Chapter 7 Gathering of Forces
A tear slipped down his cheek. He felt helpless, lost without Dean beside him. Rising slowly to his feet Sam closed his eyes. Desperately seeking to open a link to his brother he dove down the path in his mind where Dean should have been. Fear shot through him, mind numbing, gut wrenching fear. Nothing, the place where Dean should have been was now a deep, impenetrable void.
Ignoring the pouding in his head Sam ran from the house into the dark, quiet streets of Fremont until he reached the center of town. Siren's were blaring; he could hear the frightened cries of the town's occupants as they slowly drifted into the street. Evil had come to Fremont once again.
He stood in the center of the road where Dean should have been. "Where are you big brother," he whispered beneath his breath.
Dean didn't answer.
Closing his eyes Sam opened his mind like Vivian had taught him. He could feel the dark presence, the corruption that had stood here. The vile psychic stench was almost overwhelming. He stepped back and pushed the nausea away - hunting, searching for any sign of his brother. His control was slipping but Sam sucked in a breath and steadied himself. Reaching farther out with his mind he caught a slight vibration in the air a few feet away. A rip or some type of tear in the air gave him some idea of why Dean wasn't here. He saw what remained of a fiery outline - a symbol and filed it away.
The dark presence had opened some type of portal. Sam, very much a novice didn't know whether the demon had gone to another plane, back into hell or just ten miles down the road.
He needed to know?
Smart enough to realize he couldn't do it on his own, Sam dug his phone from his pocket and pressed a couple of buttons.
The phone went immediately to voice mail and Sam took a deep breath before talking. "Dad, Dean's in trouble, he's been taken by a Demon. I don't know how to find him." He wanted to say so much more, but knew his dad wouldn't understand. John Winchester didn't do emotions, except for anger, at least none that he ever seemed to show to his youngest son.
Sam was miserable. He didn't know where to start looking for Dean. He had only the vague images in his mind. Images of the black cloaked figure were still fresh, a shiver coursed down his back.
Sam paced the street furiously. 'Call me, call me,' he mumbled over and over, waiting and hoping his father would call.
Mike was busy calming the towns' residents and checking on the damage. No one wanted to ask the question. No one really wanted to know how the sidewalk and buildings had been torn apart or why a dank, putrid odor hung in the air. They saw the blood spilled on the side walk and gave it a wide berth.
A little blue purse stood alone, abandoned on the sidewalk. The sheriff had posted guards making sure the scene wasn't disturbed before the forensics's expert arrived. He didn't know what he would tell the guy. Was it murder, a kidnapping, or a supernatural event? Mike knew, Sam and the whole town knew but how could they explain it to an outsider.
From his position on the sidewalk he watched Sam pace. His brother was missing, vanished into thin air, who wouldn't be worried, especially since the brother was still recovering from some serious injuries. Mike didn't know what to say or how to help the young man. His own deputy was missing; he didn't know what the hell he was going to tell the Mayor and city council.
Like the rest of the town he was scared. Something sinister had come and stolen some of their own and he didn't know where to start.
Striding across the street Mike slowly approached the still pacing hunter. "Were do we start looking," Mike asked quietly? "How do we find out what took them?"
He stopped abruptly - startled. Sam was pissed with himself for getting so lost in thought he hadn't heard the sheriff approach.
"I know what took them Sheriff," Sam answered. Brown eyes met blue and held.
"You know," Mike growled. "When were you going to tell me?"
"I wasn't," Sam answered quietly, "Cause you don't really want to know, it will only make things worse."
"Worse, what the hell could be worse," the sheriff huffed.
"Hell," Sam answered.
"What are you talking about," Mike growled again.
"The creature that took them is a demon – straight out of hell. Is that what you want to hear sheriff?" Sam was afraid and he covered his fear with anger. "A card carrying, fire breathing, dark evil demon and from what I can gather it's old, very, very old and powerful. More powerful than anything we've encountered before.
The air flew from the sheriff's lungs, his eyes went wide with fear, but the thought that stuck in his mind was that Sam had 'encountered' a demon before.
"A demon," Mike breathed. He stared off into the distance his voice low but filled with uncertainty as he spoke. "You read about them in book, watch them on TV and in the movies, but you don't believe." His hands were held in tight fists and pounded against his thighs as he tried to digest more of the nightmare that had come to his town. "You don't believe," he breathed quietly. He stood staring at the destruction hardening his mind and thoughts he turned back to Sam, his eyes implacable and unyielding. "What else do you know?"
Sam took in a deep breath and gathered his scattered thoughts. He need to think, needed to focus. "He's probably trying to build an army. Most of the creatures he finds will be the undead. Ghosts, ghouls, zombies, maybe even some of the weaker vampires will heed his call. He'll also steal human souls and convert what's left to his cause. He'll open a hole into this plane and more of his kind will cross over."
"Jesus, stop," Mike screeched. "I don't want to hear any more."
Sam took a deep breath and let it out slowly, nothing he could say would comfort the sheriff or make the reality of what was happening any easier to handle. "I won't lie to you Mike. Everything I've said is true – a demon had crossed over into our world. He had my brother and your deputy. At the moment they are still alive, but I don't know for how much longer."
"What are we going to do," Mike wanted someone to tell him what to do, how to deal with the chaos that had come to shake up his world, his town?
"I'm going to the library; I need to do some research. See if I can put a name to our demon," he replied softly.
"Demon's have names," Mike squeaked.
"Yeah, and a lot of their power is in their name. We find out what it is and we might be able to get control of it."
"Control it, control a damn demon." Mike took a slow step back and stared at the young hunter. He didn't know what else to say, didn't know what to do, what to believe. He felt like he was being sucked into a nightmare and hoped he would wake up to find it was just that - a nightmare, a bad dream and his town would be back to normal. Beth would be waiting at the office when morning rolled around, Mike sighed but it wasn't going to happen like that.
The sheriff pulled his keys out of his pocket and slipped one from the ring handing it to Sam. "This will open the back door to the library. What ever you need, you just ask. This town will support you one hundred percent."
Sam opened his mouth to thank the sheriff. But Mike held up his hand cutting him off. "We owe you and we'll do what we have to do to get Dean and Beth back. If it means tearing this town apart or traveling half way around the world to find them, we'll do it."
