Chapter 19

Sitting next to his brother's bed, Sam watched Dean sleeping. He watched the slow rise and fall of the older man's chest, and saw that in sleep, Dean's face was tense as though he was expecting something. The man shifted position and Sam held his breath, hoping not to wake him. Dean needed all the rest he could get. The older brother settled again and with a soft sigh, turned onto his side. Soon, the steady sound of his breathing assured Sam that no harm had been done.

Sam blinked tiredly, feeling the throbbing of his freshly bandaged injuries coming back to him. He rotated his wrists carefully to stop the pain and licked his dry lips. His gaze drifted beyond Dean's bed to the windowpane that glared in the early morning moonlight. The time was about three thirty a.m. and Sam hadn't yet slept. He'd been keeping watch over his big brother like a shepherd watching a flock of sheep. Every movement Dean made, Sam caught. By now, Sam had memorized the pattern of his brother's breathing while in sleep, so if Dean were to awaken, Sam would know.

Soft footfalls came into the room and Dean shifted in the bed once again. Sam turned to see who had just entered, and saw his father standing behind him, looking rather worn out. The older man held two cups of coffee in his hands and handed one to Sam, who took it gently, to sip at it cautiously, so he would avoid scorching his tongue.

"Thanks." Sam replied with a small smile.

John only nodded and more or less collapsed into the empty chair next to Sam. Although the other brother moved a bit, he soon fell back into sleep. John and Sam watched.

"That demon is still out there." Sam replied just above a whisper.

"I know, Sammy. We'll get it, but I think we all need a bit of a break at the moment. We'll wait until the worse of the storm has passed for Dean. That should be rolling around anytime and we have to be prepared." John stated.

"I know, dad. I am prepared. I know what's going to happen. I've seen it before. If I'm remembering correctly, the last time was with you." Sam said.

"I know that you know, and Dean knows it too."

Sam was silent, and he felt his eyes dropping shut, but quickly shook his head to waken himself again. A hand touched his shoulder, and Sam was surprised that it was the hand of his father. The oldest Winchester's eyes showed a deep care for his youngest boy, and those eyes looked to Dean without wavering. He turned his head back to Sam.

"Why don't you try to get a bit of rest. If there's a change in Dean, you'll know, trust me, but you need to sleep Sam, you look like a train wreck." John smiled wryly, but Sam's face was dead serious.

"Dad, I can't. Not with Dean this…this…vulnerable." Sam said, after his struggle to find a word that would sound semi-correct.

John's expression fell still as he searched the eyes of his son. He saw them droop in exhaustion and sighed.

"It's up to you." John replied, knowing that Sam would be asleep within the next ten minutes.

Sam smiled tightly and settled himself further. Just as John had predicted, the man fell into a light slumber about seven minutes after he'd switched position. John smiled at his boy, and focused his gaze back on Dean, who was still soundly sleeping.

Less than half an hour after Sam had fallen into sleep, Dean began to shift, frantically. He grabbed at the blankets and tossed them aside, while his face contorted into a variance of emotions ranging anywhere from slight discomfort to all out agony. A thick sheen of perspiration coated his skin and beaded on his cheeks as well as his forehead. His pale skin became flushed as the fever spiked for the final time in the process and he gasped his way back to consciousness.

Sam had snapped to when he'd first heard the shifting movement from Dean and he watched as his father stood and pressed a gentle hand against the man's shoulder as an offering of kindness. Sam saw his brother's distress and grew anxious as he watched the physical struggle that Dean was going through. The man's eyes slid open and widened as he tried to regain his breath. John's face was concerned and he turned to Sam.

"Stay with your brother. I'll go and get a doctor." John replied, urgently.

Sam nodded and moved in next to Dean while John left the room and returned a few seconds later with a doctor in tow. There was a flurry of motion and Sam was pushed away to stand next to John as the doctors and nurses worked. Less than five minutes later, Dean had a breathing mask on and his thrashing motions were non-existent. The room cleared out and Dean rolled his head to face Sam and John, who once again took up their posts next to the ailing Winchester. He reached up to pull the mask away from his mouth once his breathing had settled and he blinked a few times as if to clear the fuzzy colours from his vision.

"The worst is over, Dean." John said simply.

Dean nodded wearily. He knew. He cast his eyes to Sam, but they refused to stay open and he slipped back into sleep, his chest rising and falling in time with his breath. Sam watched his brother in silence and then walked quietly to the window where he gazed out onto the street a floor below him. The roads were deserted, and the street lamps glowed warmly in the silent dark. A shadow moved in the night and stepped under one of the lamps. Sam's eyes locked with it and he watched as the figure turned its head up to the window.

Sam gasped silently when he was greeted with the eyes of the young Jonathan. The man's face was shadowed in the glare cast by the light and the expression was a picture of blank mystery. The young man's eyes watched him and he felt his flesh creep with the electricity being stared in his direction. Sam blinked and Jonathan was gone, leaving him with and odd tingling sensation boiling just beneath the surface of his skin. The young psychic was still in contact with Sam. Either that, or the nineteen-year-old was under the demon's control. Both possibilities left Sam with a feeling of uneasiness.

"It's not over, yet." Came a whispering sentence that echoed in the back of Sam's head.

Sam turned at the sound of a shuffle in the room behind him. He saw his father moving and his eyes went beyond the older man to the slightly ajar door that opened into the hall, Sam was greeted by the dead psychic's eyes once again, but this time, the eyes were different. They changed and paled. A green dot erupted from within their depths and stared at him with quiet malice. Sam's head exploded in a blossom of pain that sent colourful lights dancing in front of his eyes and he felt a terrifying rippling sensation dashing up his spine that spread over his entire body. His vision blurred in and out of focus. He dropped to his knees with a yelp, clutching his head in his hands.

An urgent voice from his father called to him, but the hazy pain shut it out and Sam couldn't hear what the words spoken were. He felt a strong grip on either of his shoulders, but that feeling soon ghosted away as his sights darkened and he was only left with the silently staring eyes of the demon that reached to touch his mind and pull it closer to gain control. Sam fought it, but in the end, the battle was lost and he dropped away into a deep black that came swirling over him and claimed his soul.

The demon watched with a sick satisfaction as the youngest Winchester writhed in his father's arms. The older man repeatedly yelled to a doctor, but none came. Not yet, anyway, but the demon knew that it was only a matter of time and sure enough the rushing footfalls of a doctor greeted him. He looked up and locked eyes with the middle-aged man who stopped dead in his tracks, unable to move, trapped in the demon's control. The demon watched with a blank stare that held nearly no emotion. The doctor fell and didn't get up. Others rushed to him and gathered him onto a stretcher, forgetting all about the yelling Winchester father in the next room. That was good, that was what the demon wanted. Only a few more moments were needed.

The calls for a doctor continued to come from the door. The demon watched as John held his son close to his chest and tried to solve the youngest man's problem. Another doctor came, after the fallen one had been taken away, but the demon let her come. The creature let her rush into the room, because it was done, the youngest was ready, the next step would be to feed upon the boy's power. The demon waited.