Chapter Ten

Lightning flashed against the sky, a brilliant red blazing like fire into the atmosphere. The stench of burning flesh and electricity fills Sakari's nostrils, hitting her like a brick wall and causing a bout of nausea to overcome her. Her head starts to pound and vertigo strikes as she falls to the ground on one knee. She quickly shuts her eyes as she tries to steady herself. She takes each ragged breath in slowly, the scent burning at her lungs. Her eyes still closed, she sits down and rubs at her temples. A moment passes and the dizziness and nausea subside, her breathing coming a bit easier with each inhalation of the tainted air. She coughs and opens her watery eyes, putting a hand to the ground as she slowly pushes herself back up. Lightning sears across the sky again, illuminating everything surrounding her. As she continues to gather her bearings she looks around her, panic rising in her stomach and adrenaline flooding her system.

Oh God…

A charred landscape encircles her, smoke pouring into the crimson sky from flaming ruins in the distance. Broken and battered bodies lie before her, all burned or disfigured in some way. Men, women, and children of all ages. She takes a step back in horror, her hand covering her mouth. She whips herself around, trying to find an end to this destruction but none is found. Only flames, smoke, ruins, and death surround her on all sides. A strong wind picks up, her black hair whipping at her face and stinging her eyes. She chokes on the dust and shields her face from the onslaught, crouching on the ground again. Cradling her face in her hands she tries to calm herself despite the fear and terror still fighting to break through.

This is not real…It's not real, I know it isn't…It can't be…

A roar fills her ears for a few brief seconds and a sudden bitter cold bites at her feet and legs. Her eyes snap open in shock and she finds herself standing to her full height in freezing salt water. Rough waves lap at her, white caps abound. She can see her breath as she exhales, freezing cold now stabbing at her chest. The lightning still illuminates the heavens making the cold waters look alarmingly similar to blood. She shivers and shuffles her way to shore, her soaked clothes clinging to her skin. She allows herself to collapse on the rough sand and curls up in a ball on her side. Exhaustion and her aching muscles consume her and for a small instant she closes her eyes, praying that when she opens them again she will be gone from this place.

The sound of something heavy falling onto the sand next to her makes her look again. Laying next to her lay the most beautiful little girl she had ever seen, with startling blue eyes and long blonde hair pulled back into a braid. In the girl's arms was a worn teddy bear with one eye missing and the stuffing coming out of on of the arms. Surprised to see such a perfect unscathed child in a place like this, Sakari sits up.

"You're not real…" she starts, slightly unnerved at this child's presence.

The little girl just stares at her, adjusting her toy's position in her tiny arms.

"Well, if I'm not real then what are you?" the girl finally asks.

Completely taken aback, Sakari opens her mouth to respond but can't think of anything to say to such a statement.

Who is this kid?

Sakari finally answers, "I know I'm real. You aren't however. This is a dream. Just a post-apocalyptic dream that I plan on waking up from very soon."

"And what happens if you don't?" the girl asks, sitting up to meet Sakari's gaze.

Sakari's lips twitch and she sighs.

"I guess I'll have whatever you are to keep me company then, won't I?" she murmurs, hugging her knees.

Swatting her tiny braid over her shoulder, the child imitates Sakari and hugs her legs as well, her teddy in her hand.

"I'm Vivian. This is Snuggles" the girl says, waggling the bear in Sakari's direction. "You look sad. Did you lose your family?"

"Sakari, and yeah, I guess you could say that" she answers.

Vivian nods. "Me too. I was with them one minute and then the next thing I knew, I was on this beach." She places her chin on her hands, her elbows propped up on her knees. "I like your name, its pretty. I wish I had a pretty name like that."

A small smile etches onto Sakari's face and she feels her fear slip away.

"Well, Vivian is a pretty name too. So is Snuggles" she says, motioning towards the toy.

Vivian lets out a high pitched giggle, squealing, "no its not! My daddy named him that 'cuz he hates that laundry bear on TV." Thunder rumbles over head and fear enters Vivian's eyes as she looks up at the lightning. She looks back at Sakari, afraid.

"I don't like it here" she whispers, clutching at Snuggles.

Sakari tries to comfort her when she notices a small bloodstain on Vivian's yellow flower-print shirt. Concerned, Sakari reaches for her.

"Hey, are you alright?" Sakari asks, her arm outstretched. As her finger lightly brushes Vivian's shirt, she glances up at her forehead to see a trickle of blood slide down her temple.

"Sweetheart, what happened?" Sakari worriedly asks. She gently wipes the blood away and as she pulls her hand away to examine the blood, her eyes widen in horror. She scrambles away and falls onto her back, staring at a blackened skeleton where Vivian used to sit. Its skull is fractured and its jaw slack. In its arms is a small teddy bear with one eye missing and the stuffing coming out one arm.

Feeling her small sense of security fall away, a single tear slithers down her cheek and she starts to cry. She hugs her knees to her chest and begs God to take her away from this horrid place.

Her world spins and she falls into a sickening liquid warmth. She shoots up and gasps for air, wiping the liquid from her eyes. Blanketed in darkness, she continuously rubs her eyes, spitting out a metallic tasting substance. As it dribbles down her chin, she instantly seizes up, slowly lowering her arm. Unable to see, she scoops up a small amount of whatever she is standing in. Clouds part overhead and a full moon shines down, revealing a sea of blood to her waist. Terror clouds her senses and she finds herself unable to breathe.

Mere feet away something bubbles under the surface. Shooting up from under the fluid, several corpses grab Sakari and drag her under the blood, her scream shattering the night air.

"Hey…um, Ayden?" Sam starts to ask, unsure of how to put this.

Ayden looks at him, once again surprised at the fact that Sam was addressing him. He could see that Sam was uncomfortable around him and didn't want to impose too much.

"Yes…?"

"Um…well, I was wondering if you remembered anything about whoever did this to you. You know; who or what it was or whatever."

Ayden sighs deeply, trying to concentrate on what the younger Winchester has asked of him. He certainly remembered being hit several times and crashing into the glass and it slashing his skin, but who attacked him? He closes his eyes and bites his lip, a small headache forming at the back of his head as he thinks back on it.

A sudden image hits him and he remembers. As he lay on the frame of the glass table, he had looked up for a brief second to see two people staring down at him. Their outlines fuzzy, he could only see that there were two of them before he had lost consciousness. And he still had no idea how he had been moved to the kitchen.

"All I can really tell you is there were two men here, at the very least. There may have been more. I'm sorry that I cannot be of more help" Ayden answers, his eyes open again.

"Well look, we know Sakari saw this coming or some of it anyway. She left us clues, apparently about what 'they' are planning. She's missing, most likely with whoever or whatever the hell they are. So we just need to figure out where she is and get her back before something happens to her" Dean states. He feels so useless and needs to feel like he is contributing something…anything. He can tell Sam is still nervous and frustrated somewhat, but he doesn't really know how to make him feel any better so he decides to simply say something. Anything to just get them brainstorming, to find something they missed.

"That's if something hasn't happened to her already" Sam adds quietly, Dean nodding in agreement.

Silence follows until Ayden speaks up. "Dean, can I talk to you a minute? I need your opinion on some personal matters."

"What, now?" Dean asks incredulously, surprised that Aden feels the need to do this now.

Ayden just stares at him, boring his eyes into Dean's. Deans gets a shiver up his spine and angrily mutters "Fine, I'm coming goddammit, no need to try to scare me into it…"

Ayden doesn't respond, merely leads Dean towards the stairs.

"Be right back Sammy" Dean says loudly to his brother, trailing after Ayden.

"Right…" Sam murmurs, annoyed at his brother for leaving him hanging like this.

"You really have to do this now?" Dean flares, knowing that Sam would want an explanation when he returned to the downstairs. Having reached the upstairs and now standing in Sakari's workroom, Dean lets his emotions out a little.

"Well I obviously can't discuss this in front of your brother, so when the hell do you want me to do it? When we're lying face down in some hellhole, bleeding to death?" Ayden snaps.

"Look, Sam deserves to know-"

"NO, he doesn't" Ayden interrupts. "Not yet, Winchester, can't you see? You've told him all you need to know for now; we need him on our side."

"Sammy isn't going to just take off just because of that, I know him better then you" Dean angrily retorts.

"Listen, you can tell him all of it as more signs reveal themselves, but for now, just leave it alone."

"Alright, FINE! Why the hell are you telling me this anyway? Did it look like I was about to spill or something because I thought I was doing fucking swell keeping my lid shut-"

"Because I can't have you telling him what I'm about to say. He doesn't trust me already and I don't need you to make matters worse Dean" Ayden says, his eyes pleading, something Dean has never seen in Ayden's eyes before. He didn't think Ayden was capable of something as low as begging. He pauses, unsure of where this is going to lead. Still angry, he decides to hear Ayden out.

"Alright, what?" he hisses, extremely annoyed.

"There's no need for that Winchester" Ayden snarls back. "You know damn well what this means."

"Yeah, I know, isn't fairly obvious from the blood splattered all over the wall and the cards she gave us? I'm not an idiot despite what you may think."

"Look, I barely saw her this morning, she just stopped by to try and let off some steam. Like I said earlier she did a spread and got some rather unsettling results. She knows that you shouldn't necessarily live by the cards but she could help but feel a little disturbed by what she saw. And yesterday, I ran into her on her way home and she was clearly afraid of something. She didn't exactly say what she'd seen but it made her nervous so I took her home. When I asked her what she'd seen again, she merely whispered "it was her."

Dean didn't have to ask to figure out who Sakari had been referring to. But how this was possible he didn't know.

"She then told me about her correspondence with you and how you'd been dreaming about our deceased little fiend. And also how she had been dreaming about you and whatever she picked up from her phone call with you."

"Whoa, wait-So she is able to hear thoughts over the phone?" Dean asks, mildly surprised.

Ayden lets a small smile cross his face before answering him.

"Yes, she has gotten quite good at that hasn't she?" he says, waiting to see if he is able to continue with what he was saying. "May I finish?"

"Oh yeah, sorry, keep going" Dean says hurriedly, wanting to hear where this was all leading.

"Well, I've been listening to the ether myself lately and there's something brewing. What it is, I really don't know. But I can tell you that this is bigger than you can imagine. And we have to find Sakari and stop this before it's too late. And I fear that that may be sooner than you think."

Dean stands there, unsure of what to say. He figured this was bad but he didn't think it'd be apocalypse fire-falling-from-the-sky bad.

"So you don't Sam to know this because…?"

"It's not that he doesn't need to know. It's what Sakari really wrote for my card that he can't know. It really meant redemption through sacrifice, punishment, and suffering" Ayden quietly says, his eyes suddenly glowing.

Dean suddenly understands, fear and terror gripping at him.

"Oh God…" Dean softly whispers

"Yes Dean. Adrianna is alive, and she wants revenge. And she won't rest until we're dying at her feet for what we did."

XXX

Alright, this is going to be my last update for a while b/c I'm going on a mission trip tomorrow for like ten days. As soon as I get back I'll start on the next chapter. Let me know what you think please!