'Til Death

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own 'em and I'm still poor.

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Life is eternal and love is immortal; And death is only a horizon, And a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight. --Rossiter W. Raymond

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Dean knew his plan was far from solid, but solid plans take time and he had precious little of that. He didn't really think Sam would be tied up in the motel room for more than a few minutes, but that was all the head start Dean would need. There was only one car between them and since Dean was taking it, Sam would lag even further behind. He hoped to have the situation handled by the time Sam got to the house. If he got that far.

Dean found the house with no problem and he parked across the street, surveying the area for several minutes. He saw no activity and carefully made his way to the front window. He'd gone around the entire house before he got to a window where he could see someone inside. An older woman was sitting in a Victorian wingback chair, a reading lamp just over her shoulder. Her lap held a large leather-bound book; she turned a page then looked directly at the window where Dean was peering in. He knew she shouldn't be able to see him because of the light inside and the darkness out, but he had the eerie feeling that she knew he was there.

He backed away and considered his next move.

"Hold it right there." he heard from behind him. Suddenly, his options were severely limited. "Put your hands up."

Dean did as he was told and, after being relieved of his weapons, he was led into the house.

"Hello, Dean." Awena said.

"How do you know my name?" he asked, suspiciously.

"It's nothing mystical. Your brother told me. I expected him back some time ago."

"He won't be going anywhere with you."

She shrugged. "We'll see. Have a seat, please."

Dean remained standing.

"We can be civilized about this." Awena said. "Would you like something to drink?"

"What are you going to put in it?"

She laughed. "Do you think that's what I did to your brother?"

"I don't know what you did to him." Dean said angrily. "But you're not going to take him anywhere."

"I can help him."

"He doesn't need that kind of help. And I don't believe you can actually do what you say anyway."

"A skeptic, huh? I like that. But you've heard the stories of what I've done here."

"Yeah, I've heard stories. I haven't talked to anyone who has admitted it's happened and I haven't seen any of the people you supposedly brought back."

Awena stood up and walked across the room. She poured herself some Brandy. "Are you sure I can't get you anything?"

"Positive. So what's your deal?"

"My deal?" she turned to face him. "I help people."

"Uh-huh." Dean crossed his arms over his chest. "So let me talk to someone you've helped."

"For obvious reasons, they're very private."

Dean looked around the room. As far as he could tell, there were no talismans or supernatural items of any kind. He watched as Awena returned to her chair.

"Dean, your brother is in pain. He loved Jessica very much and from what he tells me, it wasn't her time to go."

"Of course he'd say that. What did he tell you about how she died?"

"Only that it was in a fire. But there seems to be more to it than that; something evil."

Dean almost laughed at her melodramatic tone. "Look, I can take care of my brother. He's going to be fine. Bringing Jessica back, even if it was possible, is wrong and not the way to help him."

She looked at him curiously. "Or is it that you're afraid if he had her back, that he'd leave you?"

Dean felt sucker-punched, but he remained stoic.

"I can read people, Dean, and you're an open book to me. You're not happy that Jessica is dead, but you're not quite sad, either."

"I didn't even know her."

"That might explain it. Except that I can also see how desperately you don't want to be alone. You lost someone else close to you – your father. He's missing."

Dean looked at her.

"You and Sam are trying to find him, but you're afraid he doesn't want to be found. You don't think he's dead; you think he just didn't want to be with you anymore." she watched Dean closely. "And you're afraid that Sam will leave you, too."

"Get out of my head, okay?"

"So what were you planning to do once you got here? Kill me?"

He said nothing.

"You were hoping I was something evil, so you'd have permission to do it. But now you see I'm just a woman and you're not allowed to kill humans. What a conundrum." she smiled.

"If you can do what you say you can, then the rules are different, human or not. But right now, my main priority is Sam. I want you to leave him alone, take off whatever spell you put on him."

"You think I put a spell on him?" she sounded amused.

Dean stared at her.

"You wanted to say he wouldn't leave you to go with a total stranger of his own free will, but you don't really believe that, do you? You're sure he's going to leave you eventually because everybody does. Your mother left, too, didn't she?"

Again, he left like he'd been sucker-punched. "My mother died."

"She died protecting your brother." she said thoughtfully. "You're much easier to read than Sam. That's very interesting."

Awena sipped the brandy and watched Dean. He was still in the middle of the room, arms crossed over his chest, and unmoving. But inside he was in an emotional chaos. She almost felt bad for him.

"Do you want to talk to your mother?"

"Leave my mother out of this." he said, hoping he didn't sound as shaky as he felt.

"So what are we going to do here, Dean? If I prove to you I can do what I say, you'll feel justified in killing me. I really don't want to die tonight." she waited, but Dean didn't respond. "But I don't want you to mess things up for me either, so I'm afraid –"

She nodded to someone behind her and before Dean could react, he was overpowered and drugged.

"Get him out of here." Awena said. "You know what to do."

Dean was carried from the room as Awena called out a name. A moment later a young man came in. "Yes, Awena?"

"We're out of here. Tonight."

"What about the other brother?"

"Unless he shows up before we leave, we don't need to do anything about him. He won't find us."

"That's a risk –"

"Just start packing."

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Sam freed himself and pushed aside the anger he felt while grabbing various weapons. Without even thinking about it, he hotwired a car in the parking lot and drove toward Awena's house. Whatever her influence had been, it was gone and all he wanted to do was get his brother out of her grasp.

Her house was on just over an acre of land and there were no close neighbors. He thought about parking across the street, but he was expected at the house. He hoped Awena wouldn't realize he was no longer under her control; he also hoped he could stay outside her circle of power.

"Sam." a young woman smiled, surprised, when she opened the door. "We thought you changed your mind."

He smiled. "No, I just got held up. Where's Awena?"

"Uh – " the woman glanced toward the stairs. "Sit down, I'll get her."

He noticed the activity around him; some people were rushing around and others were carrying cardboard boxes outside. Awena joined him in the den a few minutes later. She looked stressed, but was trying to hide it.

"Sam –" she smiled. "I thought you decided against coming back."

"No, I just had to get away from Dean. You were right, I shouldn't have told him anything."

She smiled. "Cut the crap."

He looked surprised.

"Sam, I'm psychic. I can read people and I know you're lying. You know that Dean is here. You sent him here."

He started to say something, but she interrupted him. "I don't have time for this. As you can see, we're packing to leave. It's time for us to move on."

Sam tried not to look her in the eyes, but he found he couldn't turn away. Suddenly he was in a massive battle of wills and he seemed to be losing.

"Maybe you could help move some of the boxes out to the van. The others know what to take and they're doing the packing. Would you mind?"

Sam shook his head. "Of course not." Sam left the room to do as he was asked.