Nerisa continued her singing. Despite his deafness, Dean was proving to be a bigger adversary, than she had expected. She had sent two, experienced hunters after him and still, he had some how managed to allude them. Nerisa was very familiar with the cave. She knew how well her voice traveled throughout the cave. Hence, she did not feel the need to travel with Bobby and Sam, as they hunted down Dean. Instead, she lounged on the pillows and congratulated herself on her skillful manipulation of the two hunters. In the past, she had encountered very few hunters herself; however, she had heard about them and knew how deadly they could be. A pleasurable smile appeared on her face, as she thought about how to handle the hunters and how she would simply turn them on each other. Once Dean was dead, Nerisa would then have Sam kill Bobby. Once the oldest hunter was dead, she'd simply have Sam dispose of the bodies. Nerisa debated what her next move would be after that. Normally, she held onto her victims for a while and watched them slowly die, as she used her voice to draw out their life energy which she used to keep herself young and alive. But since Sam was a hunter, Nerisa wondered how wise it would be to keep him alive for very long. So, she decided that after she had Sam pack up her belongings, she would have him kill himself and then she would move on to another town. With that decided, Nerisa felt inspired to more strongly encourage her two hunters to kill Dean. It had been a while since she had lived in Massachusetts, and she now looked forward to moving back.
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Sam heard Nerisa's words become more rousing. Her words reminded Sam of a fox hunter's bugle, which incited hounds to increase their efforts to track down the fox. Except in this case, Dean was the fox and Sam and Bobby were the hounds that were chasing him down. Fox hounds were only allowed to corner the fox and then allow the hunters the glory of killing the beast. However, Nerisa was far more generous and was allowing Sam the opportunity of gaining the glory for himself, by not only having him hunt down his brother, but also permitting him to be the one to kill Dean. Sam hoped that he would soon track Dean down and would be able to achieve the success, which Nerisa was inspiring him to attain. With renewed efforts, Sam continued feeling along the cave walls and prayed that he would soon find his brother.
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Bobby heard Nerisa's rousing words and increased his efforts to find Dean. The Winchester boy had suffered so much during his life, and now, Bobby had a chance to relieve Dean of his miserable existence. Nerisa's words made it perfectly clear that Dean had suffered long enough and that the deafness would make Dean's life simply unbearable. Bobby had always cared about the boys, and after they had lost their father, his concern for them had grown.
As Bobby moved along the path he had chosen, he noticed a soft glow ahead. He picked up his pace, since he felt fairly certain that he was getting closer to Dean.
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Dean knew he was trapped. He didn't want to risk jumping into the churning ocean below and he didn't want to go back and face Sam and Bobby. As Dean turned to look back, his flashlight happened to shine on a small alcove, near the ceiling. Dean stepped forward and saw that he could easily climb the wall and hide in the alcove. The alcove wasn't big; but, it was just big enough for him to climb into it. It wouldn't hide him from anyone who happened to look up; but, it would give him a chance to get an unexpected drop on some one. After shutting off his flashlight, Dean quickly climbed into the alcove and waited. He had a simple plan made out. He would jump onto the first person who passed underneath his location. If that person wasn't alone, then he would simply deal with whoever was left standing. That seemed simple enough; but, Dean knew that things rarely were ever that simple.
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Bobby came around one last bend and saw that he was now looking at the mouth of the cave. Bobby recalled how he had initially entered the cave and knew that this wasn't the same entrance, which they had used earlier. However, before Bobby could have another thought, he felt an unexpected weight on his upper body, right before his world went black.
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Dean quickly got off of Bobby's unconscious form and immediately stood up. Dean expected Sam to be nearby and was surprised when he didn't come under attack by his brother. Dean quickly turned his flashlight on and shined it down the tunnel, which Bobby had just come up. Dean confirmed that Sam wasn't in the tunnel, before turning off his flashlight and turning his attention back to Bobby. Dean knew that Bobby was still a potential threat and felt the need to restrain Bobby. Dean swiftly took the laces off of Bobby's boots and used them to tie Bobby's wrists behind his back. Before heading back down the tunnel, Dean expertly checked Bobby and verified that the older hunter didn't have any knives hidden. As Dean began to walk away, he looked back and whispered a small apology to Bobby. Dean felt bad for leaving a restrained, unconscious Bobby behind; but, Dean knew that he really didn't have any choice. Dean was confident that Sam was probably still looking for him; but, Dean also knew that he had to get to Nerisa, before Sam got to him. Dean turned on his flashlight and headed back to where he had last seen Nerisa.
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Sam was discouraged, since he had not found Dean. Had Dean somehow gotten past Bobby and Sam? Was Dean already on his way out of the cave? Sam debated what he should do. Part of him wanted to continue the way he was going. But as he thought about Dean's options, Sam thought that Dean might leave the cave, in order to regroup and possibly get more weapons for himself. Sam turned around and headed back the way he had come.
