Chapter Fifty-One "Silence in the Library"
Sam didn't like angelic flying any more than Dean did, but there just wasn't time for anything else. He was surprised Dean hadn't wanted to come as well after his previous insistence that everyone stay together. Though, it may have had something to do with the last time Dean had seen Elizabeth. Even for Sam, the memories of this place were something he'd rather have buried for so many reasons.
Elizabeth's restaurant was open, and there were a few people inside, but it looked kind of deserted otherwise. Sam was kind of happy he had never actually met Elizabeth, though he didn't relish explaining who he was or what was going on.
Cas followed behind silently as Sam went inside. They sat down at the counter, and Sam noticed that Elizabeth was working by herself. Cas turned over the coffee cup in front of him, and Sam was starting to think that everyone had suddenly become more adept at human interaction than he was.
Elizabeth came around and filled Cas' cup. "What can I get you gentlemen today?" she asked. Her smile was forced.
"It is a rather strange request," Cas said cautiously.
"Long as it's not against the law," Elizabeth joked half-heartedly.
"We're here on behalf of your great-grandfather."
Elizabeth shrunk back, almost imperceptibly. "Are you—are you like him?" Her gazed moved from Cas to Sam and back again.
Cas seemed surprised. "We're not vampires," he said, glancing over at Sam. "He's human."
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. "And you are?"
"It's not important."
"I think it's very important if you're here about my undead relative."
Sam finally spoke. "He's an angel."
"That's a joke, right?"
Cas looked somewhat embarrassed. "I'm afraid not," he said. "But we don't have a lot of time. Benny is in trouble. We need to know if you can help us."
"Pretty sure his kind of trouble isn't something I can help with."
"You're the only one who can," Sam said. "He's dying. He doesn't have much time."
Elizabeth let out a sharp breath and set the coffee pot down on the counter. "How is that even possible?"
"Other vampires. Bad ones. We found a way to cure him, but we need something from you."
Elizabeth nodded slowly like she knew. "You need my blood. That's what you were going to say, right? Isn't it always blood?"
"Just a little bit," Cas clarified.
Elizabeth looked around the restaurant as if to be sure no one was listening. "Let me tell you something," she said in a low voice. "I watched a man I trusted—someone willing to sacrifice his life for me—rip out another man's throat. What kind of world is it that I gotta live with that? He wasn't hurting anyone, but those hunters came anyway. They'll never stop, will they? The hunters and the monsters, they all want him dead. Where does it end?"
Sam took a shaky breath and rested his hands on the counter. "It was my fault," he said quietly. "My fault that hunter tried to hurt you, my fault Benny killed him. I was the one who believed a vampire couldn't be good. I was wrong. I'm not going to let anything like that happen again."
Elizabeth seemed to be thinking for a moment. "You need my blood because I'm his closest living relative?"
Sam nodded.
"Then you might want someone else."
Sam finally made eye contact with her. "Who?"
"My grandmother. She's in a nursing home a few towns over. She's out of her mind most of the time, but she won't notice a little blood missing."
~oOo~
Dean started drinking coffee around ten in the morning. He could still taste it, but the flavor seemed flat compared to how it used to be. He just needed something to do. He had tried researching signs of vampire activity, but he couldn't bring himself to care about every little nest anymore. He wasn't going to be doing any more side hunting.
Charlie was helping Kevin with his translations using programs on her computer, which seemed to be much faster than Sam and Cas' way. Kevin still glared at Dean any time he made too much noise or hovered too close.
"They should be back by now," Dean said, mostly to himself.
A piece of crumpled paper hit him in the side of the face, and he tuned to see Meg sitting with her feet up on one of the tables. "You're making the geniuses nervous," she said.
"How long does it take to get a blood sample?"
"Maybe they're being subtle about it. I wouldn't expect you to know what that means."
"We don't have time for this."
"We could go outside and try to kill each other before Kevin tries to rip out your vocal cords."
"I wouldn't do that," Kevin said, still staring at his work. "I'd think about it, but I wouldn't do it. But, yes, go outside, please."
Dean turned and started to leave the room. Meg followed him.
"Old guy's probably getting rusty anyway," she said.
"Old guy?"
"You can't say it wouldn't be fun, kinda like the old days."
"As I recall, you didn't think it was that fun getting thrown out a window."
"Would you? And then there were the exorcisms and torture..." Meg dronned.
Dean shook his head. "Not even close to payback for possessing Sam."
"Hmm... that was fun."
"We remember that time very differently."
"How about when I fought of hellhounds for you? Or the other times I saved your asses?"
"Guess it's a start."
Meg huffed. "What's it take to impress you? I mean, I did the dying thing."
"It can't change the past." Dean suddenly felt a chill which was strange because he hadn't felt cold in a long time. "Did you feel that?"
"What?" Meg asked.
They were standing in the middle of the war room, and the cold feeling lingered around them like they had walked into a fog.
"It's cold," Dean said.
"There is a ghost in the other room."
"No, I feel cold. That hasn't happened since I was human."
Meg smirked. "Maybe it's all this nostalgia."
"You're not helping."
"Of course not. You never appreciate it when I do."
Dean looked around the room with a frown as if that would give him the answer. Something weird was going on here, which he really didn't have time for. No insights presented themselves, and Meg was obviously not interested, so Dean changed the subject.
"Have you seen Emma this morning?" he asked.
"Nope," Meg replied nonchalantly.
"I thought you two were BFFs or something."
Meg leaned against the map table and crossed her arms. "She's been weird since you came back. She was up all night prowling and doing laundry."
"Did you talk to her?"
"Tried. Neither of us is exactly chatty."
"Maybe she's just getting used to being back here."
Dean and Meg were interrupted when Jody came in the door above them. She was carrying a sack of groceries in one arm and a bloody machete in her other hand. As she came down the stairs, Dean stared at her curiously.
"What?" she asked when she reached the main floor. "I was multitasking."
"Did the produce guy piss you off?" Dean asked.
Jody gave him a sardonic frown. "If he did, you'd never find the body."
"You ran into something out there."
"Just a loner." Jody set her groceries on the table and looked at the blade with a critical eye. "Which was odd."
Dean tried not to think about what it meant. A loner could be a good vampire, but if Jody killed it, probably not. In any case, Dean needed to get started on that whole preparing the troops thing. It wasn't something he looked forward too, but it was time to get everyone together and make sure they could take care of themselves when things got messy.
"Everyone meet back here in ten minutes," Dean said.
"What for?" Meg asked.
"You'll want to be there," was all Dean said before taking off down the hall.
~oOo~
Elizabeth drove the hour long trip in forty-five minutes. Sam sat in the passenger seat gripping the door handle the whole way and trying not to let it show. Meanwhile, Cas was settled comfortably in the backseat, watching the scenery and commenting on various foliage, calling everything by its Latin name. Sam actually understood a few of them.
When they reached the hospital, Elizabeth led them to the front desk to check in. The nurse recognized her, and gave her a sad sort of smile.
"Hope she's awake for you today," the nurse said.
As they walked down the hallway to the elevators, Sam heard Elizabeth mutter under her breath, "Hope she's not."
The whole ride over had been awkwardly quiet—save Cas' impromptu nature documentary—but now Sam felt that he had to ask.
"Does Benny know?" he asked.
Elizabeth stopped in front of the elevator doors and hit the up button. "He never said," she replied. "Of course, he never said he was related to me either, so I don't know."
"But if he knew, wouldn't he have visited her?"
"Maybe not. I was safe because I couldn't possibly recognize him. In her rarer lucid moments, my grandmother might."
"If he found you, couldn't he have found her?"
The elevator opened, and Elizabeth stepped in. "Guess you'll have to ask him when you see him."
They went up to the fourth floor, and Elizabeth took off down a long corridor with many other hallways branching off. The sterile white space made Sam feel a little uneasy. The last time he was in a hospital, he thought he might be permanently injured. Now his shoulder only ached once in a while, and the weird angel stuff was gone. There was that dream about his mother where it glowed again, but that was probably nothing.
When they finally reached the right room, Elizabeth stood outside the door. "We can't tell her," she said. "Even if she could understand it, it would only get her worked up. So, just do what you have to do, and let that be the end of it."
Sam nodded. "Thank you," he said. "You didn't have to do this."
Elizabeth looked him in the eye. "Of course I did."
Cas went into the room first, and Sam followed. Elizabeth stayed by the door. The old woman was sleeping as they approached.
"Nurses come around in about five minutes, so don't dawdle," Elizabeth said.
From somewhere in his coat, Cas took a syringe which Sam didn't even know he had. He quickly found a vein and drew out a few ounces of blood. The woman twitched, but didn't wake,
"Is that enough?" Elizabeth asked.
"It should be," Sam replied.
"Ellie?" the woman's voice croaked, almost making Sam jump. "Is it time for my medicine."
"No, grandma," Elizabeth said, crossing the room and taking her grandmother's hand. "These are friends. Just saying hello."
"He's got blood. Blood, blood."
Sam and Cas exchanged worried looks.
"It's okay," Elizabeth said. "Go back to sleep."
"Full of blood. Everywhere."
"You should go," Elizabeth whispered to Sam.
He nodded and moved to stand beside Cas, bracing himself for the flight. A blink later, and they were standing in the library, papers fluttering around them.
Sorry for the short chapter. I'm going to be gone all day tomorrow, so I wanted to get this out now.
