Warning: Getting a bit graphic in this chapter. I strongly suggest you listen to the song as you read the lyrics and whatever is happening during the song - all for the better experience.
Chapter 5: Whatever it takes
Things got awkward. Sam stared tagging along on the hunts, silently questioning Lara's every choice, scrutinizing her every move, and the closer he looked, the less he found.
"Why don't you just fucking ask her what you want to know, huh?" Dean snapped one day when Lara said she would go get food while they settled in the two-bed motel room and Sam huffed and rolled his eyes when she exited.
"Because she won't give me a straight answer." Sam threw back.
"And what did you ask?"
"I asked what was her endgame. What was she playing at."
"You do realize that she doesn't have one? That she is doing this because..."
"Because it is the right thing to do? Please, Dean, don't give me that crap." Sam waved his brother off.
"... BECAUSE, she owed Mick? He was the one that set her free from the Men of Letters. Or maybe, she didn't have anything better to do? Just because she was a demon doesn't make her untrustworthy." Dean tried.
"You know how well it worked out when we teamed up with demons before." Sam tried to argue back.
"If you're talking about Ruby, then yeah, it did. But look at Crowley. He was an asshole, but he still came through. Killed himself to close the rift."
"Yeah, cuz he was humped up on human blood." Sam kept at it.
"Yeah, well, basically, so is Lara."
"Just because she is cured now doesn't erase what she did before, what she was before. She was a fucking DEMON, Dean!" Sam threw back, clearly annoyed with this conversation.
"Yeah, well... So was I."
Sam tried to be a bit more open-minded after that argument, allowing himself to see Lara in a better light. God knew she tried too. Usually flirty and with such flare, Lara toned it all down for Sam's benefit, becoming silent and drawn-back. Dean even though she was getting depressed.
Mick was worried too, arguing with Lara behind closed doors, never telling either of them what those were about.
Despite it all, she saved their asses more times then Dean could count. She took hit after hit, bullet after bullet and it hurt, Dean could see it hurt her, even if it didn't kill her.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?" She said smiling a bloody smile, ripping a knife out of her stomach. He wounds would heal at the same rate any other human's would, but she couldn't really bleed out, die from blood loss or infection.
Once, she took a knife to the heart for Dean. He was so scared she would die, but couldn't let it show. Didn't understand it himself. Lara lived.
Another time, she took a hit for Sam. For his brother. And worse, it was a spell, not a gun aimed at him. The worst part was watching her wallow in agony and pain that would have killed a regular human, but only tormented her for five whole days. After that episode, Sam apologized to her.
But Lara wasn't the same.
She wasn't that cheeky, bitchy girl that lived to tease him. Was it because he knew what she was? Was it because she wasn't completely healed?
A couple of times he saw her walk around with her eyes almost closed. This would happen every time she would take a beating and after she healed, she would go and see Mick. Afterwards, she would always come out more depressed and silent.
It was actually Sam that told him she was getting purified blood injections, made to keep her from reverting to full demon. Dean had no idea that was possible, but understood Sam's previous concerns a little bit better now. So she could relapse. With the way she was acting, Dean thought that a day might come when she would refuse the treatment, because it would be so much easier to go bad to 'not feeling'.
"We got two ritualistic murders. Who's taking it?" Mick said coming into the dining room one day. Dean loved the meals the butler made, and was always curious why Lara would only eat that so-called 'Black pudding.' Learning it was made from pig's blood made him want to gag, but at least now he knew. Pigs didn't commit sin, so their blood was pure in a way too.
"What kind of ritualistic killings?" Sam asked.
"Symbols of witchcraft drawn around, victims missing their hearts." Mick replied.
"That's a witch." Dean said.
"Could be a werewolf." Sam pointed out.
"Could be a human satanic asshole." Lara whispered, clearly not really wanting to be heard. Everyone heard her anyway.
"We could go." Dean said looking at Sam and trying to ignore Lara. He was just getting this vibe from her, like she was sad or something, and he didn't know what to do. He wanted to help, obviously, but Sam was always better at these kinds of things. And no way would he ask Sam to talk to her, they were always staring each other down, Sam more so than Lara.
"You and Lara go. Sam promised to help sort through the computer archives." Boris replied startling them all. The man almost never spoke only huffed and gruffed his responses to questions.
"Yeah, he's right. We found a lot of data on the hard drives, a lot of it even mentioning locations of artifacts in the US. There are some personal information about hunters in the US too..." Sam said, trailing off, but Dean knew what that meant. He remembered well.
Not that they didn't trust Mick, but it wouldn't hurt to have a copy of all that useful information.
"Guess it's just you and me then." Dean grinned at Lara, feeling a pang in the chest when she rolled her eyes at him and mimicked a cowboy shout-out in a British accent, making it sound extremely sarcastic.
"Yippee."
"Demons." Both of them said in unison when they entered the warehouse the bodies were found and detected the familiar stench of sulphur.
It wasn't long before they managed to locate two demons that were stupid enough to follow. Lara and Dean followed them to a small building in a urban district and tried to figure out what exactly were they doing. It was broad daylight, so the two couldn't just barge in and start a war with the demons, not when there could be civilians there. So stakeout it was. Or nap time for Dean.
A while later, Dean opened his eyes to see Lara staring out of the window. Her long brown hair was tied in a loose braid, strings falling out and over her cheek. Her skin seemed smooth and perfect, despite the little scar right under her jaw. Her chest was heaving as she took deep breaths, clearly too focused on what was going on outside. Illuminated by the yellow light of the nearby street lamp, she looked... Gorgeous.
"Are you done staring at me?" She said without even turning her head to meet his eyes, and Dean huffed a smile, wondering how she knew. Before he got a chance to ask, Lara shifted, becoming more on alert, and Dean followed suit, looking over at the building. The two demons were walking out, carrying medical coolers.
"As much as I would like to see what they were doing in there, I believe it would be best if we follow them." Lara suggested and Dean nodded. Since the two demons were on foot, both hunters got out of the car and kept their distance as they tagged along.
One of the demons glanced their way, just in time to see Lara's heart eyes, staring at Dean and laughing as she snaked her hand around his waist while Dean's arm hung over her shoulder. Playing love birds worked out for them before, so why not stick with it?
Lara kept laughing, and Dean felt something strange swell in his chest at the sound of her laughter, especially when he would look at her and she would hold his gaze, a spark in her eyes. Her full pink lips were drawn out into a big smile, revealing a perfect set of white pearls. There was even a blush on her cheeks and Dean found he was having a hard time concentrating on anything else beside this strong urge to kiss her.
"Reel it in, Winchester." She whispered with a giggle. "Now is not the time to confess you undying love for me." She joked, leaning closer to whisper in his ear. Her hot breath hit his skin, sending a jolt through his system before he registered the words. "There are more of them around, I can almost feel them."
Shit. Dean thought as he tried to casually look around, noticing a homeless woman, a hot dog stand guy, a business man, a mother with two little girls, a city worker and another couple, all walking by around them. The two demons were ahead, still focused on where they were going and not on the people trailing them. They stopped in front of a regular house, checked their phones and then walked up the stairs to the main door.
Lara stumbled, or faked it, giving them the perfect opportunity to stop and assess the situation. They didn't know how many other demons there were, or if they were even all in the house, and logic stated they should just walk away and call the cavalry, but Dean didn't want to loose sight if them. Maybe they could just take a peek, see what's inside the house? There could be people there, innocent civilians.
"You lead, I'll follow." Lara said, leaving him to make the decision and Dean?
He made the wrong one.
Dean woke up with a groan, slowly coming to. Like a good hunter, before he even opened his eyes, he made a few observations. The air was stale. There were sounds coming from his left, like from a TV. His wrists were bound and handing above his head. The smell of sulphur and blood filled his nostrils.
Opening his eyes, Dean took a look around. They were in a basement of sorts, Lara right across from him, chained to the ceiling, unlike his, her arms were spread wide. His own hands were bound by similar chains, making an escape a lot harder. She seemed unconscious, but with Lara, you never really know.
They were in the center of the room, in a clearing, and there were couches and chairs littering the walls. There was indeed a TV to Dean's left, a pop music channel on, Kathy Perry singing her heart out. To Dean's right, there was a table with... Snacks? What the hell?
The door behind Lara opened, and shadows of people started walking in. Dean couldn't see their faces as the light was shining directly in his eyes, but he could make out that most of the people he noticed out on the street earlier were there. A business man, two little girls, mother, homeless woman, hot dog guy, along with two more people he hadn't seen. Last, the two demons they were trailing walked in.
"I told you we would attract hunters." One said smirking. "It was so easy too. Kill a few people, stage it and voila."
"She smells kind of off." The other replied, leaning in to trace his nose along Lara's neck.
"You get away from her, you son of a bitch!" Dean growled at them, clearly making yet another mistake.
"Oh, an American?" One of the little girls said, her smile widening into something vicious.
"Oh, no, no." The homeless woman said. "Not just any American. I would recognize that voice, that line everywhere. Dean Winchester, the righteous man himself!" Well, shit.
"Pfff. You're joking, right?" Lara's voice came from behind the woman and all eyes snapped on her. "This bollock- brain - Dean Winchester?" The homeless woman backslapped Lara so hard, her head flew to the side, blood splattering. When Lara turned back, she had a split lip.
"I said - get the fuck away from her!" Dean yelled and the least he expected was for Lara to shout back at him.
"Shut up, you dim-whit! You're going to get us both killed! Bloody imbecile!" Strangely even, that earned her another backhand slap.
"The two of you are disgustingly adorable. We're going to have so much fun breaking you both." The mother grinned, while one of her little girls piped up. "Let's do him first!"
"Oh, but we will. We will break him in a way Alistair never managed." The homeless woman whispered, running her filthy hand down Dean's cheek and over his lips. She jammed her fingers in his mouth, but pulled away before he could bite her, wise enough to keep her distance so that he couldn't head-butt her.
The woman turned and slapped Lara again. Dean growled, yanking at the chains, but to no avail. The woman smirked at him, clearly finding a weak spot, then turned to face the first two demons Lara and Dean encountered.
"Is that the best you've got?" Lara slurred, laughing in her face, and Dean was beyond pissed, and also terrified.
"Break out those toys, boys. - the homeless lady declared - We're going to have so much fun tonight!"
"I don't like this." Sam said sitting at the desk he used when he did research, his foot bouncing up and down from nerves.
"What is matter?" Boris asked.
"Dean hasn't checked in all day. The last time we spoke, he said they were positive it was demons." Sam replied.
"And you worry?" Boris asked again. It was uncharacteristical for him to speak this much, but Sam really was too worried to understand. "Why you worry? Your brother is a good hunter, Lara is good too, strong. They will be good." Boris' English was so blunt, but to the point.
"I know they are skilled, but he's my brother and Lara..." Sam trailed off. Boris actually turned to face Sam, finally drawing the man's attention to the fact that he was actually making a conversation.
"Lara is a demon. I understand. You worry she will switch sides. You think she is... how do you say... обманывает... Tricking him, tricking you?" Boris asked, striking gold. Sam sighed.
"Yeah. We had some really bad experience with demons and... I don't know. I don't like it." Sam said and Boris nodded, looking thoughtful.
"I know Lara. I know, deep down she is good. But I understand it is hard to believe. So how about this? You tell me, Самуэль, (Samuel), you know about demons, yes? The lore?" When Sam nodded, curious to see where Boris was going with this, the Russian continued. "You tell me, who are they loyal to?"
"Loyal? Demons aren't loyal... Unless it suits them to be." Sam replied.
"That is wrong. Demons - they are loyal to one person if that person remains alive."
"Who?!"
"Demons are loyal to their maker. Since most of them were created by Alistair, they were loyal to him until you killed him, Sam. But not all were created by Alistair. Some of them were created by others.
"So who's Lara's maker?" Sam asked, and all Boris did was give him a meaningful look before he turned back to focus in his work. The second the answer dawned on Sam, he cursed loudly and ran out the door.
The fuckers feasted and laughed and turned up the volume on that damn TV, each taking their turn to hit Lara and gorge on Dean's protests that were turning from angry to broken and nearly pleading. Lara was bruised and covered in cuts and blood, one of her eyes swollen-shut.
They would take turns, using the music to pick their torture methods. The last one was the business man, simply loving to slice through her skin with a paring knife. Lara wouldn't scream, wouldn't let out a sound other then deep breaths, not giving them the satisfaction.
When the last song ended, and they announced another one, by Imagine Dragons, Lara spoke up. "Oh, this is my favorite band! Can I pick my own poison next?" She said and stared laughing, earning herself another slap to the face. Dean shouted again, but nobody paid him any mind.
"I believe it is time to pull out my favorite." One of the demons they followed said with a disgusting grin and Lara grinned back, mocking him, taunting him. He grabbed her by the neck and got up in her face, huffing a breath before shoving her away. "We'll see if you're still laughing by the time I am done with you." He said, walked around Lara and fisted her shirt before yanking it away. It tore open, leaving her in nothing but a simple black bra.
Dean yanked at the chains, shouting and growling when the demon pulled out a long Indiana-Jones type whip and stepped back. The hunter looked at Lara with all the strength and comfort he could muster, conveying how sorry he was. In the background, the song began.
Falling too fast to prepare for this
Tripping in the world could be dangerous
Everybody circling, it's vulturous
Negative, nepotist
The whip made the first contact, making Lara scream and launch forward by inertia, but there wasn't anywhere she could go.
Everybody waiting for the fall of man
Everybody praying for the end of times
Everybody hoping they could be the one
I was born to run, I was born for this
Another hit, another deafening scream, tears streaming down Lara's face. Her chest was heaving, her mouth open, trying to breathe through the pain, her eyes glassy and cast downward. If Dean could tear through his skin and jump to her aid, he would in a heartbeat, even if it killed him.
Whip, whip
Run me like a racehorse
Another hit, Lara launching forward, blood spilling though her mouth as she probably bit her tongue.
Pull me like a ripcord
Break me down and build me up
Another hit, another scream.
I wanna be the slip, slip
Word upon your lip, lip
Another hit, another scream.
Letter that you rip, rip
Break me down and build me up
Another hit, another scream. Lara's head fell down, her chin hitting her chest as her eyes dropped close. "Lara..." Dean whispered and heard an strange echo of her words in his head. "Whatever it takes..."
Whatever it takes
'Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins
I do whatever it takes
'Cause I love how it feels when I break the chains
Whatever it takes
Yeah, take me to the top I'm ready for
Whatever it takes
'Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins
I do what it takes
What? What will she do? Dean thought as the words of the song echoed, somehow meaningful, scary. Take me to the top? Ready for what? Another hit, but no scream this time. Just a little whine as blood sprayed under the whip. Lara's eyes cracked open, staring at Dean, deep down to his soul, making his heart ache. The next lines of that damn song felt like the words coming out of her mouth.
Always had a fear of being typical
Looking at my body feeling miserable
Always hanging on to the visual
I wanna be invisible
Looking at my years like a martyrdom
Everybody needs to be a part of 'em
Never be enough, I'm the prodigal son
I was born to run, I was born for this
Born for this? Born for what?
Whip, whip
Run me like a racehorse
Another hit, her back arching.
Pull me like a ripcord
Break me down and build me up
Another hit, her head lolling.
I wanna be the slip, slip
Word upon your lip, lip
Letter that you rip, rip
Break me down and build me up
Another hit, another whine, another meaningful eye contact.
Whatever it takes
'Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins
I do whatever it takes
'Cause I love how it feels when I break the chains
Whatever it takes
Yeah, take me to the top, I'm ready for
Whatever it takes
'Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins
I do what it takes
She could have ripped those chains before, why didn't she? If she did, could she have freed Dean or fought them all? Dean doubted it, and he should feel as if this was it. It hurt so bad to see her go thought with all this, but that was the idea, wasn't it? Torture him by torturing her. Making him watch. He was powerless to stop them and they knew it. Another hit, another twitch in Lara as her legs finally gave up from under her, leaving her to hang suspended on those damn chains. The world around them faded as Dean watched her beautiful face, all bloodied and bruised, watched her closed eyes, wishing to see that mischievous spark in them one more time. Wishing he kissed those lips at least once. Wishing he could have admitted to it before, admit it to himself that he cared about her. That he wanted her. That he needed her.
Lara's lips started to move, and it almost seemed like she was whispering those lyrics, that damn song of that fucking stupid band.
Hypocritical, egotistical
Don't wanna be the parenthetical, hypothetical
Working onto something that I'm proud of, out of the box
An epoxy to the world and the vision we've lost
The world around them stopped as the lyrics resonated deep within Dean, as if Lara herself were whispering into his ear.
I'm an apostrophe
just a symbol to remind you that there's more to see
What more to see?
I'm just a product of the system, a catastrophe
And yet a masterpiece, and yet I'm half-diseased
You're beautiful just as you are.
And when I am deceased
At least I go down to the grave and die happily
Leave the body and my soul to be a part of thee
No. No, please no. Please don't die.
I do what it takes
The demon behind Lara laughed, pulled the whip and hit her again, her body once again launching forward as Dean screamed "NOOOOO!", tears finally spilling from his eyes.
Whatever it takes
'Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins
Lara's head rose up, her eyes snapping open, boring straight into Dean.
Black.
They were black.
Lara smirked, the smile so unbecoming.
I do whatever it takes
'Cause I love how it feels when I break the chains
She yanked on the chains, easily ripping them from the ceiling, the debris crumbling all around her.
Whatever it takes
Yeah, take me to the top, I'm ready for
She turned and faced the demons, each one with a terrified look on their face. She inched closer, slowly and they backed away, to mesmerized to run
Whatever it takes
'Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins
The first one went down at the snap of the neck, the palm of her hand leaving an imprint on the man's neck. The second had an imprint on his heart as she tore it from his chest. The homeless woman's head rolled across the ground as the other demon's tried to flee their meatsuits. They did not get far. Lara's hand shone sunset orange as she grabbed the demonic smoke, the very essence of them, holding them all together as if they were eels. They squirmed in her hand as she squeezed, snapping them all in half.
I do what it takes
Then, Lara turned to Dean.
A/N: I have gotta know whatcha think! Please review!