The next morning, wishing she was surprised, Scarlett woke up to an empty bed.
"I love you?" Scarlett groaned. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." She palmed her own forehead with each insult.
Last night with Dean was amazing, she'd remember it for the rest of her life, even if her life wasn't ending in 2 weeks. They didn't speak a word after her confession but it colored the entire moment was seared into her mind, better than anything else that happened that night. They'd just gotten into the hotel room. Lips locked, Dean caged her on the bed as Scarlett ravenously groped him. But when he paused to catch his breath, Dean climbed off of her and laid by her side. He brushed the hair from her face and gently stroked her arm as he kissed the tip of each of her fingers. Overwhelmed by his tenderness, Scarlett climbed on top of him and pulled his shirt over his head. She kissed his shoulder, his neck, his jawline, up to his soft lips before sitting back up. Dean just stared up at her, a smile plastered across his face and his eyes watery. He looked relieved and overjoyed and she knew it was because of her. No one had ever looked at her like that, like she made the world worth living in. It was intoxicating and beautiful... and apparently fleeting.
Knocking came from her door and Scarlett knew it would be Sam.
"Just a minute!" She pulled on a robe and opened the door for the other Winchester.
He walked in, coffee in-hand and outstretched. "Time to get going, I think I got a lead."
Scarlett removed the lid and sipped the drink she knew would be too hot. "Mmm! Ok, I'm up and at 'em." Scarlett took another scolding sip. "What's the lead?"
"Some old hunting cabins out in the woods, they've been abandoned for years."
"Sounds just creepy enough to be spot-on." Scarlett chuckled.
"Okay, so, ready in 20?"
"Perfect…"
Sam could tell Scarlett had something else to ask.
"Sam?"
"Yes?"
"Um, have you...or is Bobby…you know, nevermind." Scarlett headed for her bathroom.
Sam sighed, "They left for Vermont at the crack of dawn," Scarlett paused at this revelation. "I'm sure he just didn't want to wake you." Sam had noted Dean's absence from their hotel room last night.
Scarlett's pride kept her from turning to face him again. "Oh, yeah. I'm sure."
Sam left Scarlett to get ready.
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Scarlett walked closely behind Sam as he entered into one of the abandoned cabins. It was dark and musty, cobwebs hung in every crevasse.
"We should split up, cover more ground." Sam whispered over his flashlight.
"That never works out in horror movies." Scarlett rolled her eyes.
"Are you worried you can't take him?"
"Are you?" Scarlett huffed.
Sam raised his eyebrows at her.
"Fine, but I'm not going downstairs." Scarlett flashed her light at the stairwell.
Sam let out a deep sigh and headed for the basement, each step creaking on his way down. His flashlight scanned over the room, next to a counter space filled with jars and outdated medical equipment sat a gurney holding a man's body. Sam quietly rushed to the man, he was unconscious and a bloody sheet covered his torso. Sam checked for a pulse, no luck. With a frown, Sam cautiously moved about the room, picking up an old notebook as he went. He inched toward a wall filled with sketchings of the human body and noticed some sheets hanging from the rafters. Peering behind the sheets, another body was revealed, strapped to a gurney: this one was a woman with maggots crawling on her bloody forearm. He reached out to take her pulse, trying to manage his expectations.
The woman gasped as she flailed about while Sam attempted to calm her.
"Shh!" He held his finger up to his mouth. "I'm here to help you, I'm here to help you!" He whispered harshly.
Realizing that he was earnest, she attempted to quiet herself, but when Sam wrapped her wound with a towel she struggled to suppress her painful moans.
"Shh!" Sam reminded her. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Ok...here we go, shh."
The door creaked behind them and Sam looked for Scarlett to emerge, but the woman continued to groan in pain as she struggled against the gurney straps.
"Shh!" Sam covers her mouth and holds her head for comfort.
The stairwell creaked and a light bounced in the distance when Sam noticed the men's shoes coming down the stairs: definitely not Scarlett.
Sam unbuckled the woman and picked her off the gurney, looking around for their exit. He noticed a broken basement window leading out to the grounds and held her by the waist to crawl through it. The footsteps got closer as Sam shimmied himself up through the small window. The twosome ran through the woods behind the cabin, but the woman was too weak. Sam picked her up and carried her as he sprinted towards Scarlett's Honda.
Scarlett was already in the driver's seat turning over the engine when Sam reached the front passenger seat door. Sam tried to quickly but gently drop the woman in the chair and get in the car when he spotted a mangled looking man running towards them.
"Go! Go! Go!" Sam motioned for Scarlett to leave.
Scarlett rolled the back passenger window down and Sam took the hint to jump through.
The man Sam knew was Doc Benton lunged for him and grabbed onto Sam's foot, pulling at him from the reversing car.
Scarlett's eyes glowed amber and Benton was tossed across the woods, his neck snapped against the tree.
Scarlett peeled out of the camp entrance and all three of them watched Doc Benton stand up and pop his head back into place.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"That guy was a frankenstein if I've ever seen one." Scarlett said over her steeping tea. "Are you sure that this lead is worth following?"
"Am I sure?" Sam shook his head. "Well, I don't know Scarlett, you won't tell me what lead you've got and my brother dying isn't really acceptable to me."
"Look, I tried everything I could, chased down every rabbit hole possible...the deal I got was the best deal out there, I'm sure of it."
"Deal?" Sam stared her down. "What kind of deal, Scarlett?"
"Don't worry, no demon deals. I'm just saying...the fix I found...it ain't the big fix but at least he won't be in Hell when he goes."
"While I appreciate your mysterious get out of hell free card, this is what's going to keep him alive." Sam pulled a notebook from inside his jacket.
"What is that?"
"Doc Benton's journal." Sam walked over to the motel desk and laid open the book.
Scarlett's jaw hit the floor. "Sam…Witchcraft? That kind of magic always comes with too high o' cost. You know that!"
Sam flipped through the pages. "That's just it, I don't think it is."
"What do you mean?"
"His place, it was a lab, he's doing outdated transplant surgeries, he's a doctor…I think it's science."
"What, like alchemy?"
"Maybe." Sam flipped the pages furiously.
"Let me know if you find anything, I'm gonna try to get some shut eye." Scarlett left for her room.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"SCAR!" frantic banging woke Scarlett with a jolt.
Dean was at the door.
"We have got to stop meeting like this." Scarlett groaned as she opened the door.
"Is Sammy with you?" Dean tore through the room.
"What? No. What's going on?"
"I was on the phone with him telling me about Doc Benton's creepy journal and then I think I heard him and a scuffle and then silence."
Scarlett pulled a sweater over her head and jumped into a pair of jeans. "Let's go."
"You lead the way." Dean ordered.
The twosome sped the whole way out to the cabin, silently.
Scarlett wrung her hands in the passenger's seat of the Impala, looking everywhere except at Dean; he noticed, but he let his worry for his brother distract him.
"Ok, this is it." Scarlett directed Dean on where to turn down the dark country road towards Doc Benton's cabin.
Dean leapt out of the vehicle, a murderous alchemist's kill-spot was more desirable than being trapped inside Baby with Scarlett after his morning-after houdini act.
"Come on, he operates in the basement." Scarlett whispered and motioned for Dean to follow her.
The two crept through the cabin and Scarlett let Dean lead down the stairwell to where they found Benton about to melon ball Sam's eye out of it's socket.
Dean shot at Benton to stop him.
"Shoot all you want." Doc Benton turned around slowly, unfazed by the bullet wounds in his chest.
Dean gagged at the sight of the man, if you could call him that. His entire body was stitched together, scars running across a patchwork of rotting skin, one eye milky and dead.
Dean bolted from the stairwell, Benton right on his heels.
Scarlett rushed over to Sam, who was strapped to a gurney like the other victims.
With impossible strength, Benton threw Dean across the basement and into a supply cart.
As Benton leaned down to grab him, Dean plunged a knife into Benton's heart.
Benton laughed, "A knife? What part of immortality do you not understand?" Doc Benton casually got up from Dean, who was still laid out on the ground, "Pity about the heart though, it was a brand new one."
"Good," Dean smirked, "should be pumping nice and strong. Sending this stuff through your whole body." Dean held up a bottle of chloroform.
Doc Benton, realizing the effect the chemical would have on him, shook his head in worry.
"See, I picked your little bottle upstairs and dipped the knife in it."
Benton stumbled as the chloroform started to take effect, then he collapsed all together.
"Perfect timing." Sam walked up alone but Dean could hear creaking on the nearby staircase. "What should we do with him?"
"We'll figure it out." Dean directed.
Just as Dean was setting up for surgery, Benton began to wake.
"Well look who's decided to join us." Dean smiled and showed Benton his own surgery tools.
"Please, I can help you." Benton begged.
"Oh? And what do you think I need help with?"
"The formula, I can read it for you, you can have immortality...never die."
"Hm, hard pass." Dean glared.
"Dean…" Sam nodded for them to take a sidebar.
"Sam?"
"Maybe we should think about it."
"Think about what?"
"We're talking Hell in 3 weeks or a new pancreas in half a century."
"You can't really get those at the quick mart."
"No, but it will buy us some time while we think of something better."
Dean turned the idea over in his mind.
"No." Dean resolved.
"Don't you want to live?"
"What he is, it ain't living. Look, this is simple-"
"Simple?!"
"To me it's simple. Black and white. Human and not human. See, what the Doc is, is a freakin' monster. I can't do it. I would rather go to Hell."
Scarlett's footsteps stomped up the stairwell and the basement door slammed as she left the boys truly alone with Doc Benton.
Sam shot Dean a pointed look that Dean ignored as he walked back to Benton.
"You don't understand, I can help you!" Benton tried to reason.
Dean covered his nose and mouth with a chloroform soaked rag.
"Now, I'm gonna take care of him. You can help me or not, that's up to you." Dean said seriously.
"I'll help you, you stubborn idiot." Sam sighed, not wanting to spend what time his brother had left fighting with him.
Dean was appreciative to have his little brother's support, even though it was misguided at times.
"So, what's up with you and Scarlett?" Sam tried to sound nonchalant as he and Dean lugged Benton's unconscious body upstairs into an emptied refrigerator.
"What?" Dean's voice was an octave too high. "Nothing."
"C'mon, man. You can cut the tension between you with a knife...not that you can't always, but this time it feels...weird."
Dean grunted as he lifted some chains to tie around the closed fridge, transforming it into a living tomb.
"You don't want to tell me, fine. Let's just drag this refrigerator out of the house and bury it in silence."
"Is that so much to ask?" Dean knocked the fridge over and attempted to start shimmying it across the floor.
Sam rolled his eyes and helped his hard-headed brother.
About half way into digging Dean broke their quiet work. "Where is Scarlett, anyway? Digging goes a lot faster when there's more people helping."
"Hmm. I don't know, maybe she doesn't want to hang out with the guy that just hit it and quit it."
Dean threw down his shovel. "I did not hit and quit anything."
Sam dropped his shovel in exasperation. "Well, that's sure what it looks like to me, so I'm sure it feels much worse to her."
"It's not like that." Dean hung his head.
"So, tell me. What's it like then?"
"She said…" Dean let a soft smile flash across his mouth and raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Something that's impossible."
"Right. That clears things up." Sam groaned at his brother's cryptic response and continued digging.
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A long-haired brunette woman in a black leather coat creeps down the hall at Erie Motel.
Her heel's lightly click behind her as she approaches a hotel room door at the end of the hall.
The brunette checks down the hall behind her before crouching down to pick the door's lock.
She gingerly opens the door and peers inside.
Ahead of her there are two full size beds, Sam and Dean are soundly asleep in them.
The brunette pulls out a gun with a silencer attached and shoots each of the two men twice in the head.
She falls to the floor crying as she pulls out her cellphone.
She sniffles and wipes the tears from her face while dialing.
"It's done. Sam is dead. Dean too." She says in a British accent.
"What are you doing in here," Dean's voice ripped Scarlett from her vision, "meditating?"
"What hotel were we supposed to meet you at tonight?"
"The Erie. Why? Were you having a premonition?" Dean asked.
"Call Bobby. We're moving on tonight. Bela's after Sam."
"So that's what she grabbed out of my pocket." Dean shook his head.
"She's acting on orders to kill you."
"Orders, orders from who?"
"Unclear. But I have an idea…"