Sorry." His baby brother said sheepishly.
"It's not you I'm mad at. Sam, something creepy is going on here, so let's get the hell out of here." He said and he was just about to run to the door when the lights came on once again.
And there was nothing there. Ah well, he'd rather feel like a prat than be ambushed or dead. And then he heard a muffled noise of panic, and turned desperately to look at Sam.
To see his brother locked in something's pale white arms, the left arm clamping a rag to Sam's face.
"Sammy!" Dean barked, raising his gun.
Sam made a noise of panic and looked urgently behind Dean, but then, he got a whiff of the rag, his eyes rolled and he went limp in his attacker's arms, and Dean felt panic surge through him. No, he couldn't lose his brother again, he wouldn't. He raised his gun, but then his own arms were clamped to his side by a strong dark arm. He struggled, and there was a rancid smell from behind him, and suddenly a rag was pressed to his mouth, and Dean felt his own eyes roll as he too conked out.
XX
Sam groaned as he awoke, head thumping. He swore fluently as he opened his eyes, casting them around for his brother, and he sighed in relief as he saw Dean sitting right beside him, also groaning.
"Ugh, you ok?" Sam asked, massaging his head desperately.
"Depends. How are you?" Dean asked, and Sam couldn't hide the small smile he felt coming onto his lips due to his brother's response.
"I'll live." He assured him, and Dean grinned a little.
"Then I'm good." He said, his head pounding.
"That, was chloroform. We got chloroformed. Again." Sam whined, and Dean had to admit, he wasn't particularly fond of that particular experience himself.
"Yeah. What the hell were they? And how did they manage to get the drop on us?" Dean demanded irritably. After all, they were meant to be the best hunters in the world, so what the hell had just gotten the better of them without so much as a broken nail?
"They ambushed us, made us think we were going to be ambushed, made us relax, and then ambushed us for real. Quite clever in its own way." Sam said, shaking his head, trying to make out the fuzzy image of the person who had attacked Dean.
"Yeah, they're real masterminds. This place looks very creepy Sammy." Dean said, looking around the small wooden room they were in.
There were two tables, with a symbol drawn on one and manacles on the other. Eerie candles were dotted around the place, there were strange hooks and meats and plants hanging from the ceiling, there were strange smells and the shadows seemed curiously alive.
"See, this is why neither of us like hoodoo." Sam grumbled, shivering slightly and squirming closer to Dean as he looked around the dark little room.
"Sammy? Answer me this: why go to the bother of kidnapping us, and then not bother to bind us?" he asked, showing Sam his hands.
Sam looked at his own hands and feet, and they were indeed not bound.
"Confident? Cocky? Forgetful?" he asked, and Dean frowned. Something wasn't right here, and his protect Sammy instincts were going into overload.
"I'm thinking none of the above. Something weird is going on here. Did you see what grabbed us?" he asked, and Sam shook his head, immediately regretting it as his head was still pounding.
"No. I saw something going towards you, but then I blacked out." He said ruefully, his eyes cast downwards.
"Hey, it wasn't your fault. I take it you were trying to let me know I was about to be nabbed before you blacked out?" he asked, and Sam nodded.
"Oh. Sorry I didn't get you, I was a bit more concerned with the thing that had just smothered you." He said regretfully, and Sam shook his head.
"It's ok. Right, my legs are stiff. Come on." He said, climbing to his feet and Dean followed suit, and they looked around the room.
"Is that an altar?" Dean asked, nodding towards a small purple clad table with a bowl and a covered stand on it.
"Looks like, candles, symbols, herbs..." Sam said as they approached it.
"Weird." Dean muttered as he saw some of the strange herbs and other things on the table, like shells, hair and bones.
He then pulled back the cover on the stand and gagged.
Four tiny little human heads were mounted on top of clay, cloth wrapped voodoo dolls. And it was no normal styled doll, it was like the heads had actually been transplanted from the body, shrunk and stuck on top of the door.
"Oh my god..." Sam said, picking up one of the dolls in fascinated horror.
And he immediately wished he hadn't. Because the doll wasn't just anyone. The doll's head was Danny's. His blond hair spiked up in the same style as Dean's, his blue eyes wide open in terror, his mouth frozen open in horror, it was Danny, his head was on top of the doll.
Sam's hands trembled and Dean took the doll from him, laying it down on the table with a revolted expression.
"Dean?" Sam asked in a scared voice.
"I don't know what it means Sammy. But Raman is one of the other ones, and I'm assuming the other two are the other missing people." He said, feeling sick.
Sam looked at Danny and Raman. Were they dead? What had happened to them, how had they been turned into dolls? It just didn't make sense, this was seriously powerful dark magic, to turn someone into a voodoo doll.
"Alright, I'm all for getting out of here. Let's go." Dean said, and he shouldered open the door that kept them in the room, and after it opened, he took a few steps to stop.
And he almost didn't live to regret it. Sam's arm darted out and snared his shoulder, steadying him and bringing him back to safety.
It was like they were in a small outhouse, which was part of a larger wooden house, built on stilts in the swamp. Ahead, they could see the distant lights of the city. But while their small room was connected to the rest of the house, and the land, by small wooden bridges, it had been a good thing that Sam had stopped him from shooting off the platform and into the water.
Because in the water there were three very large crocodiles, their yellow eyes glaring up at the boys angrily, knowing they had been denied a meal.
"Whoa, what is this? Are we trapped in some re-enactment of Live and Let Die?" Dean pleaded, his voice high as the crocs swam underneath the platform they were standing on.
"We better not be, personally I'd rather take my chances with the piranhas in You Only Live Twice. Look, we can get to the land." Sam said, pointing, taking a deeply mistrusting look of the crocs that were staring up at them.
"What about Raman and Danny?" Dean asked worriedly, and when he got no response from Sam, he looked expectantly at his brother.
Who pointed, his face white.
Danny and Raman were hulking towards them, as though dead on their feet, coming together to block off their escape by blocking the bridge. While Danny's skin was mostly the colour it was meant to be, it had a paleness to it. His eyes were a liquid, watery blue, wide and staring. Raman looked worse. Rot had gotten into his fingers, and there were scabs forming in his skin, and his mouth was wide open, sucking in air in a rattling way.
"They're zombies. Whoever made them like dolls, turned them into zombies." Dean said in disgust, and Sam nodded.
"We need to leave. Now. Get back to Bobby, figure this out. Whoever did that to them is very powerful, and I'd rather we didn't wind up like the newest editions of Action Man. Charge them?" Sam asked nervously, and Dean nodded, before darting into the cabin and bringing out Raman and Danny's dolls.
"You think they're bound together?" Sam asked, and Dean shrugged.
"Sammy at this stage I'll take anything. And besides, we'd better take one to show Bobby. And we're running out of room." He said nervously, as Raman and Danny, both people who should be friends, be on their side, blocked off their only escape, a fact made worse by the crocodiles now sinisterly flanking the bridge.
"We don't have a choice. Let's go." Sam said weakly, and the two of them ran for the bridge.
The bridge immediately bobbed, splashing into the water as they took to it, and one crocodile opened its maw and slammed it down, just missing Sam as he followed his brother. The other snapped at Dean's ankles as they ran across the bridge, reaching the end with a final jump, just as the other crocodile struck again, this time catching some of Sam's jeans in its mouth. Sam breathed a sigh of relief, and, seeing no other recourse, punched Danny, sending the zombie of the young lad stumbling backwards, while Dean slammed into Raman.
And both brothers were struck by how powerful the zombies were.
Danny turned back around, and slammed his fist into Sam's stomach with such force that Sam staggered back into the wall of another cabin. Danny advanced on him, ignoring the crocodiles that were trying to climb out of the water and onto the platform, their jaws snapping. Danny then wrapped his hand around Sam's neck and rose him off the ground, Sam's legs kicking as he did so.
Raman seized a hold on Dean, forcing him to the ground, his strength overpowering Dean, and Dean was very aware of how close to the edge of the water his head was. One wriggle too many, and he would be croc food. He looked desperately towards Sam, and saw th danger his brother was in, and pure, ice cold terror gripped Dean as he saw the hold Danny had on him. He could shatter Sam's neck, just as Zachariah had done. He couldn't, wouldn't allow that to happen again, but how did he free himself from Raman? Raman's hands were wrapping around his neck, their strong grip beginning to crush his airway virtually as soon as he placed his hands on it. Dean was gagging for air, his arms and legs thrashing, and further along the platform, Sam was desperately trying to pry Danny's hands from his neck, his legs kicking in the air as he did so. To top things off, the crocodiles were trying to climb onto the platform, and they weren't the only creature now, as a long, vicious looking black snake slithered out of the water and started winding towards Dean.
"No..." Dean gagged, seeing his brother, fear in his bulging eyes, a fear that was reflected in his heart. He couldn't lose Sam again, he had to do something, preferably before Raman killed him or the snake got to him.
"Dean!" Sam rasped.
Don't worry Sammy, I'll save you, Dean thought desperately, fearing his brother was nearing his last breath. He couldn't let him die, he couldn't lose him again...
"The doll!" Sam gagged, and Dean flailed his arm out, caught a hold of one of the dolls, and threw it into the water with a splash.
Raman suddenly let out an inhuman scream as a crocodile, acting on instinct, crashed its jaws around the doll, severing it in two, and a second later, Raman's zombie was magically split in two also, an exact copy of what had been done to the doll, and the two chunks of zombie pelted the platform, allowing Dean to roll away from the snake, gulping in air as he did so. He grabbed the other doll and kicked at the snake, which gave a surprised hiss as it toppled into the water, where a crocodile immediately pounced on it. Dean then slammed his shoulder into Danny, sending the other zombie sprawling to the ground, releasing Sam as he did so. Dean got a hold of his little brother before he fell, and the two of them spun and ran, leaping onto the shore and pelting through the trees, bound for the town, and to safety.
The controller of the zombies left the main house, and smiled softly.
"Run all you want boys. You're in my domain now. You should never have done what you did to me. You are going to pay." She assured them as they fled to safety.
She flicked her hands to calm the animals, and then kicked the chunks of Raman into the water as Danny rose to guard her, as was his job. And now he was her only remaining zombie.
It didn't matter. Soon a Winchester would be her newest bodyguard. And then she would get what she truly wanted.
Swirling her hair, tinged with black, she headed indoors. She had a ritual to prepare for.
Hello again! This is our second last story of this arc, one more after this before I take a break from Supernatural!
But that's still a while off yet. What is going on in New Orleans? What happened to poor Danny and Raman? Will this new threat get what she wants, and turn a Winchester into a zombie? And if so, which one will it be?
Either way, this person is not to be messed with. But why did she let the boys escape? Very mysterious.
The spirits invoked at the beginning I found on a website of voodoo loas, or spirits, so I hope theyre right. I cant remember which is which, voodoo or hoodoo, one is religion, the other is the magic side, so apologies if I got it wrong.
So, as always it will hopefully be updated tomorrow (Falling Skies is back and that cuts into the time when I usually write) but I aim to have chapter two up tomorrow!
And sorry about this chapter, it doesnt seem as gung ho as previous ones have been, not as exciting, so sorry if I let anyone down!
Anyway, as always, please read and above all review, you know how i like to wake up to nice reviews! (and it will be made all the sweeter because my sister isnt here tomorrow, shes at a friends, hallelujah!)
Enjoy!