Raising Winchesters
Chapter 27
Dean was pretty sure he'd never been as cold as he was at the moment. His thin t-shirt and sweat pants weren't enough to keep him warm and his body was nearly taken over by his shivering. Along with being cold, he was hungry, tired, scared, and he really, really needed to use the bathroom. Unfortunately, the woman was still in the small room and there was no way he was going to use the toilet in front of her.
With his bladder full and his stomach empty, Dean was pretty miserable. The woman continued to talk to him, but he tried to ignore her. He was tired of hearing her talk about how his dad was a terrible father and an even worse human being. He was tired of her saying that the man put everyone else before his own sons. And he was tired of her saying that he and Sam deserved better.
Maybe they did deserve better in some ways, but Dean never doubted that his dad loved them. He never doubted that the man would die for them, either. Of course, if he really thought deeply enough about it, he'd realize that John was essentially putting them in untold danger every time he left them alone. Dean knew that he could protect his brother from schoolyard bullies and weird motel owners, but he couldn't really protect him from monsters. No matter how much training he'd already had, he still wasn't ready for that.
And that scared Dean more than anything else.
He wasn't stupid. He knew that if….. when his dad finally rescued him, he would still find himself in the same situation as always. Alone in some crappy motel room, watching over his little brother. He knew deep down that his dad wasn't going to change, no matter how much Dean prayed for it.
As he thought about everything, trying to keep his mind off of how miserable he was, his teeth started chattering violently. So violently, in fact, that his jaws were aching. His whole body was one big, wretched, exhausted mass.
"Looks like you're a little cold," the woman said as she looked down on him. She walked over to where he was, staring down at him as if he were a bug under a microscope. "That t-shirt looks awfully thin, Dean. How long has it been since your father bought you new clothes?"
Dean knew that she couldn't really care less how cold he was. He looked away from her, even though it made him more nervous to have her so close by. He tried to focus on controlling his shivering, but he knew it wasn't working.
After a few minutes of silence, the woman motioned to whoever or whatever was standing in the doorway. Within a minute, she held a blanket in her hand. Dean watched as she seemed to contemplate whether or not to give it to him.
"What is this blanket worth to you, Dean?" she finally asked.
Dean had no idea what she meant. It wasn't like he had any money to give her or anything to trade for it. When he didn't answer her, she moved forward again, dropping down to her knees right in front of her. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, but he thought he could feel her body warmth coming off of her in waves.
"Dean? Surely, you'd like to wrap up in this blanket, right?"
He couldn't help but look longingly at the blanket.
"Well, all you need to do is ask me for it. That's all. Just ask if you can have it."
The last thing Dean wanted was to ask the woman for anything, but he also knew how stupid that was. One of the lessons his dad had taught him was that you should never be too full of pride to turn something down that might help you in the long run. Of course, he'd also taught him to be careful when accepting things from someone who might not have your best interest at heart.
As he thought about what he should do, the woman stood up and started to turn away.
"Well, I guess if you don't feel like you need this blanket, I'll just return it to where it came from."
"NO! WAIT!" Dean cried out. "Wait….."
"For what, Dean? What do you want?"
Dean swallowed heavily, his eyes never leaving the warm blanket she was holding. "The blanket….."
"What about the blanket, Dean?"
"I-I want….. um, can I have it, please?"
The woman walked back over and held the blanket out to him. "See? That wasn't too hard, was it?"
Dean grabbed the blanket without saying a word. His hands shook as he wrapped the blanket around himself. The woman stared at him for several long seconds before turning and walking back to the door.
"Dean, things don't have to be hard for you here, okay? Have you ever heard the saying 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours?' That can work for us here."
Dean really had no idea what she was saying, so he just ignored her.
"What I mean is we can help each other out here, okay? I'll make sure you're comfortable if you do something for me, too. How does that sound?"
Dean turned away from her, wrapping himself up in the blanket and curling into the smallest ball he could. He tried to think about other things to get his mind off what was happening to him, but the only thing that worked were thoughts of Sammy. He let his mind wander to thoughts of his little brother- trying to remember what Sam's giggle sounded like, what his face looked like when he was watching cartoons, what his hair smelled like right after a bath. These thoughts worked to calm him a little and he allowed his eyes to slowly close.
By the time they were ready to make their move, John and Bobby were completely on edge. John's imagination had completely taken over and the things he imagined happening to his son were almost too much for him. If it hadn't been for Bobby, he probably would have already done something stupid and reckless.
And even though Bobby was just as on edge as John, he had a little more self-control. They watched their surroundings for almost twenty minutes before they were able to discern any kind of pattern to the movements of the various animals surrounding the abandoned ship. Once that pattern was discovered, they moved in sync, but in opposite directions. After flanking the creatures on each side, they checked their watches and made their moves at the exact same time.
Since they didn't really know what they were up against, they each had two guns. Once gun was loaded with silver bullets and the other with witch-killing bullets. Both men fired first with the silver bullets and were surprised when their targets immediately keeled over. After that first attack, they quickly found themselves in the path of multiple other creatures. Luckily, both John and Bobby were expert sharpshooters and the oncoming tide of creatures were rather easily disposed of.
When it finally seemed they had taken care of any obstacles in their path, they immediately turned and made their way to the ship. They knew that there were going to be more creatures inside the ship, so as they walked, they each reloaded their guns.
The inside of the ship was cold and dark. Both John and Bobby slowed down, giving themselves time to let their eyes adjust to the deepening darkness. They listened to the sounds around them, hoping to hear some tell-tale sound that would lead them to Dean. The ship was eerily quiet.
Dean was almost asleep when the door to the small room opened again. The woman swept into the room, followed by a large dog-like creature that quickly morphed into a tall man. It took Dean several seconds to realize that he wasn't dreaming and that he had, in fact, just watched a man transform from an animal. Throwing the blanket off of himself, he scrambled over to the corner of the room.
He could tell that something was happening outside of the room and his heart suddenly soared at the possibility of a rescue. Just as he opened his mouth to scream for his dad, the tall man stepped over and picked him up, his large hand completely covering Dean's mouth.
"Not a word," the man said firmly.
Dean struggled to escape from the man's hold, but he quickly realized it was a lost cause. The man's grip was just too strong for him to overcome. Not knowing what else to do, his eyes moved over to the door and he listened for the sound of someone coming to help.
Just before the door opened, the woman stepped over to him and laid her hand on the top of his head. He noticed her eyes were suddenly glowing a bright blue and he heard her saying something in a language he didn't recognize.
"Ligant petulans mihi."
The blue light that was emanating from her eyes immediately moved to surround him and the man holding him. He felt a feeling like icy cold fingers moving all over his body and then it was gone, leaving him panting for breath. The man holding him seemed to be short of breath, too.
Dean wanted badly to ask what the blue light was and what her words had meant, but the man's large hand was still covering nearly half of his face. He was finding it harder to breathe with each passing second and he felt like he was drowning.
Just as panic was about to set in, the door to the small room opened, revealing the very pissed off faces of John Winchester and Bobby Singer. Dean hadn't ever felt so relieved in his life.
The second the door opened, John's eyes found his son. He quickly took in the fact that Dean looked to be relatively unharmed, albeit completely terrified. John's eyes next moved to the man holding his son, taking in the fact that his large arms were wrapped around Dean, squeezing him to the point that the boy could barely breathe. The man was bent forward enough to shield most of his body behind Dean and John knew it would be nearly impossible to fire off a shot without hitting his son.
Taking his attention off of Dean, John looked over to the only woman in the room. He thought she looked vaguely familiar, but didn't have the time to really think about it. Instead, he focused on her so intently that he nearly forgot who else was in the room.
"Give me my son and we'll just leave. No one has to get hurt."
He was confused to see the smile that suddenly appeared on her face. "Oh, come on, John. We all know that you don't have it in you to just let me walk away from here. I took your son, remember? I got one over on the Great John Winchester."
"I just want my son. I really don't care what happens to you. You're not important."
"You say that now, John, but you don't know everything that I know. If you did, you'd know that we have a little situation here. One that probably won't end well for some of us in this room."
John could see Bobby moving around behind him, slowly making his way closer to Dean. The man holding Dean stiffened slightly as the hunter drew closer.
The woman's eyes flicked over to Bobby. "I think you should probably stop, Bobby. Titus doesn't like people to crowd him. He becomes very unstable when he's feeling crowded."
Bobby stopped moving, but maintained his position. He was surprised that they woman knew who he was. John sent a quick look over to his son, who was just staring back at him. "It's okay, son. We'll be out of here soon." Dean didn't even blink at those words, but John noticed a slight shiver roll through him. Turning back to the woman, he decided he needed to know who he was dealing with. "Who are you?"
"Think, John. You know who I am."
"I've never seen you before, lady."
"You have, though I'll admit that I've probably changed a lot since we first met. And when I say I've changed, I mean that I've changed in ways more than just the way I look. I'm no longer weak and unsure of myself. I've grown into my powers and I'm more powerful than you could ever imagine."
"Okay. Obviously, you think that you and I have met before. You're at an advantage, though, because I still have no idea who you are. Want to clue me in on it all, so we can be on the same page here?"
The woman eyed him closely. "October, 1984. Lincoln, Nebraska. You came into my home and ruined everything for me. You didn't care, either. You were on a mission, John, and you had no problem playing God. No problem taking everything that I ever loved."
John stared at the woman as he tried to think back to October of '84. He'd been hunting for less than a year, but he was already a phenomenal hunter by that time. Of course, he made mistakes occasionally. And he remembered that hunt only because it was just a week before the anniversary of Mary's death and the hunt had ended with flames shooting out of a house.
"I remember," he finally said. "I remember you. You're Nora Doherty."
"And do you remember what you did? Do you have any idea how quickly you ruined my life? And now I have the power to do the same thing to you."
"Dean had nothing to do with that," John tried. "He was only five years old."
"And my son was only two."
"Your son?"
"Oh, I guess you didn't know about him, did you? You didn't know that he was upstairs asleep in his bed when you came into my house. When you killed my husband and burned down my house."
John couldn't wrap his mind around what the woman was saying. There had been a child in that house? How had he not known that?
His mind wandered to the nearly six year old memory. He'd killed a lot of monsters since then, but none of them had ended with a house burning to the ground. He remembered hunting down a lead that led him to Nora and James Doherty. One of his hunter contacts told him that the couple were witches and that James Doherty was implicated in the ritualistic death of a young man the previous month and a young woman the month before. John investigated the rumors and found some truth in them, which led him to the Doherty's house.
Nora wasn't home that day and the confrontation between him and James was ugly. It had been a tough fight, but eventually John prevailed, leaving James dead on the living room floor. Unfortunately, the rambunctious fight had knocked a burning candle into the sheer curtains that were covering the living room window. The curtains quickly ignited and within seconds the fire was spreading through the room. John spent a few minutes trying to put the fire out, but quickly realized that it was spreading too fast. Without looking back, he left the house, eager to move along before anyone noticed the fire. He had no idea there was a child in the house, because that would have changed everything.
He shook himself out of the onslaught of memories, trying to focus on the problem at hand. First and foremost, he needed to get Dean out of there. Get him to safety. While he'd been stuck in the memory, Bobby had taken a few steps closer to Dean and Titus, forcing them to move sideways. Eventually, John noticed that the man was having a hard time keeping all of himself shielded behind Dean now that they were almost directly in between the two hunters.
The woman- Nora- hadn't moved at all. She hadn't taken her eyes off of John, either. "You need to pay for what you did, John. You can't just do something like that and get away with it. It's not fair."
"Life isn't fair, Nora. Your husband was killing innocent people. Maybe you had something to do with that and maybe you didn't, but I couldn't let him go on doing that. I'm sorry about your son. I didn't know he was there."
"I don't want your apologies. Sorry means nothing to me. I want you to pay, John. To hurt like I did. I want you to know what it's like to lose something that is so important to you."
"That's not going to happen, Nora. I won't let you hurt Dean."
"We'll see about that." Nora's eyes flashed angrily at John before skirting over to Dean. John watched as she held out her hand to Dean, a bright blue light emanating from her fingertips. "Pulsatio et omnis spiritus diminuit."
The blue light enveloped Dean's small body and then suddenly disappeared, along with Nora and Titus. Dean immediately dropped to the floor as Bobby and John made their way to him. Bobby was closest, but John beat him to the boy, throwing himself down to the floor next to Dean.
"Dean!" he yelled as he shook Dean's shoulders. John could taste the bitter taste of bile climbing up his throat and his heart was pounding erratically in his chest. "Dean!"
It was almost a full ten seconds- the longest ten seconds of John's life- before Dean finally started to stir.
"Dad?"
"I'm right here, Dean. I'm here."
Dean's eyes opened and immediately fixed onto his father's face. He couldn't make any part of his body work at first, but eventually he was able to move his arms up enough to grab onto his dad's arm. "Daddy…."
"It's okay, son. I'm here. Bobby's here. You're safe."
"What the hell just happened?!" Bobby said as he looked Dean over and then looked around the room.
John reached over and pulled Dean into his arms, clutching him tightly to his chest. "Let's get out of here," he said as he stood up and made his way to the door. "We'll figure it out when we get home."
"Something's not right, John. That spell she said…. I think…."
"What, Bobby? What do you think?" John asked angrily. He didn't want to waste any time trying to figure things out at the moment. He just wanted to get his son out of there.
Bobby cast a nervous glance to Dean, who was resting against John's chest with his eyes closed. He could tell that the boy was breathing a little harder than normal. "I think that spell somehow ties her to Dean, John. Or maybe it ties Dean to her."
John didn't really understand how those two things could be different, but he knew that Bobby was right. There wasn't any other explanation as to why she would just disappear like that.
She must have had a plan and John suddenly knew that his son was a long way from being safe.
Author's note: Well, apologies all around, my friends. I had a bit of a block with this story, but I'm happy to say that I finally broke through. At least, I hope I did. This chapter isn't anything like what I intended, but I'm pretty happy with the direction it went. I really hope you enjoy it, too.
On a note, I am by no means fluent in Latin, so the above spells are absolutely, one hundred percent not real, lol. For the sake of the story, please just go along with it and excuse my Latin inexperience.
Thanks so much for reading and reviewing. I'm trying to respond to reviews, but please know that if I miss yours, I truly appreciate them. Same goes for those of you who leave guest reviews. I appreciate every single one.