11: The Nest
Becky closed her mouth to hide her teeth and her eyes scanned Sam's face. She tried to find a clue so that she could determine his next move, but didn't succeed. Sam's mouth just hung open while he looked down on the blond vampire with confused and pitiful eyes. Finally, he got off her and stood up.
"We need to talk," he said calmly.
Becky didn't say anything, but nodded lightly while tears gathered in her eyes that she quickly swept away with the back of her hand. She was about to raise herself up, but stopped halfway. She looked down on her leg and saw that the knife was still there. With a shaky hand she grabbed the handle, shut her eyes and with a quick movement removed it. Against her will, she let out a gasp out of pain. Then, she bit her lower lip to not make anymore sound. She picked herself up, gave the knife to Sam and kept her gaze at the ground while hugging herself with her arms.
"Alright. Let's go somewhere else," Sam suggested and started to walk. Becky followed him close behind.
He kept looking back and was expecting Becky trying to escape, but she didn't. She didn't even look at him. With her arms tight around her own body, she just quietly followed. Something felt different about her, Sam noticed. But, maybe it was the whole vampire aspect? That wouldn't be too strange.
When they reached the road, where the entrance of the club was, Sam saw a very familiar face coming out of a very familiar Impala. The older Winchester spotted Sam as well. The brothers looked each other in the eyes with very serious face expressions and were quiet for a couple of seconds. Then they greeted each other in monotone and gloomy voices.
"Dean."
"Sam."
Dean's head turned to Sam's company and his face immediately changed into a surprised grimace.
"Becky?"
The blond looked up at Dean, but then quickly looked down at the ground again.
"What the hell are you doing with blondie?" Dean snapped and looked at Sam again. "I thought you were supposed to look for vampires?"
"Well, surprise, surprise..." Sam sighed.
At first Dean didn't get want Sam meant, but then his eyes widened in shock and he inhaled rapidly.
"No..." He breathed out and stared at Becky. "No..."
He couldn't believe it. Becky? Of all people?
"I'm taking her to the house so-" Sam began.
"You mean, we are taking her to the house," Dean interrupted.
"Fine! Whatever, we just need to get her out of here. Too many people." Sam tried to give Dean a hint.
Dean got it. They didn't know if Becky was hungry or if she could really control herself. They needed to remove her from this mass. Dean gestured with his head for both of them to get in the Impala and they did. Dean himself, got in the driver seat and drove them back to Krissy's in-case-of-emergency house that they were borrowing at the moment.
XXXXX
Dean walked into the wooden house first, while Sam kept himself near Becky and gave her directions. They choose to be in the living room and Dean sank down into an armchair and sighed in content. Sam told the blond to sit on the couch that was opposite of two armchairs, were Dean was sitting in one of them. Sam positioned himself in the other. At first, there was an uncomfortable silence. How did you start these things?
"So, how come you are a vampire?" Dean asked straightforward and leaned back in his armchair with his arms crossed behind his head.
Well, that was how you could start it... Sam glared at Dean who gave him a look of indifference. Yeah, maybe they had to co-operate at the moment, but as soon as this hunt was over they would go their own ways again. He just couldn't stand Dean's arrogant ways at the moment and Dean looked like he struggled with being around Sam too.
"Becky..." Sam said gently and looked at her. "You have to tell us what happened."
He placed his hand carefully on her knee, trying to make her feel comfortable and open up. The reaction was the opposite, she shuddered at the touch and brought her knees up to her chin.
"I'm sorry!" Sam quickly said and put his hands up in the air, showing that he would not try that again.
A silence surrounded them and Becky started to slowly swing back and forth on the couch. Sam and Dean exchanged a worried look.
"Dude. She is mental," Dean whispered to his brother. "We won't get anything out of her."
Just as Sam was about to answer him, Becky spoke.
"Four months."
The Winchesters' eyes widened in surprise. She was talking! Still acting weird, but talking! Sam cleared his throat and reminded himself to speak very calmly to their vampire.
"Becky, I want you to know that we won't hurt you. You don't have to be afraid. Alright?" Sam tried to encourage. "Please, can you be more specific? What do you mean with four months?"
The blond took a few deep breaths to calm herself. She was very nervous, but seemed to gain some courage. She looked up at them, but kept her gaze at Sam.
"I was turned four months ago," she told them in a weak voice. "Then they made me go with them. Made me stay with them."
"Who are 'they', Becky?" Sam asked gently.
"A nest?" Dean added to Sam's question.
Becky nodded.
"There are six of them and three of us. They change location when there is too much suspicion. We have lived here three weeks or something like that."
Sam's eyebrows got together in confusion. Wait, what?
"You said: six of them, three of you..." Sam wondered.
"Are you not part of the nest?" Dean asked.
Becky shook her head.
"We work for them. Me, Charles and Viola."
This was very confusing to the Winchesters... Vampires that work for a nest, but are not part of it? Why would anyone do that? It was unusual behaviour for vampires, they normally just had a nest and that was it. Becky saw their confused faces and started to unzip a big blue sweater that she was wearing. When unzipped, they could see that she was wearing a white top and had something quite large around her neck.
"What is that?" Sam asked while pointing at a metal collar that she had around her neck.
Her hands slowly caressed the metal.
"It's a bomb," she whispered and swallowed some saliva before speaking again. "We have to do what they say, bring food, be back at a certain time or they will set it off... So we do it."
"They turn you and put a bomb around your neck?" Dean said while he raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Wait," Sam said a bit horrified. "It does, think about it. Vampires are faster and stronger. Having one working for you is an advantage. And when the bomb that is around the neck goes off, it will separate the head from the body. It will kill a vampire... Therefore, it's a perfect way to make someone obey you."
Dean opened his mouth and nodded, a bit impressed by the nest's way of thinking.
"Wow. That is really cleaver," he commented with a small laugh at the end.
Sam glared at Dean angrily. Really? Making such comments when they had a clearly stressed out vampire in front of them? Dean pretended not to see Sam and just looked in another direction.
Okay... So the nest had three vampires working for them as... slaves? And, if they didn't obey them, they killed them? What type of nest was this? Gangsters or what? It was such an unusual behaviour, but just like Dean pointed out: It was in fact quite clever.
"Wait, this is great!" Dean suddenly exclaimed. "We have an inside track on this nest!"
Sam grimaced, but his brother was right. This was a good opportunity that they had to use.
"This nest, could you tell us more? You said there were six of them?" Sam asked.
"Three couples," Becky answered.
"They must have a leader," Dean pointed out.
"Tony," Becky nodded and took a deep breath before she continued. "They live in a big house outside of town, in a forest. Each couple have their own room on the first floor. Two keep watch outside. It's either me, Charles or Viola. The last one stays on the ground floor in the house. They keep the... people in the basement which we... tie up and are responsible for. "
Once again there was an uncomfortable silence and Becky buried her face shamefully in her hands.
"It's alright," Sam comforted. "We will solve this. We always do."
She nodded.
"They don't do much, we do everything for them. I'm supposed to be back in a couple of hours," she said and looked at the ground as her voice changed into an almost inaudible whisper. "...With a prey."
Sam and Dean sighed.
"Well, okay. But, we have some time to prepare. You will lead us straight to the nest, Becky." Dean smiled like a goof and made a thumbs up towards the blond, trying to cheer her up a bit.
She grabbed her collar again, with fear in her eyes.
"Can't we just take that thing off?" Dean whined and looked at the bomb. "Cut it or whatever?"
"That might actually set it off," Sam said behind gritted teeth and rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Whatever," Dean raised himself up from the armchair. "I will get some things from the car. Will be right back."
Dean was about to go, but turned around again to face Sam. He scratched the back of his head in an awkward manner and cleared his throat.
"Have... Have you heard anything from Cas?" He asked carefully.
Sam exhaled tiredly.
"He was not feeling too good when we parted," the younger answered. "Said to call him on his phone if we wanted something."
"Aha, okay." Dean nodded in thanks.
Then, the older of the Winchesters left the house. Sam closed his eyes and sighed, then he heard the girl in front of him sobbing. He opened his eyes and saw several tears running down Becky's cheeks.
"I don't want to die..." Her voice cracked somewhere in the middle of her sentence.
"Hey... We won't let anything happen to you. Don't worry about the bo-"
"It's not just that!"
Sam was startled because of the sudden outburst. Becky swept away her tears and looked at the Winchester with a sad smile.
"I know you," she said weakly. "I have read everything about you. I know how this works... I'm a vampire now. You say you won't harm me, but in the end one of the two Winchesters will kill me because it's the right thing to do... It's what you two always have done..."
Sam sat there with his mouth hanging open. He had not forgotten that Becky had read every book of Supernatural more than once, that she was uploading them on the internet and was essentially the biggest fan, but... Did she really think they would kill her? Sure, that was how they dealt with these sort of things, but...
"I had fantasies about this, you know..." Becky looked down on the ground with an honest smile. "That I would be turned into a vampire and even though you were a hunter, we would be madly in love... The vampire Becky and the hunter Sam..."
Her hands started shaking and new tears gathered in her eyes.
"This is so different..." Her voice was barely a whisper. "I have killed peop... I... You..."
Sam stared at Becky and could just not understand that it was really her. She had changed so much. Where was the always smiling and full of energy girl? Where was the girl who went to conventions, wrote fanfictions and was obsessed with the Supernatural books? Her eyes always sparkled with anticipation, like no one Sam had ever seen before. For God's sake, she had once tricked a demon into a devil's trap and later killed him! And, had only been exited about it. Where was this girl?
Now, she was just a shell of her former self. Not even a bit happy about seeing Sam, who she had once poisoned and forced into marriage. Sam was never really fond of her, but it hurt in his chest that she had changed this much. Being turned into a vampire and then enslaved had clearly crushed her. Her eyes were dead and showed no sign of hope. Her usual smile filled with dreams and expectations was nowhere to be seen...
"Becky," Sam said seriously and put his hand on her knee again. She wanted to move away again, but he had a firm grip. "Look at me. We will solve this. And find a way to help you, a cure or anything. You know that we always find a way."
She kept his gaze for a long time and finally nodded slightly.
"Okay," Becky whispered in a hoarse voice and Sam smiled at her.
XXXXX
When outside, Dean took a deep breath. The cold air that was entering his lungs, calmed him down a bit. Without further delay, he took out his phone and dialed. Best to just get this over with.
After a few signals, the person on the other end of the line picked up, but didn't say anything. It brought a smile to Dean's lips. The angel still didn't get social norms quite right.
"Cas?" Dean had to start.
"Of course it is," Castiel answered with a soft voice. "You are the one calling. Am I not the one you wish to speak to?"
"No, no, it is. I..." Dean took another deep breath. "I need to talk to you, man."
"Of course. What is it?"
Dean wondered how he should put it. Damn, maybe he should have thought of what to say before calling?
"I just... Listen, I'm sorry... Before, I just... There is a lot going on right now and it was just too much for me. Not that it should excuse me for acting like a jerk, but... I just wanted to say that I shouldn't have lashed out on you like that and then just left. You helped us a lot, were injured, and..."
"It's alright Dean," Cas said and Dean could hear him smiling.
The Winchester let out a nervous breath he had been holding.
"Good... So we're fine?"
"Yes."
"Alright," Dean said and felt a little bit better. "Well, that was all I had to say. Don't want to interrupt your business any-"
"Dean?"
"What?"
"There is something you should know," Cas said and sounded anxious. "My grace has been... disappearing since I got it. It's not only that. When I fought in Hell, I used up most of it..."
"Wh- Why didn't you say anything before?" Dean almost shouted out of worry.
"You had your own problems and I didn't want to worry anyone, but..." Castiel paused for a moment. "I'm pretty much powerless, Dean. If Michael shows up or anything else... I won't be able to fight."
Dean inhaled nervously. Crap. Cas, not able to fight? The one they always relied on? And, his grace was disappearing?
"I'm so sorry, Dean. I-"
"No, Cas. It's... It's not your fault. Just focus on healing or whatever. Get better," Dean said.
"If something would happen... Promise me you will say 'no'," Castiel pleaded.
"Yeah, that's obvious." Dean looked up at the sky while he was talking. "Right now, me and Sam are just focusing on a hunt. We'll figure out everything later. See you soon Cas, okay? And get better, dude."
"Good-bye, Dean."
Then they hung up. Dean put his phone back in his pocket and then ruffled his hair. He walked over to his baby and tried not to think too much about his conversation with Cas. Right now, he only had to think about Becky and the nest. He took out everything they would need from the trunk of the car and put it in one big bag. Then, he returned to the wooden house.
XXXXX
When he was in the living room again, he saw that the blond's eyes were very red and swollen.
"Alright Becky," Dean said as he put down his bag on the floor with a thud. "Get some rest, me and Sam are going to come up with a plan."
She nodded and Sam got up from his armchair.
"Then," Dean continued and cracked a smile. "Let's go and kill some sons of bitches."
