Thank you for all of your reviews! It has been so much fun writing this story, but sadly this is the last chapter. I hope you like it!
Dean looked from the piece of paper in his hand to Sam.
"You sure that's what it says? Nothing else?" Dean asked.
"It said Angelus instead of Angel, but you told me that's what they call him." Sam answered, shifting his weight slightly on the bed.
"What do you reckon it means?" Doyle asked as he snatched the paper from Dean's hand and stared at Sam's scrawl.
"Sewers?" Cordelia requested as she looked over Doyle's shoulder.
"Oh really; I would never have guessed." Doyle said sarcastically, keeping his eyes on the piece of paper.
For a moment it looked as though Cordelia was going to snap back at him, but she kept quiet.
"We should get back to Angel," She said as she looked away from the paper in Doyle's hand, "see what he thinks."
"I'm coming with you." Sam said and he started to climb out of the hospital bed.
"What? No, Sammy! You're staying here." Dean exclaimed as he rushed forward and pushed his brother back on the bed.
"Dean, come on!" Sam said, pushing Dean away from him.
"Do you guys want some space?" Doyle asked tentatively as he and Cordelia started backing out of the room.
"We're fine." Sam and Dean said.
Dean looked at Sam's sulking face for a while. He did look a lot better, but he was not going to let him go into a fight right now.
"Look, Sam, I'll keep you informed on what's going on, alright." Dean said, trying to stay calm; now was not the time to start a row with his brother.
"Okay." Sam sighed as he realized his defeat. He then looked up, a little more joy in his face. "Jerk."
"Bitch." Dean answered before turning around and walking out of the room, Doyle and Cordelia at his side.
"That's one funny way of greeting each other." Doyle said as they were leaving the hospital.
"Yeah; it's been going on forever." Dean chuckled.
They all climbed into the Impala; Dean turned on the engine and sent the car down the road while AC/DC started playing loudly. Again Cordelia started complementing the car and Dean's driving and taste of music; then back to the car, until Doyle told if she would please be quiet as he was starting to get a headache. Asking him hurriedly if it was a vision, Doyle merely shook his head.
"So, how long time since you guys slept?" Dean started to make friendly conversation. He had never been very good at it, but he knew that he never would.
"Oh, we got some sleep when you and Angel left for the sewers." Cordelia said happily as though she could find nothing wrong with sleeping, while Dean and Angel were risking their lives. However, Doyle seemed to have found a flaw in Cordelia's words.
"Well, we did a bit of research first." He said.
"So what do you think our vampire friend has been up to?" Dean asked with a grin on his face.
"Knowing Angel; probably brooding." Cordelia answered.
"He does that a lot." Doyle informed Dean.
Dean nodded without really realising it, but suddenly asked, "Why?"
"Oh, he feels he needs to feel sorry for himself." Cordelia said. "It's that whole, 'I'm a vampire with a soul, I must not be happy' kind of deal."
"He's a bit hard to cheer up, but he gets there occasionally." Doyle said. "Though, he's not too keen on going anywhere; he'd much rather just sit in a dark room."
"He did seem quite comfortable in the sewers." Dean said as he stared at the road. The other two refrained from commenting, but he could feel both of them staring at him. Maybe they hadn't seen so much of Angel down in the sewers.
They parked the Impala and walked towards Angel's apartment. They were only a few feet from the door when they heard the phone ringing inside. They rushed in and saw Angel staring at the phone, but not picking it up.
"Don't just stand there!" Cordelia exclaimed as she rushed to the phone and picked it up. "Angel Investigations, we help the helpless."
Cordelia spoke for a couple of minutes, asking Angel's questions occasionally which he answered with little interest as Doyle and Dean were telling him what Sam had found out. He too looked at what Sam had written down.
"There wasn't a more specific time for when this meeting is?" Angel asked, looking slightly disappointed.
"Sorry, man; that's all it said." Doyle said as he leant back on the couch. "It's weird though; I haven't had any visions for a while. I mean they came like speeding bullets and now…"
"Maybe they are going on a hunger strike." Cordelia suggested as she joined Dean and Doyle on the couch.
No one commented.
Having discussed the matter for a while they decided that since Angel's name was in the matter, they were either meeting in the sewers near his apartment, or he was the main subject of their meeting, or both. Angel did seem mildly impressed at Sam's ability to work out the code, but he did not talk about it. Dean concluded that he was the kind of guy that simply tried to see the future and not the past.
Dean had lied saying that he needed to back and get something at the motel as an excuse to get some rest and grab something to eat. He did not know why that he refrained from telling them exactly what he was doing; perhaps he still had a sense of unease, though he told himself that they had all proven themselves trustworthy. Driving back to the motel he tried to figure out what was going to happen about the vampire meeting. They had decided to check the sewers near Angel's apartment that night to see if they found any sign of the vampires. If not, they would come back the following night and so on.
He thought back to the drive he and Sam had had to Los Angeles. It seemed so long ago now; almost a different life. He had never thought that he would actually befriend a vampire; that he could find a creature out there that he thought worth hunting where he was mistaken. He still fought against his instincts as they kept telling him to kill Angel. He argued with them. Strangely, he had actually found that he did not mind the vampire's company. Even Angel seemed more relaxed when Dean was with him in the sewers than he had done in the beginning.
A couple of hours later when dusk was approaching, Dean climbed back into his trustworthy Impala. He let the music fill his ears, thinking that should help to wake him up completely. He did not find that he was in that much in a hurry as they had decided that they would head for the sewers at half past eleven that night, to give them time to search for the vampires. When he had parked the Impala and, after checking no one was looking, opened the trunk and took out anything he would thought that he would need: holy water, stakes, crossbows, even a gun.
Entering the apartment, he found the first room deserted. He walked towards Angel office, but opening the door found that deserted too. He walked back out and headed for the elevator just as it came clambering up, revealing three heads.
"You know," Dean said, making the three occupants jump, "if you had been my enemy it would have been so easy just to…" Dean made a motion with his finger as though shooting a gun. The three others did not laugh.
They discussed their battle plans over and over again in the next couple of hours. Dean got various phone calls from Bobby and Sam: Bobby to make sure that Dean did not need any help; Sam to plead for allowing to come.
"So, what is it with Sam?" Angel asked, taking everybody by surprise.
"What do you mean?" Dean asked, though he had a vague idea what the vampire was talking about. Could he possibly sense that Sam was not quite…well, normal?
"He was very interested in Doyle's visions." Angel said again in that tone that was so hard to place.
Dean did not know whether or not to say anything. He had sworn to Sam not to say anything, but he also knew that it would be hard to keep lying. Knowing that Sam would never forgive him if he told the truth was enough of a boost for Dean to lie.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Angel nodded but didn't say anything. Doyle and even Cordelia kept quiet too. There was a sudden sense of uncertainty in the room as if all of them needed to rethink their trust for each other. Dean took a deep sigh.
"Sam has visions." Dean confessed, cursing under his breath afterwards.
"Well that explains a lot." Doyle said, sounding as though Christmas had come early. None of them asked any more questions and the room was suddenly calm and trusting again.
By half past eleven, Dean, Angel, Doyle and Cordelia were heading for the sewers. The three men had told Cordelia to stay put, which would most likely have been her preferred choice, but being told to stay had been too much for her and she had insisted on coming along.
"Just keep quiet." Angel told her as they climbed down into the sewers. Cordelia's answer was a gigantic, "Yuk!" as her feet made company with the floor of the sewers.
They walked on down the tunnel, all of them with a weapon raised. As before Angel stopped on several occasions to check the ground. Searching for the vampires, however, was not hard. They had not walked for more than fifteen minutes when they saw roughly ten vampires walking towards a group of around the seventeen or eighteen.
"They weren't kidding," Dean whispered to the others, "there are many."
They walked cautiously towards the group of vampires, standing close enough to be able to here what was going to be said, but far enough back so that the other vampires would not notice the three standing without fangs (Angel had put on his game face).
Dean looked at his watch and as it turned to midnight a voice boomed out over the vampires.
"Glad to see that some of us figured out where the meeting is!" The vampire bellowed. "We know why we are here, so let's get right to it. We know that feeding in this town has been hindered, even though we have tried to make diversions for a couple of weeks, our plans have been taunted. I say that it is time to bring down the one who stops us from having freedom in this city." Cheers erupted from the vampires in the tunnel. "I say that it is time that we go and find Angel, as he calls himself, and bring him down once and for all! What say you all?" Again more cheers.
"I can save you the trouble to go and look for me." Angel stated, making all the heads of the vampires swivel around in alarm.
For a split second there was complete silence; no one seemed to know what to do, until all of the vampires launched themselves at Angel, Dean, Doyle and Cordelia. As in the alley, there were again vampires, crossbows, stakes, bullets and holy water flying in every direction. Dean noticed (though busy trying to seven vampires at once) that Doyle's head seemed to had been replaced by a giant hedgehog. He ignored it and fought on.
Dean hardly had tome to register his own injuries or keep track of how the others were doing. He had to keep all his attention on the vampires he was fighting. For every one vampire he dusted, three seemed to appear. A sudden blow from behind send him toppling to the floor and before he had time to get up he looked at two fangs drawing closer and closer to his neck.
The vampire looked shocked for a second before shrivelling to ash. Dean jumped to his feet and looked straight at his brother holding a stake.
"Sammy! What are you doing out of hospital?" Dean asked his brother as they fought side by side.
"Signed myself out. Didn't think I was going to miss out on the big fight, did you?" Sam said, dusting three vampires while talking.
"We are going to have a long talk when this is over." Dean told him as he jumped into a new well of vampires.
"Yeah yeah." He heard Sam say behind him.
The fight seemed to go on for hours, but really it had been no more than ten minutes. The last vampires ran for it, trying to get away from the tunnel. Through ash and dust Dean managed to shoot some of them with the crossbow, leaving only a couple. He turned around and saw that everyone was still there: Angel, limping slightly and clutching a bloody shoulder; Doyle (looking normal again), held a handkerchief to his bloody temple while helping up Cordelia, who seemed to had suffered a few minor injuries. All in all they all seemed alright. Even Sam was still standing on his own two feet, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
"We'll keep in touch then." Dean said as he walked over to the Impala.
"You're leaving?" Doyle asked, looking disappointed.
"Thought we'd better hit the road." Dean explained.
"Oh, I think we've all deserved a drink." Angel said, looking happier than Dean had yet seen him.
"I think we have time for that before we go, Dean." Sam said as he walked over towards the three others.
Dean followed thinking that a drink after all of this did not seem too bad after all. He thought hard about the events that had taken place; most of all that he had befriended a vampire. This he had always thought could never happen; that it could never happen. Well, he thought to himself, maybe it was simply time for me to face reality.
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Disclaimer: it has been really great writing this story, but I still don't own anything. ;-)