Chapter 11: The search for Dean.

[Sam's POV]

Hi Sammy,

Big brother here. Don't worry, there is NO 'funky town' or 'ploughkepsie' to worry about. It's just me, Dean writing. I'm sorry I left, but I think we both know it was and is for the best. I need to sort my shit out and I can't do that whilst I'm in the bunker. I'm out hunting and finding myself so don't worry about me.

I'm just touching base, I need the 411 on Jack. It was with deep regret that I left him, but please tell me how he's doing?

For now, it's best we just use email to communicate, but let me know what's happening and I'll keep in touch.

Take care of everyone. I know you will.

Dean.

Pacing the floor of his room for the past 30 or so minutes, Sam could do nothing but wait. Dean's email kept flashing through his mind. It had been nearly 24 hours and all Sam wanted to do was identify Dean's co-ordinates and drive straight to him. Despite Dean's email outlining that everything seemed OK, Sam had a bad feeling deep within his gut that something was either going to go wrong, or worse, something HAD already gone wrong.

So he paced and waited. And he waited. 24 hours came and 24 hours went. As a brother, Sam wanted to rush out and begin hunting Dean's location down, but the hunter in him took a more rational approach. It had only been 24 hours. Dean had been gone a number of days before he had emailed them and nothing sinister or dangerous had happened. Logic would dictate that nothing had happened within the last 24 hours, but that didn't stop Sam's intuition from shouting otherwise.

In the end, the hunter's common sense approach won out. Instead of calling in back up and prioritising Dean, Sam decided he would email his brother and give their codeword. In doing so, Dean would set aside any angst and emotion and contact Sam, knowing it was important to inform his brother that everything was OK safe and disclose his location.

Sitting down in front of his laptop, Sam opened up Dean's email and hit the reply button. After collecting his thoughts, Sam typed:

Thanks Dean for emailing.

It's good to see that you didn't hit funky town or ploughkepsie on your travels. Mum, me and all the family are relieved and we miss you. Since you took off, so much has happened. You will be pleased to know that Jack is feeling a lot better. He had a bad infection, but thanks to strong antibiotics and plenty of bed rest he will make a good recovery. Sadly, it took the docs about five days until they worked out but we managed to get him out of hospital a few days ago.

Dean, I completely understand that you want time away from the bunker to sort out stuff. I get it and I'm not asking you to come back, because we both know that's not going to happen, but I am asking you to give me some sort of peace of mind that you're doing OK and that you're safe. We both know how dangerous hunting alone can be, so I want us to put in place the old system – don't see it as reporting your location and progress, because that's not what this is. I'm not your chief or boss, I'm your brother and I just want to know you're safe and if not, I can get help to you as quickly as possible.

I want you to have your space to sort things out and I'm trusting you to keep your word and stay away from all things angelic and Michael related when hunting. But, if you don't email me at 7.30pm each day, I will take your failure to check in to mean that you have been compromised and we'll come as quickly as possible. Can you email me your location and any information that you believe will help as soon as you can. I will take no response to this email by 7.30pm tomorrow as you being compromised already and as a result, I will start searching.

I'm serious Dean, email me your location and we can stay in touch by email.

Take care of yourself

Sam

The email was too long. Sam knew it, but he couldn't help it. As soon as he started writing, he just kept going. Gone was his succinct and militaristic code, replaced with warmth and brotherly concern. Looking back through the email, it covered what he needed to get across but didn't compromise either Dean or himself. Satisfied, he hit send and shut down the laptop. All he had to do was wait. He would give Dean another day to come back to him. If there was no response, then Sam would begin to hunt for his brother. Until then, he would wait, after all there was still so much to do.

Leaving his room, the younger Winchester made his way back through the bunker towards the kitchen. On entering he saw Cas talking to Jack as he sat at the table preparing to eat. Sam couldn't help smile to himself. Only a few days ago, the young man had been lying in a hospital bed, unconscious and dying. Now, after strong medication and bedrest he was sitting upright and eating a hearty meal. Dean would be proud of the burger Jack was preparing to bite into as it was stacked with everything his older brother loved. The thought of his brother killed the smile on his face. Sam would not rest easy until he knew exactly where his brother was and what he was hunting.

"Oh hey Sam! Join us, we were just about to sit down to burgers. I think even Dean would love these. We've managed to stack them with bacon, cheese and even more beef. I.. Oh, you were to hear back from Dean. Has he emailed?" Jack's face had slightly fallen as he thought of his other father figure so far away. Alone and most likely feeling guilty about Jack's health, even though he had no reason to. As much as Sam wanted to protect Jack, he knew there had been enough silence. Besides, every time a Winchester kept something from a loved one, it never ended well.

"Sadly no, there's been nothing but radio silence, Jack. I've emailed him back with an update on your health as well as telling him to communicate back with us by 7.30pm tomorrow. I've stated we won't interfere, but that we need to know about the hunt and his location so when he fails to check in each day, we know where he is and can try and help him." Jack smiled and replied. "Yeah, that makes sense. Just like what you did for Maggie. Do you think he's OK? I mean, it's already been a day and he hasn't emailed."

Sam could understand Jack's fear. He too was afraid. Dean should have emailed, but he could understand the circumstances that could stop Dean from communicating. Dean could be really busy on the hunt and hadn't had a chance to check his emails yet. Sam would give it a day and if there was no reply he would then start to panic.

The next 24 hours were painstaking. Try as he might, Sam couldn't focus on any of the reports that were coming fast and furious across his desk. His teams of hunters had been busy over the past week. Riley's sub team were waist deep in all things monstrous. Sam was jolted out of his thoughts by a message request for a private skype call from Riley. Slightly intrigued, Sam accepted and lifted his laptop and retreated to his room.

Minutes later, the skype window opened and Riley dialled in. "Good afternoon Chief. Just reporting in." Sam nodded. "Hope all is well with you Riley? I know from all these reports I've been getting that you and your team have been really busy. So, what's with the 911 style meeting request?"

Riley seemed nervously excited. "Well, since Michael has been focusing on monsters, my team and I have been doing a lot more indepth research into monsters. I'm not talking about what kills them. What I mean is that we're trying to get a better understanding of structures. As you know, up until the British Men of Letters came, we, as in American hunters believed vampires to be few in number living in small nests. Hunters believed they were mostly unconnected and unorganised. Then the Brits clued everyone in to the fact that the vamps were more organised and actually traded amongst nests. Well that got me thinking. If Michael is using vamps, he would have a hell of a time locating small groups and turning them. It would take ages, which made me think vamps are more organised. That there's more structure."

Sam liked Riley's thinking. He was an incredibly intelligent man, but the thought of vampires being more organised scared him. "Riley that smart thinking. I'm taking from your call, that you found out something."

"I sure did Chief! It seems what the Brits did was just the tip of the iceberg. The nests that were taken out are what are called 'independents'. What I mean by that is, they're not affiliated to any specific house or clan of vampires. These vamps tend to be turned but don't have a loyalty, instead, they find other similar vampires and nest and scavenge, living on the outskirts of society. So when the Brits hit the USA, they took out the independents, but not the Clans. Those SOBs are much more difficult to locate never name infiltrate, understand and then take down."

Sam dreaded what was coming. Somehow he had known something like this was possible, especially after his narrow escape from being sold as meat online, via the dark web. The very thought of that case still give him nightmares as he remembered watching the bidding for his actual heart. Gulping, he looked straight at the camera and spoke. "Riley, tell me what you found and don't sugar coat it!"

"I can't give you everything, because, frankly, if I'm honest, we don't know, because they're good at covering their tracks and protecting themselves. That said, what we do know is that there are clans or houses. The number in each is unknown. It could be 10s or it could be 100s of thousands we're talking about in each house. We don't even know how many houses or clans there are. The problem is, each member has successfully assimilated into our society. They could be your frickin neighbour for all we know. They're hidden. They pay their taxes and most likely go to work like the rest of humanity, every day."

Riley paused to let the information sink in. Sam rolled the news around in his head. Each time, he tried to look at the possible scenarios in front of him. If Michael tapped into one or more of these clans he could easily identify and turn 100s if not 1000s of vampires all at once and all would be loyal. These vampires in turn, could attack, turn and/or kill 1000s of innocent people. The fact that the clans were organised and most likely very well resourced, meant they were most likely very well connected in society, which meant it was difficult to find and take them out quietly. 'Dammit! Our problem just got much harder!'

"Sam? Sam! We've been looking at how we build our information on the vampire society structure. It is taking time, but it's already produced some interesting intel. Just as recent as this morning, we've heard that something has got the clans excited. I'm not sure what it is, other than, there's a transaction possibly going to go down in the next few days. One of our sources heard that it could be a game changer. It's also worth pointing out Sam, that not all the Clans welcome the idea of being augmented and supped up with archangel grace. From what I've made out of certain conversations, some clans don't like their 'pure blood' being contaminated in this way. That's bound to be good news in some way. Isn't it?"

"Yeah, your right Riley. Anything that stops vampires from siding with Michael is good news. But no offence, I'm still trying to get over the bad news that there's vampires out there, possibly in positions of authority and responsibility. You said it yourself, they're well financed and protected. How do we even begin to take them out if and when the time comes? I know we've more hunters, but these guys could have human guards protecting them as well as law enforcement in their pockets. In short, our job just got so much harder."

"Sorry Sam, I had hoped this information was good, but you're right, it only presents more problems for us, both now and down the line, if and when we take out Michael." Sam felt guilty. He hadn't meant to come across negative. It's just the whole crap with Dean worried him and knowing he was out there on his own made him even more uneasy.

"Riley. There's no need to apologise. This information is critical and it's the reason why I'm proud you're leading that team. You're out of the box thinking and fresh eyes made this possible. So please ignore me, it's just been a long day and I need to process this information more. You know, chew on it for a bit longer to see what needs to be done. In the meantime, just keep working on that and I'll bounce this with mum and Bobby as well. Maybe their insight would be worth considering as well. Take care and stay in touch. Thanks Riley"

As Riley signed out, Sam couldn't help but ponder on this new information. There were pros and cons to having organised vampire clans across the USA. Looking negatively on this information, Sam saw potentially easy structures for Michael to assimilate and control. These clans could use their influence and clout to position themselves in key places and await Michael's instruction. On the bright side, if these Clans were hierarchical and steeped in a 'pure blood' mythology, their leadership would view the new supped up vamps as upsetting the natural order the clans had created. These vampires could prove good allies. Sam needed to know more about the houses – how they worked and who was best to approach to discuss a possible alliance.

Armed with such thoughts, Sam spent the rest of the afternoon considering his options. He was so deep in thought, that he didn't realise that Dean's deadline to respond had come and gone. Slightly ashamed that Dean had once again taken second place to other events and issues, Sam logged on to his email, 3.5 hours passed the 7.30pm deadline. His heart sank as he stared at three unread emails. All of which were not from Dean, but undoubtedly each email wanted to sell him something or advertise some crap he had no interest in.

With the deadline clearly missed, Sam went into full hunter mode. Immediately he fired off a quick email to Dean outlining that he was coming for him and if he managed to escape, he needed to call the younger Winchester ASAP. The email had no sooner left his inbox when Sam started to scroll through his contacts until he found the one he was after. Pressing the call button Charlie's chirpy 'hello' brought Sam back to his senses quickly. "Charlie, it's me, emmm, Sam. … yeah, I know you can see who it is on caller ID. Look I'm sorry to contact you but I really need your help and in particular your expertise on all things IT. It's just, it's sensitive and important and I wouldn't ask you to help if it wasn't either of those…."

Sam listened to this new version of Charlie discuss how she was trying to build her new life in this new world. Despite the uncanny likeness to their Charlie, this version was colder. Less a sister a more a business acquaintance. Though it was true that this new Charlie had bonded a bit with Dean when he had first met her in apocalypse world, the relationship had not warmed to the point it was similar to the relationship they had had with the other version. Sighing at the loss Sam still blamed himself for, he felt obliged to listen as Charlie rambled on about her latest conquest or adventure.

After a few more minutes Sam interrupted. "Charlie, Dean has failed to check in. With Jack in hospital, Dean took off. I need your help to find him. He left his phone but he did email me a few days back. Sadly that's all I have to go with. I'm hoping you can help narrow down the search."

Charlie asked, "What the hell Sam? I'm good, but I'm not a miracle worker. Just because he emailed you doesn't mean it will lead us directly to him. It depends on where the email was sent from – you know, was it sent via laptop, phone or tablet? I'm guessing from your silence, that you don't know." Sam was embarrassed. Originally, he had hoped to not share too much information regarding why Dean had left, but if Charlie was to truly find his brother, he needed to be completely honest. So honest he was.

After briefly explaining the situation, Sam summarised the situation. "So Charlie, I need to find him and find him fast. I don't know where he is or whether he's safe. I am guessing that the email was sent via his laptop as he took that with him, but other than that, I'm having to start to scan the country for a black 67 Impala. The car sticks out so that a plus, but knowing Dean he will cover his tracks well as I get the feeling he didn't want me to hunt him down too easily. So, with the information you have, do you think you can find my brother?"

Holding his breath, Sam was relieved when the red head confirmed that it wouldn't be easy but he should give her a few hours, or at the very least a day. Sam thanked her and asked was there anything more she needed from him. She asked for a list of Dean's aliases as well as the Impala's number plate. Sam was only too happy to supply her with every piece of information he can think off. Before hanging up, Charlie reassured Sam that she would find Dean with the information he supplied and not to worry.

As he ended the call, Sam considered the other options available. Setting aside the fact that he had one of the worlds best computer hackers searching for his brother, Sam felt he needed to do more. As such, he turned his attention to setting up a scrying spell. Grabbing a more detailed map of the USA, the hunter placed all the ingredients on the table and unfurled the map. It took less than 20 minutes to mix up the potion and to utter the incantation. True to form the spell proceeded but half way through the flames from the spell changed to a bright red colour and then exploded destroying the entire map.

Luckily Sam's eyebrows narrowly avoided being synched but the table was badly marked. Turning to look directly at Cas, Sam could see the angel was shocked. Both the hunter and the angel quietly tried to understand what had went wrong. After much investigation, Cas spoke up. "I would deduce from the colour of the flames that the spell worked but wherever Dean is there is very powerful warding magic keeping his location hidden."

Sam did not like this new development. "This isn't good Cas. If Dean was in trouble on a hunt, the chances are, he would be easy to locate as his captors most likely wouldn't know him enough to ward him. Which leads me to think one of two things. Either whatever he has been facing on his hunt is so powerful it is hiding him or someone planned his kidnapping and is deliberately hiding him from us through warding." The latter option scared him greatly as it indicated that something targeted his brother, ambushed him and is now hiding him. As Sam wrestled with this new information Cas added, "Sam, there is another option, what if Michael has somehow found Dean and is hiding him from us for some reason, or what if Michael has already taken him over already. That would explain why the spell reacted this way."

At Cas's comments Sam's heart stopped briefly. The thought of the archangel kidnapping and taking over his brother again was too horrific to fully contemplate. He couldn't allow himself to believe this was his brother's fate. "No Cas. You may be right, but I refuse to accept that Michael has Dean already. He could easily be … " Sam stopped speaking as the alternative was equally too depressing to put into words. Instead both Cas and Sam silently agreed to keep searching for Dean and would face whatever or whoever had hidden Dean from them.

[Michael POV]

Whilst Sam and Cas grappled with the possibility that Dean was being deliberately hidden from them, the archangel Michael paced the floor of his latest headquarters. Looking at his new vessel in the mirror, Michael was impressed by her presence and gravitas. Since leaving his true vessel, the archangel had already burnt through two vessels. The last one had lasted the longest, and he had thought it would last until he needed to return to Dean. Sadly, like many of his previous vessels, his meatsuit had eventually disintegrated from the inside out. Looking closer at his new vessel, it was clear that this one had been an up and coming lawyer. She showed great promise, but despite her strengths and attributes, Michael missed his 'sword' and as his plans progressed the archangel was beginning to yearn to return to his true vessel as soon as possible, after all for his endgame plan to work he needed to be back within Dean's body.

His spy, Derek, had been reporting twice daily directly to Michael through prayer. Succinct and to the point, Derek's reports had not brought positive news. Michael had learned that Sam was now using a human hacker to try and locate Dean. But it was the latest report about the failed scrying spell that concerned Michael. The new information intrigued Michael. He was a strategist and had been planning for a number of scenarios, especially when it came to his vessel, the infamous Dean Winchester, but the news that he was powerfully warded from his own brother meant that there were other players on his chess board and that simply wouldn't do, at all!

As Michael pondered further on the latest intel from Derek, he considered who or what could have taken his vessel. It was as he had feared. Dean Winchester out on his own – alone and vulnerable was a prime target for a whole host of enemies. The problem was narrowing the list down. Thankfully, through his connection, Michael knew Dean was alive, no mater what warding was in place, Michael had left a back door open and had established a link with the older Winchester. So if Dean suddenly died, the archangel would have felt it for sure. With that deduction, Michael was sure, whoever had Dean, didn't want him found by his brother, but did the warding include the archangel? Armed with that question, Michael made the decision to do his spell again. He would take the chance that Dean was asleep and search him out and locate him directly. If Dean didn't know his location, which was a possibility, Michael would at least know where in America Dean had been kidnapped.

It took little to no time for Michael to set up the spell. At first, the archangel didn't think it was going to work but perseverance eventually won through and the bond managed to link the archangel to his 'sword'. The first thing Michael realised was that Dean wasn't in a natural sleep. He was definitely unconscious, but the human's mind was foggy. Michael deduced that Dean was in fact heavily drugged. This was not good and it would make it extremely difficult for Michael to determine location and enemy, but he would try.

"Dean, I know you're tired and confused, but it's me, I only want to find you and help you. Please tell me what happened to you. I'm here with your angel Castiel and your brother Samuel. We know you've been taken by something but not what. Your brother has asked for my help and I have agreed." Michael could tell that Dean was struggling to understand never name rationalise why his brother and Cas would have teamed up with 'the enemy' as Dean liked to view the archangel as. Thankfully for Michael, the drugs left Dean confused enough to not question the logic of a certain team up. "I',,,,,,,,mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm not sure where I am …. go… ingggg, but … vamps… vampires took mmmee me. Bastard Dohh Dohh, Dom … Dominic, bar… barmannnnnnnn sold me… me to,toooooooo them."

Despite it proving painful to interpret what Dean was saying, Michael managed to patch together that the bar man from Dean's dream was in fact real and as he recalled, Dean had said: 'Dom mate, is that you?' That meant that he was looking for someone by the name of Dominic that owned or worked in a bar that had sold him to vampires. 'Hmmm, interesting. I need to press some vampire contacts to get a better understanding of the trading between vampires and supernaturals. Dean has been sold by someone named Dominic and he's been sold to vampires.'

Michael decided to risk probing further into Dean's mind. He knew it wouldn't yield an address, but any information could help narrow down the search. After an hour of digging and probing Michael managed to identify a number of pieces of key information. Firstly, he was looking for a bar known as the Beaten Docket or some sort of derivative from the name. He was looking for a man called Dominic, either owner or bar tender. He also had worked out Dean had been working a case in Bardstown. Opening his vessel's eyes again, Michael had good sound information, but what to do about it?

The bond was making Michael question his approach to his vessel. The strategist side of his mind, informed him that he needed to somehow keep his distance and drip feed information to Derek as it would enable Dean to be located and for no one to be any wiser to Dean's continued importance. But it was the link with Dean that was providing Michael with the strong urge to throw caution to the wind and go out and find his vessel.

After much internal debate the strategist won out and Michael sent the information to Derek with the strict instruction of finding a way of getting this intel shared without Sam knowing the origin of it. Michael didn't hold out much confidence in Derek, but he knew the human was a liar but more importantly, Derek valued his neck and would find a way of using the information to bring Sam Winchester closer to finding his brother. Otherwise he would meet his end quicker than he anticipated, Michael would personally see to that.

Derek had replied in prayer to the archangel. "Lord Michael, I've received the information and will find a way of ensuring the information is used but you are not implicated. I have a plan as Dean stated he was on a hunt, I will use the hunters network to locate his car and take it from there." Michael smiled and for the first time in over 24 hours, the archangel felt the search for Dean was well underway and within hours he would be found and safely back in the bunker.