CROSSED

Sam had watched Dean steadily improve over the days he worked on his car and just a few minutes on the phone and he was pale and looking as if he was going pass out at any moment.

"Dean?" He stepped towards the older man.

Dean held his hand to ward off his brother. He breathed deeply until he didn't feel like throwing up and face planting. "I'm ok, just didn't expect things to go that way." He should have expected it though. What he had done was something not that easy to forgive.

Mark came into the room and noticed the difference immediately. A knock on the front door ended any other conversation on the subject.

Mark answered and he welcomed the arrival with a large smile and hug. Kathleen walked in the door.

She smiled warmly at the Winchesters. "Didn't think I'd ever again have the pleasure." She hugged each of them.

"Have a seat, sheriff, I'll get us some ice tea." Mark offered.

"You getting formal on me?" Kathleen chuckled.

Mark blushed slightly. "Just being respectful."

"Still ain't gonna make me forget when you used to yank on my pig tails."

"Women and their steel trap minds." Mark huffed and rushed from the room.

They sat around the living room and Bernice stuck her head in. "Dinner is just about ready. I can set another place?"

"Sounds great, thank you." Kathleen smiled. She turned back to Dean and Sam. "I heard that you were here and I've sort of been going out my of head on what to do."

"About what?" Sam asked.

"Apparently Missy Bender is no longer a ward of the state. An uncle appeared out of nowhere and since there was no proof that she had any involvement in the killings and lazy ass system that didn't want to deal with her, she's gone and we know what's she's capable of and if that man really is her uncle then that horror show might be going on in another part of the country or she's gonna start one."

"What the hell is wrong with the law sometimes?" Sam growled and ran his fingers roughly through his hair.

"I tried to warn them but most of it was done before I was even advised and if I said anything more it would give you away and probably get me fired or worse."

"Do you have an address?" Dean asked.

"I wasn't allowed access to the file since it didn't pertain to any ongoing investigation. They pretty much made it look as if Missy was a victim in all the horror and they are trying to protect her and I'm pretty sure that she was smart enough to play along so she could have her freedom. All I was able to get was the name Damien Bender."

"Damien, of course." Dean muttered.

"I figured if anyone could track them down it would be you guys."

"We're on it." Sam said confidently.

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Dean sat on the porch swing slowly rocking back and forth and sipping on a beer.

As hunters they had so easily taken on the new Bender case but as soon as they had started to let it settle in all the horrors from the first encounter slipped into their minds.

Sam slid in beside him. "I didn't mean to jump the gun." He whispered.

"You didn't. It's not like we can let this go unchecked. It is our job to hunt evil."

"Yeah, but…"

"Yeah but nothing, Sam. It was a nightmare but we all survived it. Don't act as if we haven't been surviving nightmares for a majority of our lives."

"You have a point." Sam chuckled humorlessly.

"Besides this couldn't have happened at a better time. Arandi won't have to be involved and she can't get mad at me for leaving her out of it since it was basically her choice."

"Doesn't it scare you at all?"

Dean turned to meet eyes with his brother. "The only thing that scares me is that these monsters might still be destroying families."

"That's not what I meant."

"Ripping that monsters throat out with my bare hands was a comfort not a fear." Dean growled.

Sam nodded his head slowly and dropped the subject. He didn't dare push it when looking into his brother's eyes made him shudder from head to toe.

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"You both are just gonna have to deal." Bernice grumped. "There was four of you last time and you came to our door half dead. You think just the two of you are going to fare any better?"

"Bernice, we are prepared this time and we don't have time to train anyone. Besides there are other hunters we can call on to help." Dean replied patiently though he had no intentions of dragging anyone else into the hunt.

"My boys have handled guns most of their lives. They grew up on a farm and had to deal with death. Maybe it was animals but Mark has dealt with death on a regular basis."

"You know most mother's try to keep their sons safe." Dean huffed.

"Exactly." She glowered.

Dean and Sam looked at one another. So they had an adoptive momma now. Stubborn as their natural mom and probably just as capable at making grown men tremble.

She had been one of three females in the midst of six men and she had been completely in charge.

"Mark, Steve, you really want to do this?" Dean inquired.

"We want to help. We don't want to do this for a living like you do but we want to know more or less what is out there and how to protect ourselves, our families, against the evil."

"They are monsters but they are human monsters."

The Baker's nodded.

"You have to remember, Dean, that those bastards killed our aunt before we ever had a chance to know her. They broke our mother's and grandparent's hearts. Not to mention what they did to Kathleen's brother. They were practically family when we were growing up. Who knows how much else they took from just us? Imagine that times all the bodies found. Imagine that times all the ones that will never be found.

Dean and Sam exchanged looks of understanding. "Alright." They replied together.

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It had taken Sam a little over a day to locate Damian Bender. The man was apparently well adapted to staying off the grid.

"Losing your touch there, Sammy." Dean poked.

"As if you could do any better."

"I can't do everything."

"You gonna be ok?"

"Do I have a choice? I can just hope that all she needs is a little more time. That she's trying to make a point since I am the one that walked away. So anyway, what else did you find?"

"There has been a string of disappearances in the area but over a hundred and fifty miles from where Damian lives. When all this Bender stuff broke out his farm was searched but nothing suspicious was found. Though you and I know that don't mean jack."

"If he hadn't taken Missy I would be inclined to believe that he might have been the normal one but he had to have known. Pa Bender was a bit too happy to tell the tale of how generations of his family had hunted humans."

"You're not planning on killing Missy?"

"I just want her locked away because that girl will never be normal."

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"Ok, so maybe we weren't quite ready for this." Steve groaned. He shook his head trying to clear it. He touched the cage walls warily.

"Dean, come on man, wake up." Sam coaxed his brother who had been knocked cold with the butt of the rifle hours before. They were in a cage together as were Mark and Steve.

The whole thing had been a trap. A trap they had waltzed right into thinking they were doing the right thing and now Mark and Steve had been dragged down as well.

How was Bernice going to deal if no one came back?

Sam felt like he was trapped in a very sick moment of a déjà vu. The cages in a barn with the locked key box.

The barn doors swung open and a tall man with brown hair and beard walked it followed by five others and Missy. A very pregnant Missy. Who was maybe nearing sixteen now.

"I knew that someone would bleed the news of Missy to you murderers and you'd come knocking." The man who had to be Damien chuckled.

"You're calling us murderers?" Sam guffawed. "That's rich."

"Everyone gets a chance to live."

"No they don't. You can't chance anyone escaping to rat you out. Just because you kill them on the run doesn't make it any less of a murder."

"I wasn't as naïve as my brother. I separated my home from my pleasure. When the police came knocking my family and I were squeaky clean, so to speak."

"Does every fucking douche have to monologue?" Dean groused and slowly sat up.

Damien's smile faded. "You. You're the one that brought the downfall of my brother and my nephews."

Dean stood up and locked eyes with Damien. "I ripped out Lee's throat with my bare hands. Care to join him?"

"You think rather highly of yourself don't you?"

"I am what I am." Dean grinned wickedly. "Nothing more nothing less, so if you're all the big man that you and your brother claimed to be then hunt me. See how well that goes for you. Hunt all of us." He challenged. "That is if you're not afraid."

One of the other men stepped up to the cage with a cattle prod. Dean could tell that it had been modified. He recognized the extra power pack because he had done that type of modification to more than one Taser himself.

It was going to hurt but it wasn't like it was the first time he had thousands of volts coursing through his body.

"What are you doing?" Sam yelled trying to pull Dean back.

Dean motioned for Sam to stand down and the prod pushed into his ribs. The current zipped through him hard, his joints locked and his teeth clenched. He never took his eyes off of Damian.

He reached for the hand of the guy holding the prod passing the current to him and the man slumped over after just a few seconds.

Dean took a deep breath and cracked his neck. "I hope you hunt better than that."

Damien glared at Dean for a few moments. "Get the others, boys, we got a hunt tonight."

"Wouldn't want you to feel outnumbered." Sam egged.

Missy walked up to the cage in front of Dean. "I'm gonna keep those pretty green eyes."

"Take a good look because they are going to fill your nightmares."

They glared at each other and she finally turned and walked away.

"Dean?" Mark said worriedly. The doctor in him knowing that Dean should be hurting big time after a jolt like that.

Dean tilted his head and with a half-smile.

Mark looked at Sam.

"He's had worse."

Mark didn't doubt it one bit.

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Dean's head was pounding from being knocked out and zapped but he pushed it back. The hunt was going to be their only shot at survival. The Benders not only had the privilege of home field advantage but they were also going to outnumber them.

He knew how to take care of himself and Sam did too. The hunters and the doctor and the mechanic. He snickered to himself. Sounded like a TV series or the beginning to a bad bar joke.

Sam leaned beside him. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Obama." Dean replied seriously.

"Dean."

"I'll be fine."

"If I had a fucking dollar…"

"Fucking dollars multiply faster don't they?"

"We're going to die today."

"Not on my watch."

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The sun was a couple of hours from setting when the gates of the cages clicked open. They all looked at each other. They were hungry, tired, dehydrated, and hurting.

They slowly stepped out.

"There are weapons outside the barn door. You'll have a five-minute head start then all bets are off." Damien's voice came over a loudspeaker.

Dean and Sam headed for the barn door counting seconds in their head. Mark and Steve at their heels.

The weapons they found were laughable. There were two fishing spears, a rusted over machete, and a wooden baseball bat.

Dean took the bat. He handed Mark and Steve the spears and Sam the machete.

He rushed towards the woods still counting in his head. The others behind him.

He looked around fast and moved to a spot where even is if someone was watching from a far they wouldn't see what he was up to and he knew Sam would be doing his best to cover the steps taken.

Dean found what he was looking for and he turned to Mark and Steve.

"I need you to climb up these trees as fast as possible, stay quiet, and don't come down until one of us calls you. If neither of us returns wait at least a day before you try to make a run for it." He directed. "You don't have much time so hustle and stay as hidden as you possibly can."

"We can help." Mark pushed.

"Trust me, Sam and I can handle this better knowing you're ok."

"Sam and you against what ten or more?"

Dean lifted an eyebrow and Sam snickered.

"I'm guessing they are the outnumbered ones."

"If we had real weapons it wouldn't even be fair to them." Dean gloated. "Now move it."

Mark and Steve began to climb up and scampered as high as they could go hidden by the branches and leaves.

Dean and Sam made sure there were no traces of the climb and then they rushed further into the woods.

With five seconds left to spare. They heard the call for the Benders to move into the hunt.

Dean and Sam looked at each other and only nodded. They had to split up and hated it. They had to face that this could be the last time they saw one another.

"Dean…." Sam sighed.

"Sam…" Dean replied.

There were no words for that moment. They stared with half smiles for a second and then they rushed apart.

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Sam growled with frustration. The machete he carried probably hadn't been sharpened since before he was born so the only good thing he could do was use if for blunt force trauma.

The Benders meanwhile carried rifles. They thought that was a fair fight.

He heard the breaking branch and ducked. The shot hit the tree where he had been seconds before. He stayed close to the ground and moved as fast as he could as more bullets flew over him.

He stopped moving and waited close to the ground. He was up with the machete breaking someone's nose and without thought he snapped the neck. So maybe Dean wasn't the only one that could take the hunt personal.

He grabbed the rifle and grinned. Winchesters one. Benders zero.

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Dean heard the shots and as long as they kept going Sam was moving. When they stopped he stopped to listen. He heard the dove call and grinned. Sam had scored a real weapon.

"That's my boy."

He wondered though if the Benders carried extra ammo or if they were cocky enough to think they didn't need it.

The bullet zipped so close to him he was sure he felt the heat off of it as he threw himself to the ground cursing. This was no time for him to be off his game.

He listened intently to hear which way the shooter was coming. He could tell there were at least three coming in from different angles. Bullets versus bat.

He counted to himself and came up fast when the first shooter was within reach. The bat came down before the bastard even knew what was coming. Dean though didn't have time to inventory anything. It was bad enough that these monsters were of the human variety. Literally cracking skulls was going to take its toll.

The second shooter had been right behind the first and Dean shoved the tip of the rifle sideways as the shot rang out. The bullet taking down a third shooter.

Another one slammed the rifle butt into Dean's ribs and he doubled over, then dropped and rolled away before the man could take aim close up.

Now he had lost his bat. He heard shots further away and no way of knowing if Sam was on the receiving or giving end. All of the fucked up situation just served to piss him off to utmost end.

He jumped to his feet grabbed a low lying branch and kicked the shooter with both feet. The man flew back and hit another tree hard. Something cracked loudly. Dean didn't know or care if it was the tree or the man but he didn't get up.

Dean picked up the rifle only to find that the impact had jammed it and he tossed aside. He headed to the other shooter but he rushed behind a tree when he heard another.

He didn't have a chance to grab a rifle so he rushed further into the woods to make a stand some other way.

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Sam threw the now useless rifle aside. He had taken down three shooters but they all had different rifles thus different ammo.

He waited on a low branch of a tree and jumped on top of the next shooter. The man dropped the rifle and it slid away down an incline. They fought hand to hand until the man pulled a knife.

Sam smiled. He liked this part. Dean had taught him from a young age how to disarm someone with a knife. He stepped forward and easily took the knife.

He spun the man around when he heard the click of a rifle and used him as a shield. The man fell dead and Sam rushed into the woods. He hadn't been able to get a gun or knife and he had long ago tossed the rusted machete.

He heard the frustrated furious shout of Damien Bender. His little family was going down fast.

Sam wasn't sure how many were down or how many were left but he did know that Bender had no clue what was going to be the end result.

In the end he was going to regret ever giving the Winchesters a fighting chance.

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Generations of family cannot all be born so wicked at heart. It is ingrained into each person from the moment of birth to believe that it is the way of life. That they are normal and everyone else is the freak.

Hunting humans had been going on for years and they had been able to pull it off spreading out to different states and keeping it to a bare minimum.

Then Lee and Jared had to capture the wrong person. Got a little too cocky, a little too lustful for their own good and an entire family had gone down. Now they were to blame for this carnage.

Damien n looked down at his nephew's lifeless eyes. He thought himself a great hunter but just two men were doing this. He had tracked them he had no clue where the other two were hidden but he knew they weren't involved.

He long ago found the tossed the machete and the battered bat with the blood of his kin on it. He hated to admit fear but soon after he had sent his own sons back to the house to keep an eye on others coming to their home.

Out here where they hunted apart from where they lived Damien was suddenly not sure of what to do. If he left too on the pretense of protecting his home what would the others think?

His boys Levi and Calum were on their way home. The rest were cousins and nephews that lived the same life as they did but they were slowly being killed off and Damien was tempted to tell them all to go but he couldn't do that.

If the Winchesters and the others survived they would find their homes and everything would come crashing down anyway. Damned either way. No one would have looked for them if he hadn't decided to go for Missy. All of this was on him now.

He motioned for his nephew Curtis. "We're going to let them think they won. Gather the rest and we're going to head out. They will come out at the peak and we'll get them there."

The peak was the only exit from the woodland they were in at the moment even if they headed back to the barn. The Benders had made sure of that in case any of their hunts were that smart or trained. No one was meant to escape no matter what. Everywhere else led to endless miles of woods with hidden cliffs, ravines, and booby traps. No one survived for long.

Some would call it cheating. Damien called it smart business. The very few that thought they would make it out of there met their fate at the peak. The Bender fail safe.

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Dean heard the shouts passing back and forth. He and Sam had taken out enough of the supposed hunters to make the others take notice and want out quick, fast, and in a hurry.

The Benders were bailing.

He stayed where he was and listened. Far off over the night sounds he heard the truck doors and revving engines. He wished he could be sure if it was trick of some kind or if they were really running scared.

Damien wasn't a stupid man and neither was Dean. Dean knew that Damien had to know that if they let the Winchesters survive that they would come after them one by one. They could run try to start lives somewhere else but they would always have to look over their shoulders.

Somehow Dean doubted that Damien n was the running type but he was the cunning type.

There was a trap waiting. Dean was sure of that and he was sure said trap was probably the only way out too.

He waited a bit longer and then moved in search of Sam.

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Dean sat on the ground the bright full moon overhead. Sam was crouched in front of him and Mark and Steve paced.

"It's a trap. So even if we get there they aren't going to give us any leeway. We are dead the minute they spot us. We killed half the family out here." Dean explained tiredly. "The question is do you want to die with us or live until they come out here and find you?"

Mark and Steve both stopped walking.

"This what I get for wanting to protect my family. I'm going to leave my wife to raise our kids alone." Mark growled.

"At least you had a chance to have a family." Steve countered.

"I told you this was a bad idea." Dean barked. "But no you both had to channel me and go all stubborn bravado."

Sam snorted. "Hearing you admit that is weird."

"You get a bit more 'my give a fuck is broken' when you're staring death in the face."

"We knew the dangers, Dean, and we still came so it's nothing on you. It's all on us."

Sam snorted again. "Dean Winchester takes on the weight of the world on a daily basis so don't waste any more precious oxygen."

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

"Guys we're in, if you two can pull off what you did, I'm pretty sure we still have a fighting chance." Steve interjected.

"One for all and all four one."

"Can we be Regulators instead of Musketeers?"

"You get us out of this, bro, you can be Batman."

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There was only seven left and Damien everyone else had left to count their losses. The ones brave or stupid enough to stay behind all wanted a piece of the men that had killed their family members so they waited.

When Dean sauntered casually out of the woods straight out into the open holding a couple of mechanisms to some vicious booby traps, they were stunned and a couple began to lift their guns but Damien waved them off.

"Everyone is always into the monolog thing; just thought I should give it shot." Dean said calmly as he tossed the pieces of metal out in front of him.

"Where are the others?" Damien asked in a growl.

"Safe."

"You can't escape your fate and neither can they."

"You'd be amazed how many times I've done what couldn't be done, survived what shouldn't be survived, killed what wasn't supposed to die."

As if on cue a truck came careening out of control up the dirt road nearly taking out another truck. A younger man stumbled from the driver seat and staggered to Damien. "They're all dead." He cried.

"What are you talking about?" Damien asked and shook the man.

"Everyone the avenging angels killed them all." The man fell to ground.

"Jeb what…." Damien didn't finish. The man couldn't respond and never would. He had survived long enough to warn them. Damien let out an inhuman screech of fury. He lifted his gun and pulled the trigger.

Dean flew back hard from the impact of the bullet to his left shoulder. Damien loomed over him in the next moment rifle aimed at Dean's forehead. "For years we lived in harmony. Doing what we do and never being found out and you, you had to ruin it all. My family, the ones I love owe you nothing."

"Tell that to all the people out there still waiting for their children, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, to come home. The people you murdered in the name of sport."

Dean was screwed. He hadn't exactly planned on being shot so he was getting weaker by the second from all the life draining crap that he had been through since the hunt had begun. Even if he made a move he was only going to get shot again and probably fatally.

Damien growled and began to squeeze the trigger only to have to rifle blown from his grip when another shot rang out.

He turned to face the culprit an anguished gasp escaping him to find all the others that had stood with him now lifeless on the ground. All of them killed with silent deadly precision.

Dean sat up slowly and stared wide eyed. While Damien was sure Dean was part of it Dean had no clue what the hell was going on and if these 'avenging angels' were going to be gunning for him too.

"Show yourselves you cowards!" Damien screeched.

A hooded figure stepped from the shadows.

Dean blinked over and over again trying to stay conscious, trying to figure out 'what the hell'."Avenging angel?" He whispered.

TBC

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Thanks for reading!