If Only Chapter 26

Disclaimer: Same as before don't own them so don't sue me.

Warnings: Dark images violence and general mayhem, not for the faint of heart.

A/N: Thanks as always to everyone who reviewed. Thanks to Tyranusfan for pointing out that I "Trpile word scored some of Dean's dialogue in the last chapter. All I can say is that Dean was possessed, (Yeah that's it possessed, by a really stuffy professor from Stanford), seriously I'm sorry for the out of character bit, also another thanks to carocali for recommending the story to someone else. I'm touched beyond words at all the support that everyone has shown this story. I'm working on getting out responses to reviews, but figured that you'd want the chapter more. So enough of the blah, blah, blah, on with the story.

The pain free promise of sleep was quickly becoming an elusive hope to Sam. His mind was still foggy, feeling like it had been wrapped in wads of cotton and stuffed back into his head, but his body wasn't willing to let him rest. His muscles twitched with spasms fueling his restlessness and the deep throb emanating from his back refused to abate under the onslaught of pain killers and exhaustion. Sighing he looked over at the clock on the nitestand, seeing that a little less than an hour had passed since his brother had left. 'You're all alone now' Sam heard bounce around a menacing echo in his mind. 'Dean's not coming back for you' following closely behind as Sam shook his head hoping to clear the errant thoughts away, but the words left him feeling cold inside. The earlier bravado he'd shown about being okay alone and sleeping while Dean was tracking down his lead was quickly waning. Now, he was seriously reconsidering why he originally thought being left on his own was such a good idea.

Sighing again Sam let his eyes fall closed silently willing his body to relax and let him sleep. Exhaustion and the sedative flowing in his system finally took hold and his body began to surrender into sleep. He shivered uncontrollably as a whispered voice floated through the room, 'He won't make it back in time' and while Sam tried to force his mind back to awareness it was already too late, his body finally lax and unresponsive, he trembled as a whispered chuckle followed him into dreams.

Dean found the bookstore with little problem. Unlike many other occult stores Dean had seen over the years, this one seemed interested in hiding what it was from the general public. Just from looking at the front window you wouldn't have a clue as to what was being offered behind the clear glass unless you knew what to look for. Dean carefully crossed the thriving street to the shop happy to find it still open and not busy. He winced at the ringing of the chimes that signaled his entrance before plastering on his most charming smile for the attractive blonde behind the counter. "Hi there," Dean said brightly letting his eyes linger appreciatively on her form.

"Good afternoon, my name's Donna. Is there something I can help you find today?" she asked blushing and looking down at the counter shyly.

'Oh, this is going to be taking candy from a baby' Dean thought before he answered. "I'm sure we can find something for you to help me with" he said flashing another grin.

Dean wasn't surprised that all it took was his charming grin and a couple of well placed compliments to find himself tucked into the back room with Donna, as he slowly wheedled all the gossip he could from her. "So you're not scared that this place will get robbed again?" Dean asked taking the offered cup of coffee from her.

"Nah…That happened years ago besides from the way Terry tells it she got what she deserved by helping out those thieves."

"Terry? He must be your boyfriend?" Dean asked doing his best to sound disappointed at the potential of her not being single.

"Oh, no, nothing like that." She said glowing from his implied compliment, "He's the owner, he hired me about a year ago, super sweet guy just has the worst luck in getting help. "

"Really? Take it the person before you wasn't real reliable either."

"No, not like that he just has the worst luck, first there was Julie, the girl that helped the robbers, she worked for him for over a year and then she helps rob the place. I guess you never know people right? Then he hires this other girl Cindy, she freaked out one night when she was closing up the shop called the cops and said that Terry was trying to make her kill herself, Terry ended up having to fire her fearing that she'd hurt one of the customers…"

"Did she?"

"Nope cracked up a couple of days after she got fired, I hear her parents had her put in a hospital. I think she's still there." She finished vaguely. She waved her hand to the coffee Dean was still holding untouched. "Do you want cream or sugar with that?"

"No black's good just waiting for it to cool." Dean said taking a large sip, before prompting her back on the subject. "So you were hired after Cindy?"

Shaking her head no she continued on, "No, I was hired after Jason disappeared. I've been here ever since. Terry says I'm the one that finally broke his string of bad luck."

"You said Jason disappeared, he pull a no show or something?"

Leaning into Dean she continued, "Well from what I heard he'd become pretty good friends with Terry and some of his buddies, they were all shooting pool one night when Jason decides he needs to bail, and like that," She say snapping her fingers for emphasis, "he takes off like a spooked rabbit and then after all that he never makes it home." She said smiling at the gossip she was sharing.

Dean felt a cold chill run down his spine and unconsciously took another long drink of the coffee in his hand to ward it off. He had a feeling he already knew what happened to Jason but wanted to be sure. "So they never found him?"

"They found him like weeks later in a field; someone had worked him over real good."

Knowing he'll look worried for her safety he presses for more details. "And you're sure it's a good idea to work here? Terry must be a great boss to work for since you seem so happy but still…"

"Well nothings happened to me and besides all the bad luck's gotta end sometime. Besides, Terry says that he won't let anything bad happen to me, even showed me all the good luck charms he knew. In fact he even paid for me to have one tattooed on my arm." She said pulling up her shirt sleeve to reveal a mark very similar to the one carved into his brother's chest.

"May I?" Dean asks as he gently uses his finger to trace the design, getting a warm prickle of energy from it when he completes the circuit. "He must really care about you." He said absently.

"Yeah, He says I'm one of the family now."

Dean looks up at the odd choice of words, frowned slightly. "I'm sorry, I missed that."

Donna fixes Dean with a blinding smile, reaching out to stroke his arm gently. "When he bought me the tattoo he said it was because I was part of the family now, his family." She finished her eyes turning from flirtatious to menacing and back again in the space of a heartbeat.

Dean flinched at what he thought he saw in those eyes but when it doesn't reappear, he becomes certain he's being paranoid. 'Just chill, don't blow it' He reminds himself before turning his focus back on Donna. "What about the books that were stolen? I heard that the owner… I guess Terry?" Dean asks seeking unnecessary confirmation, before moving forward. "I understand he tried to warn the police that people would die if they didn't find them. Why would he think that?"

Donna smiled again at him, clearly happy to have a captive audience. "What I was told when I asked was they were sacred texts. They were written by some monastery group that studied the soul back in the dark ages. The book tells how to hold onto a soul indefinitely, to keep it from moving on. How to pull one out of a body with out losing it, even how to put a captured soul back or move it into another body, effectively cheating death. There was even a part about how to push one soul out so another could occupy the same space without the body dying."

"Do you believe him?"

She shrugged casually, "I don't know for sure, but the idea is fascinating really if it was true. You could effectively live forever cheating death every step of the way, or get the ultimate revenge by keeping an enemy from ever moving on."

"I don't get it. Holding onto a soul, if it can be done, is a sure way to keep it from moving on but how does that help you cheat death?"

"If you can put that same soul into another living body."

"But every body has a soul already attached to it. What about the soul that's already in the replacement body? That just sounds like possession and I do believe the Catholics developed the sure fire exorcism to correct that problem?"

"I don't know" She said shrugging again looking thoughtful, "especially since I never got a chance to see them, but according to what Terry said there were two ways to make the replacement permanent."

"How?" Dean asked leaning forward towards her, swallowing down another gulp of the rapidly cooling brew. 'Finally, we're getting to something useful,' he thought smiling at her again, silently willing her to continue.

"Well if the spirit or soul that occupies the body is weakened, by a trauma, illness, abuse or even torture then it in theory could be forced out by the replacing soul, sorta like a wrestling match strongest spirit or soul winning. Then you use a binding spell to keep the soul that would normally be attached to the body from regaining access, basically leaving it in limbo. It can't move on because its host body hasn't died but it can't get back either so it just follows its physical form around watching as the other soul holds its physical form hostage, always out of reach until the body finally dies." She finished trembling slightly, "Can you imagine?" She asked looking at Dean.

"No, I can't." Dean said quietly focused inward on the thought that it could've happened to Sam, 'it might still' he heard Cranson coo in his ear. Startled he turned his gaze back to the girl, clearing his throat before taking another sip to calm his nerves. "You said there were two ways?"

Shaking her head she returned to her story. "The other way is to have the person agree to it willingly. Usually as a sacrifice, they recite some kind of spell which pulls the soul from the body and then it can be collected and held or even bound to a place or another form. The body is then ready to be occupied by another soul. Since the first person gave up their body willingly, they have no claim to get it back unless the second soul is pulled back out in such a way that the displaced soul can attempt to reattach to its physical form. If it can't then the soul is adrift forever it will never move on. Nothing calls to it since it has no body to pass on which signals the collection of the soul. It's permanently lost, set to wander endlessly."

"So I guess an exorcism wouldn't work then?" Dean asked probing for more details.

"It might as long as it took place where the removal happened and you can make sure the displaced soul wants to rejoin its body. But still there's no certainty, I don't know if you've ever seen an exorcism?" She asked casually.

"Umm, no, can't say that I have." Dean lied

"Didn't think so," She said smugly, "Well let me tell you they're pretty gruesome and leave a lot of damage in their wake. So there'd be no way to guarantee that the body would survive long enough for the original soul to make it back, and even if it did and it had the will to form a bond, it might only be for a few moments before the body dies and then the soul could be collected all over again."

Dean took a deep breath as his mind reeled under all the information. "I can understand why someone would want the book, now" he said blinking hard trying to clear his vision.

'Now you know why we want your brother' Floated around the room causing Dean to push to his feet startling Donna. "Are you ok?" She asked still smiling as if she'd heard nothing out of the ordinary.

Dean focused on his surroundings, surprised when his vision doubled and then cleared abruptly. "Yeah, thanks for the coffee," He said stumbling over his tongue for something to say. "I didn't realize it was getting so late, I need to go." He finished pushing himself out of the back room moving quickly up the aisle to the door.

"Better get home to that sweet brother of yours before something bad gets him first." She called, laughing when Dean stopped cold in his tracks, door half open.

The grin faded quickly replaced by a cold mask as Dean pulled the gun from his pants pointing it at her head. "What did you say?"

"We just wanted to make sure you knew what's in store for your little Sammy, Dean…We will find him eventually…Still think it was a good idea to leave him all alone?" She answered eyes flashing before she ducked behind the bookshelf making any shot Dean might try impossible.

Dean pushed his way out the door, and staggered across the street to the Impala before his knees threatened to give out on him. He could barely fit the key into the lock; his hands were shaking so hard, when his vision blurred again this time taking longer to clear, he started to panic. 'Shit, I walked right into it. Must've been the coffee.' He thought hazily. Slumping behind the wheel he forced his body to push away the drowsiness, as he noticed Donna now joined by two men starting to pick their way across the busy street. Heedless of the oncoming traffic he gunned the Impala and sped down the road trying to put as much distance between him and the store as he could.

Reaching into his jacket pocket Dean fumbled with his cell phone finally getting his fingers to cooperate; pulling it out and flipping it open Dean blinked away the dancing spots in his vision as he listened to the phone ring. "Come on, Come on answer damnit!" He growled.

"Dean?"

"Tom…I'm …I'm in trouble…" Dean started eyes glued to the windshield squinting to see the road in front of him. Realizing he'd crossed the center line he swerved back to his side of the road. His vision getting worse with every passing second. "You remember the lead I was checking out?"

"Yeah."

"It was a…trap…walked righ...into …" Dean slurred thickly, as he tried to force his eyes to focus. A blaring of a car horn had him over correcting back onto his side of the road again and almost into the ditch.

"Dean where are you?"

"15 miles down the highway from you. Not sure I'm gonna make it though."

"Dean, listen to me are they following you?" Tom asked urgently.

Dean risked a glance in the rearview, relieved to see no one behind him. "No, not yet, but they're 'round here somewhere." He said slurring again.

"Ok what's around you? Are you in open territory or are you still in town?"

"Just passed the big lumber yard on the right….look…You need to get to Sam…they're going to be after him once they get me." Dean knew he was in trouble and if by some miracle he didn't manage to destroy the Impala and himself in the process then Cranson's guys were going to have him. 'Sorry Sam, I failed.' Was all he could think of, as his vision started to gray. He could hear Tom shouting at him and finally managed to focus enough to understand what he was saying, but lacked the ability to respond. Dean used the last of his energy to stop the forward motion of the car before sliding sideways into the dark, he mumbled into the phone just before it slipped from numb fingers, "please keep Sam safe." And darkness closed around him.

A/N: So you think Tom will get to Dean before Cranson does and what about poor little Sam? Wonder what's going to happen to him next? HAHA. I know my evil streak is coming out again. Hope you all enjoyed..