I'm back! It seems like forever since I updated this story, been a long week lol. Glad you guys are all still enjoying it! This is the chapter where it all starts to pick up. Thanks as always to the reviewers :)
Chapter Seven
Dean took off running across the deserted campus, barreling around the corner Jessica had disappeared, pulling the gun from the back of his jeans. He got around the corner just in time to see the second woman trying to restrain the blond girl, who was putting up a pretty good fight, and probably would have won it too, if her assailant hadn't been a demon. And she was a demon, sure enough. She flashed her black eyes at Dean as soon as he came around the corner, pointing the gun at her, even though he knew it was a useless weapon.
"Hey, you let her go, bitch," he snarled.
"Winchester," the demon sneered and threw Jessica into the wall of the building. She gave a shriek that was cut off abruptly as she smashed into the wall and fell limply to the ground. The demon turned on Dean, obvious pleasure in her expression.
"Well, it looks like I got two for the price of one, the girlfriend and the brother."
Dean fought to keep his eagerness at bay, trying to play it cool as he kept the gun leveled at her, his other hand reaching for the flask of holy water in his pocket. "You know where Sam is, don't you?"
"Maybe," she said coyly, cocking her head to one side. "I bet you want to see him, don't you? I can take you there if you want."
"Yeah, you'll take me there, all right," Dean told her firmly. "But not like this. Not as leverage. You're going to come with me first and I'm going to have a nice long talk with you. And then some words in Latin."
The demon laughed. "Oh yeah? And what do you think you're going to bind me with?"
"I had some ideas," Dean said then threw his flask of holy water at her face. She fell back to the ground, screaming. Dean ran forward and shoved her onto her face, reaching for some rope and proceeded to pour holy water over it before attempting to bind her. She hissed at the obvious pain, but quickly spun onto her back, kicking Dean off of her and slamming him with demonic force against the wall of the building. He lost his gun in the struggle and grunted as he tried to peel himself from the wall but to no avail.
"Really, that was your master plan?" the demon laughed. "Please. You're going to have to try a lot harder than that."
With a reluctant curse, Dean began an exorcism. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus…"
The demon snarled but stood still, wreathing in obvious pain, looking as if she were trying to resist, but then she collapsed to her knees and smoked out of her own accord as if giving up. The body of the woman she had been possessing collapsed to the ground and Dean was released from the demon's power. He picked up his gun waiting for an attack but it never came. He put it back into his belt and cursed. There was his one lead to Sammy gone.
A groan sounded and he turned to Jessica, pushing back his anger for a moment as he hurried over to her, kneeling down and helping her sit up. "Hey, you all right?"
She gasped and scrambled away from him several feet until she hit the wall, then looked between him and the unconscious girl on the grass. "W-what happened?"
Dean hesitated, wondering how much he should tell her, then just decided to simplify things. She didn't look ready to hear the truth quite yet. "Well, as far as I can tell, that woman tried to kidnap you. Good thing I was around."
"But why?" Jessica asked, looking confused.
Dean sighed. He would have to tell her a little of the truth. "Look, this might seem like a lot to handle, especially right now, but your boyfriend, Sam, I think he's been kidnapped and the same people might be out for you."
"What?!" Jessica demanded, her voice raising several octaves as she pulled herself to her feet and eyed Dean suspiciously. "You're crazy! Sam's…Sam's d-dead, and it's horrible of you to even think of—"
"I know," Dean assured her as calmly as possible. "And trust me, I wouldn't bring you into this if I didn't have to, but you are obviously in danger now, and I can't let you get hurt."
"Who are you?" she demanded.
Dean sighed. "I'm Dean Winchester. I'm Sammy's big brother."
Her eyes widened. "You're Dean?"
Dean gave her a small smile. "In the flesh. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to take you somewhere safe where we can talk, okay?"
She hesitated and then finally nodded, following Dean as he looked around the campus to make sure there weren't any other demons lurking in the shadows.
"Y-you said Sam's not dead?" she asked quietly as he headed toward the parking lot.
"Yeah," Dean replied. "They don't have any physical evidence of his body being on the bus, and besides, I…I would know. And now that attempt to kidnap you proves it."
"But why would they want me? Why would they want Sam in the first place?" she cried. "What is going on?"
Dean closed his eyes for a second, fishing his keys from his pocket. "Sam, I don't know, but you, they likely want for leverage to get him to cooperate."
"Oh God, do you think they've hurt him?" she gasped, tears flooding her eyes.
Dean swallowed hard. "I don't know. But I'm doing my best to find him, okay?" he opened the passenger door of the Impala for her and she slid in, wringing her hands.
"Where are we going?" she sniffed.
"To get you someplace safe," Dean informed her. "Then we can see if you can help me figure out where Sam is."
Sam was in agony the whole time he waited alone in the cellar for the demons to come back with Jessica. He didn't know what he was going to do. He couldn't physically do what Steven wanted him to, so how was he going to convince him of that so he wouldn't hurt Jess? And even if he did convince him he was telling the truth, then it was likely they would just kill both of them and be done with the whole thing. There was really no point in keeping them alive, especially since they knew Sam was a hunter. The only consolation he had was that if Steven killed him, Dean and his dad would make sure the demon paid with his life. But that wouldn't make Sam feel any better about Jessica. He was so stupid to think that he could live a normal life and now he had brought the crazy with him when he left. He had brought his family's misfortune to the woman he loved and he couldn't stand that. He had to do everything he could to protect Jess. Maybe if he could fake it at least for long enough to plan another escape—or long enough for Dean to find him if he really were there—then maybe he could get them both out before the demons killed them. But how could you really go about faking psychic powers? It wasn't like he could just go 'use the force, Luke' and pretend to move stuff with his mind.
He was brought back to reality with the sounds of a commotion up above him, shouting and slamming doors. He felt bile rise in his throat, figuring it was Kara bringing Jessica back. Part of him enjoyed the thought of her putting up a fight to annoy the demon, but the other part hoped she had gone quietly so Kara wouldn't have had reason to hurt her. But as the noises went on, Sam heard Steven yelling too, and a female voice he didn't recognize protesting before a whimper was heard along with the sound of flesh colliding sharply. Sam frowned, hope growing before he could tell it not to. Had Jess actually managed to give Kara the slip?
He was about to find out, because he heard the demons approach the stairs and pounding footsteps heading down them a few seconds later. There was a woman first, a blond ponytail swinging behind her and some blood on her lip as if from a slap. She snarled and went straight over to Sam, kicking him instantly.
"Kara!" Steven was next, calling to the woman. "You can take your frustrations out on him later. You have disappointed me."
She gave Sam a glare that promised a lot of pain, then went to stand in the corner.
Steven sighed and came over to Sam. He nodded to Carlton and the other demon went over to Sam and pulled a crank on the wall. Sam felt the chains attached to him tighten and he realized he was being pulled upright. He struggled to get to his feet himself, even though his legs were unsteady, and eventually, he was tottering on his toes, his hands pulled tautly up above his head. Steven stood before him, a knife in his hand, tapping his chin with the blade thoughtfully. Sam couldn't help but smirk slightly.
"I see you didn't get Jess after all," he said.
Steven's eyes hardened for a second then held up his hand as Kara started forward with a curse. "Yes, that was rather unfortunate. Kara was unable to fetch her as I asked. Instead she was met with an unexpected party and had to abandon her body and the object of her mission. And then she proceeded to make sure that another asset got away as well." He growled at his subordinate and Kara looked at her feet, anger still clear in her features but submissive to the other demon. Steven turned back to Sam. "You have your brother to thank for your girlfriend's rescue. But I assure you it is only temporary. I will have both of them before this is over, helping me get what I want out of you."
A rush of hope surged through Sam. Dean was looking for him, and he was close. Even better, that meant Sam was still in Palo Alto, the demons hadn't dragged him off to places unknown. And he felt a world better knowing that Jess was safe with his brother. A defiant smile spread over his lips before Steven backhanded him, wiping it from his face, but he still felt a new strength inside.
"So, now I'm left with just you again, Sammy," Steven said. "And a punishment to dole out. Not what I wanted, I assure you. I can't kill you yet, obviously, that would defeat my purpose, but I can make you hurt. A lot. And maybe it will at least give you a taste of what I will do to your big bro and poor innocent Jess when I do get my hands on them. A little teaser so you might cooperate better."
Sam glared at him. "Bite me," he snarled.
Steven smiled without humor. "I was hoping you would say that." His knife sliced across Sam's ribs and the young man could barely cry out before another cut appeared on his arm, and then the knife point came to rest right under his collarbone, Steven's grinning face in his.
"Oh, Sam, we're going to have so much fun." And then he continued to slice to Sam's screams.
"This is safe?" was the first thing Jessica asked as Dean pulled up in front of the motel.
"Well, they haven't found us here yet," he replied somewhat defensively as he got out of the car and Jessica followed him reluctantly. Dean unlocked the room and ushered her inside. Bobby was still sitting at the table among his research and looked up, eyes widening as he saw Dean's companion.
"Dean, what—?"
"Bobby, this is Jessica Moore, Sam's girlfriend. Jessica, this is Bobby Singer, he's kind of our uncle."
Jessica gave the older man a small wave, before confusion came over her face, as she looked around the room while Bobby nonchalantly closed several lore books and covered up some of the more dubious research. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand. Why are you here? I mean, if you know Sam was kidnapped, shouldn't you be calling the police?"
"It would be too risky," Dean said quickly. "Sam is nearby, but if we alert the authorities, there's a good chance they could take him somewhere else or just end up killing him."
"But what are you?" Jessica demanded, looking between Dean and Bobby. "I thought Sam said you were a mechanic or something."
Dean gave a small smile. "On Tuesdays. But I do a lot of odd jobs."
Jessica didn't look convinced at all, in fact she looked downright suspicious and she had every right to be, but Dean was hoping she would forget that in her worry for Sam and help him out instead of calling the police on them. "Look, I'm sure this is a lot to process right now, and I'm sorry, but Sam's in trouble, and I need to know everything that happened prior to him disappearing so that we can maybe find where he is and who took him. You may have seen the person responsible and not even known it since you didn't know he was kidnapped until now."
"I-I don't know," Jessica said, sounding overwhelmed as she took a seat on the end of one of the beds. "It was—the holiday weekend. He was just going to go up to San Francisco for the day to do some shopping or whatever. I stayed back here because I had some papers to finish, and then when he…when he didn't come home that night, I tried to call him but I couldn't get a hold of him and then the next day a police officer came to the door and told me that he was—that he was dead."
"Hey, it's all right," Dean told her, awkwardly touching her shoulder as she buried her face in her hands. "I promise he's not dead. Now can you remember anything before that? Anything strange that happened, or anyone new who might have crossed paths with Sam in the days before he disappeared?"
She sniffed slightly, wiping her eyes. "Um…there was one thing, I guess. A couple days before there was like a gas leak or something in the apartment complex. It wasn't serious, and they cleaned it up really quick, but the man from the company came to our door and told us we'd probably want to go out for a couple hours just in case, so we went out for dinner and then hung out with our friends. I didn't really think much of it, after, because he wasn't there when we got back, but it kind of smelled in the apartment that night I guess."
Dean frowned. "What exactly did it smell like?"
"I don't know, it was pretty faint," Jessica shrugged.
"Did it smell like gas or like sulfur?"
Jessica frowned up at him in confusion, then cocked her head to one side. "Actually, it did kind of smell like rotten eggs. But why would it smell like sulfur?"
Dean ignored her question and cast a look at Bobby, raising his eyebrows. "Really? They're actually doing the whole gas leak routine?"
The older hunter shrugged. "I guess whatever works."
"I'm sorry, I don't understand what that has to do with Sam's disappearance," Jessica said. "You think that guy was the one who took him?"
"Maybe," Dean said. "In any case it's the only thing we have to go on."
"But how?"
"Maybe he put a tracker on Sam's phone or bugged your apartment to find out where he was going," Dean suggested.
"But why Sam? Who could possibly want to kidnap him?" Jessica cried.
"I don't know," Dean lied.
"I do know one thing," Bobby said to Jessica, "and that's that we need to get you out of town."
"What? No way!" she protested. "I am not leaving town when Sam could be out there being tortured by a psychopathic serial killer!"
"Jessica, he's right," Dean told her. "They already tried to grab you too, if they manage to do that, then you'll just be a tool for them to get Sam to do what they want. And he won't want to see you hurt, trust me, it will destroy him. The best thing you can do is get out of town and let Bobby and I handle this."
She looked like she was going to protest again, but finally she sighed. "All right, but I want to know the instant you know anything."
Dean felt a bit of relief wash over him. If he could at least get Sam's girlfriend out of harm's way, that was something. "I will. Now do you have somewhere you can go?"
"My parents live a couple hours away," she said. "I could go there. Say I need some time off from school. They already thought it might be a good idea for me to come stay with them for a while."
Dean nodded. "Good. Hopefully it won't take us that long to find Sam, but I know he would want you to be safe."
"I'll drive you there myself," Bobby said, standing up and reaching for his jacket. "That way we make sure you don't get waylaid on the way."
Dean sighed and smiled slightly at Jessica. "I promise we'll get Sam back. And for the record, it was nice to meet you. I just wish it could have been under better circumstances."
She gave a small smile back. "You too, Dean."
"Let me know if you remember anything else," Dean told her. "And don't let anyone know that Sam might be alive, okay? Not until we find him."
She took a deep sigh, but nodded finally.
Bobby turned to Dean and gave him a look. "I should be back by tonight. Don't try anything stupid before I get here."
Dean rolled his eyes, but nodded. "Yes, Bobby, I won't do anything stupid."
The older hunter gave him a look then shook his head and turned back to Jessica. "Come on, we can stop by your place on the way out so you can grab your stuff."
Dean watched them go and finally sat down to the research again with a sigh. It was almost worst knowing that Sam was so close and yet not knowing where. But he would find him like he said. If it was the last thing he did, he would rescue his little brother from those demons. He just needed to know how.
It was a while and several thick books later when his phone rang. He answered it instantly, and was surprised to hear Jessica's voice on the other end.
"Dean, I just thought of something that might help," he told him.
"What is it?" he asked eagerly.
"Well, a few months back, Sam and I both got new phones and he was kind of insistent about getting those GPS things for them, like to track them. I thought it was unnecessary, but he did it anyway, and you can go online and look up the phone's location. If he had it on him, then maybe it's where he is now."
"Jess, that's great," Dean said, already grabbing his jacket and keys. "Can you give me your account?"
With the note written down, he was out the door and heading toward his car.
"Dean," Bobby's voice was on the phone now. "Don't you do anything stupid, son."
"Don't worry, Bobby," Dean said before he ended the call, probably leaving the old man cussing up a storm.
He hurriedly drove to the library, quickly snagging a computer and going to the proper website. When he opened up the account Jessica had given him and put Sam's number in it took ages for the results to load, until he was sure they weren't going to. That Sam's phone had been ditched or destroyed and it couldn't track anymore. But finally the result came up and he sucked in a breath as he checked the map and realized that the position was only about five miles from the motel he and Bobby had been staying at.
"Sammy," he whispered, hurriedly writing down the address. "I'm coming for you."
Dean is on the scent! Of course, he didn't listen to Bobby and wait for backup…. Sorry for the cliffy, but in the meantime you can check out my new S11 AU story "When All is Said and Done" especially if you are suffering from the feels this season and think Cas needs a break. Until next time!
