ooOoo
The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.
Hunter's Moon
Chapter 21
A Cat in the Tall Grass
ooOoo
The Tyger by William Blake
ooOoo
Tyger, tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
ooOoo
In what distant deeps or skies,
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
ooOoo
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? And what dread feet?
ooOoo
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
ooOoo
When the stars threw down their spears
And watered Heaven with their tears:
Did he smile His work to see?
Did he who made the lamb, make thee?
ooOoo
Tyger, tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry
ooOoo
Published in 1794 as part of the Songs of Experience collection
Dean gazed over the assembled crowd. He saw what Sam had done and watched him place the werewolf's body at Alice Conway's feet. He could hear the wrack of shotguns being made ready to fire. The only thing right now between Sam and the Hunter's guns was Alice Conway.
If she rejected him or if he moved away from her the Hunters would fulfill their mandate and fire. He and his brother had been revealed as Supernatural entities, the Hunters' normal prey. Without help, they stood no chance.
Dean leaned into Karl Montain. "Karl, can you get to Sam?" Karl leaned towards Dean, his face grave.
"I believe so, Dean. What do you want me to do?"
"Just go and stand beside him. The more innocents around him the less likely the Hunters will fire. Right now his only protection is Alice. If you go, and maybe some of these FBI guys too, you could get him back up here with us." Dean pinned all the brothers' hopes on the newly formed friendship.
"Listen, once you get to Sam tell him that I'll be taking route 231 northwest out of town tomorrow morning and I'll watch for him on my way to Klondike. If I don't see him along the road I'll wait at the Best Western in Klondike."
Karl looked at Aaron Hotchner. Hotch stood with his service piece drawn, held steady in a two handed grip. The rest of the BAU term stood behind him. Karl could not tell if the gun was aimed at Sam or at the crowd. Karl moved to speak to Hotchner.
Now Dean had Earl, Penny and Spenser Reid all within an arm's length. He turned to Earl.
"Earl, if we run can you possibly get me to the Impala?"
"Yeah, we can do that," Earl said as he watched his brother talking to SSA Hotchner. "What's Karl up to and how are we going to pull this off?"
Dean leaned into Earl and whispered "Karl's going to get the agents down to surround Sam. As soon as everyone is focused on Sam's rescue party you and I are just going to run. Where's your car?"
"It's in the back parking lot."
Dean and Earl watched as Karl got Hotchner's agreement to go get Sam. Down in the crowd Sam had stayed with Alice. She was continuing to scratch his ears like he was nothing but a giant domestic tabby and he sat on his haunches and enjoyed it if the constant stretching of his neck and pushing his head back into Alice's fingers meant anything.
Dean just shook his head. "I swear, if he's purring I'll never let him live it down" he muttered to Earl.
Everyone moved into Dean's suggested positions. Karl and three FBI agents, Hotchner, Morgan and Rossi, went down the stairs and out into the crowd to Sam. The people moved aside for them but Hotchner had no illusions. One wrong move and there would be a pitched battle. The electric tension in the air set everyone's teeth on edge.
At the top of the stairs Dean assessed the positioning of his chess pieces. The agents surrounded Sam, guns held loosely at their sides. They were not trying to threaten anyone butt their demeanor clearly indicated that they were there for Sam and they intended to keep him.
Karl knelt down on one knee and whispered into the Sphinx's ear. Dean saw that ear twitch, annoyed by Karl's breath and saw Hotchner glance down, attempting to hear Karl's whisper. The Sphinx turned his head and stared into Karl's eyes and lifted a heavy paw onto Karl's shoulder. Dean was pretty sure his message had gotten through.
The Sphinx stood on all four feet and stalked forward, muscles rippling under the russet fur and the long heavy tale whipping around with the tip snapping back and forth. It made the cat look tense and alert. His guard moved with him, situated at the cardinal points. To Dean's surprise, Alice came too with her hand still teasing and scratching the sensitive ears.
Dean now checked out his own surroundings, preparing to run. He was dismayed to find that Reid and Garcia were still standing at the entrance door, fully focused on him. Reid was carrying the Winchester duffle bag and one of Sam's shirt sleeves was carelessly dragging down the side.
As the Sphinx and company began to ascend the stairs, Earl grabbed Dean's arm and pulled. "Time to go, partner." Earl rumbled and, in spite of Reid and Garcia, Dean decided Earl was right. Now was the time. Dean glanced into his brother's eyes, not more than ten feet away and nodded his head to the North. Sam replied by slowly closing his eyes and when they were fully open again, Dean ran.
Dean and Earl leaped off the top of the stairs to the south and skidded around the corner of the building like a couple of cartoon characters. Dean heard pounding footsteps behind them and an angry murmur from the crowd gaining volume. He also heard Hotchner's raised voice but he couldn't quite make out what the man was shouting.
A series of loud noises told him that Sam had made his break for the North side of the building and voices and curses disturbed the air. Then he heard gunshots. Praying that Sam was safe he ran harder.
They hit the side of Earl's car and while waiting for Earl to open the door Dean was shocked to feel hands on his shoulder. Turning he found Reid and Garcia at his back. They both had guns but Garcia was shaking so bad Dean was afraid she would shoot herself in the foot before she could shot at anyone else.
He decided Reid was his problem and Dean poured every ounce of Tammuz energy he could summon through the agent's body. Reid was confused and trembled like he was caught in a great wind. As soon as Earl got the doors open, Dean grabbed the guns and shoved both agents into the back seat. He barely made it into the car himself when Earl punched it and, tires throwing gravel high into the air, got their asses out of that lot.
As they shot out the back of the lot Dean looked north and saw a giant, gleaming russet cat, running so fast it was difficult to keep it fully in sight. It's back dipped below then rose again above the height of the dry grass. The vegetation was parting like the ocean cleaved by a furious shark. Dean was sure his brother had not been hit and would be safe. He settled fully into the passenger seat and handed his personal safety over to the brother Montain.
Earl knew these roads and all the hidden ways through the Indiana landscape. Dean felt that if there were pursuit, they lost them after the first few of Earl's sudden power turns. More of a problem was the two agents in the back seat.
Dean didn't really know why he had, technically, kidnapped a couple of FBI agents and now, looking at Reid with his arm wrapped protectively around Garcia, Dean questioned his own sanity. Maybe it was because the pair of them looked so complete sappy, entangled in his glow. He had the urge to protect them, keep them safe. He was always forgetting that his glow worked in both directions. So he had shoved them into the nearest safe place, the car.
Now he faced the problem of returning them, like baby birds, to the nest.
Earl glanced over at Dean. "Watch the road, Earl, " Dean involuntarily shouted. "What'd you need from me.?"
"What's with the agents, Dean? Earl growled. "I don't want involved in no kidnapping. "
Dean thought fast. "Well, I just couldn't leave them standing there with those bullets flying around, could I?" Dean glanced at Reid, who was still held under a glamour. "Right, Reid? I was just keeping you and Penny safe. Isn't that what you thought?"
Even with Penny shaking in his arms, Reid could not pull his attention away from Dean. "Yes, that's what happened. Thank you, Dean, for keeping Penny safe."
"Your certainly welcome, Spenser. " Dean returned, knowingly manipulating the young agent and feeling pretty skanky about it." Do you both have phones?"
Spenser nodded and Penny fished hers out of her purse to show Dean.
"Ok, Great." Dean exclaimed. "Earl, we need to drop these guys some place where they can wait in comfort for the rest of their team. Where would you suggest?"
XXXXXXX
Sam sped through the open fields; his four paws gathered under him and pounded out a puff of dirt. He flexed his spine and the legs flew out, arcing through a 15 foot stride then gathering back under him again. He had no idea how fast he was moving but he knew it was something pretty impressive. The cheetah, the cat on which his sphinx was patterned, Sam believed, could run at 70 miles an hour in short bursts and could accelerate from zero to 62 miles an hour in under 3 seconds. Since he was so much larger, Sam bet he was faster too.
He quickly shot over the lip of a hill and the County Courthouse disappeared from view, dropping below the horizon. He kept running north, into more and more open spaces. When all that was left was the open land and the circling birds, he laid down in the sun drenched grass to catch his breath.
He loved being the Sphinx. The great animal lived sensation to the fullest. The scents of the open land enticed him. The sounds of the wind and the movement of small creatures in the grass clashed like cymbals in his sensitive ears. The creature was part of the earth, bonded to it, nurtured by it. He rolled in the grass, scratching his back and waving all four paws in the air.
Then he was still, focused on the clouds in a bright blue sky. At that moment he let go of his concerns and lived only in the heart of the great cat. He curled into a ball and decided to take a nap. He'd catch some dinner later. God, cats really knew how to live.
.