"Dean's been missing a year, and you are just now telling me!" Sam said bolting up from the bed, immediately being hit with a wave of dizziness.
"Calm down, before you give yourself a coronary," Bobby replied easing the swaying Sam back to the bed. "Let me explain."
Sam sat with his head between his knees, his world literally spinning around him, "Please do."
Bobby sighed, "I don't know everything. I only got bits and even they ain't much. But from what Lisa told me, it was really good at first. He was really good. A little sad from time to time but they were genuinely happy."
"What changed?"
"Lisa said it was subtle at first. Nightmares. He would never talk about them. Then he started to forget things. Big things. Like driving to the store for groceries and be gone hours only to return home without groceries and not remember where he was. Then he would stare out into space for long periods of time. His behavior just started to escalate until one day, Lisa came home and Dean was just catatonic. They admitted him for a seventy two hour psych hold and by the time it was thru, he was fine. Lisa said he showed no signs of needing to stay longer. He was released under the condition that he talk to a psychiatrist. They brought him home and he went upstairs to rest. When Lisa went to check in on him later, he was gone. He had packed some clothes and went out the window. He even left the Impala behind. Panicked. She called me. I was there within the day."
"And what did you find?"
"From everything Lisa had told me it sounded like posession. But I found no signs or omens or any residual demonic forces anywhere near there. I even went about more unorthodox methods."
"Like what?"
"Well, lets just say I got my damn soul back."
"Crowley?"
"Yeah," Bobby said squirming at the name. Unpleasant memories rushing to the surface.
"What did he say?"
"That Dean wasn't posessed."
"And you believed him?"
"No. That's when he gave me my soul back. As a sign of goodwill."
"Dean wouldn't just leave like that Bobby."
"I know. So, I kept looking."
"And what did you find?"
"Nothing. And I mean I looked everywhere. I turned over every leaf but I found nothing supernatural about Dean's leaving. I began to chalk it up to him just deciding to bolt when Castiel paid me a visit. Said not to worry about Dean. He was being looked after."
Sam spoke his next words with an uneasy dread.
"What did he mean by being looked after?"
"He's alive," Bobby spat out quickly, sensing Sam's train of thought. "But other than that I don't know. Cas vanished soon after and I haven't been able to make contact with him since."
Sam began to process everything that Bobby had told him. He had always assumed that when he left Cicero that night that everything would be okay for Dean. He couldn't have fathomed how wrong he was.
"You okay?" Bobby asked putting a comforting arm on Sam's shoulder.
"We have to find him Bobby."
"I know."
ooooo
A black, dust laden, 1972 Cadillac El Dorado sat parked in a far corner of the parking lot. Had been for most of the night. Word of Sam Winchester's arrival in Cortez came quickly. Ever since he had first stepped foot in the Four Corners, she had put the word out with doctors, hospitals, morgues, and whatever hunters she could trust. If Sam returned, she wanted to be the first to know. She had been up in Twentynine Palms, investigating a possible chupacabra when she got the call. An old college friend, aware of her nocturnal activities, who worked at a local clinic recognized Sam's picture immediately and said he had been a patient. When he had the chance he pulled his chart and gave her the grim news.
Sam was injured in a car accident almost a year ago. Steering wheel slammed into his chest, directly over his heart. It was so hard that it resulted in severely abnormal and irregular heartbeat. Although his condition was soon stablized with medication, it became progressively worse. By the time he had arrived at Cortez, he had reached the end of the line. Surgery was his only salvation at this point and even that wasn't a guarentee. One thing was for certain. Without it, Sam would die. However, given his lifestyle and lack of insurance, that wasn't an easy option. She had to think of something, and soon. Time was a factor and not on her side.
It was made very clear to her that at this point, medication only brought short term relief. A heart attack was inevitable, if not imminent. If it happened it could weaken him beyond all medical ability to repair or in the right circumstances, kill him instantly. So much had to get done in such a short time. She had to bring the band back together. She had to reunite Sam with his brother. Not only for his sake, but for her own as well. She needed thier insight. The expertise. And most importantly, thier connections. Every hunter knew the Winchester road with angels. Its one of the reasons most hunters steered clear. She was always told they were no good. That they were evil, especially Sam. Some said he was even the devil incarnate.
As she reached over to grab the microwave burrito she grabbed at the Gas & Gulp a mile back, she heard her phone ring. Glancing at the name on her screen, he grabbed it instead.
"This is Kristina," she said as she quickly pressed the answer button.
"Hey, Kris, its Zander," he replied in a somber tone.
"How many this time?"
"Nine. Took out the entire occupants of a roadside diner in the Mojave."
Kristina cringe in frustration.
"That's unlike her."
"Yeah, doesn't she steer clear of rural areas?"
"She finds them boring," Kristina said as she began rumaging thru the glovebox. "The more activity the more excited she gets. Makes it easy for her to feed."
"How did you know she had fed, anyway?"
"She's up to something," Kristina said avoiding the subject.
"Kris?"
"That's not important," she replied pulling a map out of the glovebox. "Now you said this latest attack was in Mojave, right?"
"Right. Now tell me how did you know she had fed?"
Kristina mumbled.
"What was that? I didn't quite hear it."
"I've been hungry."
Zander got quiet. Which only made Kristina more edgy. A whole minute had passed before he spoke again.
"Burger King hungry or Type-O hungry."
"Let's just say I've been eating my steaks rare lately."
"Why didn't you tell me you we're having cravings?"
"They're not technically cravings, per se", Kristina admitted sheepishly. "And I didn't want to worry you."
"And what would they be, per se?"
"I will be fine, Zander. We have more important problems."
"You're craving blood for the first time in five years. That's important."
"I have amazing self control."
"Kris, I know you do. But something's going on here."
"She's up to something. I know my sister, Zander. She's killed people. But never this many. Counting the nine in Mojave, we're looking at nearly a hundred people in the last eighteen months and if she's going out to the rural regions, it may be more we don't even know about yet."
"It can't be a coincidence. There has to be more to it."
"What, exactly, I don't know. But I am going to find out."
"How are things going on your end?"
"A little complicated but nothing I can't handle."
"Do you think we'll find him . . . the angel?"
"If we find Dean Winchester, we'll find the angel."
"Do you really think he'll be able to help?"
"He's an angel, Zander."
"Yeah, but I kinda heard they're dicks."
"Dicks or not, he will help us," Kristina stated staring out intensly at the motel room across the lot. "Go to Mojave. Find out as much as you can. Then meet me in Cortez as soon as possible."
"What are you going to do?"
"What I have to," she spat flipping her phone shut.
