From next chap (15) I can use "spell check" again :)
Just in case, I would like to clarify that I am not a follower of a religion.
Any and all religious ideas or beliefs expressed by any characters within
this work of fiction are purely for the purpose of and part of the story.
Chapter 14
-oOo-
Having entered an almost trance like state, the Succubus didn't hear the Click, didn't initially feel anything. No longer aware of her surroundings, she didn't immediatly realise that all was not well. Dean's movements, along with his gasps and muted sounds of pain as he attempted, and failed, to roll, push, drag himself from under her, simply increased her arousal. She started biting, groans of pleasure accompanied her feeding, her lower half rhythmically bucked against him, she roughly shoved her hand back under his tee, her nails digging deep into him as she began raking and tearing them frantically up and down his torso, finally drawing cries of pain from him that she wrongly interpreted as his own sounds of pleasure, and when the flames dancing along the edge of one of her wings also touched the human pinned down by her, increasing his sounds of pain, she took it as a marker that he was close to reaching his climax.
-o-
The stench was a stomach churning combination of the bitter smell of burning rubber and the stink made by huge vats full of boiling glue, powerful enough to sting his eyes, stick in his throat and add sound effects to his laboured breathing consisting of long drawn out whistles and whiny squeals. It was the stink, and Dean's helpless coughing and choking that finally drew her attention and brought her back into a world of smoke, of heat, of burning, of torturous agony and on, onto frenetic attempts to beat out the flames that greedily began to spread through her wing. A terror filled noise, somewhere between human screaming and the jarring screeching of an owl, poured out of her.
-o-
The silver eyed creature fixed her gaze on the human male. Why hadn't he moved? He was in danger from the fire he himself had begun. Already he had felt the fire's fingers testing his flesh, already he battled for every shallow, ragged breath he took while being surrounded by the hot, acrid smoke that was rapidly filling up the pit. Her focus returned to the desperate, screaming creature who was flailing at her own wing. Then, fast and fluid; the silver eyed one moved out of the tunnel and entered the larger arena.
-o-
Father Hanrahan and Daniel both turned their heads to follow the direction in which Sam was staring.
"Good Lord!"
The Father continued to stare.
"Surely not?"
Sam left the shelter of the trees and strode purposfully towards the stone sarcophagus while Daniel tugged at the priest's arm, trying to get the older man to move forward faster.
"Come on Father! We've got to help Sam move the top off that thing."
-o-
The pair had made it half way to the sarcophagus when they, along with Sam, heard the sound of high pitched, drawn out, screeched screams coming from the inside of the stone tomb. Even muffled as it was, the sound was stomach churning. Father Hanrahan halted and crossed himself before lifting the crucifix still hanging around his neck and kissing it. Daniel's reaction was more basic. His stomach clenched and he doubled over, bile burning his throat and flooding his mouth. Spitting the vile yellow green liquid out, his mind was racing. God help him. What kind of torture causes a man to make a sound like that? God be with him! Heart pounding in fear, Daniel could still hear the terrible sounds even with the Father standing nearby and loudly reciting the Lord's Prayer. For the first time that he could ever recall, Daniel felt an outpouring of anger towards Father Hanrahan and, straightening up, he glared hostilely at the Priest.
"Father! Do something bloody useful can't you? Instead of just standing around here praying! How about you help me to help Sam? Soon as you're free obviously!"
-o-
Daniel expected Sam to be just about going crazy, hearing such horrific screams from his own brother. However, as he drew nearer the Hunter, he was amazed at how calm Sam actually appeared. On his face he wore an expression of grim determination while he inspected the stone top to the sarcophagus both visually and with his hands, looking for the best way to open it up. Daniel ran to him.
"Sam...?"
The Hunter glanced at Daniel's distraught expression and pale complexion, instantly guessing why the man looked so shaken.
"That sound? That's not my brother. It's not Dean. It's one of the monsters...Wouldn't be surprised to find that Dean's the cause of the noise though."
Daniel didn't miss the note of pride in Sam's voice. He gazed at the thick stone slab that was the lid to the sarcophagus.
"Maybe, if we both push from the same side, we mi...
Daniel's sentence died when the stone top suddenly errupted, lifting and blasting apart as something hit it from the inside. Stone chunks and shards shot like missiles in all directions at once, clouds of dust and acrid black smoke plumed and streamed upwards from out of the ruined sarcophagus and there, in the midst of it, the cause of the explosion. He glimpsed a pale blue streak spiralling, arrow straight, into the sky. The blue was mixed with the hint of dark wings swiftly beating and following it, like a comet's tail, a blur of white, twisting and curling, surrounded by flames that were buffeted, roaring, stretched; elongated by the speed of the ascent. Through it all ran that terrible sound of pain. A large heavy weight hit Daniel, knocking him to the ground, landing on top of him and firmly pinning him down.
-o-
Daniel could hear the thuds, thunps and pattering of stones hitting the ground. The weight covering him grunted and cursed, but didn't move off Daniel until the hard rain stopped falling. With a groan, Sam rolled off the housekeeper and laid flat out on his back alongside Daniel, turning his head and looking at him worriedly.
"You ok dude?"
A weak smile formed on Daniel's face while his brown eyes searched the sky.
"Dunno. Not really sure what "Ok" is any more...I do know, once I've figured it, "Ok" is going to be different to how it used to be."
His gaze fixed onto an odd sort of shooting star, high in the dark sky and some way distant from the graveyard. He tracked it as it fell, burning, silent; hurtling downwards. Please Lord, let it burn out before it hits earth. Daniel's quick prayer triggered an influx of guilt over how he had spoken to the Father and he raised his head to look around for him, at the same time as the Father called out to Sam.
"Sam! You were right. He's in here. Dean...I saw him!"
-o-
Daniel helped Sam up off the ground, opening his mouth to speak when he saw Sam wince and he recalled Sam's groan, but Sam shook his head, speaking first.
"I'm ok. Bumps and bruises from the rock shower. Nothin' I can't handle."
Sam strode over to the priest who was was leaning over the side and peering down into what was now effectively a lidless stone box. Watching him straighten up and turn to Sam, Daniel frowned at the sight of fresh blood coming from the hairline of the Father's forehead and down, following the contours of his face and neck before soaking into the collar of his jacket. There were signs of other scratches and small, shallow cuts to his face alomg with what looked like the start of an area of bruising to one cheekbone. Daniel hurriedly crossed over to join Sam and the Father. Staring at the priest's face, he began assessing for himself whether anything needed immediate attention. He knew already that head wounds generally bleed overdramatically in relation to the size of any cuts. He just needed to keep reminding himself of that. The priest smiled patiently.
"Daniel. I'm fine. Let's worry about Dean, shall we?"
"But? I thought you were stood further back? How did you get hit in the face?"
-o-
The father broke eye contact, recalling Daniel's frustrated response to him praying. He had always understood how the sight of someone standing still in prayer during moments of need, while those all around were racing to "do," must look to others. But he wished sometimes people would, for once, see things from his point of view. He never thought of himself as just standing around when praying. He believed he was taking action. He was communicating with the most powerful force that there was, and his faith told him that, small though his voice might be in comparison, he was actually being heard. The priest didn't say any of that to Daniel however.
"When the lid blew, I just ran towards it hoping to be able to spot Dean. Dumb, I know but, Sam was protecting you, so there was only me free to check if he was somehow inside and visible. I wasn't expecting the sarcophagus not to have a bottom! It's resting above a cave or cavern of some description. I managed to catch the briefest glimpse of Dean by the...Um...light of the flames...But I didn't have time to notice his condition I'm afraid."
Sam pointed his torch into the sarcophagus, shouting Dean's name. The beam passed over his brother initially, before Sam successfully distinguish the shape of his brother camouflaged within the debris and ooze covering both the floor of the pit and Dean himself. Neither the waiting priest or the housekeeper heard any response from Dean to Sam calling his name.
-o-
Father Hanrahan could see the anxiety on Sam's face at the lack of response from Dean, and he went to stand at the Hunter's side.
"I have some extending ladders, they might reach, they're back at the lodge."
Sam looked to the priest gratefully.
"You don't happen to have strong rope as well, do you? I need somethin' I can tie round Dean and pull him out with."
The priest nodded.
"There's what we use at church fundraisings for the tug o' war, so it's long enough and it's strong. Look, I'll stay here with Dean. Daniel? Would you go with Sam? If the rope isn't with the ladders, it's in the tall cupboard in the church kitchenette. The two of you will be far quicker than I could be."
Sam hesitated.
"I don't know. One or both of the monsters might come back to here while we're gone."
The priest hefted his iron bar in one hand.
"Yes, well. If that happens I've got backup. They'll have to get past both me and God if they want to get to Dean. Now go. Get what you need."
Sam looked seriously at the non-weapons trained priest who was prepared to single handedly pit himself against possibly two powerful supernatural creatures in an effort to protect a man he hardly knew. Sam was bowled over.
"Father Hanrahan, you're an exceptionally brave man. No offence, but I'll leave the God stuff with you. I'd rather put all my faith in you and in your courage...We'll be as quick as we can. Dann-o? Ready?"
Daniel was staring at the priest.
"One second, that's all."
-o-
The priest had rarely seen Daniel looking so serious or so thoughtful.
"Father Hanrahan? I'm sorry for how I spoke to you and for what I said. Sam is right about you."
Surprised and touched, the priest watched the two men disappear, asking that no harm come to them. As soon as they were out of sight, he turned back to the sargophagus and continued to call down to Dean. He didn't know whether Dean was able to hear him, but non-the-less he explained to him what was happening.
-o-
Daniel moved a dusty old taup from off the metal extending ladders before lifting them and moving to pass them to Sam waiting outside the storage shed.
"Ladders, here you go. Got them?"
"Thanks...Daniel? What I said to Father Hanrahan? You know the same goes for you too, don't you? The way you've handled things, are handling things, is incredible!"
"Oh, hush now. We don't want everyone to know I've been "handling things", do we? Hah! The rope, I see it. Just a mo."
And just like that, Daniel was back on form. Sam rolled his eyes, smiling.
-o-
"Dean? Son? It's me, Father Hanrahan...If you hear me, make a sound or something...Dean? Come on my boy...We're all worried about you, especially Sam...We're going to..."
There was the whisper of silk from behind Father Hanrahan. Feeling like his heart was in his throat, he spun around and raised his hand, clutching the iron bar firmly.
"You!...Please, don't come any closer...I can't...Won't...Simply stand by and let you take him...Do you understand? I know you've helped us, and for that I'm truly grateful; but that doesn't mean you can have this man...He doesn't belong to you. Alright?"
-oOo-
Chick xx