Sam sat in the corner of Hope's hospital room, staring at her face and ignoring the constant, steady beeping of the monitors near the bed. Aisy appeared in the doorway, Dean leaning heavily against her and looking like he was about to pass out again, and she shot Sam a glare while shoving Dean into the other empty chair. Dean groaned, and Aisy turned her glare on him.
"Zip it," she growled, already wishing she'd just stayed at the bar and out of these two idiots' lives. "You did this to yourself, so suck it up and be a grown-up about it, alright?"
Sam snorted, and Aisy rounded on him. "I don't want to hear anything from you either, jackass. Just because he's wrong doesn't make you right."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Sam snapped, giving Aisy one of his patented bitchfaces that she returned, withering him slightly.
"Look, I don't know what you guys' deal is, and frankly, I honestly don't care. What I do know is that it's going to take all three of us to save Hope's life, so he better sober the fuck up and you better climb the fuck down off your high horse or she's going to die. If that's what you want, then by all means, you two idiots keep wasting time." Aisy turned on her heel and stomped out into the hallway, muttering curses under her breath the whole way.
"Aisy—" Sam called after her, getting no response.
She leaned against a wall and took a deep breath to slow her pounding heart, chastising herself for how out of shape she was. It shouldn't have surprised her, not really anyway, since she bought the bar three years before she'd all but officially retired from hunting. After all, she'd done the thing she set out to do—although the revenge wasn't as sweet as she'd hoped. Saving the entire world—that was above her paygrade. That was Winchester level monster hunting, and Aisy was well aware she didn't have what it took to keep up with them and not die. Hell, even they died a few times if she believed the stories.
What the hell are you doing!? You're going to get yourself killed! The question ran on a loop inside her head, and Aisy forced herself to breathe. She might not be special enough to save the entire world, but she could save Hope and her baby—she had to; it was her last chance at redemption. Sam cleared his throat from the doorway, and Aisy startled, jerking her head up and meeting his eyes.
"Hey," Sam said, rubbing a hand down the back of his neck, "I'm sorry for—" he waved a hand toward the room, "all that. It's just this is the only way to deal with Dean when he gets like that. If I go easy on him then it takes ten times longer for him to come around to whatever it is he's trying to run from. He's my brother, and I love him, but he is one of the most stubborn creatures in the universe, and he doesn't get to run away from this. Not now."
"He's not the only stubborn one," Aisy said with a knowing smile. "Look, Sam, I get it. I had a brother too, and he was just like Dean." She sighed, glancing up and down the hallway. "Maybe a little too much," she added.
Sam tilted his head, watching intently as emotions flicked across Aisy's face—sadness, anger, pain, loss—all gone in an instant as she met his eyes again, and the stony facade returned. Although her face betrayed nothing, her gray eyes said everything she didn't. Watching her now, Sam thought Aisy was more like Dean than he first realized, and he wondered for a moment if that was what piqued his curiosity about her.
Aisy and Sam glanced up as Hope's doctor brushed past them and into Hope's room. They entered the room behind the doctor as she made a note on Hope's chart. The doctor gave Aisy and Sam a wan smile as she glanced over her shoulder at Dean. He was slumped over sideways in the chair, passed out again. "Beer?" the doctor asked, flashing a half-smile as she returned her attention to Hope.
"Whiskey," Aisy corrected, shrugging as Sam shot her a glare. "He celebrated a bit too much last night."
"I see," the doctor said, snapping Hope's chart closed. "I've got something for that. Be right back."
Aisy and Sam shared a glance when the doctor disappeared into the hallway, and silence fell across the room, save for the beeping of the monitors. Sam sighed, sinking into the empty chair while Aisy leaned against the window frame. A few moments later, the doctor knocked on the half-closed door and entered, carrying an IV bag that looked like it was full of apple cider.
Without a word, the doctor wrapped a tourniquet around Dean's arm and started the IV. Dean mumbled a curse as the needle punctured his skin, and Sam stifled a grin. Some things never changed. The doctor hung the bag from one of the open spots on Hope's IV pole and turned to Sam and Aisy.
"He should be awake by the time this is empty. I'll have a nurse come check in about an hour," she said, turning toward the door.
"Thanks, doctor," Sam murmured, glancing toward Hope with his mouth set in a grim line. "Has there been any change with Hope?"
The doctor shook her head as she chewed the inside of her lip. "Not exactly. Her fever hasn't come down, and her brain function is off the charts. She's not getting better, but she doesn't seem to be getting any worse at the moment."
"Thanks again," Sam said. The doctor nodded, then turned and left the room, the door clicking closed behind her. Sam glanced at Aisy, who stared out the window and avoided his gaze.
"What is it?" Sam said.
Aisy shook her head, blinking away the tears that welled in the corners of her eyes before turning and looking directly at Sam. "If you want to save Hope, we can't wait for Dean to wake up. We're going to have to leave him here."
"What are you talking about? The doctor said she's not getting any worse."
"Don't be stupid, Sam. You know as well as I do she's getting worse. That brain activity—it's the beginning of the hallucinations. Trust me, she's about to get a whole lot worse." Aisy scraped her teeth across her lip, breaking eye contact with Sam and taking a deep breath.
"Alright," Sam said, scribbling a note on the pad and pressing it into Dean's hand. "Let's go."
"Just like that?" Aisy said, regarding him with a raised eyebrow. "You just believe me? You're not even going to ask me how I know?"
"Nope," Sam replied, heading for the door. "You're going to tell me on the way to wherever it is we need to go. You said you know where some Oxalis enneaphylla is. That's the only ingredient I have no way of getting my hands on in time. So, where are we headed?"
Aisy stared after Sam in disbelief. "What about the angel blood? That's not something you can find at the corner drugstore. I mean, other hunters say you guys have an angel on speed dial, but you said earlier the stories are bullshit so—"
"I said most of what you hear is bullshit," Sam corrected, flashing a lopsided grin. "Some things are true. Like I said, we only need that one ingredient. Are you gonna help or not?"
"Yeah," Aisy said, following Sam as he strode toward the elevator. "Full disclosure, getting to where I stashed it won't be easy."
"Didn't figure it would be," Sam said as the elevator doors opened and the two of them stepped inside. "Nothing about our lives is ever easy."
"Tell me about it," Aisy replied, staring straight ahead as the elevator doors closed behind them.
Hope blinked, squinting around the hospital room to see Dean slumped in the chair next to the bed, hooked up to an IV. She sat up, throwing her legs over the side of the bed and standing up. Weird, she didn't remember being able to move without pain before coming into the hospital. Hope turned, sucking in a breath as she glanced back at the bed and saw herself lying there like a corpse.
"Hello, Hope," a woman's voice came from behind her. Hope spun toward the sound, and a woman stood in the corner of the room near the door, her face bathed in shadows.
"Wh-Who are you?" Hope stammered, taking an involuntary step back toward the bed. "What do you want?"
"Relax, child," the woman said, smiling gently as she took a step forward, revealing her face. "I'm not here to harm you. My sisters and I wish to help you."
"Is that right?" Hope said, her tone disbelieving. "What are you? Angels?"
"Chaos, no. Such petty, selfish creatures—not altogether unlike the humans they claim are beneath them." The woman shrugged as she began pacing the room. "I am Atropos, a Moirai."
"Are you here to kill me?" Hope asked, forcing herself to not betray the terror building beneath her ribcage. "Last time I checked, you're the one that cuts the thread, right?"
"That is true," Atropos said as she stopped pacing and turned toward Hope. "But I'm not here to do that. At least—not right now. It seems you got yourself into a little bit of a—shall we say, delicate situation with the eldest Winchester."
Atropos gestured toward Hope's midsection, and Hope was overwhelmed by a protective instinct, putting her hands across her stomach. "What's your point?" Hope growled, glaring at Atropos as she resumed her pacing.
"Don't you want to know how you ended up pregnant?" Atropos said, glancing at Hope.
"I'm a doctor," Hope snapped, rolling her eyes. "I know how someone gets pregnant."
"Yes," Atropos hummed, turning her face toward the ceiling as she squinted like she was contemplating every particle of dust and cobweb she could find there. "What you don't know, the question that is absolutely consuming you—is how you got pregnant. I can give you the answer, but there's something you must do for me."
"I'm not usually one for making deals with cosmic entities," Hope said, crossing her arms. "They usually aren't weighted in the human's favor."
"That is true. You are a very smart woman," Atropos replied. "But this one is."
"I'm listening," Hope replied, cocking one hip on the bed. "Not making any promises though."
"Fair enough. As I'm sure you know, this timeline fractured when you made the decision to save Sam Winchester. That was never supposed to happen. There is exactly one timeline, in the vast infinity of time and space where that happened, and it wasn't this one."
"I'm aware," Hope replied, tilting her head. "Go on."
"After that, I couldn't foresee your future any longer, and it bothered me, so I started trying to find a way to fix it."
"And?" Hope said, spreading her hands wide. "Did you find anything?"
"Yes, but you're not going to like it, and neither are your friends." Atropos studied Hope's face as she grimaced, considering.
"I'm still not agreeing to anything, but go ahead and tell me," Hope said, sighing in resignation.
"Well, for starters, the angels believe the fracture happened the night you saved Sam, but there was actually another one before that. Instead of killing Lilith and freeing Lucifer, Sam and Dean locked her away, derailing the original timeline for the universe. I believe this is why you chose to save Sam, and ultimately, undoing their decision is what will set things right again."
"Wait," Hope said, shaking her head in disbelief, "you're saying in order to repair the timeline, they're going to have to go back and free Lucifer?"
"Not necessarily go back," Atropos said, running a finger along the window sill, then rubbing the dust between her fingertips. "Although that would be the best scenario. Doing it now would work too, because it would set things moving in the direction they were originally intended to go."
"And it will only cost all of humanity," Hope muttered, running a hand down her face. "How exactly is that supposed to be better than what's happening now?"
"I never said it would be better, I said it would repair the fractured timeline," Atropos said with a shrug.
Atropos turned from the window, and Hope stared her down with a glare that could turn all of hell into an ice castle. "I realize you're not human, so let me give you a little lesson. When someone says there's a way to repair something, that usually implies that the fixed thing will be better than when they started, not worse. Freeing Lucifer is the last thing anyone on this planet needs—ever. I'd rather surrender to whatever Raphael wants with me than be the reason evil incarnate walks free."
"Don't you want to be free of Raphael and his minions?"
Hope nodded, staring at Atropos through narrowed eyes. "What do you know about that?"
"Just that I believe Lucifer is the key. Well—Lucifer and the child you carry," Atropos said, folding her arms as she paced the floor.
"But you don't know," Hope said, shaking her head. "I'm supposed to trust you, but even you don't know if this will work."
"Truth be told," Atropos said, shaking her head and keeping her eyes on the floor in front of her. "You're right, I don't know. I know that if my sisters and I don't find a way to fix this, my mother—Ananke—and Chaos will find a way to set the universe on the correct path. We can't fix it without help from the three of you, and if you refuse, the cost will be greater than just humanity.
"Meaning?"
Atropos heaved an exasperated sigh, turning an annoyed glare on Hope. "Meaning that if my mother or Chaos decides to intervene, the universe could very well revert all the way back to the beginning. Trust me, that is not an outcome any of us will enjoy."
"So the Apocalypse comes to Earth and the world we humans know and love burns to ash, but you and your sisters escape punishment from your parents for breaking your toys. I thought you said this deal was weighted in humanity's favor?" Hope snorted, pushing off the bed and standing toe to toe with Atropos. She doubted she would die right now, and even if she did, at least it would be quick. One little snip of Atropos's scissors and it would all be over—no more pain, no sadness, just nothingness. "Tell me something, why haven't you ended me yet? We both know what happens if I die before this child is born, so why not just save us all the trouble?"
"Believe me, I thought about it," Atropos admitted with a sigh. "But if I'm right and Lucifer is freed, your child will be the harbinger of lasting peace on Earth between all creatures, human and supernatural."
"That's a big if," Hope said. "And it's a hell of a lot to pin on one human being. What happens if you're wrong?"
"Then we're all—how do you humans so eloquently phrase it?"
"Fucked?" Hope offered, shrugging one shoulder.
"Crude," Atropos sniffed, her nose wrinkling in disgust, "but yes, that is the idea."
"Well, I guess we better get to work," Hope said. "Tell me what I need to do."
Sam slid into the driver seat of the Impala, glancing at Aisy as he started the car. "So, where are we going?"
"Casper Mountain, Wyoming," Aisy sighed. "It's about four hours from here one way. Depending what kind of trouble we run into, we should be back early tomorrow morning."
"Will we get back in time to cure Hope?"
"I don't know," Aisy said honestly. "All I can say is we better hurry."
Sam nodded, pulling his phone from the pocket of his jeans and dialing Bobby's number. It rang three times before his gruff voice came across the line. "Hey, Sam. What can I do for you?"
"Hey Bobby, you up for a road trip?" Sam said, glancing toward Aisy as he backed out of the parking space and drove toward the interstate. "I got a line on some of that oxalis ennephylla, but it's gonna take me some time to get back so I'm gonna need the other stuff brought to the hospital in Alliance. We're gonna be cutting it close timewise."
"Got it," Bobby said. "Dean with you?"
"No, he, uh, needed to sit this one out. He's staying at the hospital with Hope. Don't worry, I've got backup. Just—get to the hospital as quick as you can, alright?"
"Will do. Watch your back, Sam."
"You too. Thanks." Sam ended the call, tossing the phone lightly onto the dash as he pressed harder on the accelerator, urging the Impala a little further over the speed limit.
They rode without speaking for a long time, the tension building in the car until Sam sighed and switched off the radio. "Alright, start talking. How do you know so much about this fever and where this ingredient is?"
Aisy closed her eyes and pressed her lips together, wondering if she'd done the right thing by offering her help. She hadn't realized how much opening old wounds would hurt, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. "Would you accept personal experience as an answer and we move on?" Sam shot her a look that said he most definitely would not accept that, and she sighed, turning her head to stare out the window. "Yeah, I didn't think so."
"Not that you care about my sad life story, but my parents were hunters. My mother was killed by a wendigo when I was eleven. My brother blamed our Dad for Mom's death and took off the day he turned eighteen, leaving me with Dad. FIve years later, Dad was hunting what he thought was a low-level demon in Rapid City, but it turned out to be a succubus that infected him with the same virus Hope has. When he got sick, I didn't know what the hell to do."
Aisy took a deep breath, blowing it through puffed cheeks. Tears stung the corners of her eyes, and she refused to let Sam see them. She blinked them away, clearing her throat as she continued. "I scoured all the lore books Dad had on demons, and that's how I found out about the fever. The hallucinations had started by then, and I had to chain him up in the cellar behind our house while I searched for the ingredients to cure him."
"So what happened?" Sam said after a few minutes of silence. Aisy shook her head, twisting her fingers in her lap as she stared straight out the window and swallowed hard.
"I found everything else easy enough, even the angel blood—although it was challenging. But the Oxalis enneaphylla, that's not native to the United States. It only grows in the Falkland Islands and Patagonia. Very rare—and very expensive."
"So how did you find it?"
"I didn't," Aisy said, gritting her teeth. "It found me. Or rather, a broker of sorts found me. I was in this little metaphysical shop in Casper when this guy walks in and the owner points me out to him. He walks over, takes my arm, and says, 'I have what you need, but it's going to cost you.' He drags me out into the parking lot, and I go willingly because by this point I'm desperate and just trying to save my dad. The guy drove me out into the woods near Casper Mountain and introduced me to this other guy, who hands me a pouch full of the stuff and tells me to go save my father."
"It wasn't that easy though, right?" Sam said. The late afternoon sun glared through the windshield; the golden rays washed across Aisy's face and glinted off the unshed tears in her eyes as Sam cast a glance at her and then turned his attention back to the road.
"It never is," Aisy muttered, shaking her head. Sam nodded, gesturing for her to continue the story. "I got back to my house, but Dad was dead by the time the cure was done. His ashes were still warm when the two men came for me."
"I'm so sorry," Sam said, trying to keep the piteous look out of his eyes. Aisy glared at him, then quickly looked away.
"I don't need your pity, Sam. Your forgiveness isn't what I'm after here," Aisy snapped, balling her fists in her lap.
"Then what are you after?"
"After the guys showed up, they dragged me back to Casper Mountain. The payment for the Oxalis enneaphylla was that I had to join their nest, but I never got the chance." Aisy propped her elbow on the door, covering her mouth with one hand as she stared out the window.
"Why?" Sam gave her a sidelong glance, his heart thudding heavily in his chest. Vampires. He should've known this woman was hiding something. It didn't matter now though, he'd tear through a thousand vampires if he had to because that's what his family needed him to do.
Aisy sighed, turning her gaze toward Sam. "Because my brother showed up. He traded his life for mine and made me promise to hunt down the demon that killed Dad."
"And did you?"
"I always keep my promises, Sam," Aisy said, scrubbing her face with her hands and wiping away the stray tears that fell. "Even when it costs me a decade of my life and everything I love. I killed that succubus three years ago, bought the bar, and retired from the hunting life—until you and your brother showed up, that is."
Sam stayed silent long enough that Aisy chanced a glance in his direction. She wasn't sure what reaction she'd been expecting, but silence definitely wasn't on the top of the list. His jaw muscle twitched as he ignored her, and she sighed as she turned her gaze back out the window. Typical.
"So," Sam said, breaking the silence between them. Aisy sucked in a breath, determined not to let him see how much the sound of his voice startled her. "What happened to your brother? Do you know?"
Aisy shook her head, avoiding Sam's gaze. "As far as I know, they turned him. I haven't seen or heard from him since. In the spirit of honesty, I'm not even sure the nest is still there. If it isn't—"
"We'll worry about that if or when the time comes, alright?" Sam interrupted, shaking his head. He still hadn't looked in her direction, and Aisy supposed she understood why. They were most likely walking into a trap, and even with everything else going on, she still hadn't been candid about her true motivations for wanting to help Hope. Did Sam know the real reason? Aisy supposed he might, given what she'd heard about the Winchester brothers' devotion to family.
They rode in silence for the next two hours. Aisy dozed part of the way, the side of her head pressed against the cold glass of the window and letting the rumble of the Impala's exhaust soothe her frayed nerves like a lidocaine balm to the soul. Her eyes snapped open as the car slowed, and Sam nudged her shoulder.
"We're here," he said as the car idled along the main street of a tiny village nestled at the bottom of a mountain. "Which way?"
Aisy sat up, peering through the windshield into the darkness beyond the reach of the Impala's headlights. "Follow this road out of town. There's an abandoned church about three miles down the road, take a left and follow the road until it dead ends."
"Got it," Sam said, nodding once and setting his jaw. He didn't look at Aisy; he couldn't bring himself to. She wasn't Ruby; Sam knew that, but he couldn't help the feeling of panic that washed over him when he realized she still hadn't told him the entire truth. It didn't take a genius to figure out Aisy expected one of two outcomes on this little suicide mission. Death or redemption. Sam just hoped it was the latter—for both of their sakes.
Aisy sighed again, letting the silence settle between them like a heavy cloak. It was almost suffocating, and she forced herself not to leap from the moving car and take her chances alone in the darkness with God only knew what trying to kill her. Sam still hadn't spoken when they passed the church, and with every mile, the lead weight in Aisy's stomach sank further. She could do this, she told herself repeatedly. She would do this—for Jake and for Hope.
The Impala slowly crawled as the pavement ended, replaced with a rutted dirt path, barely wide enough for the car to pass through. Crudely painted wooden signs were nailed to trees on either side, their ominous messages close enough to touch as the car passed.
"Stop here," Aisy commanded, unbuckling the lap belt. "We'll have to go the rest of the way on foot. I hope you walk fast."
Sam did as Aisy said, shifting the car into park and cutting the ignition. "Are you sure you know where you're going? We should probably wait until morning to go on a wild goose chase through the mountains."
"There's no time, Sam," Aisy snapped, jerking the door handle and climbing out. "You can stay here if you want, but I'm going. As a matter of fact, it's probably better that way. At least one of us is guaranteed to get out alive if we do it this way."
"Whoa, whoa," Sam said, climbing out of the car and resting his arms on the roof as he stared at Aisy in bewilderment. "No one is dying today, Aisy. Do you understand me?"
"Speak for your damn self," Aisy muttered, pulling her duffle bag out of the back seat and gearing up for the trek up the mountain. Her movements were sure and practiced, the kind that only comes with years of intense training, and Sam watched this woman he barely knew with an estranged sense of awe and something else. He shook it off, opening the trunk and grabbing his own gear.
Aisy stood, tossing the mostly empty duffle back into the Impala and slamming the door. "You ready?" she said, ignoring the slight fluttering of her heart when Sam's head appeared over the trunk lid. She couldn't make out his expression in the darkness, but she didn't have to. Without even realizing it, she'd already memorized every single one of his features, and she could feel his worry as he regarded her with a questioning look. It unnerved her more than she wanted to admit, and she didn't wait for an answer before turning and stalking off into the darkness.
It didn't take Sam long to catch up, and Aisy stifled a screech when he touched her. "Sorry," Sam said, holding up his hands. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Aisy snapped, jerking away from him. "Let's just keep moving."
"Aisy—" Sam called after her, rolling his eyes as he followed. Aisy ignored him, continuing to pick her way up the mountain. "Aisy! Dammit!"
"What?" Aisy hissed, rounding on him. "Keep your voice down! Do you want every single creature on this mountain to know we're here?"
"Says the one who screeched when I touched her," Sam shot back. Aisy sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she said, turning away again. Sam anticipated her movement, grabbing her wrist.
"Not nothing," Sam said, keeping a firm grasp as Aisy tried to jerk away. "Tell me the truth."
"The truth is," Aisy said through gritted teeth as she escaped Sam's grasp. She took a deep breath, rubbing her wrist with her free hand. "The truth is, only one of us is going to make it back to Hope alive, Sam, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that it's you. You just have to trust me, alright?"
"I do trust you," Sam said, shaking his head. "But you obviously don't trust me enough to tell me this was a suicide mission."
"It's not a suicide mission—not for you anyway. You'll go home to Dean and Hope, Sam, I swear it."
"No," Sam said, ignoring the icy tendrils of fear that snaked around his heart. "We both get out of here alive, or neither of us goes. That's the deal."
"Sure, Sam," Aisy shot back. "Let's go with that plan. So we both live and Hope dies. Do you think Dean will forgive either of us if that happens? I mean, I haven't known you guys all that long, but something tells me the answer is no. Trust me, it's better this way."
"No," Sam said, shaking his head. "I don't believe that."
"We don't have time for this," Aisy said, turning away. "Are you coming or not?"
"Fine," Sam sighed. "Lead the way."
Aisy nodded, picking her way up the path, keeping an ear trained to the mountain's nocturnal sounds, on high alert for any danger. They climbed in silence for a while before Aisy stopped short, almost diving behind a huge boulder and pulling Sam down into the shadows.
"Aislinn?" a gravelly voice called through the darkness. "Stop hiding, you little bitch, I can smell the stench of your fear."
"Sam," Aisy said, turning to whisper in his ear. "No matter what happens to me, you get the Oxalis enneaphylla and get the hell out of here, understand?"
Without waiting for an answer or protest, Aisy put on hand on the side of Sam's neck and pulled him close, pressing her lips to his in a desperate kiss that breathed new life into every nerve in her body. Of course, the only time her body and soul came alive at the same time was when she was staring down the jaws of death, Aisy mused as she disappeared into the darkness, leaving Sam in a similar state of bewilderment.
Aisy circled around and stepped onto the path in the opposite direction from where Sam was hidden. "I'm here, Marcus," she said, holding up her hands in surrender. Sam watched in horror from his shadowed hiding spot behind the boulders as two vampires grabbed Aisy by each arm, showing their fangs and sniffing her neck and hair.
"Hey, you wanna get handsy, you gotta buy me dinner first, assholes," Aisy said, twisting in the two vampires' grasp. Sam stifled a grin, his lips still tingling from the kiss. "C'mon, Marcus. Knock off the dramatics. I just want to see Jake."
"Jake?" Marcus replied, tucking a hand under one elbow and gesturing with the other. "Jake who?"
"My brother, dickbag," Aisy growled, her heart pounding in her ribcage. "Where is he?"
"Ah, yes," Marcus said slowly, turning away from Aisy to show he didn't regard her as a threat. "I'm afraid your dear brother is dead, my dear. He didn't even survive an hour after you ran away like a scared rabbit. If only you'd stayed and held up your end of the bargain. Your brother might still be alive. It's a shame really. You could've been so much more than you are, Aislinn."
"You son of a bitch!" Aisy shrieked, flailing wildly as the two vampires relieved her of her weapons. "I will rip you to shreds! Do you hear me?"
"I'd like to see you try," Marcus crooned, turning and taking her chin in his hands. He recoiled as Aisy spat in his face, and he dug his fingertips into the soft flesh of her neck as he wiped it away. Marcus clicked his tongue, releasing his hold on her. "You always were a stubborn one, weren't you, Aislinn?"
"You have no idea," Aisy snarled, spitting at him again. Marcus rolled his eyes, then punched Aisy in the jaw, knocking her out.
"Crazy little bitch," Marcus muttered, wiping his face again and gesturing for the others to follow.
Sam slinked out from behind the boulder, stepping silently as he followed the foursome deeper into the wooded mountainside. The smell of wood smoke filled Sam's nose, and he bit back the urge to sneeze. It was only a matter of time before the vampires sensed his presence, and while Sam had no doubt he could take four vampires without hardly breaking a sweat, the way Aisy talked about them, the four were probably only a fraction of the total.
They finally reached a vast rustic cabin nestled in among the trees, and Sam stuck to the shadows as the three vampires and Aisy entered the house. He counted four—no five vampires patrolling the property's parameter, and who knew how many more inside. Sam swallowed hard, willing himself to think. He pulled the pistol from the waistband of his jeans, checking the magazine. He'd loaded it with the last eight dead man's blood bullets, but that wouldn't be enough. Aisy was partially right; this was quickly turning into a suicide mission.
Sam made his way around the back of the cabin, his machete in one hand and the pistol in the other, taking out three of the outside guards silently and stacking their heads in a bowling pin formation on the front porch before slinking back into the shadows to lie in wait for the others. He didn't have to wait very long before one of the remaining guards sounded the alarm, and another dozen vampires came running out of the cabin.
"Son of a bitch," Sam seethed under his breath, suddenly wishing they'd dragged Dean along for this adventure. No doubt Dean would be in the perfect mood to kill over a dozen vampires right now. As it was, Sam was tired and just wanted the whole ordeal over with. Sam pushed the thought from his mind and forced himself to focus on the task in front of him. "Well, here goes nothing."
Marcus stood on the porch of the cabin, anticipating the chaos descending upon his home as Sam Winchester stepped out from behind the trees and challenged his soldiers to a fight. This was all he needed, he thought sourly. "Should've left that little bitch for the mountain lions," he muttered, disappearing inside the cabin and shoving open the cellar door.
Aisy blinked as Marcus flipped on the light, jerking against the ropes that bound her wrists as a single flickering bulb dangled precariously just above her head. She shuddered as mice and other creepy-crawly things scurried into the shadows. Her head pounded a slow thud in time with the ache in her jaw. "Were you expecting company, my love? Don't you know three's a crowd?"
"Fuck off," Aisy spat as Marcus backhanded her. Her head spun with the impact, and she glowered up at Marcus as she spat blood on his leather shoes. "You're dead, Marcus, it's only a matter of time."
"I am thousands of years old," Marcus said with a condescending smile. "One little hunter is no match for me."
"He's not just any hunter," Aisy retorted, a slow, feral grin spreading across her face, revealing a row of straight, bloodstained teeth. "He's Sam Winchester. Maybe you've heard of him."
"Can't say that I have," Marcus said, but the note of nervousness in his tone was unmistakable, and Aisy's grin widened even more.
"Liar," Aisy spat again, the crimson glob of blood landing at her feet. "He's going to kill you, Marcus. And even if he fails, even if you manage to kill him, you'll spend the rest of your existence looking over your shoulder for his brother, so you might as well give up now."
"Not a chance," Marcus said, leaning over Aisy until his nose was almost touching her own. "Your hubris will be the end of both of you. You think I don't know why you're here, Aislinn?"
Aisy glared at Marcus, refusing to react to his baiting. He chuckled, his fangs glinting in the jaundiced cellar light. Bile rose up into the back of her throat as the scent of his putrid breath washed over her face, and she fought the urge to vomit. The floorboards above their heads creaked with the sounds of scuffling, and Marcus's grin widened as he stood up and stared at Aisy in triumph.
"This is going to be so much fun to watch," Marcus said, leaning in toward Aisy again. "You didn't save Jake, you couldn't save your father, and now—Sam Winchester's blood will be on your hands. Believe me sweetheart, if what you say is true, I won't be the only one his brother will hunt when Sam dies."
Aisy threw her head forward, her forehead connecting with Marcus's nose. He roared, taking a step back and holding his nose in his hand as blood seeped through his fingers. "You're going to pay for that, you little bitch!" Marcus opened his mouth wide, his fangs extending as he grabbed Aisy's hair, jerking her head back and leaving the side of her neck vulnerable. He moved in for the kill, and Aisy closed her eyes, her pulse thundering in her ears as she waited to die.
"You first," Sam growled from somewhere behind Marcus. Something warm and wet splattered across Aisy's face, and she opened one eye to see Marcus's head rolling across the packed dirt floor of the cellar. His face was twisted into a surprised grimace, and Aisy blinked in astonishment. She turned her gaze toward Sam, drinking in the sight of him.
He stood slightly hunched, his face streaked with blood and dirt as he met her gaze with soft, concerned eyes. Aisy swallowed hard, then jerked her chin toward Marcus's head. "Nice work," she said, hoping he didn't notice the heat crawling up her cheeks as she searched the depths of his eyes in the dim light. It's him. He's the one you've been looking for, you silly, romantic girl.
Aisy cleared her throat, ignoring the voice in her head and forcing herself to breathe as Sam untied her. "Are you hurt? Did you get bitten or anything?"
"Only my pride," Aisy croaked as she shook her head. She clamped her mouth shut, not trusting herself to keep it together. "C'mon, we've got some Oxalis enneaphylla to find."
Aisy brushed past him, heading for the stairs. She turned as she reached the bottom step, regarding Sam with sad eyes. "Thanks, Sam," she whispered as the ghost of a smile played across her lips. "You saved me from becoming one of those things, and I won't forget it."
"It was nothing," Sam replied, "you would've done the same thing for me, I'm sure."
"Maybe," Aisy teased, "but it definitely wouldn't have happened with quite as much style. Let's get that ingredient and get the hell outta here, what do you say?"
Sam nodded, overwhelmed by an urge he didn't quite understand, and he caught Aisy's wrist as she turned away and started up the stairs. She glanced over her shoulder in confusion but didn't resist as he pulled her toward him. "What is it?"
Sam said nothing, placing his hands on either side of Aisy's face and pressing his mouth to hers. She inhaled sharply, reeling from shock and surprise before quickly recovering and returning the kiss, burying her hands in his hair.
Aisy pulled away first, her heart hammering in her chest as she took slow, deliberate breaths. "Sam, I—"
"I'm so sorry," Sam said, taking a step back and giving her a half-smile. "I don't know what made me do that."
"I-It's fine," Aisy said with more confidence than she felt. "It's—fine." She turned on her heel and headed up the stairs, refusing to look back and see if Sam was following.
She sucked in another breath as she absorbed the wake of the carnage Sam left behind him on his mission to save her. Every single vampire in the cabin was missing their head, and the wood floors were slick with blood as Sam and Aisy made their way upstairs toward Marcus's room. The door was locked, and Aisy shook her head as Sam reached for his lockpicks.
Sam stared at her with a raised eyebrow as she grinned at him and then kicked the door open, Sparta style. She shrugged, then disappeared through the doorway, stepping around the broken pieces of the wooden door. "What can I say? I have a little pent up aggression. Getting kidnapped and held in a cellar will do that to a girl."
"Note to self," Sam muttered, rifling through a stack of papers on Marcus's desk before yanking on the desk drawers. After a thorough search of the room, Sam and Aisy stood back to back, scanning the room in annoyance. "There's nothing here, Aisy," Sam sighed, running a hand down his face and refusing to allow the exhaustion to overwhelm him. When was the last time he slept?
"Shhh," Aisy gestured, walking to the window that overlooked the cabin's front porch. "Let me think." She gazed through the glass, her vision blurring until she couldn't see the woods outside any longer. The first streaks of light shone in the Eastern sky, blues and purples splashing across the woods in the abstract light of dawn.
Sam watched Aisy from across the room, fascinated by the slight movement of her lips as she chanted in a language he couldn't understand. He should be terrified, or at the very least wary, that Aisy was not as human as she claimed to be, but he wasn't, although he wasn't entirely sure why. She closed her eyes, then opened them a second later, staring straight at him.
"It's in a safe downstairs," Aisy said, brushing past Sam and bounding down the steps. "Let's go."
He followed her down the steps automatically, knowing at that moment he'd most likely follow her anywhere she wanted to go. He leaned against the wall, trying to stifle a grin as Aisy ripped a horrid painting down from the wall above the fireplace mantle and revealing a safe with a biometric lock. Aisy turned to Sam with a questioning look, and Sam sighed, pushing himself off the wall and heading for the cellar.
"You're the best, Sam," Aisy called after him, poking her head around the corner to see him send a middle finger her way. "Aww, love you too."
"Yeah, yeah," Sam said, shaking his head as he bounded down the cellar steps. He was still grinning to himself as he used his machete to lob off Marcus's right hand.
Aisy glanced up at Sam as he entered the room, holding out Marcus's severed hand out like a gift. "Aww, Sam. You shouldn't have," she teased. "You know just what to get a girl to make her go all mushy inside, don't ya?"
Sam rolled his eyes, holding out the severed hand. "Just take the damn thing and get this over with," he said, chuckling lightly.
"Sure thing," Aisy said, trying not to touch the icy fingers any more than necessary as she pressed the fingers into the safe's lock. She dropped the hand unceremoniously when the lock clicked and yanked the safe door open. It was overflowing with cash, alchemy ingredients, and jewelry, and Aisy's eyes went wide as she stared inside.
"There's gotta be fifty grand in cash here. Marcus must have been collecting this stuff for centuries," Aisy breathed, picking up various jars and vials. "Some of this stuff is extinct. Come on, let's find something to haul this stuff back in."
"Is there any Oxalis enneaphylla in there?" Sam asked, grabbing a duffle bag from the linen closet.
"Right here," Aisy said, dangling a leather pouch in front of Sam's face as he entered the room. "Let's go." Sam nodded, helping Aisy to shove the safe's contents into the bag.
Sam zipped the bag, throwing it over one shoulder and picking up his machete. "You ready?"
Aisy nodded as she retrieved her own machetes from the corner of the living room where they'd been discarded without a second thought as she'd been carried inside the cabin. "Let's go save Hope."