Chapter 10 - Hunted

"Before Dad died...he told me something. Something about you." Dean says after a lengthy pause. Sam and Addison were staring at him. They both knew that John had talked to Dean. Addison didn't want to pry, but she didn't put it past John to put something heavy on Dean's shoulders.

"What." Sam asks. "Dean, what did he tell you?"

Dean shifts. "He said that he—he wanted me to watch out for you. Take care of you."

"He's told you that a million times."

Dean shakes his head. "No, this time was different. He said that I had to save you."

Sam stares at him. "Save me from what?"

Dean sighs. "He just said that I had to save you. Nothing else mattered. And if I couldn't, I'd..."

"You'd what, Dean?"

"I'd have to kill you. He said that I might have to kill you, Sammy."

"Kill me? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know."

"I mean, he must've had some kind of reason for saying it, right? Did he know the demon's plans for me? Am I supposed to go dark-side or something? What else did he say, Dean?"

"Nothing. That's it, I swear."

Sam turns to Addison. "Do you know something, Addison?"

Addison climbs off the fence and shakes her head. "I don't know anything." she tells him. "This is the first time I've ever heard anything about this."

Sam turns back to Dean. "How could you have not told me this?"

"Because he was dead and he begged me not to." Dean answers and Addison lets out a frustrated sigh.

Sam glares at his older brother. "Who cares? Take some responsibility for yourself, Dean! You had no right to keep this from me!"

"You think I wanted this? Huh? I wish to God he'd never opened his mouth! And I wouldn't have to walk around with this screaming in my head all day!"

A silence falls over them until Sam breaks it. "We've just gotta figure out what's going on then, what the hell all this means."

Dean shakes his head. "We do? I've been thinking about this, I think we should just lay low, you know? At least for a while. It'd be safer. And that way, I could make sure—"

Sam scoffs. "What? That I don't turn evil? That I don't turn into some kind of killer?"

"I never said that."

"Jeez, if you're not careful, you will have to waste me one way, Dean."

"I never said that! Damn it, Sam, this whole thing is spinning out of control! You're immune to some weirdo demon virus, and I don't even know what the hell anymore. And you're pissed at me and I get it. That's fine, I deserve it. But we lay low until we figure out our next move, okay?"

"Forget it," Sam says, starting to walk away.

"Sam, please, man." Dean grabs Sam's shoulder, stopping him. "Hey, please. Just give me some time. Give me some time to think, okay, I'm begging you here. Please…please." Sam nods and the three of them stand there in silence.

Dean lets out a groan and tiredly looks at the clock, reading that the time was six in the morning. His gaze moves to the other bed and finds it empty. He turns to Addison and slides a hand under the cami she was wearing. She rolls onto her back and she stretches. He presses his lips against hers as his hand moves towards her shorts. "Sam gone." Addison yawns as his lips trail across her collarbone.

"Hopefully getting breakfast." Dean replies.

Addison pushes her shorts and panties down. "Guess we gotta be quick then." she mutters, pulling him into a kiss.

A short while later, Dean's pulling on his jeans. He looks around the room and frowns. He glances at the clock on the nightstand. Sam should've been back by now. Another look around the motel room, lets him know that Sam's stuff is gone too. He runs into the bathroom where Addison was taking a shower. "Sam's gone."

Addison pokes out from behind the shower curtain. "He's still not back?"

"Unless he took all his stuff to do a coffee run."

Addison sighs. "All right. Let me finish and we'll go look for him." Dean turns and starts out of the bathroom, but stops when she grabs his arm. "Hey, we'll find him. And when we do, I'll kick his ass for not bringing breakfast."

"Yeah."

The ringing of Dean's cell phone cuts through the silence of the Impala and Dean grabs it off the seat next to him, glancing at the slowly awakening Addison. Knowing Sam, Dean figured that he might go to the Roadhouse. Dean decided to drive and see if he was there. "Hello?"

"It's Ellen." comes the familiar voice.

"Hey, have you heard from Sam?"

Ellen sighs. "I have, but...he made me promise not to tell you where he is."

A frustrated look appears on Dean's face. "Come on, Ellen, please! Something bad could be going on here, and I swore I'd look after kid."

"Now, Dean, they say you can't protect your loved ones forever." Ellen pauses. "Well, I say screw that. What else is family for? He's in Lafayette, Indiana."

"Thanks." Dean hangs up and drops his phone on the seat. He glances at Addison and tightens his grip on the steering wheel. "Lafayette, Indiana."

"What are you going to do," Addison asks, pulling out a map.

"I have no idea," Dean answers. Addison reaches over and gives him a supportive pat on the leg. She was worried about Sam too, but she didn't let it show. She knew Dean was worried about the younger Winchester. It was in his nature to worry about Sam. Just like it was in her nature to worry about Dean.

"Well, thank God you're okay." Dean comments, seeing Sam as they sit in the Impala and look into a motel room. Once in Lafayette, it had been easy to track Sam down to the motel he was staying in. Sam moves and he sees a brunette woman. "Oh, you're better than okay. Sam, you sly dog."

"What? Let me see." Addison replies and leans over Dean to get a better view. She shakes her head and hands the binoculars back to Dean. "There has to be something more going on. Sam wouldn't ditch us to get laid. That's something you would do."

Dean nods. "It is, isn't it?"

Addison scoffs. "Uh, yeah."

A loud noise echoes through out the parking lot and they exchange a worried look. They both see that the glass door to Sam's motel room was gone. "Stay here." Dean orders, then hops out of the Impala.

"Screw this." Addison declares a few minutes and climbs out of the Impala. She starts to walk over to Sam's room. She stops and looks around, feeling like someone was watching her. She continues towards the motel, when something hits the back of her head and Addison falls to the ground, unconscious.

Addison wakes with a start. She was tied to a chair in an abandoned building of some kind. Dean was sitting next to her, glaring. She looks to find Gordon sitting in a chair, with a rifle in his lap. "Great." Addison mumbles.

Dean's cell phone rings and Gordon picks it up. He walks over to Dean and puts it right up against his ear. "Hello?" Dean asks.

"Dean." Sam greets.

Dean glances at Addison. "Sam, we've been looking for you."

"Yeah. Look, I'm in Indiana — Lafayette."

"We know."

"You do?"

"Yeah, me and Addie talked to Ellen." Addison glares at Dean for using the nickname she hated, even if it was a code word. "Just got here ourselves. It's a real funky town. You ditched us, Sammy."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. Look, right now, there's someone after me."

"What? Who?"

"I don't know, that's what we need to find out. Where are you?"

"We're staying at 5637 Monroe Street. Why don't you meet us here?"

"Yeah, sure." Sam replies and hangs up.

"Now, was that so hard." Gordon asks, putting Dean's cell away.

"Bite me." Dean coldly says. Gordon looks at Addison. "I swear, if you hurt her—"

"I can take care of myself." Addison angrily interrupts. She glares at Gordon. "You even think about touching me, I'll cut off your balls and feed to them hyenas."

Dean smirks. "She'll do it too."

Addison wiggles in the chair. She was tired. She was hungry. She was cold. Her head hurt. And the fact that she needed to use a bathroom didn't help her mood any. Gordon was staring out the window, with a rifle in his lap. "Look, we know that we're not your favorite people." she begins. "But isn't this a bit much?"

"What?" Gordon replies. "You think this is revenge?"

Addison nods. "Well, we did leave you tied up in your own mess for three days...which was awesome." Dean comments, chuckling. "Sorry, I shouldn't laugh."

"Yeah. I was definitely planning on whopping your ass for that," Gordon tells them, retaking his seat in an old armchair.

Dean nods. "Mm hmm."

"But that's not what this is. This isn't personal. I'm not a killer. I'm a hunter. And Sam's fair game."

"What do you mean," Addison asks, confused.

"See, I was doing an exorcism down in Louisiana — teenage girl, seemed routine, some low level demon. But between all the jabbering and the head-spinning, the damn thing muttered something about a coming war. Now, I don't think it meant to. It just kind of slipped out. But it was too late — peaked my interest. And you can really make a demon talk if you've got the right tools."

"And what happened to the girl it was possessing," Dean coldly asks.

"She didn't make it."

"Well, you're a son of a bitch," Dean says. Gordon gets up. A staring match between ensues between the two men. Then Gordon back hands Addison. "You son of a bitch!"

Gordon back hands Addison a second time. She spits out blood and glares at the hunter. "That's my mama you're talking about. Anyway, this demon tells me they have soldiers to fight in this coming war — humans fighting on Hell's side, you believe that? I mean, they're psychics, so they're not exactly pure humans, but still...what kind of worthless scumbag you've gotta be to turn against your own race. But you know the biggest kick in the ass? This demon said I knew one of 'em — our very on Sammy Winchester."

Dean glares at the hunter. "Oh, this is a whole new level of moronic, even for you."

"Yeah? Come on, Dean. I know about Sam's visions. I know everything."

Addison snorts. She was pissed that he hit her. "And you believed a demon. How stupid are you?"

"Hey, I'm not some reckless yahoo, okay? I did my homework. Made damn sure it was true. Look, you got your Roadhouse connections, I got mine. It's how I found Sammy in the first place. About a month ago, I found another one of these freaks here in town. He could deep-fry a person just by touching them."

"Did he kill anyone?"

"Besides Mr. Tinkles, the cat? No. But he was working up to it. They're all gonna be killers. We've gotta take 'em all out. And that means Sammy, too."

"You think Sam's stupid enough to walk through that front door," Dean disbelievingly asks.

"No, I don't. Especially since I'm sure you found a way to warn him. You really think I'm that stupid? No...Sammy's gonna scope the place first, see me covering the front door. So, he's gonna take the back. And when he does, he'll hit the tripwire. Then...boom."

"Sam's not gonna fall for a fucking tripwire."

"Maybe you're right." Gordon sets down the rifle he had been preparing and pulls out another tripwire. "That's why I'll have a second one. Hey, look...I'm sorry. I wish I didn't have to do this, I really do. But for what it's worth...it'll be quick."

When Gordon walks away, Addison leans over to Dean. "Everything will be fine, Dean," she softly tells, unsure if she was reassuring him or herself. Addison moves away as Gordon enters the room.

"Come on, I know Sam better than anyone. He's got more of a conscience than I do. I mean, the guy feels guilty surfing the internet for porn," Dean tells Gordon.

"Maybe you're right. But one day, he's gonna be a monster," Gordon counters.

"How, huh? How's a guy like Sam become a monster?"

"Beats me. But he will."

"No, you don't know that!"

"I'm surprised at you, Dean — getting all emotional. I'd heard you were more of a professional than this. Look, let's say you were cruising around in that car of yours, and you had Little Hitler riding shotgun, right? Back when he was just some goofy, crappy artist. But you knew what he was gonna turn into someday. You'd take him out, no questions, am I right?"

Dean tenses. "That's not Sam."

"Yes, it is. You just can't see it yet. Dean, it's his destiny. Look, I'm sympathetic. He's your brother, you love the guy. This has gotta hurt like hell for you. But here's the thing." Gordon puts a gag in Addison's mouth, before doing the same to Dean. "You would've wrecked him. But your Dad? If it really came right down to it, he would've had the stones to do the right thing here. But you're telling me you're not the man he is?" Footsteps approach the empty warehouse and Addison glares at Gordon. "You hear him?" A door opens and Addison closes her eyes. "Here he comes." Dean lets out a muffled shout as an explosion goes off. "Oh, no. Not yet. Just wait and see." A second explosion goes off and Addison lets out a muffled sob. "Sorry, guys."

When the sounds of a fight break out, Addison leans against the chair. A few minutes later, Sam walks in the room and unties Dean from the chair. They stand up and Dean grabs Sam's face. "Son of a..." Dean says, turning to walk into the other room.

"Dean, no," Sam replies, stopping him.

"I let him live once, I'm not making the same mistake twice."

"Trust me. Gordon's taken care of," Sam tells him, untying Addison from the chair.

Addison stands up and pull the gag out of her mouth. She wraps her arms around Sam and tightly hugs him. She had been terrified that he had died. "Let's just get the hell out of here before the psycho nut job wakes up." Dean nods in agreement and the three of them walk out of the empty building.

Gun shots are heard and they take off running, not having to turn to know that it was Gordon. "You call this 'taken care of,'" Dean asks Sam as they hide behind a log on the ground. "What the hell are we doing?"

"Just trust me on this, all right," Sam tells him. Addison looks back as police cars surround Gordon. "Anonymous tip."

"You're a fine, upstanding citizen, Sam," Dean comments and Addison lets out a relived laugh.

"Yeah, he almost killed us because somebody over there can't keep their fucking mouth shut," Dean angrily says as he paces around the side of the road. Addison sends him a disapproving look. Sam was sitting in the Impala.

"And you honestly think that it was me," Ellen replies. "Or Ash? Or Jo? No way."

"Well, who else knows about Sam, huh? I mean you must have been talking to somebody."

"Hey, you can say a lot of things about us. But we are not disloyal. And we're not stupid. We haven't breathed a word of this," Ellen defends.

"Gordon said he had Roadhouse connections, Ellen."

"And this roadhouse is full of other hunters. They're all smart. They're good trackers. Each of them with their own patterns and connections. Look, hell, I could name twelve of them right now that are capable of putting this together." Ellen pauses. "I am sorry about what happened, Dean. But I can't control these people. Or what they choose to believe."

"We know," Addison says, shooting Dean a look. "And we know that it wasn't you guys. Call us if you hear anything?"

"You know I will."

"Thanks, Ellen." Dean snaps his phone shut. "You know that they—"

"There are hunters looking for Sam, Addison," Dean angrily interrupts. "Who knows how many think the same shit as Gordon?"

"Yeah, Dean, I get that. But the only thing we can do is trying to figure out what the hell is going on and not worry about what a bunch of assholes want. If anymore come looking, then we'll take care of them. Don't worry about it, okay?"

Dean looks away, knowing that she was right. He turns back to her and sees the slowly forming bruise on her face. "You want some ice for that?"

Addison shoots him a smile. "I'm fine. Let's just go, huh."

"Hey, Ava, it's Sam again. Call me when you get this. Just wanna make sure you got home okay. All right, bye," Sam says, then hangs up his phone as the Impala speeds down the road in the dark. He sighs and shoves his phone in his pocket.

"Is everything okay," Addison asks him, leaning forward to rest on the back of the front seat.

Sam glances at her. "Yeah, I hope so."

"Well, Gordon should be reaching for the soap for the next few years, at least," Dean comments, smirking.

"Yeah, if they pin Scott Carey's murder on him. And if he doesn't bust out."

"Dude, you ever take off like that again—"

"What? You'd kill me?"

"I'd bitch slap you. Really hard," Addison says and Sam lets out a laugh.

"All right. So, where to next, then?"

"One word — Amsterdam," Dean answers.

"Dean..."

"Come on, man, I hear the coffee shops don't even serve coffee."

"I'm not gonna just ditch the job."

"Screw the job. Screw it, man. I'm sick of the job anyway. We don't get paid, we don't get thanked. The only thing we get is bad luck."

"Well, come on, dude. You're a hunter. It's what you were meant to do."

"No, I wasn't meant to do anything. I don't believe in that destiny crap."

"You mean, you don't believe in my destiny."

"Well, whatever."

"Look, Dean, I've tried running before. I mean, I ran all the way to California and look what happened. You can't run from this. And you can't protect me."

"Well, I can try."

"Thanks for that...look, Dean, I'm gonna keep hunting. Whatever's coming, I'm taking it head on. So, if you really wanna watch my back, then I guess you're both gonna have to stick around."

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

Addison sees Sam pulls out his phone and turns back to look out the window. Dean smirks. "You calling that Ava girl again? You sweet on her something?"

Sam shoots him an annoyed look. "She's engaged, Dean."

"So? What's the point of saving the world if you can't get a little nookie once in a while, huh," Dean comments and sees Sam frown after he hangs up his phone. "What?"

"Just a feeling," Sam replies. "How far is it to Peoria?"

Addison stays behind Dean as they enter the small house. Not hearing any one answer when Sam called out, the group enters a bedroom and Addison lets out a gasp when they see a man lying in the bed, with blood everywhere. Dean walks over to the window and wipes something off. "Hey." He holds up his hand and she sees the yellow substance. "Sulfur. Demon's been here.

Sam steps on something and bends down to pick it up, finding Ava's engagement ring. "Ava?"