Thank you so much ShadowHuntingDauntlessDemigod for sharing you beta skills with me. Thank you also VegasGranny for your time, patience and kindness in helping me craft this story to its best possible version.
I know I have readers from all over the world - *waves to Tunisia* - and I was wondering if any of you are on lockdown or self isolating at the moment. If you are, drop me a PM/Review as I have something I'd like to offer you.
Chapter Sixteen
When Sam reached the outskirts of Palo Alto and still hadn't received a call from Ash, he slowed slightly and dialled the Roadhouse.
Ash answered at once in a stressed voice. "Roadhouse?"
"Have you got the number?"
"Sam, man, thank god. You had your number blocked so I couldn't call you back. Yeah, I've got it and I got the signal. He just moved. He was near campus and now he's in some place called West Point Harbor. I can't work out what's there as the map I've found online just shows an abandoned space with a few old huts."
Sam searched his memory and then said, "Yeah, I know it. There's a development there now. They're rebuilding the area. Are there demon signs?"
"Hell yeah there are, and they're focused. There's an electrical storm pretty much right over the harbor. There's something nasty there, Sam. You should wait for help."
"There is no help," Sam said. "I'm on my own."
There was a long pause and then Ash said, "Look, man, I'm sorry but I put a call in to your mom. I think they're on their way to you now."
Sam's heart sank, though he wasn't particularly surprised. He'd expected it even. Ash knew Mary and Dean better than he knew him, and it made sense that they would have put word out that they were looking for Sam. They were coming, but they were coming to the wrong place. If Sam could deal with this fast and get back to Sacramento, they would come to Palo Alto looking and not find him. Perhaps there was a chance, the smallest chance, that they would find him gone and go back home then. He doubted it, but he was doing the right thing coming here, and he would deal with the consequences of that after. Whatever happened next, he would protect Jessica.
"They won't be here in time," Sam said. "Even flying will take hours."
"They're not flying," Ash said. "There's been some kind of attack on air traffic control. Flights are grounded."
"Even better," Sam muttered. If they were driving, they would not be there for days. He turned off the highway onto the smaller road that would lead him to the harbor and raised his voice. "Thanks for this, Ash. I appreciate it."
"You want to keep me on the line?" Ash asked hopefully. "I might be able to help."
"I'm there now," Sam said. "I've got to go."
He ended the call before Ash could say anything else and pulled the car to a stop at the edge of the site. It was bigger than he remembered, and there were buildings in various states of construction. Sam grabbed his laptop bag and took out the salt and holy water. He wasn't sure what good the salt would be, but he was taking it in case. The only other weapons he had were the carefully memorized Latin and his powers. If he could just hold the demon long enough to get the exorcism out, he might have a chance of beating it. He just hoped he was in time to save Zach.
He got out of the car and looked around, wondering where to start looking. He was walking towards the first building, planning to search them one by one, when an idea occurred to him. He could look and be unseen if he was careful.
He leaned against the car and closed his eyes then drifted upwards from his body. It was easier than it had ever been before as he was so practiced now and the need to do it was greater. He fixed Zach's face in his mind and allowed it to draw him close. As he drifted over the site, he paid attention to the places he was passing, wanting to be able to use the route again.
He came to a stop on the edge of the water where a one-story but large building was with holes where windows and doors would be but a full roof. He went down and inside and saw Zach. He was lying unconscious on the concrete floor beside a pile of bricks with a bloody wound on his temple. The man Sam had seen in his vision was standing over him, his eyes the pure black of a demon. He had a knife in his hand and he was tapping it against his leg. It looked as though he was waiting for something, and Sam suspected he knew what it was: him.
Sam withdrew into his body and took a breath as his head cleared, and then he started towards the waterfront.
He saw the building Zach was being kept in and he uncapped the holy water and gripped it in his hand. He didn't think he would manage stealth, so he went with speed. He ran forward and through the doorless space into the building. The room he came into was vast, and he was far from Zach and the demon. Without breaking pace, he ran at the demon with his flask held ready to attack.
The demon laughed at him, showing no concern as Sam approached. With an almost lazy movement, he threw his knife, and Sam stalled as his flung out a hand and held back the knife with his power. It stopped a few feet from him, hovered in the air for a moment, and then dropped to the floor. Sam kicked it away and turned back to the demon in time to see him running at him with a brick in his hand. Sam made a grab for it but he was too slow, and it hit him square on center of his forehead, stunning him for a moment and making warm blood flow down his face.
The demon laughed again. "Regretting coming?" he asked.
Sam swept the flask through the air, splashing the demon with the holy water. The demon's skin hissed and smoked as he backed away. Sam reached for him both with his hands and mind and caught the demon without touching him before he could get more than a few paces back.
"Neat trick," the demon snarled. "Want to see what I can do?"
He threw out a hand, and Sam felt a shove against his chest but he was able to keep himself grounded in place.
The demon looked stunned. "How did you do that?" it asked.
"I'm special," Sam growled.
"So were the others," the demon said. "But they couldn't do that."
Sam wanted to know what he meant by others, he was sure it was important, but he knew there was something more important than knowing. He held the demon around the throat with his power and began to recite the Latin he'd learned. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus…"
The demon's eyes widened and his face jerked with a spasm. Sam held him fast and concentrated on enunciating the words carefully as Bobby said they needed to.
The demon struggled against the hold of his power, but Sam had him. His head was pounding, both from the injury and the pressure of using his ability as it was being fought, but he held on and spoke the last words triumphantly. "Te rogamus, audi nos!"
The demon's head flew back and black smoke poured from its mouth and into the air. Sam stumbled away from it, fearful of attack, but it funnelled out of the man and disappeared.
Feeling weak, his headache building, Sam staggered away from the feebly stirring man the demon had just left towards Zach. He fell to his knees beside him and shook his shoulder. "Zach, wake up. You're okay."
"What happened?" a weak voice asked behind him.
Sam ignored the confused inquiries from the man that had been possessed and pinched Zach's earlobe. "Wake up, man!"
Zach's eyes fluttered and looked up him. "Sam? What happened?" He raised a hand to his bloody head and winced then said, "I'm bleeding. So are you. What happened to us?"
"Lay still," Sam said. "I'm calling an ambulance."
He wanted Zach to be checked out as his uneven pupils made him sure the head injury was more serious than it looked, and the man that had been possessed might need help, too. He would make the call and then get out of there. He didn't want to be slowed down by a stay in a hospital, too. He needed to get back to Jessica.
He dialled 911 and when it was connected, he started to speak, noting the waver in his voice and the way his vision swam. "I'm at the West Point Harbor development," he said, his voice weak to his own ears. "I need an ambulance. Someone has been…" He trailed off as a wave of lethargy swept over him and he tried to force the words out. "Someone had been attacked. He's got a head injury, and—"
His words failed as a curtain of darkness swept over him and he pitched forward. He heard someone saying his name from a distance, but he was unconscious before he could answer.
So… How was that? I liked being able to have Sam take on a demon solo at last, but it was a challenge not to make him the canon hero and instead scared but determined. Did I pull it off?
Until next time…
Clowns or Midgets xxx
