Title: Blood Pact
Summary: "Feel that?" Benny whispered against the shell of Sam's ear, sending a violent shiver down the man's spine. "Feel the way your heart's trying to punch its way out of your chest? That's what dying feels like. And you better get used to it." Hurt!Sam, Protective!Dean, season!8
Warnings: Rated T for bad language, violence and graphic descriptions of blood loss and other injuries.
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or any characters occurring in the show. The idea for this story was based on another awesome prompt of the OhSam!Community by an anonymous user. I will not post the prompt here due to spoilers, but if you want to read it, don't hesitate to PM me for the link ;) Credit for the amazing art work goes to Melli on DeviantArt.
Author's notes: So I plan to wrap up two of my current WIPs within the next few weeks and want to start a new project I've had in mind for a while now… I apologize in advance for my portrayal of Benny Lafitte's character and all the Drama/Hurt/Angst that awaits you in this story. Enjoy!
Blood Pact
Chapter 1
If somebody had walked up to Sam at age 22 and told him that ten years from then he would be baring his neck to a freaking vampire, he would have told that person very eloquently to go screw themselves.
Because no way in hell was that ever going to happen.
He might not have embraced the hunting life with the same open arms and enthusiasm as his dad and brother had, but Sam was still a Winchester to the core and there were only few shades of grey in the typical black-and-white thinking that came with their job description.
Vampires were bad news. Period.
You faced them with a machete in your hands or not at all and that's why walking into the waiting arms of Benny Lafitte without as much as a freaking toothpick on him for defense, was one of the hardest things Sam ever had to do.
Meeting up with the enemy while completely weaponless and vulnerable, went against every single hunter's instinct Sam had ever possessed and yet here he was, standing on the old wooden docks and wondering if he would ever leave this place breathing.
It was only one thought that kept him moving forward despite the ice cold feeling of dread that had settled in the pit of his stomach.
Dean.
His big brother was the reason why he had decided to do this and Sam knew without a doubt that whatever was awaiting him behind the rusty doors of the navy blue storage building- it would all be worth it for Dean.
Sam took a deep breath, steeling himself for what was to come before he pushed the heavy wing door open with a protesting creak of its hinges.
It was dark inside and eerily silent, with the only audible noise being the steady sound of waves crashing against nearby rocks and building up the deceptive illusion of serenity.
But Sam wasn't beguiled into the feeling of safety.
After all, chances were high he wouldn't make it out of the docks in one piece after his dreaded encounter with the vampire.
The door fell into lock behind Sam with a rusty squeak, immersing him in complete darkness and he flinched at the sound, heart beating a mile a minute in his chest.
His mouth was dry, tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth and his breathing sounded too loud to his own ears, echoing hauntingly through the darkness.
"Benny?" he asked, taking a hesitant step forward.
The bulbs flickered and a life-long instinct had Sam's whole body tensing up in anticipation.
Fluorescent light came to life with an electric crackle, blinding him after so much darkness and causing him to blink back tears.
And there- right behind the veil of salty pearls that clouded his vision was Benny Lafitte, clad in a battered navy coat and looking ten kinds of smug with a wayward smile on his lips.
Sam's jaw muscle twitched.
He didn't move.
"Look what the cat dragged in…" Benny drawled out in a boyish lilt, stepping towards Sam with his hands tucked inside his coat pockets, broad-shouldered and relaxed, none of Sam's own unease reflected in the other man's posture or expression.
Why would he be nervous, after all? It wasn't like Sam would stand a chance against the bulky man in a fight- Benny easily outmatched him in both, physical strength and agility given the fact that he was no longer a human being with physical restraints like himself.
Sam took an involuntary step back at the vampire's approach, feeling eerily aware of the fact that he was completely defenseless without any type of weapon on his body. Not for the first time that night, he found himself wondering if he was going to walk away from this encounter alive.
And not for the first time he wished he had given Dean more than a hastily written note in goodbye. He didn't want for Dean to remember him by a poorly fabricated lie on a coffee-stained Post-it note. He didn't want the last words he had ever spoken to his brother's face to be the heated ones of another unnecessary fight they'd had the night before.
He didn't want to die by the hands of somebody Dean considered a friend… a brother even without him ever finding out the truth about who Benny really was.
The vampire must have noticed Sam's discomfort over their whole situation because the easy smile on his lips spread into a self-satisfied grin.
He was reveling in the fact that he was in a clear advantage position here, without having the least bit of worry that Sam wouldn't rise up to the bait.
"Scared?" the vampire snickered, coming to a halt right before Sam, his eyes glinting like a predator's before landing the killing blow. "Now what could you possibly be scared of, Sammy?"
"Don't." Sam's voice was low and deadly. He held Benny's gaze with unyielding defiance, the unspoken threat behind his words laid out right there in the tension-filled air between them.
"Oh that's right," Benny leaned forward, lowering his voice. "Big bro's the only one who gets to use that little pet name on you, isn't he?"
Damn right, he is.
Sam's jaw clenched hard enough to hurt, teeth grinding together and tendons bulging beneath the skin on his neck.
Benny's gaze dropped down to his jugular vein as if he was eyeing his next meal, tip of his tongue flicking over calloused lips and Sam swallowed against the urge to attack or run or do something- anything to get him out of this impossible situation- out from beneath Benny's crushing thumb of extortion.
He didn't move, however, didn't even blink when Benny bowed forward to whisper conspiratorially against his ear. "Shame he doesn't actually call you that anymore, now that your relationship's gone to shit…I take it big brother wasn't too keen on hearing about your little fairy tale romance and about how you couldn't be bothered to look for him?"
"Shut up," Sam snapped, nostrils flaring.
"Can't stomach the truth, my friend?" Benny mocked, bushy eyebrows drawn up to the hairline where they were partly shadowed by the worn-out cap sitting on his head. "Must be hard to have the only person you still care about shut you out like that for a crime you haven't even committed… Tell me, Sammy- what was it like to see the crushed look on Dean's face after you told him that playing house was more important to you than saving his life?"
Sam balled his fingers into fists and resisted the urge to wipe the vampire's smug expression from his face. He pressed his lips together and took several deep breaths, trying to quell the mounting anger that clawed at his throat and stomach, threatening to swallow him whole.
Yes, it had been one worst lies he's ever uttered- telling Dean about how he'd fallen in love with Amelia and started a life of his own when in reality he had been a broken, pathetic mess of a man- desperate enough to conspire with monsters in order to bring his brother back.
And the look on Dean's face… the expression of pure disbelief and insurmountable pain over having been abandoned and discarded like that by the single most important person he still had left on this earth- it had driven a blunt stake of pain and guilt through Sam's heart.
Of course, he had been looking for a way to get Dean back (how could his brother ever believe anything else?!) and he had found one, too. But like everything in life- getting his brother back from the depths of purgatory had come at a cost.
And now the time had come to finally pay his dues...
"Look," Sam forced out from behind his clenched teeth. "I've come here to keep my end of our deal, not to fight. Let's just get this over with, alright?"
Benny chuckled softly, taking a step back. "My my… aren't you impatient? And here I was thinking you enjoyed our little talk..."
Sam mulishly averted the vampire's gaze as he stepped forward, marching past Benny to the center of the empty storage hall where a single wooden chair had been conveniently placed beneath one of the light bulbs.
He pulled out of his jacket and flannel shirt almost mechanically, stopping only when he was clad in a plain T-shirt and jeans. "That enough?" he asked without looking up at his opponent, feeling oddly small and vulnerable beneath the vampire's piercing gaze.
Benny rounded him like a cat stalking a trapped mouse, purposefully dragging the moment out to revel in Sam's submissiveness. "That'll do..."
Sam bit his lower lip and sat down on the edge of the chair, closing his eyes on a shaky exhale.
You're doing this for Dean… he reminded himself when rising panic bubbled up in his chest.
"Look at me," Benny demanded and Sam forced his eyelids to open again. "Can't have you checking out on the fun part, Sammy…"
The vampire winked at him, before crouching down to pull a handful of empty glass vials and a bag of needles from his duffel bag on the ground, and spreading the items out on the wooden floor boards.
"It's Sam," the younger Winchester brother stubbornly insisted, trying to hide his obvious unease at the sight of the items Benny had displayed in front of him and instinctively flexing the muscles in his arm when the vampire picked one of the nasty looking needles from the ground for closer inspection.
"So," Sam started gruffly, attempting at conversation to draw the inevitable out for just a little while longer. "How much blood are you going to draw?"
Benny shrugged, straightening up with a mildly amused expression on his face. "Enough to last me a couple of days…"
Sam snorted in disbelief, not understanding the vampire's reasoning. "So what? You went through all that trouble of getting Dean out of Purgatory just so you can have a couple of days' worth of blood from me and that's it?"
Benny grabbed Sam's right arm and straightened it out on the wooden armrest next to them, tapping the vein with his index finger like a doctor preparing for a blood test. His lips were stretched thin over white teeth when he met Sam's gaze with a predatory glimmer.
"You really think I'm gonna be done with you after today, Sammy boy?"
Sam tensed, mouth going dry.
"What do you mean?"
Benny grabbed a tourniquet from the ground and wrapped it around Sam's biceps- just above his elbow, pulling the rubber fabric tight with a sharp tug and causing him to wince in pain.
"Benny, what the hell are you talking about—" Sam hissed, trying to get up from his chair only to get shoved back into the seat viciously by one very-pissed-off-looking vampire.
"Stay," the man ordered in a dangerously low tone that sent a shiver of ice cold fear through Sam's body.
"You don't get up from this goddamn' seat or I'll strap you down to it, understood? We have a deal you and me, and I intend to get what you promised me in return for your brother's life, Sam. So you better not be trying to back-stab me, or I'll tear your throat out right here and drop your dried-out body into the ocean."
Sam swallowed, bile rising in his throat at the imagery. His face grew pale and he found himself unmoving and still beneath the vampire's deadly glower, pinned to the seat by the force of his threat.
"You said my blood in exchange for Dean's life," Sam recalled the words that had sealed their deal almost one year ago to the date.
A blood pact to rescue his brother from Purgatory.
Because desperate times called for desperate measures.
And because the Winchester's didn't know how to learn from their own mistakes.
"You said you wanted my blood," he repeated insistently- searching the vampire's evil glare for a sign of betrayal, because while Sam was willing to give his own life, he had thought that this whole ordeal would be over after today. No matter the outcome.
"And I'm gonna get it…" Benny smiled victoriously down at him, pulling a needle from its wrapper and studying it in the artificial shine of the light bulb that was swinging over their heads.
"But I don't remember having said that this was a one-time-thing. It's not exactly like I can take all your blood at once now, is it?"
Benny chuckled and Sam felt sick all of a sudden, head spinning with the overwhelming surge of anger and helplessness that was rising up inside of him. He clenched his fingers, chest heaving as he tried to get his pulse under control, because how could he have been stupid enough to trust a monster's word? Again?!
Once again, his life had been manipulated, betrayed and orchestrated by evil.
Once again, he'd handed over the control of his body to somebody with cruel intentions.
"How long?" was all he could force out from his trembling lips, even when he felt like screaming inside. "How long until we're done?"
Benny shrugged, threading the needle into its holder and inserting the blood collection tube with practiced ease.
Sam forced himself not to think about how often Benny had gone through the motions- of how many other poor bastards the vampire had drained before him.
"As long as you last," Benny explained calmly, grasping Sam's arm again and pinching the skin of the area he planned to puncture.
The vampire looked up at Sam with hooded lids, tongue tracing the corner of his lips.
"You'll be my personal lap dog, Sammy. My blood dispenser. And you'll come running every damn' time I tell you to for as long as I want, because if you're not—"
Benny inserted the needle without warning, piercing his skin with a forceful stab. "—your brother's gonna go back to where I got him from- and this time, he'll stay there forever."
Sam grunted, squeezing his eyes shut against the sharp sting.
The vials slowly filled with his blood, one by one, until Benny had 10 of them laid out in front of him on the ground and Sam was starting to feel the effect of blood loss.
Sluggishly, Sam wondered how many of these vials could be filled until he would lose consciousness… or until his organs would cease to work properly.
Assuming one of them contained about 20 milliliters and the average adult had about 5,2 liters of blood in his body… roughly calculated that would mean Benny could repeat the whole procedure about 10 times until the blood loss would become a serious problem for him.
Sam felt like throwing up.
"Feel that?" Benny whispered against the shell of Sam's ear, sending a violent shiver down the man's spine. "Feel the way your heart's trying to punch its way out of your chest? That's what dying feels like. And you better get used to it."
Sam did feel it.
And he revolted against the feeling, panicking.
Reaching for the needle that was still inserted beneath his skin, Sam scrambled to get the foreign object out of him with trembling fingers. "Out… get it out—"
Benny grabbed him by the wrists, stilling his movements. "Relax, boy...We're done already."
"Not your fucking boy—" Sam ground out, ripping himself free the second Benny had eased the needle out and loosened the tourniquet.
But as it turned out, getting up so fast was not the best idea.
Feeling a wave of dizziness wash over him, Sam's body started swaying dangerously.
"Easy," Benny reached out to grab him by the back of his neck, but the touch only ended up freaking Sam out even more.
"Get off me!" Sam stumbled back, knocking his hip against the wooden backrest of the chair and nearly toppling over the piece of furniture in the process.
The unwanted momentum was the straw that broke the camel's back and the next second, Sam found himself bowed in half and throwing up whatever little he had eaten the day before.
His stomach was clenched in knots of pain as he started heaving for all he was worth, head pounding and ears ringing with the intensity of it all.
Sam wasn't aware of how much time had passed before he had emptied the contents of his stomach, whole body shaking as cut his eyes over at Benny who was crouched down on the floor, stowing away the vials with blood in his duffel bag.
Without looking up, the vampire rolled a bottle of water his way, letting the plastic slither across the wooden floor. "Drink up, or you'll end up getting dehydrated… "
Sam caught it with his foot before it could roll into the mess he had made, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and grimacing.
He pulled his flannel back on with slow and sluggish movements, before bowing down to grab the bottle and uncapping it.
"As if you'd care about whether I'm hydrated or not…" he rinsed the rancid taste from his mouth and spit a mouthful of water to the ground before taking a huge gulp to still his thirst.
Benny straightened up, throwing his duffle over one shoulder. "You're damn' right, I care. My clients expect the best quality… can't sell them damaged goods now, can I?"
"D-damaged…" the words dried up on Sam's tongue, throat constricting almost painfully in the process.
His heart paused as realization began to set in.
Damaged goods.
Clients.
"You mean you don't—"
"What- drink that stuff myself? You think I wanna get poisoned?" Benny laughed throatily and the blood froze to ice in Sam's veins.
The water bottle slid from his grasp, hitting the ground with a loud splash, water spilling everywhere.
It couldn't be.
He must have heard wrong.
"C'mon boy, don't give me that crestfallen look… I gotta admit with the way Dean bragged about you I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet… Don't you think if I'd wanted to drink the blood myself I'd have sucked it right out of your pulsing veins?"
"B-but—" Sam stammered helplessly, trying to make sense of the jumble of thoughts and emotions in his heart and mind.
Benny snickered at the man's disheveled state. "Price's up to 200 bucks per vial- depending on the host's age and a couple of other factors but I'm willing to bet the market value rises when I get the demonic blood of the boy king himself out there in the open…"
Sam shook his head in denial, tears clouding his vision.
"No…" he whispered, feeling his heart clench with an age-old pain deep inside of him.
The eternal darkness that resided within him- the one he had never really been able to wash off- no matter how many times he tried to redeem himself, had once again turned him into a freaky spectacle to be exploited by others.
His blood was still demonic.
Contaminated and dirty enough to even quench a vampire's blood thirst, because he didn't want to get poisoned.
He would never be able to free himself from the curse Azazel had imposed on him.
It would forever haunt him. Forever make him something less than human…
"Sorry," Benny chuckled, looking anything but apologetic as he headed towards the exit of the storage hall. "Quite the bombshell I dropped on ye', huh?"
Benny lightly shook his head in amusement as he grabbed the handle of the door, pushing it halfway open. "Well cheer up a little, Sammy- at least you got Dean back by your side, ey?"
Sam closed his eyes, shuddery breath leaving his lips.
Had he really gotten his brother back?
Because with the way they've been going at it lately... it didn't feel like it.
And even more importantly- at what cost had Dean's life been saved?
What would his brother do if he ever found out that Sam had sold himself out like that- had given his infected, poisonous blood out to a vampire, like a drug dealer supplying addicts with their pills?
Turning around once more Benny shot Sam a meaningful look.
"Come back in 10 days. Your blood cells need the time to regenerate. And keep that arm covered, unless you want big bro to grow suspicious of your little Houdini act."
Sam barely had enough energy left in him to nod, but he somehow pulled himself together enough for that one final act of accordance.
Dean couldn't know of their deal… or else Benny would drag him back to Purgatory.
It was one of the many clauses that Sam had actually been aware of when he had signed the deal- if his brother was ever to find out about their pact, he would be gone just as quickly as he'd come.
And that was obviously out of the question.
"See you soon, Sam," Benny said, walking out the door and slamming it closed behind him.
Completely stunned, Sam didn't realize he was crying until the room was nothing but a blur of tears.
TBC...
Soooo... what did you think? Please drop me a few lines to tell me if you're up for more! As I said, this will probably become one of my bigger projects (unless you're not interested) and I intend to update regularly. I also happen to have this crazy idea about giving you guys an option at every chapter end about how the storyline should continue... You can tell me in the reviews which option you would like to see played out in the next chapter and I will go by majority. :) So here's your first choice:
A) Sam drives back to the bunker and Dean is on edge because of the cryptic note and Sam's spontaneous disappearance. They have a fight until Dean notices his brother's pallor and sluggishness...
B) Sam intends to drive back to the bunker but is too affected by the blood loss too pay proper attention to the road. He ends up having a minor car crash and reluctantly calls Dean for help...
Here we gooo...! :D Please also tell me if you like the idea with the options at all, because if you say it's taking too much away or boring or whatever... I will just pick one option myself and go with it. Thanks for reading, everyone and thanks for the continuous support!