(Disclaimer: Don't own anything; following story is mine)

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Forsaken.

Chapter Nine.

She didn't know how long she screamed, how long her screams echoed around the cavern, bouncing off the walls and coming back at her, spurring her on, creating her own cacophony; her voice seeming to swell as her fear did.

She struggled in vain as the face was lowered to hers, the face that should have been familiar; the face whose features had lost all their kindness and were now replaced by malice, a deep hatred that was directed at her.

"Nina, Nina, Nina…" she whispered; the lips hovering inches from hers, the breath hot against her own. A hand lightly stroked her face, running down her cheek, tracing along her jaw; the gentle touch in stark contrast to the menace held within the now blue eyes. "Don't be scared, honey…" her voice was silken, a soft rustle of enchantment, a sweet lullaby.

"Help me, Becky…pleeease…" she begged.

"Oh baby, I will…I'll help you more than you realise" the first kiss was soft "I'll help you be all you can be" the second kiss was more forceful "I mean, you were the one who bought me here" the third kiss was painful as their teeth clashed "And it was supposed to be a shared experience" the fourth kiss bought a scream of pain as her bottom lip was bitten, the teeth sinking in deep, gnawing at the flesh, like a hungry dog gnawing on a bone.

Nina whimpered, trying not to move for fear of losing the lip entirely; tears of pain and fear ran from her eyes, sliding down her temples and trickling into her matted hair. Blood from her tattered lip ran down her chin but didn't reach her throat, it didn't have the chance; and she shuddered as she felt a tongue lap at her, making sure not one drop of the sacred liquid went to waste.

She whimpered again then gasped as her lip was released suddenly; her tongue automatically darting out to check the torn flesh; and she cried out as it pushed through the jagged hole in the middle. A sharp, stinging slap that rocked her head bought about the silence it intended and she fought the black fingers of darkness that tried to drag her into its depths..

"Sting her up" commanded a deep voice and she felt her limbs released. She knew now was the chance for escape, to fight her captors, to fight for her life; but the deep fear, the terror that had invaded her...body, mind and soul, were like heavy chains, binding her to these people. She was a servant to her masters and she hadn't the will to disobey.

She was carried roughly to the wall, to her home; her wrists bound together as she was hung like the piece of meat she now realised she was; put away only to be taken out again when their thirst, their hunger growled to be sated.

She raised her head slowly and watched as two of the men she was now familiar with, carried the body of another man into the cavern and deposited him onto the altar. She shook her head slightly, trying to clear the fog that was starting to descend over her mind…she could feel the darkness starting to impinge on her sight again but she couldn't ignore the slow flutter of awareness that this was something she needed to see, something that might enlighten her, give her answers; so she pushed her tongue against her torn lip, the pain searing through her, screaming through her mind and shaking it awake. She looked at the altar again, studying the man on it…she frowned slightly, something wasn't right.

"What the fuck happened?" asked Lucian, the fury rising in his voice as it rose in his eyes.

"They weren't there…we searched everywhere. They were gone" said one of the men desperately "We went looking for Bill and Daniel…Bill's gone too but Daniel…" he pointed to the dead man "The other two were no where to be found either"

'Daniel' thought Nina…Daniel wasn't an old man. Well he hadn't been when he'd left the cavern hours ago, but the man lying on the altar looked easily seventy years old. It couldn't be the same man, it just couldn't. She studied him; he had a deep gash on either side of his neck and rather comical, surprised look on his face but she was roused from her study when she heard the sound of an angry slap.

"He said they'd be there!" yelled Lucian "You fucked up!"

"I swear to you Lucian…they were gone! There wasn't a trace of them anywhere!"the man rubbed at his cheek. "If they get off the mountain…" he said softly.

"They won't get off the mountain! Their place is here…those two will be the coming of the new world…like he foretold. He called the one called Sam here…" he smiled nastily "and we'll use him to bring the others to us" he turned his attention to the body on the altar "Strip him"

As the cuts were made expertly to the body, the ceremony began. A chill wind whipped around the cavern, ruffling the hair of its inhabitants, cloaking their bodies, making them shiver in cold excitement. As the lone voice rose in volume, spewing forth the ancient language, a darkness, an evil seemed to creep into the cave; it moved tentatively at first, hesitant steps as it probed at those within; and as the man's ribs were ripped open and his heart torn from his chest, the darkness rose like a wave, sweeping over those inside, forcing itself into them, bringing with it the madness they all so desired.

Nina screamed a soul-wrenching scream…a scream that was accompanied by the howling wind outside….a scream that was echoed by the dead man on the altar.

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The thunder rumbled in the distance as the clouds began their slow march towards the mountain again; building in strength, wanting to outdo its last assault. It called on the other elements, its allies of destruction; rain, wind and lightening…they would join forces and leave nothing but destructions in its wake.

Dean and Riley heard the slow rumble of distant thunder as they stared down the barrels of the guns…they broke into wide grins and lowered their weapons as they stared past the pistols and into the grinning, mud-spattered faces of Sam and Dee.

Riley rose and re-holstered the guns, Dean doing the same as the four people trudged towards each other, their boots squelching in the mud; the mud that still tried to take hold of them, wanting to delay the reunion it had fought so hard to stop.

"Sammy" grinned Dean; he got to his brother and gave him a quick, strong hug, checking him over expertly, making sure he was alright "You hurt anywhere?" he inspected the cut to Sam's cheek.

Sam laughed "I'm fine, dude. Bit dirty…" he shrugged "but I hear there was a mudslide…" he grinned into his brothers grinning face "You alright?"

"Stared death in the face and gave it the finger, dude" he grinned "I'm freakin' Superman…or Aquaman…not quite sure which"

Sam laughed and clapped his brother on the shoulder, unable to contain his joy at seeing his brother alive. He felt the tension he hadn't realised he had in his shoulders, release him and he settled into the relief, wearing it like a well worn jacket. Dean was alright…his brother was still with him, everything was right with the world.

Riley walked over to Dee and grinned.

"Don't you do it…" warned Dee with a smile and Riley laughed and threw herself at Dee, hugging her tight "Gerroff me, you daft bint!" said Dee as she pushed Riley away, laughing softly.

Riley laughed "Give us a kiss! Come on! Pucker up you cold fish!" and she made kissing noises at her friend.

"I swear, Riley" Dee laughed "One of these days I'm just gonna shoot you" she slapped her friend affectionately upside the head.

"What? And put me out of your misery? You wouldn't dare" she grinned.

Dean and Sam watched the strange goings on between the two women, trying not to laugh. They could see their happiness at finding the other alive and well, both of them dealing with it differently; Riley teasing her friend and not caring if anyone saw her delight; Dee playing it close to her chest but unable to hide her smile.

Riley turned and smiled at Sam "You forget to duck?" she asked and pointed to his cheek, she grinned and Sam laughed softly.

Dean turned to Sam and smiled "This pain in the ass is Riley"

Riley shook his outstretched hand "Your brother's just pissed cause I haven't banged him"

Dean grinned at her "Yet"

Dee gave a throaty laugh as she took a cigarette from her jacket and lit it "Liked your little performance…" she nodded "well executed" and she blew smoke into the air.

"Stop gushing" said Riley and ducked another slap as she laughed "So you lose everything except your smokes and flask?"

"Course. You?"

"The lot" said Riley as the two women walked towards the back of the Landy "And some backwater hill-billies have my bomber jacket…how pissed am I?"

Dee rolled her eyes "Let it go, Riley"

Riley shook her head "You know who gave it to me"

"He didn't give it to you. You stole it" she said with a laugh.

Riley laughed along with her friend as she popped the weapons cache "Well you dared me…double dared me if I remember correctly...I still have the scar" she grinned "Wanna see?" she laughed at her friends rolled eyes and turned "Dean!" she pulled the guns from the small of her back "Swapsies"

Dean grinned at Sam "Dude, you gotta see the back of this car" and he pushed his brother ahead of him, unable to stop the smile on his face. Sammy was alive; alive and in one piece. Life was pretty fucking good.

Sam walked up behind the two women and peered over their shoulders "Jesus Christ…"

"Not bad, huh?" said Dean and he and Riley swapped their weapons "Any more tequila?" she passed him the bottle.

"Take your pick, Sam" said Dee and she reached into the side and removed a bottle of Jack Daniels, unscrewed the top and took a long swig. "Coo, almost human again" she turned to Riley "You see your 'rescue' party?"

Riley nodded and took the tequila from Dean "Young guy and the Sheriff"

"And?"

"Won't be any problems with them" she said evenly and Dee nodded.

Sam turned and looked at her as he checked a Glock 9mm "What do you mean we won't have any problems with them?"

"Just that" said Riley as she swigged again.

"You killed them?" he asked.

"Had to. It was us or him and I'm guessing right about now you're pretty pleased it's us…or Dean anyway"

Sam turned to his brother "Dean?"

Dean shrugged "We were backed into a corner. Riley's right…we had no choice"

"Not sure if the Sheriff's dead though, Sam. Dean just punched the shit out of him, stripped him naked and pushed him over a small cliff and into fast running mud" she grinned "So his soul isn't in peril…" she laughed softly "Mine? Aaaah, that's a whole other story" she turned to Dee "They knew Dean's name. Used it. Talked about him and Sam being promised to 'him'…you and I are like playthings"

Dee nodded "Heard about the same. They knew where we all were too, been directed to us; and Sam here doesn't know jack"

"Dean either" said Riley

"Aaah" Dean waved at them and raised an eyebrow "we're standing right here

Riley grinned "And hogging the tequila" she took it from him and turned back to Dee "We gotta find these arseholes…they've got a woman, a hostage of some kind"

Dee nodded "Heard 'em mention someone…blonde…on borrowed time, I'm guessing you and I are her replacements"

Sam watched the two women talk back and forth, ignoring him and Dean and he felt a tightening in his gut, a small burning, that seemed to eat slowly at him. Who did these two think they were? He took a deep breath to calm himself, it didn't work "So you two alright with this then? Don't want any input from us…got it all under control have you?" asked Sam a little angrily. He shivered a little as what felt like fingers slowly walk up his spine, gently tapping their way upwards and splaying around the base of his skull.

Riley laughed softly "Easy, Sam. We're just not used to working with other people is all"

"Neither are we" said Dean "But this place is cut-off, we're cut-off, so we have no choice but to work together. That means the four of us" he looked at Sam "Right, Sammy?"

Sam shifted his gaze from the heavens to his brother "Huh?"

Dean frowned "You alright?" he asked softly.

Sam nodded "Yeah, yeah…just watching for …a storm…the next one…" he pointed to the darkening clouds in the distance; angry clouds that rumbled loudly at each other, their shouts punctuated by sharp flashes of lightening.

"Alright, we need to get moving" said Dee. "Find this woman, kill those sons of bitches and get the fuck out of here"

"And just how are we going to find them, huh?" Sam asked, starting to anger as the woman seemed to want to take control again, dismissing him and Dean. He looked into the weapons cache "You got a Ouija board in there?" he said sarcastically.

Dean frowned slightly at his brother "Dude…" he pulled Sam to the side of the Landy, out of earshot of the women "What's wrong with you? In case you haven't realised…we're on the same side here" he whispered "Sam…Sammy…look at me, dude"

Sam turned his eyes back to Dean's "What?"

"Jesus Christ, Sam! Did you hear anything I just said to you?"

Sam stared at Dean "Yeah" he looked back at the incoming storm and shivered again, turning his eyes back to Dean, he sighed "I'm just tired and they …forget it" he looked through the window at the women who were talking quietly "You sure about them?"

He stared intently at his brother "Well you know Dee better than I do. But Riley?" he nodded "Yeah, we can trust her"

Sam nodded slowly "Okay, better get to work then" and he pushed past Dean and went back to Dee and Riley, grabbing the JD and taking a huge swig.

Dean watched his brother, a small frown creasing his forehead…the slight change in his brother's attitude had been sudden…and unexpected. He walked slowly back to Sam and the women, he'd just keep an eye on his brother and try and ignore the little voice in his head that was screaming at him to take Sam and run…run and never look back.

Riley tossed Dean the bottle of tequila and pulled a small duffel bag from the back of the weapons cache and started to load ammunition for all their guns into it. She put in spare knives and daggers for everyone and what Dean thought looked like plastic explosive.

"Is that plastic explosive?" he asked, trying to hide his grin.

"No, play-doh…I feel like making animal shapes in our down-time" she grinned.

"Smart-ass" he grinned back, taking a swig from the bottle, smiling as his eyes dropped instinctively to her ass as she leaned into the car.

"So, how are we gonna find them then?" asked Sam, trying to control his voice.

"Easy, Sam" said Dee with a grin "We're going to your cabin"

"What?" asked Dean and Sam incredulously.

"You heard me. We know they're watching the place and I'm guessing you need to get some things from there as well"

"Yeah, but…" started Sam, he shook his head "You're serious!"

"We need Dads journal, Sammy … and I have to check my baby" said Dean.

"So we just hike four more miles through this shit …" he shook his head as if to clear it "Sorry" he looked at Dee "What's your plan?"

She grinned, grabbed a black-leather duster coat and put it on. She reached into the weapons cache, grabbed a rifle and slipped the strap across her back as Riley added the ammunition and scope to the ammo bag "A hunting we will go"

Riley shut the Landy doors and slung the ammo bag over her shoulders, adjusting it so she had easy access to her pistols "Straight up right?" she asked and Sam nodded as Dee and Riley starting trudging up the mountain again, pulling their jackets around them as the wind started to howl menacingly down the mountain.

Sam turned to Dean "Was that a sniper rifle?" he whispered and Dean nodded appreciatively "Who the hell are those two?" Sam laughed softly.

Dean grinned "Not exactly sure, dude…but damn are we gonna have some fun" he clapped Sam on the shoulder and they headed up after the women, Dean at Sam's back, studying his brother and wondering just what the hell was going on his head.

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The wind raced down the mountain, whipping past the remains of trees, darting under broken logs, around the skeletal remains of the forest, picking up shrapnel, ammunition it would use in its assault. It took form, darkening as the debris gave it substance, turning it from a unseen enemy to a lethal force. It grew in strength, its howl now guttural as it raged down the mountain, forging a new path of destruction; screaming its power to anyone that would listen…a power that was now on a collision course with four ...four it had been instructed to find...

To be continued…