I've been updating for this story a lot more lately. I don't know exactly what it is but I have been able to be in a huge Supernatural mood lately that the inspiration just keeps coming. Now I think I just want to be able to keep it at a good pace, since updating a lot and then going months again without any updates would be super rude and lazy. Well, I was working on something else in the time-frame, but still. In any case, I certainly hope that you readers have enjoyed the increased pace that I've been able to get all of these different SPN chapters and stories out.
Chapter 19: Lost Blood
One of the benefits, such as they were, of being Sam Winchester was that he was the absolute master of bad ideas. The amount of important decisions he had made in his life that had not come back to bite him in the ass were… well, he was fairly sure he could count them on one hand, two maybe, if he was being generous with himself. He had a top five list in his mind, though they kind of kept shuffling around up there mostly because he couldn't decide if allowing Lucifer to possess him had been the worst or best thing he'd ever done.
On one hand, it had saved the world. On the other hand, he got the worst experience of his life that put him in the hospital and nearly killed him. So yeah, the jury was still out on that.
He could say though, with complete and absolute confidence, that sneaking into a lair of vampires to talk them into a possible alliance against the Leviathans was going to either save the world again or get them killed.
Sam could not help but notice several of his plans and decisions never allowed themselves to be seen as good or bad immediately. It usually took a while for the results to get in.
Still, as he was grabbed and yanked into the mansion with Dean and brought roughly into a room were the Alpha Vampire was waiting for them at the end of a long table, he had a feeling this was not going to be one of the few plans that could be called a clear success on his part.
He was honestly too used to it to even be surprised anymore.
"The Winchesters," the Alpha growled, his tone angry. "I was wondering who it was that would be so bold."
Neither brother could get a word out in reply before the door at the far end of the room opened up, Emily walking out. Sam was shocked to see her, but more than that, shocked at the cast on her arm, held up against her chest by a sling.
"Emily," he breathed. "What happened to you?"
"Apparently a little run in with a girl her age when she tried to come back to me," the vampire replied coldly, barely restrained anger etched onto his features. "I understand she's your daughter, Dean?"
Sam felt his brother stiffen beside him. Oh no, this was not good.
"What did you do to her?" Dean demanded of Emily.
"She hurt me. I just hurt her back," she replied. "Just like you were going to do to my daddy. Did you think I was going to let you do that?"
"Wow. You got a trophy in Stockholm Syndrome," the man scoffed, but Sam wasn't sure he quite believed the joking persona. Dean spent most of his waking time worrying about Emma these days. He was clearly trying to keep himself casual, not work himself up.
"Where is she?" Sam demanded, hoping this was not going to need to turn into a rescue mission. This place was huge, and there were more vampires than there were of them. If she was here it would take forever to find her, if they even made it out alive.
"Back at the hotel room where I left her. I just wanted to get away," Emily supplied, raising her broken arm as proof.
"I should have the girl brought here, but I believe in fair trade. I'm willing to drop it since I have you two anyway," the Alpha stated with a chuckle. "At least for now anyway, since you two clearly won't put up much of a fight."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but we aren't here for a fight," Dean replied as he indicated to his brother. "Sam here had a better idea."
"We're here to talk, that's it," Sam agreed, though the Alpha only laughed in response.
"Now that my guys have taken your blades and your syringes of tainted blood. Is that what you mean?"
Damn it. They didn't have time to bat this around. He knew what happened when Dean was worried about someone. Violence on monsters was how he showed he cared, and Sam wasn't confident about their odds against the vampire. That was the whole point of talking in the first place.
"Just listen! You need us!" he stated firmly to make sure he was heard. "The plague, we know what it is!"
It seemed to have caught the attention of the monster, so he pressed on, glad to know he had at least succeeded in not getting them killed just yet. Progress was progress after all.
"What do you know about Leviathan?" he asked, cutting straight to the chase.
"A bit," he replied, his lips curling into a coy smile. It was clear he didn't plan to share too much.
"You know they're poisoning the food supply?" he asked.
That seemed to make the Alpha a little uncomfortable. Maybe they could actually get an ally here, even if just a temporary one.
"Roman didn't mention that when we had dinner last fall," he stated, and Sam did his best not to think about what kind of dinner that had been. "We made lots of plans. He and I are on excellent terms."
"You sure about that?" Dean asked, disbelief heavy in his voice.
"Oh yes, he said grabbing a snack would be easier than ever."
"He said you'd all live together, didn't he?" Sam asked as realization dawned on him. "You really believed him? You think your children are dying by accident? There is pesticide in the formula!"
"It suits you to think so. You need me on your side," the vampire replied.
"We're not the ones burning from the inside out!" he insisted. "Think about it! Whatever deal he made with you was crap! Trust us!"
"Why are you telling me this?" the Alpha asked suddenly. Sam wasn't sure if it was a good sign or not.
"Because we can stop Dick! We can stop all of it! All we need..." he paused at this part. He really hoped the Alpha was concerned enough to listen to this part. "We need your blood for the weapon."
"So now you want to prevent the extermination of the vampire race?" the monster asked with a laugh.
"No," Dean bit out, "but it beats going down with you."
Before anything else could be said or decided the side door opened again, a young boy walking out timidly as the vampire curled his finger at him to come closer. Sam felt his stomach drop as he realized it was another kidnapped kid, another child made into a brainwashed and loyal juice box.
"Fucking creep," Dean snarled out next to him. Oh yeah, he needed to get Dean out of here fast. He was about five seconds away from saying screw negotiations and trying to stab the bastard right in the face.
"Allan darling, what's wrong?" the vampire asked.
"Edgar's here," the boy replied softly.
"Oh wow! What a funny coincidence!" his brother snapped out as the little boy was sent away. "Okay, we need soap, cleanser, anything with borax in it! We need knives!"
"Put them in the study," the Alpha ordered instead, clearly having his own ideas.
"What? No, no, no. No, wait!" Sam protested as he felt himself get grabbed.
"Word of advice boys, you do not live through centuries of fire and ice and continental divide by jumping to conclusions."
Sam tried yanking out of the grip as he was pulled along, but his efforts and shouts of protest were in vain. Before he knew it, both of them were getting shoved a room, the door locked behind them.
"Hey. Hey!" Dean yelled as he slammed a fist on the wooden paneling.
"Dean, calm down. We need to find a way out of here," he said as he looked around. Not that it would be easy. They wouldn't have picked this room if they could just walk out. "Maybe we can call Emma. See if she can get us help."
The man immediately whipped out his phone, dialing, but Sam had a feeling it was more to check up on her than anything. He cursed after a few minutes, flipping it closed.
"No answer," he growled out. "Little bitch beat us here too. No way she did that on foot. Bet she snatched the phone and ran for it."
"She was hurt. Pretty obvious there was a fight too," Sam mused. "How'd Emma even lose her anyway?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Dean muttered as he looked over the room. "She said she hurt her back. We need to get back to her."
"The first thing we need to do is get out of this room," he stated. Handling Edgar and the Alpha at the same time wasn't going to be easy. They'd be lucky if they got back to the hotel in order to check up on the Amazon at this rate.
"Then I'm going to ice that son of a bitch," his older brother said.
"How? We gave up all our vamptontite," he pointed out, only to see Dean yank a vile of it out from his boot. "Or not. Alright, we'll need to pick that lock then."
Turns out the plan wasn't going to work out quite like that. Within only minutes of getting out of the room, one ambush later and the blood was gone, used to kill the vampire that had caught them. They had to grab knives on the way, luckily finding a kitchen before reaching Edgar and the Alpha. The vampire was down for the count as they rushed the Leviathan, catching his neck with the knife and quickly separating its head from the neck.
"Grab a glass. We're juicing this freak," Dean ordered as he advanced on the vampire. Emily cried out and jumped in the way, but the hunter only grabbed her instead, shoving her hard.
"Dean!" Sam yelled out, praying he wasn't planning on hurting her. Whatever she'd done, she was still a victim here too.
"Get out of my way!" he yelled at the girl before he was grabbed by the Alpha and thrown across the room.
"Leave her alone. She's been through enough," the vampire sighed out.
"Oh that's rich, considering you're the one who had her taken off the swing-set," Sam snorted.
"Do you want this fight or do you want my blood?" he asked in reply, seeming suddenly very tired. For a brief moment, he looked his age, centuries old as he bled out in the glass without a spark of fight in him. He handed it over, clearly wanting this to be over with. "For taking care of Edgar. Take it and go."
Sam and Dean exchanged a look, clearly thinking the same thing. Yeah, they were not leaving without that other kid.
"What about the little boy?" he asked.
"Are you joking?" the vampire asked in irritation.
"Do we look like we're joking?" Dean asked angrily. He gripped his knife angrily as if looking for an excuse to go through with it. "How many other kids you got in here, you freak?"
It occurred to Sam this would have angered Dean on principle alone, kids being ripped away from their normal lives to be forced into servitude to a monster, but he had a feeling this was hitting closer to home now. They needed to get back to the hotel room as soon as they could so he could see Emma was okay.
Collecting Allan was the easy part, and he seemed lucid enough to go with them, though he didn't bother to correct the police when they tried to drop him off with the police. It seemed he was at least a little indoctrinated to the vampire when he nodded his head when he was asked if these two strange men had been the ones to grab him. Fighting off the cops and running for it hadn't been the most dangerous part of the day, but Sam was glad all the same it was over.
At least that was the idea until they reached the hotel that evening to see cop cars in the parking lot.
"Damn it. They didn't figure out where we were staying, did they?" Dean groaned out.
"Doesn't look like the lights are on in our room. Cops are in the lobby. Park around the side and we'll climb in the window, see if we can figure out what's going on," Sam said before Dean pulled around and they sneaked in. The sight of the broken mirror was a bad sign, as was the broken lamp on the ground, but no Emma.
"She must have split already," Dean sighed out, actually sounding relieved as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.
"We did tell her to get a hold of Jody if anything went wrong. She would have been able to find a phone by now. It's been hours since we left after all," Sam reasoned.
"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking," he replied as he dialed on the phone. "Hey Jody. Listen, I was just wondering when you were planning on swinging by to pick up Emma. Did she tell you where she was? … What do you mean you haven't heard from her?"
"Wait, Emma didn't call her?" he asked but Dean only shushed him.
"Look, you sure you haven't heard from her? This is really important," the man said, his voice sounding just the tiniest bit unsteady. "No, yeah. I got it. Look, just… if she calls you get in contact with me immediately."
Sam wanted to say something to try and reassure him, that they didn't know for sure that anything was wrong. She could have just split to look for Emily, or maybe the cops had scared her off.
"Maybe Bobby saw what happened," he suggested before he went over to the safe, only to pause at the sight of it. "Oh no. No, she didn't."
"What?" Dean asked and Sam moved aside to allow him to see the damaged safe, the door of it on the floor with the hinges twisted and broken. "She took the flask? SHE TOOK THE FLASK?!"
He didn't even flinch when Dean suddenly kicked the table. Hours of tension were starting to boiling over for him. Better for him to get it out of his system now instead of trying to bottle it up.
"She had to have run off," Sam sighed. "Which means she didn't call Jody because she didn't want to. We never even gave her a phone of her own either so no GPS to track her with."
"God damn it! How could she have done this?! How stupid is she?!" Dean demanded angrily.
"Dean, calm down," his brother insisted. "Look, keep on like that and you're just going to attract attention. We need to figure out what happened. I'll check for EMF, see how strong it is. Maybe we can figure out what happened. If it's still strong then it means she only just recently left."
Dean glared at him before clenching his hands in his fists and taking a deep breath.
"You don't get to be so damn calm about this," he growled out.
"What? Dean, staying calm is going to help us find her."
"Yeah, cause you would know all about that, seeing as how you were the one who liked to run away!" Dean snapped at him. "This is just like Flagstaff all over again!"
Normally Sam might have said something, defending his choice or apologize for it, but he knew neither response was going to help his brother right now. He did have a point after all. Learning Dean had spent all week looking around for him frantically, the panic and fear of not knowing what had happened or where to even start looking, it still caused him to feel guilt.
It occurred to him that he was Emma's dad and not her brother, but Dean had spent a lot of time acting like his dad too when John hadn't been around. There wasn't much difference between parent and sibling to Dean, not really.
"I was such an idiot. I never even gave her any cell phones that weren't on loan. We each have about half a dozen. Doesn't matter if we lose one! We can just track the others!"
"Dean," Sam tried again, but he ended up just getting ignored.
"And the sigils! Here I am thinking, 'Hey, this is smart. I'll go and keep any angel from being to locate her.' Now I can't even call on Cas to find her! If he could even help at all, with his marbles all scattered around on the floor!"
Maybe just permitting him to rant would help him feel better. Sam just allowed him to do it, going for the EMF, but the news on that front wasn't good either. The signal was there, but it was weak and fading pretty fast. Bobby hadn't been here for a while, a few hours or so. Emma had to have left only shortly after they had.
"We need to figure out where she might have gone," Dean said suddenly. "It can't be to the mansion. We were there too long. If she'd been planning something stupid like a rescue she would have gotten there before we left. She would have seen us coming out."
"The Alpha is certainly the type to gloat too. If he had gotten a hold of Emma, he would have said so," Sam concluded. "Though, you think Emily was lying when she said she left her here?"
"No," Dean admitted. "That safe was torn open, and Emily didn't know about the flask. Even if a vamp had come here for Emma, they wouldn't have known to go for the safe. They wouldn't even have thought about it. Emma has to have been the one to break into it."
"Which means she wanted to take the flask with her, so she wasn't planning on coming back. No way to track Bobby either," he sighed out. "Damn it, what was she thinking?"
"She wasn't thinking," Dean concluded.
"Look, maybe she didn't run for a stupid reason," he tried to reason. "Bobby is with her. Maybe he told her to get out of here and keep a low profile. Hell, she could have gotten to a payphone or something by now but she's not calling because she thinks we're still in the mansion. A ringing phone would give away our position. You know he's good at thinking clearly through a crisis. Hell, he's probably trying to keep her from panicking right now. Emily isn't exactly a powerhouse here. It's not like she could have seriously hurt Emma or anything. Worst case, she's probably just waiting for us to come find her."
"All this damage to the room… That might be why the cops are here and not us after all," the older Winchester figured. "Not that we can go up to them and ask. Fake badges aren't going to exactly handle they've already seen our faces."
"So what do we do?" Sam asked, glad Dean was starting to calm down enough to think clearly so the two of them could work on finding her.
"You're right. There's no way to track either of them. We need to get out of here now, sweep the area. If we're lucky then she'll be close by," he sighed out. "Come on."
It was morning by the time that the both of them had given up hope on finding either of them. They'd both scoured the area, called to ask if anyone had ended up with the police as a Jane Doe, or down in the morgue. Sam had done that one on his own, not wanting to put his brother through making that call. When the sun finally came up, they were back at the car, neither of them saying anything to one another. The mood felt heavy, a thick feeling in the back of his throat that was keeping any words from passing out past his lips. What could he even say here? That he was sorry? That it would be okay? None of it was going to help the fact that she was gone and neither of them had a single idea of where she could even be.
Loss always hit Dean hard, but deaths in the family broke him in ways that neither of them were capable of handling. If he lost Emma right before he got her away somewhere safe…
"We have to keep going," the eldest Winchester said suddenly, his face set in determination.
"Dean, we're not going to stop looking," he assured him.
"No, the job," he said softly. "We keep going."
Sam felt shocked as he stared at him.
"What?" he asked.
"She didn't get kidnapped, and she isn't in town. Not even to freaking mention taking Bobby. It's clear what's going on. She wants to hunt. She doesn't want to be safe. She's refusing to listen to me," he breathed. It sounded like he was struggling just to get the words out. "Taking her to Jody's was just the straw that broke the camel's back, man."
He didn't want to believe that. Emma had been connecting to them, both of them. She wasn't some stranger anymore. She hadn't been for a long time. The girl was family… but she also thought of them the same way and she was now seeing the end of their time together fast approaching. Had she freaked out and left because of that?
"So what? We can't just let her go. It's dangerous out there on her own," Sam pointed out. "You can't honestly think we can just forget about it, do you?"
"No. We take care of Dick, and then we find her. I don't care what it takes, what we have to do. Get her put on a missing kid's poster, make a deal, no matter what it takes we find her and we drag her ungrateful ass back home where she's supposed to be," he snarled out. "She wants to hate me for it? Fine. Let her. It's not my job to be liked. It's my job as her father to keep her safe."
He found himself with nothing much to say to that as they climbed into the car. He was fairly sure there was no point in mentioning how alike to their dad he sounded like these days. They both knew it. Hell, maybe he was right. Maybe this was what was needed right now. Every moment they looked for her was another moment that the Leviathans got closer to winning. They needed to end this soon. With two parts of the weapon, all they needed was a righteous bone and then Crowley's blood. This could literally be over in just days.
John had eventually let Sam walk away, after all the arguing and screaming at each other, the sarcasm and anger. Sam could even say a small part of him had hated the man, as ashamed as he was of that now. His dad had been right about so much, while he'd been some delusional and selfish kid. He didn't want to see that happen to Dean and Emma, but at the same time there was a job to do. John had died to save Dean, all because Sam had been too weak to pull the trigger of the Colt all those years ago and just kill the demon inside of him. They couldn't afford that again, couldn't risk screwing up that badly. The whole world was riding on this.
As much as he hated it, as much as he knew Dean had to hate it too, she was going to have to wait.
He only hoped that it was the case, that Emma had run off in anger and wasn't in trouble right now.
#-#
The desert felt dry and hot, and Daphne was sure she hated it more than just about anything. The sun was beating down, and even in the comfort of the building she was being sheltered in, it felt oppressive and hot. Pristine walls, beautiful décor, but she felt a little too uncomfortable here. Still, she didn't have much of a choice. She'd been ordered to stay hidden, and so far the angels had been kind enough to tolerate her presence. It was no doubt the safest place for everyone, even if it felt too parched for a creature like her.
Standing by a window, she looked up outside at the hot orb in the sky, hanging perfectly in a blend of orange and blue. It made her think of Apollo, never a pleasant thought for her. It always made her feel trapped, alone, much like she was now. Despite her help, she was being given wide berth by the prophet and his mother. An order from the angels, she was sure. Not that she could blame them. She was unknown to them. She was sure the only reason they were letting her stay here was because she'd helped them as well as mentioning Atropos. The Fate might not have been the most popular with Heaven now, but she was still well known. Her name did offer her some protection, even if it was a little limited. The Fates weren't known for keep their pawn pieces safe after all, but it was better than nothing right now.
Besides, the same thing could be said for the angels. Against a Leviathan, their powers didn't work, but they were faster than the ancient beasts at the very least, and they'd be able to keep her hidden until this was all over. Then…
Well, she wasn't really sure what would happen then. She was very much lost on that point. Hopefully further instructions would come soon when this was all over.
"Is there anything we can do for you while you are staying with us?"
She turned away from the window to see an angel standing only a few paces away from her. His host was a little on the skinny side, with floppy hair, and he was a bit on the sickly looking side. Daphne couldn't help but wonder where the human had been found at.
"I could use some water," she admitted. "I'm starting to dry up. I'm afraid my kind aren't made for this kind of weather. We're used to Mediterranean climates, true, but at the same time the ocean is nearby too in Greece. I'm not used to so much sand."
"I'll be sure to get you something. I'm sorry the safe house wasn't built for other creatures besides humans in mind," he admitted. "My name is Inias, the leader of this garrison now. I'm told you know Castiel?"
"Now?" she asked. "What happened to the previous one?"
"Nothing good," he stated with a shake of his head. "Before her, it was Castiel. He's a friend of mine. How do you know him?"
"He's my friend too," she told him with a soft smile. "At least, he used to be. I found him near a river and took him home with me. He didn't remember anything. Who and even what he was had completely escaped him. I took him in and gave him a cover, a new life with me as his wife. It lasted only a short while before he had to leave."
"You knew he was an angel when you found him?"
"Yes. It was the Fates who told me where to find him in the first place. I had no idea how to tell him the truth about anything, so I let him believe I was human. He was so lost, he couldn't even tell that I wasn't. Then Dean Winchester came for him, and I haven't seen him since," she explained.
"It seems he has been lost in many ways now. He might have been better off with you, not remembering anything," Inias sighed.
"What do you mean? Is he okay?" she asked him, fear for the angel bubbling up in her stomach.
"Physically yes. The rest? I don't honestly know. I wish he'd come back to the fold so we could help him, but he's completely obsessed with the idea of free will. I don't think he believes the heavenly host have much to offer him anymore," the angel stated. "We can only follow our orders now. It's all we have left of our Father."
Daphne wasn't sure if their parent deserved such loyalties. She'd heard the stories soaked in abandonment and loss. Then again, several of the gods in her pantheon were not any better. Complete power had a very good way of making them think they were above rules, morals, and consequences. Still, it was best not to voice her opinion on the matter. Angering angels would not be wise. At best, she'd be kicked out to survive the desert on her own and at worst they'd just smite her. Staying polite was her best option.
"What are the orders, if you don't mind me asking?" she inquired. "I'm afraid I'm now at the end of my own and I don't know what comes next just yet."
"We have to protect the prophet, even more so now that we know the Leviathans want him," he informed her. "There are many, many people in this world that would desire to get a hold of the one human who is given visions and the Word of God. We need to make sure that doesn't happen. With no archangels left, it falls to the garrison to ensure he is not corrupted or harmed in any way."
"So hiding then," she mused. "I can see the wisdom in that for now. Is there any ideas on how to win this war against the Leviathans."
"God seems fond of the Winchesters. We have to trust Him to see us through this via those two humans."
"Faith then. In just him or humans too?" Daphne found herself asking.
Inias hesitated for a moment before he shook his head.
"He ordered us to bow to them. I admit, to this day I still don't know entirely what that means. Castiel seems to be learning though, in his way. Perhaps someday, when he's better, he will be able to share what he has discovered."
The angel bowed his head a bit to her before turning around to fetch her the water. As she understood it, radio silence was the order for now. No communication, no using their powers unless they had to, just sitting and waiting.
She supposed she could do that, considering she'd once spent an entire century as a tree as a request to her father. The things one had to do in order to avoid the fancy of the gods never did sit well with her. Patience would hopefully be her friend in this case too though.
Still, as she turned back around to look out at the window, a feeling of dread was filling her. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she had a very bad hunch that things were not going to work out as well as she was hoping they would.
She'd give just about anything to see Castiel right now. She was sure if she could see him, just for a moment, this fear nestled down in her heart would leave her.
End of Chapter 19
Wow. Next chapter is number 20. Probably going to have to do something special for it.
As always, thank you so much for reading, and please be kind enough to leave a review. Those help me so much, not to mention just being a treat to read.