Solitary Man – chpt 10

By: sifi

"…it didn't matter!... He was already down when I found him! All your planning, your… bullshit! and it didn't change anything… just do what I'm asking you to do and get that APB put out…unless you want to lose another ally…" Sam yelled cruelly, no longer caring how sharp or dull his words were when they cut John, "…what am I going to be doing? I'm going to be trying to reach your son before something worse happens to him… call me when you find out anything…" he ordered and hung up before John could respond.

He tried again to call Laura and as with the last half dozen calls, there was no answer. Between repeat dialing her number and John's to try and get some help he felt like he was stuck in some kind of loop. Well at least I finally got through to dad… Come on Dean…she said I had to wake you up…what the hell does she think I've been trying to do for the last… what nine hours now? Maybe I should take him to a hospital after all, what would they do? I don't know I'm not a freakin' doctor… they'd probably just hook him up to a bunch of machines and stuff… do blood tests, look for chemicals… another CAT scan or something make sure his brain's still in his head… I don't know…he thought desperately and sat on the edge of the bed pulling Dean's inert body into a seated position and holding him, "Come on Dean, you gotta help me out here…give me some way to reach you… give me a sign or something… I swear I won't give you a hard time about sleeping in anymore… just… you need to wake up…Laura told me…" his voice buckled as his brain wrapped around the beginnings of an idea, "…She's in trouble Dean… something bad, she's hurt and lost and she needs you to find her… if there's any part of you that can hear me at all… focus on finding Laura…" Maybe if he has a focal point he'll be able to contact her? No one ever said she was psychic…at least not over a distance, well maybe I'll be able to contact him more easily…there has to be something, some kind of way to touch his mind, please…he hoped lowering him back down and steadying himself for another try.

--

Dean shambled down the hall toward his room, he felt like a blind man yet somehow with sight. His vision existed in the current or in the past, without his brother at his side, he could see no future. He knew he should continue his quest for the demon that was so hell bent on tormenting him, whoever, whichever it was… there were people out there that needed protecting from this thing, that needed to be warned and no matter how much he may want to lay down and will this all away he knew he couldn't. There was a war to be fought and won and he began to understand how for his father and his brother, this quest had become so personal.

He opened the door and stepped into the room barely registering that the light was on. He met his fathers' brown liquid eyes, so rife with crushing sadness and bewilderment and nearly choked as the two men came together, clinging to the only other person who could feel the depth of their pain.

"Dad… I… I'm sorry…" Dean choked a whisper out and felt himself cut a sob, or was that his dad? He couldn't tell.

Neither man knew how long he clung to the other seeking something neither of them could find. In time they came apart and John looked his eldest up and down, He looks like hell… he should…he thought.

"What happened?" he asked.

Dean shook his head, That's what I've been trying to figure out… "He just… it was like a reaper took him… it was… one minute we were settling down to figure out… then he just… he seized… it was like…there was nothing I could've done… if I could've seen it, I would have… but…" he tried to explain but the words just refused to come out in any semblance of order or cohesion. Oddly enough he could see that his father was following him. "Dad… he said you guys were trying to protect me from something, do you know what… or who…started this? And more importantly… do you know how to find it and kill it?" he asked.

John hung his head.

"Dad?" Dean asked. His belly was quivering, this was so surreal, none of it could be true and yet here it was. Just on a lark, while his dad's eyes were lowered he grabbed a bit of skin on his forearm and pinched as hard as he could. Yep, that hurts, I guess I'm awake after all… God what a freakin' nightmare…he thought.

"We were trying to figure that out, we were trying to… well you saw the bodies, 987 DW, what's the number mean?" John asked looking into Dean's flotsam eyes.

Dean shook his head, "It's just something to get my attention… it got my attention…" he muttered weakly.

"Dean, this isn't the time to hide things from me... if there's anything we could find out, any kind of hint or clue as to where or…"

"There isn't!" Dean shouted quickly while his heart trip-hammered so hard he could see his pulse within his eyes.

John turned his head to the side, examining his son's features as they contorted in pain then were quickly paved over in stony blankness.

Dean huffed out his breath and steeled himself, I hate this… "The last case Sam and I were working, Carol Guinardi…the spirit that tortured and killed her…"

"Yeah, the serial killer who became a demon and tried to raise that other serial killer… Beyers… Aaron Beyers right...?" John asked.

Dean nodded, just stick to the basic facts… it's not really a lie… it's just… omission… God I'm starting to sound like Sammy… "When they found his body… Aaron Beyers' I mean… they found 987 pictures of his victims tacked to the wall of the room he brought them to at first…he wasn't just a serial killer, he was a serial killer of children, and a pedophile… that's why the number... but what I don't understand is… We torched Aaron… we used the bullets on Eddy Jay and they worked dad! He fell into the grave and burned with Aaron Beyer's remains… so whoever or whatever is behind this… it used that information to attract my attention…"

"So it would seem," John nodded and shrugged out his coat and rose placing a warm hand onto his son's shoulder, "We'll figure this out Dean, we owe it to Sam…"

Dean nodded, his eyes glued to the floor with more emotions than he knew how to handle as his dad closed the door to the bathroom and a scant second later, just before he turned on the water to cover the noise, a tight sob echoed in the small tile room.

"…she needs your help Dean…she's in trouble…and hurt…" he heard Sam's voice in his head and wondered for a split second if he'd finally cracked or if somehow his baby brother was going to help him put an end to this particular evil. Who Sam? Who's in trouble? He thought trying to feel something as the scent of Midwestern autumn filled the back of his nose and the hairs on his arms stood at attention. He'd never forget the feeling of their first kiss hot on the heels of her voice telling him, so open and unassuming, asking nothing in return; that she loved him.

Laura…he thought and dialed her number from memory.

--

Sweat ran down Sam's face as his eyes opened and he felt his mouth curl with a tiny pinprick of hope. I felt him think her name…I did it…now if I can just do it again…he thought. There was no question about it, he'd touched his brothers' mind and he was turning varying shades of green to prove it but despite the nausea and the fact that he was sitting in a veritable puddle of sweat for his efforts, he was charged. Exhausted and verging on a migraine of epic proportions, but charged.

--

"…how long damn you!" John hollered clenching his fist until his nails began to tear through the skin of his hand.

Man this is just waaaaay to freakin' familiar… Can I just go back and start this life over again please? Man…I hate this stuff… Bobby thought while one of his best friends tried with all his might not to punch another of their best friends into oblivion.

The demon behind Shep's eyes smiled, "Not the point Johnny boy… in fact not even important…" it looked up at the Seal of Solomon on the ceiling and shook Shep's head. "That's a really good idea… great trap… too bad it's not gonna help your boys… We're gonna tear out Dean's heart right in front of your baby… he's such a sensitive soul your little Sammy… heh… yeah, sensitive… funny how a little loss can go such a long way," he sneered.

John rocketed his fist into Shep's face knocking both him and the chair over within the borders of the seal, "…answer the question… how long have you been inside him?"

The demon chuckled and flicked its tongue out, tasting the blood on its host's face, "Just long enough to convince you to separate your boys… 'keep his guard up… emotional turmoil John… it'll help keep those defenses fortified until we can figure this out…' he mocked then broke into cold laughter.

"You know we can't believe anything it says…" Bobby said softly to his friend.

"My Sons are under attack!" John hissed, "It's the oldest strategy in the book, wear down the defenses, move in for the kill… come on! We were played!"

"I know," Bobby bowed his head, "I know we were…"

"Speak up fellas huh? give a guy a chance to hear what's going on?" the demon taunted.

"…and she didn't answer?" Bobby asked.

"No… do you think she'd really be able to do anything?" John asked.

"Aahhh the bitch…" the demon sneered from his place on the floor, "Yeah… if she's not dead by now she will be soon… kinda hard to keep on keepin' on when you got a silver spike sticking through you…on a positive note I think I missed her heart… wouldn't want her exit to be too easy now would we? Nah… let it break or… huh yeah… better yet… y'remember that old song? How's it go now?... oh yeah… You Only Hurt the Ones you Love…ha… yeah, that's a great old song…" it taunted.

"Bobby get on the phone to Sam and tell him to be on the lookout… just in case this son of a bitch is telling the truth…" John instructed firmly.

"Which truth?" Bobby asked thoroughly stunned by everything that had happened since Shep arrived that morning. He couldn't help but wonder if the demon had come just so it could watch John twist in agony over what had happened to Dean, or fret about what might happen to Sam or even beat his head against the wall in frustration. Either way it didn't matter. They'd discovered the thing inside their friend solely by accident. Bobby wasn't even supposed to have been there. John was doing research at the kitchen table and Bobby had an appointment for an estimate on a repair job. He'd been halfway to the salvage yard when the client called and told him to forget it, he'd done some basic math and decided to strip the car and sell off its parts. So he'd turned around and returned home, ready to help.

He came up the back steps into the kitchen, followed the two familiar voices out into the living room and seen just before it blinked, the black within black eyes for a split second before it seemed to focus hard on John, as if it was trying to reach him telepathically or something. It all happened so fast, John clutched his head as blood poured from his nose and Bobby leaped into action, simply shoving Shep's body a few feet until it was bound within the Seal the boys had used on the demon inhabited woman Meg.

"Pick one," John turned on his heel and began to stride clockwise around the perimeter of the seal chanting a familiar Latin incantation.

--

In the bathroom the toilet flushed, the water ran and was shut off but the door did not open. Dean waited for it, waited to hear the knob turn, for the latch to click, but it didn't. He was already on his feet when a violent low pitched tumble knocked the walls and tore something down.

"Dad!" he called turning the knob and pushing the door in, it stuck and he looked down, "No… no Dad! No!" This can't be happening! God Dad! What's happening! he screamed inside while shoving hard enough to enter the room where John Winchester's body lay on the tile, blood running from his nose and mouth while his eyes grasped with almost tangible force, at Dean's. His lips worked silently save for the hiss of air through the blood that was filling his mouth.

"Dad! What happened?" Dean asked rolling John onto his side toward him with one hand while the other dug his cell out of his pocket again and dialed 911. He felt John's lungs work to bring oxygen into his body as the blood flowed onto the floor, seeping through the heavy material of his jeans and pooling under his knees. Oh God there's so much of it… this can't be happening! he cried feeling what was left of his little world starting to crack.

He gave his location to the emergency operator who told him to keep his dad on his side to prevent him from drowning on his own blood, "But You don't understand! There's so much of it… it's all over the floor… he's not gonna have any left!" he'd protested desperately but she'd assured him blood had a way of looking like more than was actually spilled. Condescending bitch! he thought ending the call and meeting his dad's eyes, "Dad… was it a reaper?" he asked and read the silent working of John's lips along with his tiny head shake.

"Did you see it? Was it visible? Was it corporeal?" he asked thinking instantly of Sam and that time with the Wendigo.

Again John indicated 'no' and Dean started to grasp the terrible truth. John didn't know what happened, he didn't know why he was laying in his sons arms dying, and Dean was going to be left alone.

Somebody wake me up or kill me now! One way or the other… this can't freaking be happening… I can't lose them both… not… like this, not to some unknown… thing… please take me too…you want me! Take me! and a tiny little boy's voice in the back of his head whispered tearfully, Don't leave me alone…

--

tbc

What cha think so far?

Opine please… too much, too little, too boring?

help me out please.

thanks

sifi