Well, I guess you all have waited long enough. Are you ready for the next chapter? Okay...read on :)
Cindy
"Where the hell did that slippery little sucker get to?" Roger hissed under his breath as he pushed through the doors of the dorm building and out into the nighttime air. He glanced to his left then to his right, but there was nobody but him out as far as he could see.
"He's blind for craps sake…how could he have given me the slip?" the agitated hunter whispered as he made a decision and scrambled down the sidewalk to his right. He was halfway between Sam's building and the street when he caught movement just a bit to his right. He squinted his eyes and just caught someone's form slipping behind a building across the street from where he was. He wasted no time in sprinting across the street and around the building, which turned out to be the School of Law building. When he turned the corner, whomever he had seen was nowhere to be found.
"That kid is gonna drive me to drink," Roger spat as he once again took off, his eyes constantly darting back and forth looking for his missing charge.
Roger kept to the back of the Law building and once he had quickly made his way to the other end, he saw a bookstore a little ways past it. He glanced to his right, between the two buildings and could make out what he remembered as Meyer Library from his earlier search for Sam. Something told him to head in that direction, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what. He took off toward the library which was not a short distance and by the time Roger reached the front, he was out of breath and sweating like a greased pig.
"I'm too old for this sh*t," Roger gasped as he bent over, hands on his knees, and concentrated on catching his breath. Once he could breathe again, he stood and looked around. He had no idea which way to go. He didn't even know why he'd come this way and was just turning to go back the way he'd come, the hunter fairly certain Sam could not have been able to get this far ahead of him when he heard a short, pain filled scream come from around the backside of the library. He scrambled around the building, nearly tripping on what turned out to be the prone form of a young woman. The girl was groaning, her eyes blinking and unfocused. Roger cursed under his breath and knelt down to check on the girl.
"Hey, are you okay?" Roger asked as he looked into the slowly focusing eyes, his hands on each of the girl's shoulders.
"I…where's…" the girl whispered, her voice trembling. "Oh my God…Sam!" she suddenly cried out and clawed at Roger's arms as she attempted to lift herself from the ground.
"Sam? Where is he?" Roger spat, his hands moving to the girl's arms where he easily lifted her up to her feet.
The girl turned to look at Roger and tears formed in her eyes. "The man…" the girl started, but was cut off by a strangled cry coming from further around the back of the building.
Roger jerked his head around and immediately took off toward the cry, the hunter dragging the girl with him. He'd gone a short distance when suddenly, he saw two forms about fifty feet ahead of him. One figure was standing and facing the other who was knelt on the ground, his head tilted up, arms dangling to his sides. When Roger got closer he could see that the kneeling form was Sam and that the other figure held his head in his hands and was speaking to the young man, who's only response was the occasional pain filled gasp. Roger felt the girl tense beside him and before he could stop her, she cried out in fear and anger.
"Sam!" Ritu screamed as she attempted to pull free of Rogers grip.
"Quiet girl!" Roger hissed, but it was too late. The man holding Sam turned toward them and smiled, his hands never loosening their grip on Sam's head. Sam made no move to indicate he knew what was going on which unnerved Roger immensely.
"Leave hunter and I won't hurt you or the girl. The boy and I have some…business to attend to and I'd like to do it in privacy if I could," the man holding Sam said, his voice calm as cocked his head. Roger drew in a deep breath when his eyes suddenly glowed a sickly yellow. The girl beside him gasped and shrank back from the scene.
"I'm not leaving without Sam. Let him go or you'll be sorry," Roger hissed as he moved toward the two figures.
The yellow eyed man shook his head then very slightly tilted his chin up. Roger and Ritu were instantly thrown backwards, both hitting the ground hard, neither one moving as the yellow eyed man turned back toward Sam and smiled down at the boy. Sam's eyes were wide open, tears streaming from them and down his cheeks. The yellow eyed man moved his thumbs over Sam's eyes and pushed his lids down then tightened his grip on the young man's head. Sam cried out weakly then suddenly slipped bonelessly to the ground as the man let go of him. The yellow eyed man knelt down beside the boy then leaned over and pressed his lips close to Sam's ear.
"You belong to me, Sam. When the time comes, I will come for you. There is no use fighting me…you will not win." With that said, the man stood and walked away into the night, his light chuckle filling the cool night air.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Sam slipped out the side door to Stern Hall and quickly hurried toward the street separating him from the library quad. There were two libraries past the Law building, Meyer Library and just past that, Green Library. He could only assume that Ritu was at Meyer Library as that was where they would meet up each day to study and catch up. He knew he had to be quick in order to keep Roger off his trail and luckily he'd mapped out the quickest way to the library when he'd first arrived at Stanford. He knew the route like the back of his hand and he made his way at a steady pace, his disability showing no signs of slowing him down. He slipped beside the School of Law building and hurried toward the library quad, counting his steps in his head just as he always did. He reached Meyer Library and stopped, the young man tilting his head and listening for any sounds that did not belong around the building. He wanted to call out for his girlfriend, but was afraid that may bring unwanted attention to him if there were others out at this hour so instead he listened and was finally rewarded when he heard crying coming from behind the building.
Sam eased his way along the wall of the building and once he'd reached the back corner he stopped and listened, the young man furiously trying to come up with a plan to save his girlfriend. A voice he'd never heard suddenly called out making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and a shiver to crawl up his spine.
"Sammy boy, come out, come out wherever you are! That is unless you want this pretty little thing to start losing fingernails."
Sam sighed then stepped from the shadow of the building and turned toward the direction the voice had come from. "Ritu…are you okay?" he called fearfully, his heart pounding in his chest.
"Sam…help me…please," Ritu's terrified voice called back and Sam immediately started forward, a snarl curling his lip as anger flowed through him.
"She better not be hurt you son of a bitch!" Sam hissed.
"She's just fine…for now. You come closer and I'll let her go."
Sam moved closer, his hand in his pocket wrapped around the small bottle of holy water. He never got the chance to use it. Sam cried out when he was suddenly grabbed by the arm and jerked forward.
"Sam…no!" Ritu's voice cried from somewhere to his left.
"You better run girl if you know what's good for you. Sammy boy and I have a little bit of business to attend to," the man's voice called.
"I'm not leaving him. Don't you hurt him!" Ritu snapped back protectively.
"Ritu…go. I'll…I'll be fine…he's not going to hurt me," Sam commanded.
"I'm not leaving you with him, Sam! I'm going to call the campus police!" Ritu replied as she dived for her phone that had fallen from her hand during her earlier confrontation with the man. Before she could reach the phone, an invisible force slammed into her, knocking her several feet into the air. She screamed in pain as she hit the ground then darkness overtook her and the pain ceased.
Before Sam could even scream out for his girlfriend, the man suddenly latched onto his head and forced him to his knees. Pain sliced through Sam's head and he cried out as his body was filled with coursing jolts of electricity. Through the roaring in his ears he could hear the man's voice and his blood ran cold at what the man said.
"You're mine, Sam. You've been mine since before you were even born. You can thank your mother for that, but of course…she's dead so I guess you can't. She died trying to protect you…she wanted to break the deal we had, but that wasn't going to happen so I had to kill her. I've had fun watching you trying to be normal when you're anything but, Sam…blind, demon property…you'll never know normal so you might as well quit trying."
Sam could feel his strength leaving him and there was nothing he could do to stop the attack. His arms fell to his sides, the young man no longer able to hold them up. The pain continued to tear through him until finally it was all he knew. He could no longer hear the man's voice…never heard when Ritu screamed out his name or Roger's voice threatened the man. All he knew was pain until finally, he knew no more.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
"Dammit!" Bobby spat as he slammed his phone onto the seat beside him. He'd tried to reach Roger, but each time the call went to voicemail and the older hunter was beginning to have a very bad feeling. He picked his phone back up and pushed the button for Sam's phone, the bad feeling intensifying as the call went unanswered. Bobby stared intently out the windshield of his truck and willed the city of Palo Alto to appear. He was only ten miles out, but it seemed like a hundred. He pressed his foot down on the accelerator and punched in another number, the old hunter dreading the coming conversation. He swallowed when the call was answered.
"Johnny…I think something's happened. I…I can't reach Sam or Roger…you need to hurry."
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Dean glanced over as John slipped his phone into his pocket with a deep sigh. "Dad?" he asked nervously as he studied the older hunter's profile.
John turned to Dean and shook his head. "Bobby's lost contact with Sam and Roger," he said before turning to stare out into the darkness beyond his windshield.
"No," Dean whispered as he dropped his head, one lone tear trailing down his cheek.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Roger came too with a groan, his head pounding with the worst headache he'd ever had. He rolled onto his side and pushed up onto his elbow, his eyes searching for Sam. He heard crying and turned his head slowly, his heart sinking when he spied Ritu leaning over Sam's prone, unmoving form. He pushed to his feet and stumbled toward the couple. He went to the opposite side of the unconscious hunter and dropped to his knees. He sucked in a breath at the sight of blood trickling from Sam's nose and ears. The kid was breathing, that much he could tell, but other than that, there was no way to know how bad off he was.
"Is he going to be okay?" the girl suddenly asked and Roger looked up into her tear filled, nearly black eyes.
"What's your name, girl?" Roger asked, avoiding the young woman's question as he had no answer for her.
"I…it's Ritu. I'm Sam's girlfriend. Is Sam going to be okay?"
Roger sighed and looked down at his young charge. "I don't know," he said softly as he pressed his fingers to Sam's neck. There was a pulse, but it was weak and thread. He pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it to the crying girl. "Here…call 911 while I check him over," he instructed.
Roger checked Sam over as best he could, listening all the while as Ritu relayed the pertinent information to the 911 operator. The kid was cold so Roger removed his jacket and draped it over Sam's chest then waited for the sirens he knew he'd soon be hearing. Ten minutes later, Roger and Ritu were standing back about ten feet while the EMT's worked on getting Sam loaded into the waiting ambulance. The boys face was covered by an oxygen mask and an IV line ran from the back of his hand up into a bag filled with clear liquid. Ritu jumped when the doors on the back of the ambulance were slammed shut and she took several steps forward, her eyes never leaving the ambulance as it drove away with her Sam inside. She turned to Roger and stared up at him.
"It's going to be okay, Ritu," Roger said, though he had no way of knowing if that was the truth or not. He put his arm around the girl's shoulders and pulled her to his side then began to walk back toward Stern Hall. "Come on…my car's nearby…I'm sure you want to wait at the hospital right?" he said.
Ritu nodded, but remained silent. Roger could tell she was in shock, but there was nothing he could do for her right now except get her to the hospital. They had both been looked over by another team of EMT's and both had been dubbed shaken up, but otherwise okay. They finally reached Roger's car and the older man helped Ritu into the front seat before he ran around the car and slid behind the wheel. Within minutes they were at Stanford Medical Center and settled into somewhat comfortable seats in the waiting room of the emergency room. Roger got Ritu some hot coffee and made sure she was semi-okay before he slipped outside to call Bobby. He knew he had screwed up and he didn't want to make the call, but he also knew he had to. He found a private seating area and pulled out his phone.
"Bobby…I screwed up," Roger said as his call was answered. "I know…I know…I…Bobby, Sam is at Stanford Medical Center…the bastard got to him…I know…I tried to stop him…I don't know, Bobby, he's unconscious…just get here…yeah, I know…I'm really sorry…"
Roger hung up his phone and stared out into the night. He had a feeling he'd just lost his friend and all he wanted to do was leave, but he couldn't do that. Sam was still his responsibility until Bobby got there and as fearful as he was of the older hunter's wrath, and that of the Winchesters who would most likely shoot him on sight, Roger was not one to duck out of his responsibilities. Besides, the kid had found a place in his heart somehow in the short time he'd known him and he needed to know that he was going to pull through. He'd take whatever punishment was coming his way and he'd take it willingly. He'd screwed up and now Sam may pay for it with his life. Roger sighed then headed back inside to begin what he knew would be a very long wait.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
John flipped his phone shut and pulled over to the side of the road. He leaned back in his seat and dropped his chin to his chest. He felt numb and he was finding it suddenly hard to breathe. He sensed Dean's eyes on him and he knew he must be scaring the young man. Dean was already riding the edge and John was terrified the new he'd just learned would send his eldest son right over the cliff. John sighed and looked up and over at his son.
"Dean…Sam's in the hospital. The demon got to him," John said softly.
Dean's face crumpled and he collapsed back against the seat back and drew his hand through his short hair. "This is my fault…I should have been there with him…we should have been there with him," he said.
"Dean…"
"Is he going to be okay? Does Bobby at least know that he's going to be okay?"
"He doesn't know. Roger didn't say much, just that…"
"Where the f*** was Roger when all the sh*t went down! He was supposed to keep Sam safe until we got there!"
"I don't know…Bobby hasn't gotten the whole story yet. He was just pulling into the hospital parking lot. He'll call as soon as he has any new for us."
"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch!"
"It's hard to kill a demon, Dean…"
"I'm not talking about the demon! I'm talking about Roger! If my little brother dies…I'm gonna kill him!"
"Dean…we don't know the full story yet. Just calm down."
Dean deflated and sank further into the seat. "I can't lose him, Dad…I just can't," he whispered.
"I know, Dean…neither can I," John replied as he pulled back onto the road and drove off into the night.
Dun, dun, dun! Thank you all so much for the comments and thank you for once again being so patient. I hope the chapter was worth the wait. Take care.
Cindy
