a big thanks again for the reviews, they really help me write faster. i dont know why, they are like mental cookies or something. lol. let me know what you think of the newest chapter.
(a/n: in 'Hookman' Sam seemed to be in the dark about the rock salt shooting shotgun, so i am just going with the idea that it is something his dad and brother came up with while he was at school, and that they used iron buckshot in previous years.)
D: while Kerri does belong to me the rest of the Supernatural world is the brainchild of others. this is all just for fun.
SOMETHING LOST
Chapter 12
Sam and Kerri took turns watching over Dean, the older hunter still laying unconscious after the last attack. Kerri had stitched him up the best she could, Dean's eyes not even fluttering as she quickly and carefully cared for his myriad of new injuries. Their time was growing short though, and they all knew it. The older Winchester's skin was frighteningly pale and his tense and tired body was still wracked by tremors, his breathing labored and shallow. The spirit was killing him, slowly and painfully, just as the townspeople had killed her and her child, just as Marshal Wiseman had killed Jeremy Swan.
It was payback, and Dean was paying the ultimate price, caught in the cross hairs of a fight he didn't belong in, targeted by an angry mother for something he didn't do. It was a vicious cycle that had been holding the small town of Winchester hostage for over one hundred years. A revenge that stretched far beyond the confines of the lives of those who had murdered, those who had suffered. It was a cycle of death and pain, and it was a cycle the hunters knew they needed to break. If not, Dean would become its next victim.
"Kerri?" Sam began as he sat on the armrest of the sofa near his brother's head, staring down at the older man's pale form. It had been an hour since the last attack and his big brother had yet to open his eyes, had yet to mutter a single sarcastic phrase, yet to tell Sam that he was fine. And while having Kerri there helped, it was still a far cry from having Dean there, awake and joking. And suddenly, in that instant, he missed his big brother dearly.
So much had happened to them since the night Jessica had died, so much had changed. The evil they fought had tried to take his brother away from him, tried to give the older hunter to Death, while the yellow eyed Demon played with Sam's life like it was nothing more then a pawn on the chess board. He just wanted everything to be as it was before, everything to be as cut and dry, as straight forward as it was when they were children. But the young girl before him solidified the fact that they were no longer young, that life had changed.
"Yeah, Sam?" Her voice was so soft and calming, so full of deep understanding that it made Sam relax, fall further into the safety of that old house, of his old life. She was sitting quietly in a nearby chair, feet propped on the coffee table, eyes glued to the screen of her laptop as she searched for answers, scoured history for some way to help her ailing friend.
"Before. You said there was a war coming. How do you know?"
"Can't you feel it?"
"Feel what?"
"The darkness. All the bad stuff that has been going on lately. The crazy weather, seemingly normal people going on killing sprees. The world just feels more dangerous. I know you can feel a shift."
"Why would you say that?"
"My sister was like you. I saw what it did to her."
"I don't know how to stop it."
"We'll find a way."
"Your sister." Sam began, clearing his throat. He knew it was a question he had to ask but that still didn't make it any easier. And he suddenly found himself wishing that Dean was conscious, if for no other reason then the fact that he was good at blurting things out. "I mean. Other people like us, they've been dangerous."
"If you're asking if she was going dark side, then yeah, she was."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault. We can't chose who we are born, Sam, we just have be conscious of what we become."
"You said before that she scared you a little."
"She scared everyone a little. She was always different, Sam, she was never really happy. Over the years she just drew further and further into herself. She didn't really have any friends and she and my dad butted heads everyday. So, when she got her "gift" she embraced it."
"And the Demon came for her?"
"Yeah, it did. I think it waits till the kids have fully accepted their powers but still can't control them. It's kind of like a cult leader, finding the kids when they are vulnerable, when it knows that they will follow it."
"And Evelyn, she followed it?"
"For a little while, yeah."
"And she didn't see that that was wrong?"
"Her mind was so screwed up, Sam, I really don't think she saw anything wrong with it at first. But she did later, she came to me when she finally saw what was going on."
"What was it?"
"She never told me, but it scared her, a lot."
"This thing's gonna win, isn't it."
"I don't know. But, as long as we fight we still have a chance."
"None of the other's have had a chance."
"None that we know of, but you, Sam, you and your brother are different."
"How so?"
"Well, for one, not many of these kids have siblings, and two, I don't think I have ever seen two people so close in my life. This Demon, it drives a wedge between people, makes them feel all alone, in need of something, and then it takes them under its wing, gives them the love that it stole. That's why it takes the mothers, that's why it took your girlfriend. It wants you alone."
"I am alone."
"You have, Dean. Sam, your brother is like a lighthouse to everyone that needs help. You can see him from a mile away, and you know everything will be ok. And he's protecting you. He'll never let you be alone. You haven't accepted your gift Sam, and your brother will never willingly leave your side. That's two things no one else has had going for them."
"What happens when I lose him?"
"Don't lose him."
"Kerri, he's come so close to dying so many times. Something is gonna get him someday."
"I know it's gonna sound cheesy but, even if he does die, don't forget him. Sometimes that's enough."
"And what if it's not?"
"Sam, you're one of the strongest people I know. I have faith that this thing's not gonna turn you. You may have been a little kid the last time I saw you, but I still remember you. If anyone can beat this thing, its you and your brother."
They fell back into silence, both taking in everything Kerri had said, Sam's shoulders feeling lighter for the first time in a long time. Yes, he thought, there was a chance that he could be ok, he couldn't give up just yet. Everything had seemed so hopeless, so grim mere moments before, but Kerri's words were like a lifeline, like the sun breaking through a dying storm. As long as he held strongly to who he was, there was a chance that they could beat this thing, there was a chance that they could survive.
"So." Kerri began after a few moments, her blue eyes never once leaving Sam. "What is it?"
"What's what?"
"Your gift, what is it?"
"It's not a gift."
"Your affliction then."
"The ability to make little old ladies swoon with his puppy dog eyes." Dean's voice floated up from the sofa, his body still unmoving, eyes still unopened and, for a moment, both Sam and Kerri had wondered if they imagined it. "He just has those old broads eating out of his hand."
"Very funny."
"Seriously, Sam, what is it?"
"Nothing." Dean broke in, his green eyes staring dangerously at Kerri. She physically recoiled at the look he was giving her, his face cold and impassive, like a guard dog at the end of its leash. It was warning, threatening, and a little bit terrifying, reminding the kind girl before him just what the hunter was capable of.
"It's ok, Dean." Sam broke in, sensing Kerri's unease. Dean was protective, extremely protective, when it came to anything involving Sam's ties to the Demon, when he had to acknowledge Sam's powers in anyway. And the younger hunter found that both comforting and unnerving. "I have visions, premonitions of people's deaths."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"That sucks. That's it?"
"There should be something more?" Dean chastised as he slowly pushed himself up on the sofa, face grimacing as he pulled at the tight stitches.
"Well, I mean, everyone I've come across has called it a gift, but death visions, no wonder you haven't accepted them."
"You think he would accept something like physic powers if it was a little more desirable." Dean nearly demanded, his eyes growing harder, voice taking on a wild tone. He had still not fully come to grips with his little brother's powers, with the fact that Sam was born something special, something the Demon wanted.
For so long he had thought that this thing picked his family, his mother, for nothing more then randomness. And that fact, though morbid, had still helped him sleep at night, had still let him believe that the fire demon would never darken his doorstep again. And then along came Sam and his shinning.
"No, Dean, I don't. And, if you don't mind, I have really had enough of being yelled at today. I'm on your side, but I need to know what's going on."
"What's going on is that I am being attacked by a demented spirit. That's all you need to know."
"Fine. I was just trying to help."
"Thanks, but, we're good."
"Sure."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're far from good, Winchester, you're falling apart at the seems. I've seen what this thing does first hand, so excuse me if I am trying to save another family from it."
"I said we're fine."
"No we're not, Dean." Sam broke in, quelling the fight that he knew was coming. For a bunch of people who claimed they missed each other, they had sure been doing a lot of yelling lately. "We haven't been fine in a long time."
"Well, we'll get fine."
"Why can't we just let someone help us, just this once?"
"Because, you're supernatural, Sammy, and I don't want anyone to start hunting you."
"Who's she gonna tell."
"She's not some random person, Sam, hunters come through here all the time. That's what the Harrisons were known for, Ammunition and Information."
"Huh?" Sam's face twisted in confusion as he looked over at Kerri, the young girl smiling back innocently.
"Just because I'm ammo and info doesn't mean I'm gonna go telling every hunter that comes through here about you. Jeez, Winchester, give me a little credit."
"What if someone finds your paper work?"
"What if, I don't let people wander through my stuff! They have free reign of the upstairs library, but, since I don't go in there, I highly doubt they will find something about Sam in there."
"Where the hell's the ammo?" Sam chimed in, still confused. The info he understood, her library rivaled that of both Bobby and Pastor Jim, but the ammo, that was something he still couldn't grasp.
"Downstairs. You didn't think that entire workshop was for stained glass windows?"
"You make ammo?"
"Silver rounds, consecrated iron rounds, and the Winchester special, rock salt buck shot."
"Why's that the Winchester special?"
"I heard about it from some hunters, said John and Dean thought it up."
"Yeah." Dean chimed in. "Rock salt's cheaper then iron."
"You do all that downstairs?"
"Yeah, always have."
"Oh."
"So, as long as we're all in the caring and sharing mood." Dean broke in. "What was your sister's power?"
"Dean!"
"No, Sam, we have a right to know."
"Astral projection."
"Wh-- really?" Dean asked dumbfounded. He didn't really know what he had been expecting, but it definitely wasn't that. "Was.. Was she dangerous?"
"A little. More scary then anything else though. She thought it was great, used to pop up everywhere, in people's lockers, in people's cars, hell, even my fiancé's closet. Anyone that annoyed her she would scare the hell out of."
"Wait. Who's closet?" It was almost as though Dean's brain as short circuited when he heard the phrase, he knew he should have understood it, but something still didn't register.
"My fiancé's. She didn't really like him."
"Where's he now?" Sam asked, Dean momentarily unable to speak.
"He left when I told his who I really was. Can't blame him though. What would you do if someone up and told you they made silver bullets for demon hunters. I'm sure Evelyn popping up in his closet every now and again didn't help either."
"Fiancé?"
"Yeah, Dean. It's what you call someone before you marry them."
"I know what it means, I just didn't think..."
"Didn't think someone would want to marry me?"
"No, I just never saw you as the married type."
"The last time you saw me I was sixteen!"
"Yeah, that might be why."
"Look, let's just save the catching up for later. Now that you're awake I think we should get down to business. We need to go back to Winchester, as soon as possible." Kerri pushed up from her seat and moved to the kitchen, Sam following closely at her heels. They had a lot to do before they left for the mines, and not a lot of time to do it in.
"There's just one more thing, Kerri."
"Yeah?"
"You said before that Dean promised to keep you safe once. Why? What happened?"
"I think that's something you need to ask your brother."
