Bobby was heading back to the motel to share their findings after splitting up to look for anything they could discover about Sam's kidnapper. He came through the door to find a shattered Dean on the bed with a laptop on his knees, scowling at the screen and John sitting, shoulders slumped, at the table, a large whiskey in hand.
"How's the ribs, Dean?" Bobby asked the 20 year old, his voice laced with concern seeing that Dean was leaning on the bedside table for support and would wince when he moved suddenly.
"Fine." Dean replied gruffly.
Bobby sighed in full knowledge that to push Dean would not help the current situation. He pulled off his cap and ran his calloused hands over his scalp to sweep any stray hairs from his face. A sign of exhaustion. "What did you find out about this Cody fella, John?"
John turned towards him. "Cody Stevens. 31. Just got out of custody after he was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the disappearance of a young girl called Lily Swan. There was too little evidence to pin him to it but his co-workers didn't seem to be overly fond of the man. One woman told me that she knew in her gut that Cody was involved with the girl's disappearance." John swigged the last bit of his whiskey. "What about you, Bobby?"
"No signs of anything supernatural about the man. No past run-ins with anything suspicious. His house is clear of sulphur, EMF or any monster give aways of any kind. He's definitely a human."
Very occasionally did hunters have to deal with human crimes but it made the job 10x more difficult. Any monster, ghost or demon Dean could think of acted on instinct. It was an evil creature, he would gank the son of a bitch and move on to the next one. But a human? That conflicted morals and made the whole job a lot trickier. If a human was ever at fault, that scared Dean. They weren't born evil but chose it. They chose to take away innocent lives or torture people yet at the end of the day you'd have to face a decision on whether or not to take a human life. It wasn't as black and white as people believed.
Dean would never admit it, but it terrified him that Sammy was somewhere alone with a psychopath. He didn't know what this man wanted and that terrified him more.
Bobby dug into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a slightly crumpled photograph. He placed it on the table to show John. "I did find this though." Dean put the laptop next to him and stood to have a look at the picture. It depicted Cody standing in front of a very small house in a rural place next to a woman who smiled up at the man beside her. John flipped it over. In scrawled writing on the back it read 'Upland Hill - our getaway'. Dean looked up to meet Bobby's eyes. "He's gone somewhere with Sam and my guess is it's probably there seeming as he has no family, friends or any other place to go."
"And you, Dean? What did you find about the van?" John asked.
"Not much. It's registered to him but no traffic officers have reported it so far so I don't know where abouts it is." Dean breathed out heavily. It was about 1:30am and all three were dead on their feet.
John decided to seize control of the situation and took up his army like tone to give a plan. "We should sleep. We will be no use to Sammy dead tired and still sore from the last hunt." John eyed Dean as he scowled at his father. "I'm going to look up where Upland Hill could be and tomorrow we will drive over there to check it out."
Bobby agreed with John's spiel with a curt nod and walked to the couch to crash for the night. Dean turned to his dad with a pained look. John could tell what he was thinking. "We need to sleep and your side needs to heal a bit before we run to find Sam. We can't help like this. End of. Go to sleep for a few hours, Dean." The younger man heaved a sigh and dragged his aching body to the closest bed. John could see the worry in Dean's dead eyes. "She will be okay, Dean. She is not weak and she will fight. We will find her." Dean nodded once to convince himself of that fact and lay down to fall into a light sleep.
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Sam must have fallen into a state between sleep and unconsciousness because she woke up to the sound of a key grating in a lock. Sitting bolt upright she glanced towards the door and pressed her body into the wall, almost trying to melt into it. Fear coursed through her veins with a pulsing rhythm that she could feel in her temples and a heavy beat of her heart that she was sure she could hear in her ears. Sam's chest felt hollow and compressed but she ignored all the signs of terror and dug her nails into her palms to focus herself and set her lips into a thin line.
The metal door swung open to reveal a giant, shadowed figure. The man slowly walked towards her, into the light, and she immediately recognised her capturer. The worker from the diner who creeped her out when they were there stood before her. That twisted smile played on his lips but it wasn't there long before it slid into a sneer, eyes glinting with something evil.
"Hello Sugar" That low voice was harsh and raw and animalistic. Sam shivered in disgust. "Aren't you gonna say hello?" She just stared up at him, wide-eyed with ill-disguised fright. "My name's Cody. You must be Sam."
"How do you know my name?" Her voice was croaky and sore so it came out as a raspy whisper.
Cody let out a growling chuckle, eyes glinting once again. "I think we almost met at the diner and I have pretty good hearing you know." Sam blinked at the man. He didn't know she was a Winchester. He didn't know what she was. He was just a twisted man with a twisted smile who captured her.
"Why am I here?" He laughed once more.
"For my amusement, Sugar" Sam shivered again. Cody approached her as if she was a wild animal and he was hunting her, preying on her. Sam straightened her back and held her nerve, staying strong and unwavering. His large hand reached out to touch her face but she jerked back to avoid the contact. "Oh, Sam, don't shy away." He reached out once more to make contact with her trembling skin.
Sam didn't know what happened but instinct kicked in and she suddenly she lurched forward and sunk her teeth into Cody's forearm with as much force as possible before he wrenched away. She could taste something metallic and warm and recognised the distinct flavour of blood. His blood.
He clutched the bite mark. It looked quite deep and bled down his arm.
"You bitch" He cried, voice raising an octave. Sam spat out the blood from her mouth onto the floor beside her. Cody quickly jerked forward and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her to her feet before gripping both of her wrists in one hand and forcing her against the wall. Sam was scowling in anger, fuelled only on adrenaline and fear, but her eyes widened and her breath hitched as she saw Cody pull a knife from his back pocket. The whole movement had taken only a few seconds. His movements were quick, very quick, and before she could breathe Sam could feel the cold metal of his knife against her neck. The two stilled and she held his intense, furious gaze. It was all silent apart from the steady dripping in the corner and their short, shallow breaths. "I am not going to kill you, not yet. You've only just arrived and it would be a waste to lose you so soon." The sentence was eloquent and rolled off of his tongue carefully. But his tone, it was ominous and low, fury flickering in his watery blue eyes. The knife point slowly traced down her windpipe, along her shoulder and down her arm to just below the end of her t-shirt sleeve. He dug it in slightly and dragged a shallow bloody line down her arm. Sam gritted her teeth to prevent the proof of her pain leaving her lips. She would not give him the satisfaction of her groan. A small smile twitched Cody's lips before he turned and left, locking the door behind him.
Sam was left standing against the wall, looking at the door that trapped her in the concrete prison. The adrenaline rushed from her body and her knees wobbled then collapsed, making her fall to the floor. The cut on her arm was about 10cm long but shallow and already clotting. That didn't mean it wasn't stinging though. Sam sighed and looked at the light hanging from the ceiling. She realised that her arms and feet were stone cold. Cody must have taken her shoes and jacket when she was knocked out by the chloroform and that just made her hate this man more than she already did. How was she supposed to get out of this?