(Disclaimer: Don't own anything except the following story)
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Armageddon.
Chapter Seven.
The blood ran slowly down the walls of the chamber, catching in the deep gouges His claws had made before pooling at the base. Small tributaries of blood wove their way towards the pits, hissing and bubbling as they neared; the blood seeming to want to escape the wrath that had befallen its previous hosts. The demons lay where they had been torn apart, the steam rising from their broken bodies, their faces forever held in their death masks, their terrified screams still echoing in the room.
Lucas stood amongst the carnage, completely untouched, his only injury, the burst eardrums from the initial roar of his 'Master'. He looked down as a trickle of blood fought its way towards the pits and he watched in fascination as the blood seemed to climb up and over his boot before continuing its journey towards the eternal fire. He looked up as he was cast in shadow, his 'Master' standing in front of him, spattered in the blood of his victims. His Master put a hand to his head and he felt the blood run slowly back up his neck and into his ears and he smiled as his hearing was returned.
"You know of the ones that escaped?" he rumbled.
Lucas nodded "I know two. The others are friends of theirs"
"Which are the ones that are your….'friends'" he spat the last word out.
"Zeke and Jay Thomas"
"You know 'The Banisher'?" he asked, the rage starting to build again.
Lucas nodded "She was with me…" he frowned "…earlier" he couldn't quite remember the last time he'd seen her or what it was they'd been doing. All he could remember were her eyes, looking at him with concern…then her face covered with blood "I can't remember"
"And the other two?"
"Dean and Sam Winchester. I don't know them but they are close to Zeke and Jay"
His 'Master' laughed and it chilled him "I bet they are" he looked thoughtfully at the man in front of him "You miss your 'friends'?"
Lucas thought on the question "I think so…"
"I have a special task for you. One that only you can fulfil; one that will make me very happy" he circled the man "You wish to serve me well? To please me?"
"Yes"
"Then listen well, Lucas Mitchell…"
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Sam stared at Zeke "What do you mean you can't reach him?"
"Just that. I've tried…a lot and I get the same thing I do when I try to reach Jay…nothing but static"
"The headaches" mused Sam.
Zeke nodded "That's what I'm thinking but even when Jay wasn't in the middle of the headache I couldn't reach her"
"So there's something …residual about them" he looked at the Impala then back to Zeke and opened his mouth.
"Just tried again, Sam. Nothing" said Zeke. He smiled "Sorry, should let you finish sentences"
Sam smiled "Or start them" he shifted in his seat "When we were at Ellen's… I saw…shit, I don't know how many hunters…"
Zeke nodded "I saw it too. I tried to reach a few and got the same thing" he looked over at Sam "I didn't want to say anything in front of Dean…he really hasn't been himself"
Sam laughed "No shit"
"Has it got anything to do with what happened at Gus'?"
"I think that's part of it. That he thinks he needs to punish himself for trading my soul and then for making me…you know. He refuses to talk about it, of course, but that's a part of Dean that hasn't changed. He doesn't do 'chick-flick moments' as he likes to call them"
Zeke nodded "If there'd been another way, Sam, you know I'd have done it"
"Jesus, dude…I know that" he smiled at Zeke "I can self-heal and drink without getting a hangover…I'm pretty happy"
Zeke laughed "Yeah, those three beers last night must have been a real challenge"
Sam grinned "Asshole"
Zeke returned the grin, he'd missed this easy banter with Sam "It's arsehole, mate" he sighed and turned serious "We need to figure out what the hell these headaches mean and why Jay, Dean and a whole heap of hunters seem to be getting them…"
"And why we're not" Sam finished.
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They pulled up at the motel again at just after 8pm. Dean got out and went straight to the desk to check them back in. He came out with keys and tossed a set to Zeke "I'm gonna shower" he grabbed his bag from the backseat and headed towards the motel room.
"Zeke and I are gonna head over to the bar…we'll see you over there" said Sam.
Dean didn't turn round, just raised a hand to signal he'd heard them, opened the door and disappeared inside.
Sam looked over at Zeke "We didn't find anything last night, dude…"
Zeke nodded "But it'll be a different crowd tonight and I don't know about you but I need a drink" and he clapped Sam on the shoulder and they headed over to start their subtle questioning again.
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Jay stared into the eyes of the Priest; they say the eyes are the window to the soul and if that were the case then she was in some serious trouble…again.
"You ask a lot of questions…too many questions. You should have left when you had the chance" he grinned at her "Why do you think this place is deserted? Why my parishioners stay away?"
"Aaah, cause your sermons suck?" she started to edge her hand slowly towards the small of her back but he grabbed her wrist and squeezed it painfully, rubbing the bones together. She tried to pull it free but he held it in a vice-like grip.
"No…" he cocked his head "although now that I think back on it, they probably did" he laughed "But they don't come because even they sense that something's not right here…but you didn't. You walked right into my home…my lair" he grinned again "Didn't listen to that little voice in your head did you?"
"Look, just let me walk out of here. I won't go to the police, I won't say anything"
"Can't let that happen, I'm afraid" he rubbed his hand down his chin "You see, I've been shown what's coming…I know who will be victorious and I've made my choice"
"You could always switch sides again…I hear the Big Boss is pretty forgiving. I'm sure He wouldn't mind" she reasoned.
He laughed at her "Impossible" he squeezed her wrist painfully again "You see I've already sealed my choice in blood…there is no going back for me and why would I? To be on the side of the victorious...drowned in glory..." his eyes shone with a demented light.
"Just let me go…you really don't want to do this...especially here..."
"Nope, I've had a taste now and I like it" he grinned "And here has it's own ...poetic justice don't you think?" she didn't see the punch that rocked her head sideways, the punch that almost knocked her out. She reached for the pistol at her back with her other hand and he grabbed that wrist and snapped it, the sound of it echoing through the empty church. He punched her again and again and as he dragged her towards the vestibule, the last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was him pinching out the flame of that last candle.
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Dean stood under the shower, willing the last of the headache away. He looked at his wrist, the pain was now almost entirely gone. He didn't understand why it hurt, he'd just been driving along, not really thinking about anything…well he had been, but he was quite comfortable in his denial at the moment so he was gonna run with it; when he'd felt a searing pain in his left wrist. He'd watched as it had swelled and started to blacken before his eyes. He'd couldn't understand it, but it did the one thing his mind had been unable to do. switch his thoughts off Jay.
It had taken almost an hour before the swelling and bruising had started to fade. He lifted his face to the water and wondered again what was happening to him. First the headaches and now phantom pain, This was just getting better and better.
He turned off the shower, got out and dried himself. He didn't really want to go to the bar tonight…not because he didn't want a drink, hell, in his current mood, he could down three bottles of whiskey and a couple bottles of tequila and still be the last man standing. It was what he'd do once he hit 'that place' again that he didn't want to think about.
He walked out of the bathroom and changed into his standard dress; jeans, t-shirt, shirt and boots. He picked up his phone, no missed calls and no messages, what a surprise. He grabbed his wallet and was about to put it into his pocket and stopped. He opened it and took out the photo of him, Sam, Zeke and Jay. The photo that now never changed. The photo of him and Jay with their arms round each other, their other around their brothers. He put the photo back in his wallet and shoved the wallet into his pocket. He grabbed his jacket and headed towards the door, his fingers going to his necklace as his phone rang. His heart started racing, it was Jay…he knew it. He flipped the phone open "Jay"
"I'm in trouble, Dean" she croaked out.
"Where are you?"
"In a small town in Oklahoma" she gave him the co-ordinates.
He looked at his watch "I can be there in just over an hour" he grabbed his bag "You sit tight, don't you go anywhere until I get there. Promise me"
"I promise" she said softly.
"I mean it, Jay" he said as he walked out the door "You stay there"
"I will. Just get here as soon as you can…and bring some aspirin. I'm out"
He threw his bag on the back seat "Got a steady supply. I'll see you in an hour" he jumped into the Impala, gunned the engine and sped out of the motel parking lot. It didn't even occur to him to tell Sam and Zeke.
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Dean pulled up in front of the old church just under an hour later, he hadn't pushed the Impala this hard in a long time but she seemed to relish the challenge and every time he'd pushed her harder she had responded with a deep rumbling and if he didn't know his car any better, he could have sworn she was smiling.
He switched off the engine and got out, shutting the door as he looked at the stone building. It was in stark contrast to the rest of the town. The town seemed to be striving to drag itself into the twenty-first century while this church seemed to want to drag it back to the middle-ages. He checked the pistol at his back and the daggers in his boots as he walked slowly up the stone steps. Something here wasn't right.
He got to the door and pushed it open slowly. The chill hit him immediately and he automatically pulled the pistol from the waistband of his jeans. He edged into the church, the gun at his side, his finger on the trigger. He glanced around quickly but couldn't see Jay anywhere. He moved silently to the right hand side of the church and edged towards the front. As he got to the confessionary, he saw someone slumped on the front pew "Jay?" he whispered. He moved quickly, it was her. He went to her side "Jay" he put a hand to her face, she was cold. He checked for a pulse, there was none. He turned her over and flinched when he saw the blood covering her t-shirt. He scooped her up and ran down the church aisle, kicking the door open and taking her quickly to the Impala, laying her down on the back seat. He took his jacket off and draped it over her. He closed the door, ran back into the church, grabbed her bags and ran back to her.
He threw the bags on the passenger seat and checked Jay for a pulse again, still nothing. He jumped into the driver's seat and sped towards the closest motel.
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Sam was on his fourth beer and third complete stranger, trying to see if they'd seen Jay when he looked at his watch. Dean should have been here by now. He excused himself and went to the door of the bar and opened it. He looked for Dean but saw nothing but the motel parking lot minus the Impala. Shit. He turned back and spotted Zeke chatting with one of the barmaids. Zeke turned to him, said something to the waitress, grabbed his jacket and threaded his way over to Sam.
"The Impala's gone"
They walked quickly out of the bar, ran across the road and towards the motel. They knocked but got no response.
"If he's gone missing, I'm gonna kick his arse too" said Zeke as Sam picked the lock.
Sam flung the door open and they walked into an empty room and looked around "His bag's gone. The asshole!"
"How long ago did we leave him?"
Sam looked at his watch "Shit, almost two hours ago…I didn't realise the time. Fuck!" he punched the wall. "I'm gonna kill him" he grabbed his phone and dialled his brothers number.
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Dean put Jay down on the bed of the motel in the next town over. She had a faint pulse now and was starting to shiver. He took her boots off, got his dagger out and cut her t-shirt open. Jesus…the wounds had healed but there had to be at least eight fresh stab wounds to her chest. He got up, went to the bathroom and came back with a wet towel and cleaned the blood from her.
"Jay…Jay…its Dean…wake up now" he lifted her up gently, slipping the remains of the t-shirt off her and then removed her bloodied jeans. He pulled the blankets over her "Jay…" he felt her pulse, it was getting stronger "Come on, Jay…you're almost back"
He kept talking to her, guiding her back and she finally opened her eyes slowly "Hey…" he smiled at her.
A smiled touched her lips "Dean…" she put hand to his face and closed her eyes again.
He got up, turned off the light, kicked his boots off and lay down next to her. He slipped his arms round her and held her close. He was asleep minutes later, his phone left unanswered in the car.
To be continued…
