A/N: I probably could have read through those chapter a couple more times, but I didn't feel like it, so beware! Errors below!
Chapter Seven / / We All Need a Savior
Andie hated hospitals. They smelled funny—like cleaning supplies and old people—and they always made her feel restless. All she could think about was the spirits running around through the halls, causing mayhem. One right now could be choosing their next victim, but instead of doing the number one thing she does best, Andie was doing her second best thing.
Feeling sorry for herself.
Like the patients who could be dying at the hands of spirits, rather than any recoverable injuries or illnesses, Andie was also not helping her twin brother. While Sam ran frantically around, speaking to nurses, doctors, the cops, Andie sat with her arms wrapped around her legs and her head on her knees in a chair set in the hospital's lobby.
She felt someone sit beside her, but she didn't bother look over. She knew it was Sam, call it some weird twin-sensing thing or she remembered the scent of their last motel room's shampoo, but he didn't say anything and Andie was grateful for that.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Sam stand. She lifted her head and saw Dean's doctor approaching them.
"Hey, Doc. Is he…" Sam trailed off, unable to find the words to ask the dreaded question. If Dean was okay, then awesome! But if he wasn't, then he wasn't so sure that he wanted to know the answer.
"He's resting," the doctor replied simply.
"And?"
"The electrocution triggered a heart attack. Pretty massive, I'm afraid. His heart...it's damaged."
"How damaged?" Sam heard his twin speak up beside him. Her voice didn't falter nor break. She sounded confident. Sam seemed to not be the only one that was surprised by this. Once the words fell out, Andie was taken back herself.
"We've done all that we can."
That sounded like...
"We can try and keep him comfortable at this point."
No, he wasn't saying...
"But I'd give him a couple weeks at most. Maybe a month."
He said it.
"No, no. There's, there's gotta be something you can do," Sam pleaded, "Some kind of treatment."
"We can't work miracles. I really am sorry."
Andie watched the doctor turn away. His stupid white coat whooshing from the motion. She watched him get father and father and she couldn't even think of a coherent thought. Al that was coming to her mind was obscurities. Eyes wandered away, ready to turn her cheek and walk away, before she did something regrettable, but then she saw the regrettable thing she was trying to avoid. And it came in form of a white mug with the words, "I love mom" painted across.
She snatched it off the receptionist desk and chucked it across the lobby. The mug shattered as it hit the wall—just missing the doctor's head—then fell on to the floor, breaking into a variety of pieces. He stared at Andie, horrified and wide-eyed, then without a breath, bolted down the rest of the hallway.
"Can't work miracles, my ass!" she called after him. "This is a hospital, you are a doctor! You're supposed to fix people, make them feel better. That is your job! My brother is dying! Get your ass back in that room and do something about it! You know what? In the words of a good friend, Holden Caulfield, you're a phony, you're a phony, you're a phony!" With each 'phony', she pointed to a different person. First, in the direction the doctor had gone, a nurse behind the desk, and a family of five exiting from the elevator. "You're all goddamn phonies! Oh, and those insurance cards my brother just gave you, those are a goddamn—"
Sam, whose face had gone red from embarrassment, slipped one hand over Andie's mouth, yanking her away, as he raised his other into the air, muttering an apology over and over. He shoved his sister into a nearly empty waiting room—spare an elderly man—then apologized once more.
He was worried she would start cursing out the old guy, but he felt relief wash over him when she took a seat instead. "Andie?" he asked cautiously, sitting in the seat to her right.
She kept her gaze glued to the floor, but her hand, which had been tapping the side of her leg out of nervous habit, stopped, acknowledging that she was listening.
"Dean is going to be okay." When she didn't say anything after a moment, he continued, "The doctor may not be able to do anymore, but that doesn't mean we can't. We know more than the doctor does."
That got Andie to look at him with her eyebrows furrowed and a deep frown. She hadn't realized she had gone to medical school nor that Sam had, for that matter.
"Where's Dad's journal?"
Then she understood. He wasn't talking about anything medical anymore and Andie wasn't so sure how she felt about what he was implying. But still, she answered, "It's in the car."
"We'll check it out. There's gotta be somebody or something that can help," Sam declared. "But for right now, let's go see Dean." He stood, but noticed that she wasn't following. "It's okay, Andie." He held out a hand. "Come on."
She took it.
Dean Winchester stared mindlessly at the television. He had never spent much time watching TV. It was something he used to wish he could do more, but after the past fifteen minutes, he was glad now. Day television sucked.
He grimaced. Not only because of how painful the shows on television, but because of all the pain he was in. He had felt worse in his life. He was dying—that played a part. Nevermind the physical, excruciating pain, but the fact that he only had two weeks, a month, maybe, was causing the pit in his stomach. But when he heard a knock and saw his baby siblings enter, he swallowed it down. Soon, he would leave them. He didn't want to worry them or give them the pain he was feeling, so Dean did what he always did in serious situations.
He took nothing seriously.
"Have you ever actually watched daytime TV? It's terrible."
"I talked to your doctor, Sam said.
"The fabric softener teddy bear. Ooh, I'm gonna hunt that little bitch down."
"Dean..." He heard his little sister call his name, her voice scratchy and broken. He saw the looks Andie and Sam were giving him. He was weak, pale, dark circles sat beneath his eyes. He didn't need to look in a mirror to know he looked terrible. The twins' sad faces told him everything. The pain escalated time ten.
"Yeah, alright." He sighed. "Well, it looks like you're gonna leave town without me."
"What are you talking about?" Sam questioned. "We're not gonna leave you here."
Dean deadpanned, "Hey, you better take care of that car. Or I swear, I'll haunt your ass."
"I don't think that's funny."
"Oh, come on, it's a little funny." But all he received was dead silence. Neither Sam nor Andie laughed, chuckled, or smiled. They were still giving him that damn sad look. So, he took a breath, and much more seriously, he said, "Look, guys, what can I say. It's a dangerous gig. I drew the short straw. That's it, end of the story."
"Don't talk like that, alright?" Sam told his older brother. "We still have options."
"What options?" he asked, "Yeah, burial of cremation? But I'm gonna die and you can't stop it."
"Watch us." Sam, determination clear on his face, took a step towards Andie, turning his back to Dean. He whispered, "I'm gonna go get the journal. Stay here?" Even though she didn't say a word, he took her silence as a yes as he exited the room.
"What was that about?" Dean spoke up.
Andie looked down, fidgeting with her sleeve.
"So a rawhead, huh?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Those damn things are tricky."
"Mm-hm."
"You know, you shouldn't really blame yourself—"
"Don't."
Dean jumped back at the sudden anger rushed out of his sister. "I, uh…"
She kept her gaze for a few moments with her eyes narrowed and a frown upon her face. She then broke away, her eyes trailing back towards the floor.
He sighed. "In the hall earlier, I overheard—well, it was hard not to hear—a little sister throwing a fit, yelling and screaming, calling everyone goddamn phonies, throwing things. I don't know what..." He trailed off, swearing she had said something. "Huh?"
"Mug. It was a mug."
"She made a complete fool of herself." He waited for a reaction, but he couldn't tell if she was giving him one, so he added, "but I bet she did it all out of love for her big brother."
That got her to smile.
Andie groaned. Her eyes were burning and she had no idea what she was looking at. She wasn't a doctor. She didn't know what all these big words meant. How did she get stuck with the medical files? She should be the one doing the supernatural work. Sam was the college boy. Sure, he had studied pre-law, but he had to know more than her. He actually paid attention in school while she faded to the back and doodled in the corner of her tests.
She shoved the papers into a neat pile on the corner of the bed. She looked up at Sam, and just in time too. His phone flew past her face, almost hitting in her the nose. However, she dodged it. "Woah, there, buddy boy."
He sat on the adjacent bed. "Sorry."
More sympathetic, Andie asked, "No, luck, huh?"
Sam shook his head. He called John, thinking he might be interested to hear that his son was dying, or at the least, offer some kind of help, but as per usual, all they were getting was his voicemail.
At the sound of a knock on the door, Sam stood. Andie returned to the files. Her eyes gazed down back at the small print. She figured it to be only housekeeping standing in the hallway, but then she heard her twin ask happily, "What the hell are you doing here?", then she knew it couldn't be a couple maids.
She had to take a double glance, but there Dean was, leaning against the door frame. She jumped up and ran towards her brothers. At first, she thought he was okay, everything had worked out, but she knew it wasn't true. He was still as sickly looking as he had been in the hospital. If not, worse.
"I checked myself out," he explained.
"What, are you crazy?" Sam questioned his brother.
Dean entered the room, stumbling his way towards a chair. "Well, I'm not gonna die in a hospital where the nurses aren't even hot."
Sam shut the door. "You know, this whole I-laugh-in-the-face-of-death thing? It's crap. I can see right it. We both can." He peered over at Andie.
"Yeah, whatever, dude. Have you guys even slept? You look worse than me."
Andie self-consciously crossed her arms against her chest. Staring at Dean, she couldn't dare look at herself. She didn't want to know. She hadn't slept nor showered in couple days.
Sam helped Dean into the chair. "We've been scouring the Internet for the last three days. Calling every contact in Dad's journal."
"For what?"
"For a way to help you. One of Dad's friends, Joshua, he called me back. Told me about a guy in Nebraska. A specialist."
From behind Sam, Dean could see Andie mouthing the words, 'a specialist' and miming air quotes. He turned back towards his brother. "You're not gonna let me die in peace, are you?"
"We're not gonna let you die, period," Sam declared. "We're going."
The pattering of the rain hitting the car's hood drowned out the silence of the three Winchesters, pacifying the tension in the enclosed car. Or worsened it. Andie was having trouble telling. She loved hearing the sound of the rain. It was soothing and pleasant, but in a car overwhelmed with emotions, the rain gave her no avail. It also didn't help that the road was unpaved, causing the car to jolt from the gravel, and the path was crowded with people, heading towards a giant, white circus tent, forcing Sam to swerve the car jerkily in attempt to dodge hitting the pedestrians standing right in the freakin' way. Andie was starting to feel car sick, something she hadn't felt since she was six. Maybe it was just everything though.
Sam parked the car to the side. He was the first one out and immediately jumped to Dean's side. Andie quickly followed behind as Dean weakly pushed open the car door.
Sam slid an arm around Dean. "I got ya."
"I got it," Dean snapped, shoving the middle Winchester away. "Man, you are a lying bastard. Thought you said we were going to see a doctor."
"I believed I said a specialist," he pointed out. "Look, Dean, this guy's supposed to be the real deal."
"The Church of Roy LeGrange. Faith Healer. Witness the miracle," Andie read off of a sign beside the tent. "Hmm. Sounds legit."
"I can't believe you brought me here to see some guy who heals people out of a tent!"
"Reverend LeGrange is a great man," an elderly woman responded.
"Yeah, that's nice."
Passing by, the Winchesters overheard a protester in the center of it all, angrily telling a sheriff, "I have a right to protest. This man is a fraud! And he's milking all these people out of their hard-earned money!" But the officer wasn't having it. He dragged the man away.]
"I take it he's not part of the flock," Dean commented.
"But when people see something they can't explain, there's controversy," Sam said.
"I mean, come on, Sam. A faith healer?"
"Maybe it's time to have a little faith, Dean."
"You know what I've got faith in?" The eldest Winchester asked. "Reality. Knowing what's really going on."
Sam looked to Andie for help, but she was giving him the same look. "How can you two be a skeptic? With the things we see everyday?"
"Exactly," Dean said, "We see them. We know they're real."
"But if you know evil's out there, how can you not believe good's out there, too?"
"Because I've seen what evil does to good people."
Andie opened her mouth to say something, but the voice that spoke was not her own. Her eyes drifted from her brothers and to behind Dean, where a young blonde woman stood, holding a black umbrella over her shoulder.
"Maybe God works in mysterious ways," she piped up.
Dean spun around, meeting the girl's eyes. He smiled. "Maybe he does. I think you just turned me around on the subject."
"Yeah, I'm sure," she said, not sounding the least convinced.
"I'm Dean. This is Sam, and this is Andie."
She took his extended hand. "Layla." She shook it, then asked, "So, if you're not a believer, then why are you here?"
"Well, apparently my brother here believes enough for the three of us."
An older woman appeared. She placed an arm around Layla. "Come on. It's about to start." She smiled at the direction of the Winchesters, then directed Layla towards the tent.
"Well, I bet you she can work in some mysterious ways," Dean said, watching them go.
Andie scrunched up her face in disgust, before pushing past her brothers and following the crowd that was now heading all in the same direction. It must be time for the service.
Upon entering the tent, she surveyed around, partially searching for a seat, partially waiting for mumbo-jumbo to jump out her. She grimaced. She found no mumbo-jumbo, but she did find a crowded tent of ill people, scavenging around for an empty chair.
Dean tilted his head. "Yeah, peace, love, and trust all over."
The twins followed where their elder brother was directing at. A security camera hung on the side.
Dean and Andie gave each other a look, and wordlessly decided to choose a seat near the back. But Sam had better ideas. As they began to sit, Sam wrapped an arm around Dean and led them towards the front. "Come on."
"Don't!" Dean protested. "What are you doing? Let's sit here."
"We're sitting up front," Sam declared.
"What? Why?"
"Come on."
Dean groaned. "Oh, come on, Sam!"
"You alright?"
This is ridiculous." He slapped Sam's hands away. "I"m good, dude. Get off me."
Sam let go. He pointed to three empty seats behind Layla. "Perfect."
"Yeah, perfect," Dean agreed sarcastically.
Sam stared at his twin, then at the chairs.
Andie got the message. She huffed, but obeyed, taking the seat closest to the wall.
He followed her in, saying to Dean, "You take the aisle." He attempted to help his brother sit, but Dean raised a hand and Sam backed off.
Andie leaned forward. "He's Mr. Bossy Pants, isn't he?" she said to Dean, pointing at her twin.
"More like Mother Hen," The eldest Winchester grumbled.
Sam shushed them as a blind man stepped on the stage in front of them, led by a woman to a podium with lit candles framing it.
"Each morning, my wife, Sue Ann, reads me the news," he said, "Never seems good, does it?"
Andie flinched as the crowd roared in agreement. Already bored, she had spaced out and began mindlessly fidgeting around with the watch on her wrist. She droned out Roy's voice as she tried to fix the time after screwing it up to read 1-AM. "Shit," she muttered. She felt a nudge, and at first, she thought Sam was going to criticize her for swearing or not paying attention, but when she peered over at him, he pointed to a table onstage covered with various religious items, specifically an old wooden cross with a smaller cross inscribed in a circle on the top.
Roy kept preaching, but Andie wasn't listening. She knew that cross, but she couldn't figure where she had seen it before. Dad's journal? A previous hunt? Sam knew it, so that eliminated four years.
She furrowed the brows. "What is that?"
Sam shrugged with the same confused look on his face.
"Dean," Andie whispered.
'Yeah, and into their wallets," Dean muttered only to his siblings as a response to something Roy had said.
"You think so, young man?" Roy asked.
The crowd fell silent. It took Andie a moment to realize the preacher was replying to her brother.
"Sorry," Dean apologized lamely.
"No, no. Don't be," Roy assured him. "Just watch what you say around a blind man. We've got real sharp ears."
The crowd laughed.
"What's your name, son?"
"Dean."
"Dean," he repeated, nodding. "I want—I want you to come up here with me."
The sound of clapping broke out, but Andie could feel the high level of disappointment in the room that he hadn't chose them. What good, sports. She did take note, however, that Layla and her mother hadn't bothered to move.
Sue Ann, moved to center stage, beside her husband. She smiled at Dean.
Dean shook his head. "No, it's okay."
"What are you doing?" Sam whispered.
"You've come here to be healed, haven't cha?" Roy asked.
"Well, yeah, but uh, maybe you should just pick someone else."
The crowd clapped again, trying to encourage Dean.
Andie reached across Sam's back and gave Dean a shove. "Dude, go!"
Dean looked over at his sister, shooting her a glare. Traitor.
"Oh, no. I didn't pick you, Dean. The Lord did."
"Get up there!" Sam exclaimed, excitedly.
Dean stood hesitantly.
Sue Ann assisted him and directed him beside Roy.
"You ready?" Roy asked.
"Look, no disrespect, but uh, I'm not exactly a believer," Dean told him.
The preacher smiled. "You will be, son. You will be." To the crowd, he said, "Pray with me friends."
Andie followed Sam's lead, not sure on the whole procedure. He, however, seemed to be mirroring Layla's mother from in front of him. She lifted her arms above her head and joined hands with Sam and the guy beside her. She felt kind of silly doing it, but fought the temptation to drop her hands and sit back down. It's for Dean, she had to keep mentally repeating to herself. Because you're a screw-up, the last one added in.
Roy lifted one hand and placed his another on Dean's head. "Alright now. Alright now."
Dean's eyes glossed over, before rolling into the back of his head. His legs gave out and he fell to his knees. All with Roy's hand on his head.
"Alright now."
The eldest Winchester crashed on to the stage's floor.
"Dean!" the twins called out their older brother's name within a second of each other. They jumped out of their chairs and ran to his unconscious body.
Andie took the crowd's excited clapping as a good sign. Unless he was dead and this was actually some weird cult. She wouldn't be surprised. As she reached out to Dean, she caught sight of the time of her watch. It was no longer the wrong time, but instead, had stopped completely. At 4:17.
The eldest Winchester's eyes flew open with a quiet gasp.
"Say something!" Sam demanded, clutching the front of his brother's sweatshirt.
Dean blinked, glancing around, his vision blurred. His eyes drifted from his siblings' worried faces to Roy standing above him, hands out to his sides with palms up, a happy expression upon his face. Finally when he stopped seeing double, he noticed a tall, wrinkled, ghostly figure to the side of Roy. The figure, dressed in a suit, stared at Dean, then as he turned away, he vanished.
Dean swore he felt fine. He wasn't so pale anymore and the dark bruise-like circles beneath his eyes were fading. The twins noticed that something was still off about him, but he refused to say. If his siblings were happy, then there was no need to rain on their parade. Not now, not until Dean knew for sure. So, he pushed down the uneasy feeling building in his gut and pretended that everything was alright, for the sake of Sam and Andie. God, he hoped he was wrong.
But then Sam and Andie dragged him to the local hospital to make sure that Dean was really okay and not lying to them. The doctor, who was mystified by Dean's miracle recovery, also mentioned that something else 'strange' happened that day. An athletic, twenty-seven year old died after being admitted for a heart attack. Just like Dean, it was almost out of the blue. Dean's recovery had been because of supernatural causes, so the three Winchesters were smart enough to put the pieces together.
And Dean knew, he was right. He told the twins about the old man he had seen. Sam persisted that it was a coincidence and Andie told him to be thankful, and they both agreed to let it go, but Dean wasn't going to. Some guy had died for him and that was more than enough for Dean to make sure it didn't happen again. He knew it was enough for his siblings too, but their own stubbornness was clouding their brains.
However, Sam finally seemed to break. "Yeah, alright," he agreed to Dean's mention of a "feeling"—the instinct in hunters when they know something isn't right. The twins must have felt it too. "So, what do you wanna do?"
"Sam, I want you to check out the heart attack guy. I'm gonna visit the reverend. And—"
"I'll go with you," Andie piped up.
"What?"
She played off her sudden rush of eagerness. "Why not?"
Dean didn't respond, but he accepted it. He motioned for her to follow him.
At the LeGrange's house, Dean told Sue Ann, who had opened the door, that he wanted to thank Roy. Dean may have been lying, but that's all Andie planned. Sue Ann had lead them into the living room, and Roy had joined them. Currently, Sue Ann was filling glasses of water for her guests as Roy and Dean talked about what had happened just the day before.
"I feel great," Dean told him. "Just trying to, you know, make sense of what happened."
"A miracle is what happened," Sue Ann spoke, "Well, miracles come so often around Roy."
"How so?" Andie asked.
"When did they start, the miracles?" Dean added.
"Woke up one morning, stone blind. Doctors figured out I had cancer. Told me I had maybe a month. So, uh, we prayed for a miracle," Roy explained, "I was weak, but I told Sue Ann, 'You just keep right on praying'. I went into a coma. Doctors said I wouldn't wake up, but I did. And the cancer was gone." He removed the glasses from his face, revealing two fake, all-white eyes. As he put them back on, he said, "If it wasn't for those eyes, no one would believe I'd ever had it."
"And suddenly you could heal people," Dean stated.
"I discovered it afterward, yes. God's blessed me in many ways."
"And his flock just swelled overnight. And this is just the beginning," Sue Ann continued.
"Can I ask you one last question?" Dean wondered.
"Of course you can," Roy encouraged.
"Why? Why me? Out of all the sick people, why save me?"
"Well, like said before, the Lord guides me. I looked into your heart, and you just stood out from all the rest."
"What did you see in my heart?"
"A young man with an important purpose. A job to do. And it isn't finished."
Well, that was enough for Dean. He let the room sit in awkward silence for a moment, before turning to his sister beside him. "Uh, we should probably get going."
"Right, yeah," Andie agreed. "You go, uh…" She turned to Sue Ann and Roy. "Do you have a bathroom I could use, real quick?"
"Second door to the left," Sue Ann said, pointing down a hall.
"Thanks." She stood, signaling Dean to stand with her.
He did, but he eyed her curiously. She was acting weird, or weirder than usual.
Andie smiled. "Meet you outside?"
"Sure?" Dean stared at her for a moment, before hesitantly turning away.
"I'll walk you out." Sue Ann exited along with Dean.
Perfect, Andie thought.
She turned towards Roy, who rose from his chair. "Roy, I wanted to thank you for healing Dean because if you hadn't, I don't think—No, I know. There is no way I would have been able to live with myself—"
"Andrea."
She stopped her rambling. She was confused at who had called her name, more specifically, who had called her by her full name. The only person who ever did was her father when she had done something to piss him off.
But John hadn't been the one to call her, for he was God knows where, but instead, it was the only person in the room. Roy.
Roy spoke quiet and low, almost that he sounded angry. "I have witnessed a lot of evil in the world, unsettling things. It comes with age, doing what I do. I can sense if something is good or bad by only a feeling I get in my gut. But I never felt something so evil as I feel when I am in your presence. You have a darkness deep inside of you, Andrea Winchester, and I pray for you."
Andie froze. She searched her mind for something to say in response, but she was coming up blank. What do you said to that? So, she didn't say anything. Instead, she bolted right out the door and on to the LeGrange's porch.
All Andie knew was that she wanted to get away, but she didn't know where. She wanted to get away from Roy, his house, the giant circus tent where sick people crowded beneath, waiting to be picked by a man who was a goddamn miracle. A man who was chosen to be saved, like Dean, but Andie, she was cursed.
She heard motel in her head and decided that was where she wanted to hide. A hot shower would be nice, scrub off the dirt, the sweat, the darkness that Roy had spoke about. But she couldn't scrub that away. That was set in her, inescapable and only growing.
With her mind set on a shower in the motel, where she could get away from everyone, even her brothers, Andie was disappointed to find Dean not in the car, but in a chat with Layla and her mother.
Sue Ann turned away from the group and headed back inside. Layla's mother, fuming, spun around to face Dean. "Why are you still even here? You got what you needed."
"Mom, stop," Layla pleaded.
"No, Layla, this is too much. We've been to every single service. If Roy would stop choosing these strangers over you. Strangers who don't even believe!" the older woman exasperated. "I just can't pray any harder."
"Layla, what's wrong?" Dean asked.
She hesitated. "I have this thing…"
"It's a brain tumor," Layla's mother spat. "It's inoperable. In six months, the doctors say…"
"I'm sorry," Dean said.
"It's okay," Layla responded, but everyone knew it wasn't. And Layla's mother was willing to be more vocal about that.
"No, it isn't," she said slowly, looking directly into her daughter's eyes. She then turned towards Dean. "Why do you deserve to be live more than my daughter?" Before her rage could escalate anymore, she walked away from the Winchesters. Layla took a deep, shaky breath and followed her mother down the stairs.
Dean watched them go. He was devastated and heartbroken, so Andie decided to place her self-loathing on the back burner, as Dean delved into his. It was all the Winchesters seemed to know.
The car ride back to the motel was quiet, almost to the point of exhaustion. Andie didn't think she could take anymore bad news, so she really hoped that Sam had something better, but when they arrived at the motel, and all Sam had to say was that he was sorry, Andie knew that it couldn't mean anything good.
Sam had learned that Marshall Hall, the athletic, twenty-seven years old, had died at 4:17, the exact same time that Dean was healed. Sam had put together a list of people Roy had cured over the past year, along with the obituaries in the newspaper. Every time someone was healed, another person was dying of the same thing. Meaning, their theories were proven to be true.
Dean, who was unhappy to learn of this revelation, did have a pretty good idea though of how Roy was completing this. it was the only thing that could give and take life as so. A reaper. And was the elderly figure Dean had saw in the black suit.
Sam wasn't completely convinced, but Andie, who had four more years of hunting under her belt, didn't know what there was to question about it. "What else could it be, Sam?" she asked. "You've ever known of anything else to do something as big as this?"
Dean nodded in agreement. "The question is, how is Roy controlling the damn thing?"
"That cross," Sam blurted.
"What?"
"There was this cross," Sam searched through the stack of papers on the table. "I noticed it in the church and I knew I had seen it before." He held a card up. "Here."
Dean grabbed the card. "A Tarot?"
"Like used for witchcraft?" Andie asked.
"More or less," Sam said, "A tarot dates back to the early Christian era, right? When some priests were still using magic. And a few of them veered into the dark stuff. Necromancy and how to push death away, how to cause it."
"So, Roy's using black magic to bind the reaper?" Dean suggested.
"If he is is, he's riding the whirlwind. It's like putting a dog leash on a great white."
Dean rose to rinse a cup in the sink. "Okay, then we stop, Roy."
"How?" Sam asked, but in response, all he received was silence and two similar stares as if they spoke for themselves. He shrugged to show he wasn't understanding.
"You know how," Dean finally said, which wasn't any better, but Sam got it, or realized that his siblings were as bad as he thought.
"Wait, what the hell are you talking about? We can't kill Roy."
'Sam, the guy's playing God. He's deciding who lives and who dies. That's a monster in my book."
"Plus, he's manipulating a reaper, which I think you would agree more is a monster, so to stop the reaper, you gotta stop Roy…"
"And we come full circle," Dean completed for Andie.
"No, we're not gonna kill a human being, guys. We do that we're no better than he is," Sam pointed out.
"Okay, we can't kill Rory, we can't kill death. Any bright ideas college boy?"
With the pressure and Roy's life on him, Sam stumbled out his answer, while still unsure himself. "Okay, uh...If Roy's using some kind of black spell on the reaper, we gotta...figure out what it is. And how to break it."
That led the Winchesters back to Roy's house, fifteen minutes before the next service started, meaning that left them only fifteen minutes to stop Roy from trading another life. Sam suggested there might be a spell book, so the twins headed towards Roy's house to look for it, while Dean attempted to stall Roy.
They passed the protester from the first service, chanting, "Roy LeGrange is a fraud. He's no leader."
Dean took a flyer. "Amen, Brother."
"You keep the good work," Sam encouraged.
"Thanks," he replied.
"Twelve minutes," Dean said, before he split away from his siblings.
"Well, Dean, maybe you should learn to do some damn good stalling," Andie said back, but he was already out of hearing distance.
Sam nudged her. "Come on."
Down the dirt path, leading to the LeGrange's house, Sue Ann and another man assisted Roy down the porch stairs. At the sight of the front door swinging open, Sam and Andie froze in their tracks. They ducked behind the side of the house, hoping to God that they hadn't been seen. And apparently God was listening. The preacher and his wife headed in the way that the twins had come, disappearing behind the trees.
Sam stood, reaching up towards the window above his head. He yanked it open as high it would go, giving them enough room for them to comfortably crawl through. Sam went first, and Andie followed him shortly behind. He began to raid the bookshelf as Andie examined around. The room looked the same as it had from just the day before. When she had sat across Roy and he had pretty much told her that she was Satan's equivalent.
She turned to Sam, wanting to tell him what Roy had said for he was in the same boat, but she couldn't form the words. She would open her mouth, then shut it. Over and over she did that, standing in the preacher's living room, no more than an "uh" coming out.
"Andie, come here."
She snapped out of her thoughts, pushing down her fears and worries, as she joined her brother by his side. He handed miscellaneous cut-out newspaper articles to Andie that had been stuck inside a small, aged book. Two were about the people whom had already died, Marshall Hall and another woman, and the third, David Wright, the protester from the parking lot.
"What are you doing?" she asked Sam as he whipped out his cell phone.
"Calling Dean."
"Put it on speaker."
"What have you got?" Dean asked through the phone's speaker.
"Roy's choosing victims he sees as immoral," Sam explained.
Andie flipped through the newspaper clippings. "Marshall Hall, he was gay. One woman, an abortion rights activist."
Her twin nodded. "And I think I know who's next on the list. Remember that protester?"
"What, the guy in the parking lot?" Dean asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, we'll find him. But you can't let Roy heal anyone, alright?"
As soon as they heard the beep from Dean's end, signaling he had hung up, the twins set into motion. Andie shoved the articles back in and passed it to Sam, who placed the book back where he had found it, behind a much larger book.
Andie climbed out the window first. On the other side, she waited for Sam for a moment, wondering what had him held up. But he appeared, and shut the window behind him, before they ran back towards the parking lot.
"You see him?" Sam asked, surveying around. The parking lot was completely empty.
"David Wright, Mr. David Wright!" Andie yelled as if she was calling a dog, "Come here, David!" She shrugged.
Sam rolled his eyes, then started in one direction as Andie went the opposite way. Her eyes drifted around the parking lot crowded with cars. She looked in between and behind the vehicles, but she found no protester.
Huh. Maybe he left, she thought, but as she neared a green pick-up truck, she heard a yell.
"David Wright?" she called back.
"Help!"
"Help!"
Andie blinked as the setting around her changed. God, she was losing her mind. The dirt beneath her feet, the cars on parked around her, the prayer tent behind her was changing to the musty cellar of an abandoned house. She stumbled, then she fell. She caught herself with her hands. Her knees ached, her leg stiffened at the feeling of a ghostly hand holding her ankle.
She screamed. "Help! Dean!"
Dean looked back. His sister a moment ago had been standing behind him. Where did she go? He glanced around, then below him. Andie was heading back down the stairs, but not voluntary. The damn fugly creature was pulling her down.
He shot his taser, but by the sounds of Andie's screams as she was dragged farther and father down into the dark basement, he figured he had missed.
"Get them out of here!" Dean barked at Sam.
"Here, take this!" The middle Winchester tossed his brother his taser gun, before directing the two children, who had been kidnapped by the rawhead, upstairs and to safety.
From the cellar door opening, Dean caught a glimpse of daylight around the room, giving enough to see. He couldn't see the rawhead anymore, but against the wall, Andie laid limped, barely conscious and her chest heaving as she gasped for breaths. Dean's first instinct was to run to her.
He grabbed her face. "Hey, hey, you're alright."
"I know." She doubled over in a coughing fit.
"Careful."
She swatted away his hands. "I'm fine. Just go kill that asshole."
"You don't have to tell me twice." Dean stared at her for another moment, before he stood. His eyes searched around the small, unlit room. He shined his flashlight back and forth and into every corner and crevice. "Come on!"
Andie watched her brother as he paced back and forth. She kept her hand around her taser, just in case. But before her eyes could even focus on what was happening, the raggy and hairy creature leaped up from behind the staircase, shoving Dean into the wall. He fell, along with his gun and his flashlight, on to the concrete floor.
Andie mustered up enough strength as she stood, using the wall to balance herself. She held out her taser. "Hey, ugly!"
The rawhead turned around. He roared as Andie's pressed the trigger. The thing quivered, then collapsed on to the floor beside Dean. However, Andie wasn't aware of the leaky pipes above the two. Drops of water fell on to the unconscious bodies. As she stepped closer, peering over, she saw Dean, laying in a puddle of water, twitching along with the monster. She had electrocuted him.
Andie's mouth dropped open. Her taser gun fell to the ground with a clatter. She let out a blood-curling scream.
At the sound of his sister's distressed cry, Sam bolted back towards the house, leaving the kids to stay outside by the Impala, telling them to stand still as he rushed to his siblings' help. Down in the cellar, he found Andie standing, a hand over her gaped mouth.
"Andie, what's wrong?" He looked around. He first saw the rawhead, dead, so what was the issue? But then his eyes landed on Dean, laying only a foot or two away, unconscious. He ditched his twin's side and ran to his elder brother. He grabbed his face, moving it gently around, trying to get an reaction. "Dean, hey. Hey." But Dean didn't react.
He looked back at Andie. "How'd this happen?"
She shook her head.
"Andie?!"
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
"Dammit," he cursed.
"I didn't mean to," she croaked out. Louder, "I didn't mean to!" Her eyes shot open. Inches away, she stared at a large, old oak tree. "Help."
"Help! Help me please!" the voice from cried out again.
Even though she was shaken up, Andie forced herself to run in the direction the yells were coming from. She kept running across the parking lot, until she found the source, David Wright, being dragged along by a familiar face, one that had been so disappointed by her days before. One that she swore, even through his best efforts to hide it, he resented her for almost killing their brother—She couldn't dare to think what Dean thought of her.
"Sam!"
"Andie!"
She took a moment to collect herself. "Y-you, uh, found him." She watched Sam as he pulled out his cell phone, dialing what she assumed to be Dean's number. He held it to his ear, hearing it ring. His eyes peered over at this twin sister, in between fiddling with his phone, noticing that she was staring at him. "What?"
"Nothing, sorry," she mumbled. She self-consciously glanced around the lot. "Uh, David, you see it anymore?"
The protester looked around.
"David, I think it is okay," Sam assured.
He nodded. His breathing was starting to even out and a look of relief was almost on his face, but when he turned back around, his eyes stopped on Andie, wide and an expression of fear and shock across his face.
"What?" she asked.
"No!"
"Dean, it didn't work," Sam said hurriedly into the phone. "The reaper is still coming!"
While Sam listened to Dean on the other end of the line, David Wright was shaken in fear, so Andie decided to take action, even though, she had no clue what she was doing. She whipped out her gun from tucked into the back of her jeans and swung it around. "Where is it?!"
"Right there!" he yelled. Why was he the only damn one that see the thing?!
"Gotta be more specific there, dude."
"It's right in front of you!"
Andie shot.
Sam jumped at the noise, taken back. "What the hell are you doing?!"
"Doing something, while you chat have a nice chat! But oh, it's okay Sam, I've got you covered!"
"Well, it wasn't Roy controlling the reaper." Sam smirked. "It was Sue Ann."
"Huh."
David Wright cried out once more as he was lifted, his head still as if it was being held. Reflexively, Andie shot a bullet towards the ground.
"Is that helping at all?" she asked.
He didn't respond, but stayed in the same position. The reaper was still holding him.
Sam shook his head. "Shooting at it isn't going to work."
David fell to the ground. The twins watched him carefully, waiting for the reaper to strike again. Instead, David said, in between gasps for breath, "It's gone."
Andie grinned as she turned towards her twin. "See?
Sam ignored her as he moved to help David up. "I got you, I got you."
"Thank God," he muttered.
Andie clapped his shoulder. "Uh, you be careful now, kay?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Great," she breathed out. In the direction of Sam, she asked, "Ready to go?"As the twins headed back towards the car, Andie couldn't help but laugh at the fear-stricken attendees crowding around the parking lot and the siren of a fire truck as it drive up the road, knowing that it was all apart of Dean's plan and everything they thought, was wrong. She spotted her eldest brother talking to Layla, but as she and Sam approached closer, she turned away.
Dean watched her go, then noticed his siblings waiting a few feet away. As he started for them, he overheard Roy say to Layla's mother, "Private session tonight. No interruptions. I give you my word, I'll heal your daughter." With one look at the twins, Dean knew that they had heard too.
Back at the motel, the Winchesters paced around the room, debating their next approach. Now, that they knew it was Sue Ann working the magic, that changed things a bit.
"So Roy really believes," Sam stated, sitting on the edge of the bed.
To his right, Dean leaned against the wall. "I don't think he has any idea what his wife's doing."
Roy may have been innocent, but the question still stood. How do you still stop the reaper? Dean and Andie knew Sam would be against killing Sue Ann, no matter how many deaths she had caused, so neither mentioned it.
"Well, I found this." Sam took out a book from his coat pocket. He handed it to Dean. "Hidden in the library. It's ancient. Written by a priest who went dark side. There's a binding spell in here for trapping a reaper."
Andie looked over her brother's shoulder. "Wait, isn't this the book you put back?"
"Yeah, but I'd thought it would be more use to us if I grabbed it instead," he explained.
"Yeah, but what about when Sue Ann goes to look for it and realizes it's missing?"
"What would have you done?"
She started to protest, but then realized. Quietly, she muttered, "I would have taken it."
"Must be a hell of a spell," Dean said, looking it over.
"Yeah," Sam agreed, "You gotta build a black altar with seriously dark stuff. Bones, human blood. To cross a line like that, a preacher's wife. Black magic. Murder. Evil."
"Desperate," Dean decided. "Her husband was dying, she didn't have anything to save him. She was using the binding spell to keep the reaper away from Roy."
A chill ran down Andie's spine. She knew that feeling. The overwhelming emotion of desperation where you'd do anything for this one person. She was scared that days ago, if presented with the opportunity, she would have done the same thing as Sue Ann for Dean. She was terrified that she would still do so if needed.
"Cheating death, literally," Sam said.
"Yeah, but Roy's alive, so why is she still using the spell?" Dean asked.
"To kill the people she sees as immoral," Andie recalled.
"May God save us from half the people who think they're doing God's work." Andie snorted in amusement at that.
"We gotta break that binding spell," Sam declared.
"You know, Sue Ann, had a coptic cross like this," Dean said, looking at the picture of a cross in the book. "When she dropped it the reaper backed off."
"So, you think we gotta find the cross or destroy the altar?"
"Maybe both?"
Andie shrugged. "Couldn't hurt."
"Whatever we do we better do it soon, or he's healing Layla tonight."
Once again the Winchesters drove down the narrow, dirt road leading to the parking lot outside the giant, white circus tent. To help remain stealthy, all lights on the Impala, including the headlights, which was making Andie nervous. From the backseat, she noticed Sam eyeing Dean cautiously every time he drove over another bump.
"Will you two stop backseat-driving?" Dean snapped.
Andie and Sam shared a look, but they stopped fidgeting.
Sam looked out the window. "That's Layla's car. She's already here."
Dean nodded. "Yeah." His voice was quiet.
"Dean," Sam huffed.
"You know if Roy woulda picked Layla instead of me she'd be here right now. And if she's not healed tonight she's gonna die a couple months."
"What's happening to her is horrible," Sam tried to reassure his brother, "But what are you gonna do? Let somebody die to save her? You said it yourself, Dean, you can't play God."
Andie spoke slowly in attempt to control her bubbling rage, "You're alive, Dean, be grateful."
Dean stared at her for a moment, then broke his gaze as he stepped out of the car. He heard his siblings follow him out as he lead the way towards the tent. A small group of people were already present. Roy stood on the stage, preaching to the people.
"Where's Sue Ann?" Dean asked.
Sam looked back. "House."
The Winchesters ran towards the house, but as they got near, they saw two officers passing by. The same ones that caught Dean when he had yelled out 'fire!' during the service. He turned to his siblings. "You two go find Sue Ann. I'll catch up."
Andie followed his gaze to the cops and she immediately decided she didn't like that idea. "Dean...what are you going to do?"
But he didn't answer. He ran towards the cops. "Hey!" They looked over. "You gonna put that fear in God in me?"
The two men dropped their coffee in a hurry as they chased after Dean back into the parking lot.
As soon as they were sure Dean had led the officers far enough away, the twins checked around the house. They peeked in through the windows, searching for Sue Ann or a source of spellwork, but all they found was dark rooms. Andie leaned over the railing and spotted light gleaming out of the bulkhead. "Sam, over here."
Sam peered over the edge. With one look, he rushed down the porch stairs. He held open the concrete doors, allowing Andie in first, then followed behind.
Andie felt the wall for a light switch as she took baby steps in an attempt to not trip. She couldn't see anything around her, other than an altar, against the wall of the basement, so she decided to head towards that. Getting closer, she noticed that the tabletop was littered with various parts of dead animals, blood, and horns. "Gross," she commented, poking at an animal bone, or what she hoped to be the bone of an animal. She stepped forward, her eyes following and landing on a photo of a familiar face crossed off in red marker—or was it blood? But it wasn't the protester. It was Dean. He was the next target.
Andie looked for Sam. She was surprised to find him standing beside her. His breathing had stilled and he didn't move. Both already startled at the sight in front of them, they jumped in response to the sound of a voice behind them. Sue Ann's. "I gave your brother life and I can take it away!"
The twins gazed over at each other. They stood in silence, listening to the sounds of their own pounding heartbeats. Then, in a moment, the sound of glass shattering and metal banging off the concrete floor echoed throughout the basement. Andie flinched as Sam flipped over the altar table in a sudden rush of anger. He bolted in the direction Sue Ann's voice had come from, but she was gone. From across the damp cellar, Andie could tell from the sounds of movement outside the bulkhead that Sue Ann had locked them in.
Sam pushed on the door, growing more frustrated with each attempt, but the door didn't budge, not enough.
"Sam," Andie pleaded.
"No!" he cried with another shove.
Through the door, Sue Ann spoke. It was muffled, but the twins could still make out the words. "Can't you see? The Lord chose me to reward the just and punish the wicked. And your brother is wicked and he deserves to die just as Layla deserves to live. It is God's will."
Sam turned away from the door, surveying the room.
"Goodbye."
Andie watched her twin as he grabbed a block of wood that was leaning against the wall. He swung the piece at a boarded up window, smashing the glass.
"A-are we supposed to climb through that?" She hesitantly asked, eyeing a shard of glass still attached to a window that was barely big enough to crawl through comfortably, never mind with the worry of cutting yourself.
He only raised his eyebrows at her.
Andie may have been a lot smaller than Sam, but somehow she had managed to prick herself on a shard of glass on the window sill, while he had crawled through fine. But with no time to stop, she ran towards the tent with blood soaking the side of her shirt. She cursed (over and over) under her breath as the pain by her ribs rose up her whole right side. With each stride, it felt like she was on fire. But she forced herself to keep running, even though she was following farther and farther behind Sam.
Until she tripped over her own feet and fell on her face.
"Andie, what are you doing?!" Sam called to her, frustrated.
"Dying," she mumbled. "You go ahead, I'll catch up." She didn't need to tell him twice. When she looked up again, he was gone. She took a minute to collect herself, but when she turned her head to the left, she saw her brother's limp body with the only thing keeping him steady was a force invisible to the eye. Without a thought, she ran to him. "Dean! Dean!"
She could tell he was struggling to fight the reaper, but was losing, and fast too. His eyes were glazed over. It appeared as if he was trying to say something but his pale face was quickly turning blue as air was sucked out of him.
Andie may have been born into a life of hunting and killing, but that was all monsters. She had never killed someone or seen an actual person die before her eyes. But seeing her eldest brother so close to the verge of death (twice in under a week's span), she didn't think there was an ever worse sight.
"Stop," she begged quietly, but she didn't know why she expected the reaper to listen to her. "Please, stop." She fell to her knees in front of Dean, tears welling in her eyes and the pain at her side burning again. She wanted to die.
"I'm sorry, Dean, I'm sorry," she cried. But what was she sorry for? Dragging him here? All the bullshit she had pulled in the last twenty-two years? She wasn't so sure herself.
Andie wanted to cover her eyes, but she found herself in a frozen state. She couldn't move her arms, her legs. The pain from before subsided and instead, it was replaced by numbness. For a moment, she couldn't feel her heart beating anymore, and she thought that maybe she had died. But then, Dean collapsed forward, gasping, and her hands moved in a split of a second, catching her brother.
"Andie?" he asked weakly.
"Oh my God," she breathed, "You're okay."
"Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered, forcing himself into a sitting position.
"Careful," she reminded him.
Dean shoved her off, disgruntled. "I'm fine. He started to stand, when he noticed the red stain on her sweatshirt. "What happened to you?"
"I, uh, sliced myself. I'm fine." She stood along with him. "Uh, so, is this over?"
"It appears so."
"We should probably go find Sam."
Sam trudged to where they had hid the car. He felt relief over him. He had stopped Sue Ann by snatching her necklace. But by doing so, the reaper had turned on her. Then again, Sam wasn't sure if he cared anymore and that scared him. How could he be okay with a human's death? But he pushed the thought out of his mind, as he saw his siblings approaching. Both were alright. Or they were alive, at least. They looked like hell, but Sam knew he probably did too. "You okay?"
Dean shook his head. "Hell of a week."
"Yeah," he agreed. "Alright, come on. We should get going."
They entered the car to head back to the motel, pack their things, and get the hell out of Dodge. Dean had seemed upset, and whether it was because only minutes ago he had been on the verge of death, or something else, but Sam had decided to give Layla a call while Dean was in the shower. At first, Andie hadn't been so sure, but when she saw Dean sitting on the bed, motionless, she started to become more definite.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing," he replied.
Sam turned towards his siblings, watching them. Gently, he asked, "What is it?"
"We did the right there here, didn't we?"
Andie shook her head. "Dean."
"Of course we did," Sam assured his brother.
"It doesn't feel like it," Dean said.
But the Winchesters conversation came to a halt at the sound of a knock. They turned simultaneously towards the door.
"I got it," Sam told them, cheerfully, nearly running to open the door. '"Hey, Layla. Come on in."
"Hey," she spoke.
Dean jumped. "How did you know we were here?"
"Sam called. He said you wanted to say goodbye?" Layla explained.
Dean glanced at Sam, who was looking back at him sheepishly.
"I'm gonna grab a soda," Sam said quickly. "Wanna come with me, Andie?"
Andie grabbed her coat off of a chair as she passed by, following Sam out the door. Closing it behind them, they left Dean and Layla to themselves.
Andie placed the quarters from her pocket into the vendor machine and waited as a Coke rolled down.
Sam laughed. "You know, I didn't mean we actually had to get a soda."
"I know," she said, reaching down for it. "But I'm thirsty. And who knows the next time Dean will stop. We still gotta find Dad."
"Yeah," he agreed with a sigh.
Andie mindlessly played with the tab on her can as she thought for a moment, debating.
"What is it?" he asked, lowering his head into her view.
"Uh, it's nothing."
"Hmm."
Andie smirked to herself, realizing how alike herself and her brothers were. They were stubborn. liking to sulk about their problems on their own. But she also realized how little good it caused, so she lifted her head, catching Sam's eyes, and asked cautiously, "D-do you think we're evil?"
"What?"
Nothing, never mind." She shook her head. "Stupid question."
"No, Andie, what are you talking about?"
She only shrugged.
Lowering his voice, Sam asked, "Where is this coming from?"
But Andie didn't answer. She continued to stare at her shoes and spin the tab on the soda can.
He kept his eyes on her. "W-we'll be alright," he tried to reassure her even though he didn't know if he believed that himself.
