Chapter Eleven
"Wait, what do you mean she's missing?" asked Sam.
"Who's missing?" Dean asked, walking up to the door.
"Lizzie," said Lori. "She hasn't talked to me today."
"Well, maybe she's just upset," Sam told her, thinking about how upset he made Lizzie. "She probably just needs time to herself."
Lori narrowed her eyes at Sam, stepping up towards him. "What did you do?"
Sam swallowed nervously. "Nothing. Nothing happened."
"Oh, something happened, alright," growled Lori, "or you would know where she is. What…did…you…do?"
Sam looked up at Dean, who shrugged. He looked back down at Lori. "I…might have told her that I wanted to go back to human."
Lori's eyes widened. "You, what? Are you insane?"
"That was my plan all along," Sam told her hurriedly. "I have other work that I need to do. I tried telling her—"
Lori brought a hand up and slapped Sam across the face. Sam froze, looking down at the floor.
"How dare you…" Lori told him. "You have no idea what Liz has been through."
Sam looked at her. "Yes, I do. I knew what a hard blow it would be for her, but I had to tell her before she got her hopes up."
"Clearly, she already did," Lori growled. "You knew, and you still told her?"
"I had no choice!" Sam told her.
"People!" Dean yelled.
They looked at him.
"Could we focus on the problem at hand?" said Dean. He looked at Lori. "She's probably just upset at Sam and hiding. Or she found out the hunters were gone, and she's hiding in the ocean somewhere. Let's not jump to conclusions."
"We promised each other that we would talk every day by at least one o'clock," Lori told them. "It's 2:15. That's our deal whenever we're separated. We've looked out for each other our whole lives. Even if she was upset, she would at least tell me she was okay. That coupled with the hunters missing…Something's wrong."
"Okay," said Sam. "Come on, let's head down to the dock and see if we can find a trail."
The three of them piled into the Impala, and Dean sped down to the dock. They rushed out, heading for the water's edge. The place was completely clean.
"Wait," said Sam. He turned his head, frowning. "You smell that?"
"Yeah," said Lori, looking around for the source also.
"Smell what?" asked Dean.
"It's kind of…coppery," said Lori.
They all looked at each other, knowing what that meant. Sam and Lori followed the smell towards the building.
"There," said Sam, pointing.
Just inside the door were a couple splatters of blood.
Lori knelt next to it. "It's hers."
"How do you know?" asked Dean.
Sam put his finger in the blood, emerging with two small black scales. "Alright, they couldn't have gotten far. Lori and I will track the scent. Dean, you and Bobby search any place in town that could store her."
"On it," said Dean, jumping into the Impala and tearing out of the lot.
"Come on," said Sam. He and Lori began following the smell of blood.
"If anything happens to her, I swear—" Lori began.
"It won't," Sam said adamantly. "I promised Lizzie nothing would happen to her. I am not breaking that promise. I will bring her home."
Lori looked up at him. "So, what's so important that you have to ditch us?"
Sam winced at how she put it. "My brother and I are hunting down a demon that holds Dean's contract. Dean made a demon deal to save my life, and he's going to die in a couple months if we don't break it. I can't just abandon him."
Lori looked down at her shoes as they walked. "The Elders will have the cure."
Sam looked at her. "What?"
"If there is a cure, the Elders will have it," said Lori. She looked up at Sam. "You should help your brother. He needs you. Just like Lizzie needs me. I can understand that."
Sam looked at her gratefully. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet," said Lori. "We don't know if there is a cure or not."
"You don't?" asked Sam.
"Well, if there is, it's never been used," said Lori. "I mean, every merperson has become that way by choice, or by accident and enjoyed it. We've never had someone who actually wanted to go back. And don't forget, you still have to patch things up with Lizzie…if we ever find her."
"We'll find her," said Sam.
They came to a stop at an intersection.
"I lost the smell," said Sam frustratingly.
"Me, too," said Lori.
"They've loaded her into a truck," said Sam, "which means that we can't track her."
"What do we do now?" asked Lori.
Sam turned to her. "Don't worry. We're pretty good at this stuff. Come on, let's get back to the room."
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That evening, Bobby and Dean came back to the motel room to find Sam on his laptop, searching through traffic cameras to find the truck.
Lori looked up at them. "What did you find?"
"She's not in any of the empty buildings or warehouses in town," said Dean. "We're about to head to the next town over to check. Just needed to get supplies."
"I want to go with you," said Lori. "I want to help."
Dean looked at Bobby. "Alright, you go with Bobby. I'll help Sam with the…whatever he's doing."
"Traffic camera search," Sam told him from the table.
"Yeah, that," said Dean. He grabbed some guns and ammo from the bed and handed them to Bobby. "Here."
"We'll call in an hour," Bobby told him, heading out the door with Lori.
Dean walked over to the table. "You find anything yet?"
Sam shook his head. "No. Nothing yet. The closest intersection is five blocks from the dock. There's no telling when they left with Lizzie, so I have to search all of them for…anything I can find."
"Well, let me know when you find something," said Dean. "Anything I can do?"
"No," said Sam. "This is it. I'll let you know."
About an hour later, Sam got Dean's attention.
"There's a security footage of a black truck with a pretty big cage in the back from a bank six streets away from the dock," said Sam. "They're headed west."
"Alright, come on," said Dean, grabbing his jacket and heading for the door. He opened it to find it raining. "Crap." He looked at Sam. "Alright, you stay here, look for more footage. I'll head west."
Sam nodded as Dean headed out into the rain. He kept scouring the internet, looking for more footage, but was unsuccessful. And now, Sam had no choice but to stay in the room while it rained. He couldn't help if he couldn't walk. It got to about nine o'clock, and Sam was just sitting at the table, waiting impatiently. His leg would not stay still. He was so nervous to get Lizzie back that it kept bouncing non-stop. A knock came at the door, and Sam jolted up from his seat, rushing towards the door.
"What'd you find…" Sam asked as he opened the door, but he froze.
Sam had never seen the two bounty hunters at the dock, but one look at the shells full of salt draped over their torsos and the iron crowbars, and Sam knew who was standing at the door. And they would only be here for one reason.
Sam flung the door closed, but one guy stuck his foot out, kicking it open before it latched. Sam knew he could not run with the rain outside; he would have to fight. Lucky he had super strength, though. He just needed to avoid the crowbars.
The two hunters burst into the room, readying the crowbars. The first one rushed forward, aiming at Sam's head. Sam grabbed the guy's arm, shoving his knee into the guy's gut. The guy dropped as the second guy ran at Sam. He swung a fist at Sam when he thought Sam was distracted. Sam brought a leg up, catching the guy in the chest.
The first guy whacked Sam in the leg with the crowbar. Sam yelled in pain as the second guy swung his crowbar towards him. Sam instinctively grabbed the crowbar to prevent getting hit. He yelled out again as the iron burned him. He quickly withdrew his hand and held it close. Now, the two hunters would know without a doubt what Sam was.
The first guy attacked, beginning a fist fight. He kept Sam so preoccupied that he didn't notice the second guy loading a shotgun. Sam punched the first guy and raised his arm back to hit him again. The first guy hit the floor suddenly, and a shot rang out. Sam felt the rock salt pepper his chest. Sam yelled, falling back to the floor. His wounds started crackling as the salt went to work.
The two guys grabbed Sam, pulling him to his feet and forcing him towards the door as he groaned in pain. They made it out the door and onto the covered porch before Sam found the strength to fight back. Sam pulled against their grasp, but they began hitting him with the iron crowbars again. They reached the edge of the porch—and subsequently, the roof—and Sam dug his heels into the ground to stop them from dragging him into the rain. The wood actually started to splinter from the force.
One of the hunters let him go and swung a crowbar at his legs, hitting him just behind the knees. Sam's knees buckled a little, but his legs were so locked up and tense that it took several more hits before his legs finally collapsed altogether, losing him his leverage. The first guy used his hold on him to shove him out from under the roof and into the pouring rain.
Sam braced his fall onto the pavement with hands and arms that were already scaling and fin-ing. As he hit the pavement, he heard shredding fabric as he felt his tail tear through his cotton pants. Sam flipped over onto his back, leaving behind the pants. He was left with just his shirt.
The hunters pounced on him, but Sam raised a hand. The rain from about a twenty foot radius began pelting the hunters. They threw their arms up, trying to bat the rain away. Sam brought another hand up, causing the water from the pavement to sweep straight into their legs. They toppled to the pavement as Sam tried to dry himself off, but the rain would just soak him when he dried something off. Sam began to use the water around him as a sled, of sorts. He pushed the water up under him, forcing it to surge him along the parking lot away from them.
The first guy raised an iron knife, plunging it into his tail fin. Sam yelled in pain as he lost his concentration and fell to the pavement with a splash. The two hunters began to attack him into submission.
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Dean pulled up to the motel after finding nothing, parking the car at the nearest empty spot—about fifteen spaces away from their room. He got out and heard a commotion from the other end of the lot. He looked over and saw two men pounding on some guy.
"Hey!" Dean yelled, heading to intervene when he saw a flash of blue tail.
Oh, my God, Dean realized. That's in front of our room.
"Sammy!" Dean yelled, racing towards the scene.
When he got close enough, he could recognize the bounty hunters and could see a knife stabbed through Sam's tail, which just enraged him all the more.
Dammit! Dean thought. Why wasn't I packing?
One of the hunters turned, getting ready for Dean's attack. Dean swung a punch at him, but the hunter blocked it. The hunter swung a crowbar at Dean's ribs, which Dean took so he could pin the crowbar in between his arm and his torso, grabbing onto the guy's arm that was holding the crowbar. Pulling the guy forward, Dean shoved a knee into his gut. The hunter stumbled back, tripping over Sam's tail and hitting the pavement hard.
Dean pulled the second guy away from beating Sam, punching him several times. Something collided with the back of his head, and the world went black. He felt his body go slack, and the ground hit him in the face.
"Dean!" Sam yelled.
Dean tried to get his bearings as his head throbbed.
"No!" Sam yelled. "Stop!"
Dean slowly brought his head up, fighting the spinning delirium inside his head. His vision began clearing as he dazedly turned onto his side.
"Let me go!" Sam yelled. "Let me go!"
"Sam…" Dean muttered as a blurred parking lot appeared in front of him.
Something was being dragged across the pavement away from him.
"Sammy…" Dean mumbled, his vision clearing a little more.
Dean watched as the two bounty hunters dragged Sam towards their truck.
"Sammy," Dean tried to yell. He sat up quickly, which made his head spin and vision cloud. He ignored the warning signs and pushed himself onto his knees. He grabbed his head as it began to spin.
The hunters reached the truck, putting the gate down on the bed.
"Don't!" Sam yelled, struggling within their grasp. "Dean!"
"Sam!" Dean called weakly.
He fought his spinning head and churning stomach and climbed to his feet as the hunters struggled to push/pull Sam onto the truck. Dean pulled himself towards Sam, his feet stumbling on the pavement. His vision blurred heavily as his head gave a violent lurch, and he fell onto his knees. He pulled his head up to look at the truck, where the hunters were shoving Sam into the cage and closing it.
Dean fell onto his side as his vision began blurring. He fought to keep his eyes open, watching as the truck pulled out of the lot. Sam clung to the bars of the cage, staring at Dean in worry and fear. Dean's vision blacked out.
