Beneath the Bleeding - Chapter Three
Warnings: child-abuse (not on the boys), swearing and innuendo
Disclaimer: No matter how many birthday wishes I waste on it, I still don't own Supernatural
Author's Note: Happy Belated Holidays everyone (although, New Years is still coming up, but whatever). I'd like to hand out virtual cookies to those who have reviewed.
"What are you talking about Sam?" Dean asked his little brother, confused as to what he was talking about. "It was just some weird dream you had while you fainted."
"No, it was more than that," Sam argued. "It felt real, Dean." There was no other way to explain it. He just hoped that he could convince Dean that this situation was dire. He didn't want to waste another second standing here trying to convince him.
Dean just stared at Sam for a moment. "Okay, so, I'll humor you. This Erin chick is going to be murdered. Okay. But, how do we find her?"
"She lives in a trailer park," Sam answered. "I've seen the outside of it. I'd recognize it anywhere. C'mon Dean, we probably don't have much time left."
Sam could tell by the look on Dean's face that he considered believing him. Sam began to panic that Erin might already be dead. He didn't want that—he really didn't want that.
"Please, Dean. She isn't just some random girl I met at school. She's the one that I told you about. She's the one I really like." Sam couldn't believe that he was saying this. He couldn't believe that he was actually admitting this to his brother. He had a feeling that admitting this was going to bite him in the ass one day, but he couldn't worry about that right now. If a lifetime of mockery saved Erin's life, he would gladly take it every day of the year.
Momentarily, a look of sadness crossed Dean's features. "Okay. If you believe that she is in trouble, we'll go save her."
Sam was relieved that he had finally convinced Dean. But the battle had only just begun. Now, they just had to get to the trailer park as soon as possible.
Without even verbally coming up with a strategy, Dean found an unlocked car in the parking lot and hotwired it. He broke every driving law to get to the one and only trailer park within the city limits.
"Okay, just look for a rusted out Chevy truck," Sam said, his eyes straying from car to car. He began to lose hope as they came closer and closer to the end. That's when he noticed the Chevy and the trailer he saw in his vision. "There," he said.
Dean didn't even fully stop the car before Sam climbed out, running for the trailer. He heard shouting halfway there. It gave him a sudden burst of adrenaline to get him there faster.
"You are a selfish bitch," Sam heard Erin's father screeched from inside the trailer. "I give you a roof over your ungrateful ass and, how do you repay me?"
Before Erin could reply, Sam burst through the door with no strategy whatsoever. If John or Dean saw him like this, he'd be given a couple extra miles running as punishment.
"Who the hell are you," Erin's father questioned. He released his grasp on Erin and she slumped to the floor. She was coughing and sputtering. She didn't seem to know that it was Sam coming to her rescue. "Get the hell outta my house."
Seeing Erin on the floor and the murderous look in the bastard's eyes caused Sam to see red in anger. Before he could even think about making a move, he tackled Erin's father, sending both of them into the grubby kitchen.
Almost effortlessly, the man pushed Sam off. For being out of shape, Erin's father was strong. Of course, with all of his years of training, Sam wasn't some punk kid who thought he could take on a human male. He was trained in dealing with the supernatural. This man was nothing.
At least, Sam thought he was nothing.
"What is wrong with you, you little freak."
"I should be asking you that," Sam said with confidence. So, it wouldn't make the book or world's greatest comebacks. Snide remarks were Dean's thing. Sam just didn't want to deal with this man's shit.
For a second, the man's eyes flashed black. "Do you really want to screw with me, boy?"
Sam began to panic. This wasn't Erin's father at all—it was a demon. A cold blooded demon. Sam had to learn all about them, even though he never dealt with one before. However, he learned that you can't actually kill a demon: you have to exorcise it back to Hell.
Now, if only he could think of the exorcism.
Thanks to him overanalyzing the situation, the demon had the time to stand up and get its bearings. With a flick of his hand, he sent Sam flying towards the opposite wall and pinned him to the wall. There was a psychic force field holding Sam in place. He wasn't able to move and he could barely breathe. It was suffocating.
"Now, my orders were to kill the girl since my boss doesn't like the fact that you two have become buddy-buddy. But, maybe I'll kill both of you. Who knows, I might get a raise for sending two of his children to an early grave."
Sam had no clue what the demon was talking about. Boss…killing…his children…Sam couldn't, for the life of him, comprehend what the demon was saying. He might as well have been speaking Japanese.
The demon began to advance on Sam. Sam squeezed his eyes shut. Maybe if he wished the demon away, it just might disappear. But that was just wishful thinking on Sam's part. No matter how much hope one has, it never is enough.
Before the demon was within a foot of Sam, it froze. Sam slowly twitched his eyes open, curious as to what was holding the demon up from killing him. The demon looked at him wide-eyed, the look of complete horror on his face. Sam couldn't hear the sound of his older brother reciting the Latin exorcism needed to send the demon back to Hell.
Black smoke began to pour out of the meatsuit. Once it all cleared, Erin's father fell to the floor. Dead.
Sam fell from the wall, but used the kitchen table to save him from crashing onto the ground. He looked around until his eyes lay upon his brother standing in the entrance of the kitchen while assessing the damage.
"What was that, Sam?" Dean asked. "Why would you run into a situation without even thinking? If Dad—" Dean looked like he was about to add more, but the sound of groaning came from the living room. It was Erin. It sent Sam pushing past his brother and towards his friend.
He knelt down and checked on Erin. She had a major goose egg growing on the back of her head. There were red marks where the demon grabbed her neck and forced her to stand up. She was badly shaken and Sam knew she probably had more injuries, but those would have to wait.
"Hey Erin," Sam said, keeping his voice low and even. After when Erin had just been through, he didn't know how she was going to react.
"Sam?" she muttered. Her eyes were completely unfocused but were facing in his general direction. "Whuh…what happened?"
"That's not important right now," Sam said, gently squeezing her arm. When she flinched in pain, he removed his grip completely. "C'mon, we need to get you out of here."
"But…my dad…is he okay?"
Sam couldn't believe it. Erin was inches away from being killed by the hands of her father and she was wondering if he was okay. Maybe she developed Stockholm Syndrome. Then again, it was her father...well, maybe it was her father this entire time.
"We need to get you someplace safe." Sam completely ignored Erin's question. He hoped he wouldn't ever have to answer it.
"Hey, c'mon." Dean was suddenly behind Sam and he extended a hand to help Erin up. She hesitated for a moment, but when Sam mentioned that it was his older brother, she relaxed a little bit and accepted the help.
Slowly, she stood up. Sam grabbed her sides and stood up with her, giving her a little more balance. When she was about to reach full height, she collapsed into Sam's arms.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked, panicked.
"My ankle," Erin mumbled. "I think it's sprained."
Sam didn't like it, but he was not surprised that this happened. She was tossed around quite a bit by the demon. Without even thinking, Sam pulled Erin's arm around his shoulder. Dean did the same with her other arm and the trio awkwardly walked down to the hotwired car.
Once Erin was settled in the passenger's seat, Dean turned to Sam. "Head back to the motel," he commanded. "I'll take care of the body."
Sam nodded. He walked around the car and towards the driver's seat. "Hey kid." Sam looked up at Dean. "Take care of her injuries. If they are life threatening, call an ambulance. Just ignore Dad's rule."
John wasn't a huge fan of ambulances. One had to be on the brink of death before he would be willing to send in a third party. They lucked out that they never really needed a hospital. They have found ways to help themselves.
Sam wanted to call an ambulance anyway, but he knew that that might cause more trouble than it was worth. He climbed into the car just as Dean walked into the trailer.
The ride back to the motel was awkward and silent. Erin leaned against the door the entire time, looking like she was lost in thought. Sam kept glancing over her way.
By the time they made it back to the motel, it was pitch black out. Sam lucked out, since the Impala still wasn't there. He hoped Dean would be back before John got to the motel. Sam didn't think he could explain everything, and if he could he really didn't want to.
He helped Erin out of the car and helped her into the motel room. Sam helped her lie down on the nearest bed. She looked so fragile as she lay there. Sam wanted more than anything than to just lie down beside her and just ignore the rest of the world. However, Erin's ankle was sprained and there were probably other injuries that Sam hasn't discovered yet.
Sam started off by removing Erin's too-small shoes. Her right ankle was swollen to twice its normal size. He used a pillow to elevate it for now, but he was going to have to wrap it up soon so it doesn't get worse.
The next thing Sam was going to do was check on Erin's head injury, but Erin had other plans for him. "Hot," she mumbled. That's when Sam noticed how sweaty she was.
Being as careful as possible, Sam helped her sit up and awkwardly removed her sweater. Underneath, she only had on a bra and slip. On a normal day, Sam would have been embarrassed to see a girl like this. However, all the cuts and bruises that lined her arms and abdomen distracted him.
Now he understood the sweater during the hot day. Erin didn't want anyone else to notice how she was being abused. It was a terrible thing and it made Sam sick that he didn't notice it before.
"Hold on," Sam said, gently laying Erin back down on the bed. "I'll go get you some water." From the fridge, Sam produced a bottle of water. He opened it up and pressed it to Erin's lips. She slowly took minute sips of it. When she was done, she turned her head away from it. Some of it sloshed down her neck.
Sam placed the bottle back on the nightstand. He kept glancing at the door, hoping that Dean would be back soon. But soon wasn't soon enough. Dean needed to be here now.
"I'm going to go get the med kit," Sam said, mostly to fill the silence rather than fill Erin in on what he was doing. "Just, hang tight, okay Erin?"
Erin slowly nodded that she understood. Sam walked in to bathroom and grabbed the fully stocked med kit from underneath the sink. As hunters, the Winchesters might be prepared for anything. There was enough stuff in the black bag to suffice normal people for a lifetime. For them, it would be a stroke of luck if it lasted longer than a couple weeks.
He sat down at the end of the bed and began wrapping Erin's ankle in an Ace bandage. Every so often, she would flinch when Sam touched a tender spot, but remained mostly silence as he did his work.
Once he was done with the ankle, Sam walked over to Erin's side and debated what to do next. "You okay?" he asked.
"Now I'm cold," Erin said. Sam noticed her shivering.
Sam grabbed a blanket from the bottom of the bed, chuckling. "Are you going through menopause or something?"
Erin remained silent—not amused.
"Too soon?"
She nodded.
Sam immediately felt horrible for making such a comment. But, with everything that just happened, he thought Erin needed some cheering up. Guess she really wasn't in the mood right now.
"It doesn't look like you have a concussion," Sam noted, since she didn't really show any of the signs for having one. "But I suggest you try to stay awake, just in case. Some of your cuts look like they need some cleaning." He grabbed some medicated wipes from the kit. "This might sting a little."
Erin kept the flinching to a minimum as Sam practically soaked her arms and stomach in the medicine. Even though it would use up a lot of her strength, she wiped down her own chest—neither of them liking the idea of Sam doing it himself.
By the time Erin was taken care of, Dean walked into the motel room carrying Erin's backpack and a small suitcase. "I grabbed Erin some stuff before I set the trailer on fire."
"You what?" Erin shrieked.
"I'm sorry," Dean said sincerely. "It was the only way."
Sam's heart twanged for Erin. Dean had just purposefully destroyed Erin's home. But, Sam still had to agree—it was the only way.
"Maybe she should change into some pajamas," Dean suggested, digging through the small suitcase until he came across a pair of sweatpants and a loose-fitting t-shirt.
Erin nodded and started standing up. Sam helped her towards the bathroom and Dean handed off the clothes.
"I think I can handle getting dressed myself," Erin said, hobbling into the bathroom. Sam had no intentions of helping her, but the faint smile on her face made Sam glad that she still had a sense of humor, even if it was at Sam's expense.
As Erin got dressed in the bathroom, Sam turned towards Dean. "So…what now?"
"Now, we wait for Dad and see what he says about this," Dean said. "I dunno what he'll do with Erin and he certainly won't be happy that this…vision or whatever you had actually came true."
Sam completely forgot about how this whole thing started. The memories of what could have been came flooding back to me. He had to remind himself that Erin was healthy (barely) and alive, getting dressed in the bathroom. She was fine…she was fine.
"No, but he should be proud of the fact that we saved her and that you exorcised a demon." Sam was always looking for the positives, even though a lot of his thoughts seemed to head towards the negatives.
The familiar roar of the Impala's engine sent Sam right back into panic mode. He wasn't ready to face John—not just yet.
It was then when he realized how deep he was.