Eye of the Storm
Beta'd by mysterychic. Many thank yous to her.
Disclaimer: Don't own Supernatural in any way. I do own Haley Winchester and Laura Whitman.
Author's Note: Okay, times been skewered a little here. Up until we see Haley next, everything that is happening while she's experiencing the vision. Basically, what seemed to take about five minutes for Haley took… well, a lot longer. Also, no idea how long it would actually take to get from Lawrence to Pastor Jim's church, nor do I really remember what it really looked like on the inside. And apologies if the sword fight sucks. Sword fighting, not one of my strong points.
Review Answers:
EmSyd – Thanks.
puplover77 – Good, good, all good. The parts with Haley meaning…? The bits in the clearing? Or the vision? If you'd like clarification, I can clarify. Is there something up with Laura? That's a good question. The answer is… somewhere up ahead, possibly in this chapter.
Ghostwriter – Yes, correct. Glad someone figured it out (or maybe more people figured out, and you were the only one who mentioned it). Hmmm, Acathla, didn't think of him. Oh well. Thanks for the review.
Spuffyshipper – Thanks. Have done. Confused about what?
Chapter 5: Inner Demons
The door to Jim Murphy's church came open with a slight groan, and in walked a young woman in her mid-to-late twenties. She was wearing tight, faded jeans, a white tank top and a red leather jacket, and had a somewhat lost look on her face. However, as soon as she saw that the priest was nowhere in sight, she dropped the act.
Meg glanced around the inside of the church building; she'd really been looking forward to ripping apart a priest today. Not even trying to hide her disappointment, she turned around and was just heading for the door when she noticed a confession booth to her right. A wicked grin spread across her lips and she moved towards it, sliding the door open and stepping inside, putting on the lost little girl act again, taking a deep breath.
"Forgive me father, for I have sinned." She said in the meekest voice she could.
"Yeah, you're not kidding." Said a rather gruff voice. She frowned. That didn't sound very forgiving.
The window between Meg and the priest slid away, and an amused looked spread over Meg's face.
"Sorry, but the Lord's not into forgiving hell-spawned bitches like yourself." Dean said. Meg grinned.
"Dean," She said. "You go out and take some vows while everyone had their backs turned?"
"Hell frozen over yet?"
"No."
"There's your answer." Meg suddenly found herself looking at the barrel of a rather large shotgun.
"Oh, fu-" Was all she got out before Dean pulled the trigger, firing a large chunk of rock salt right at Meg's chest and throwing her backwards, smashing through the door to the booth and crashing into one of the benches.
Dean came out a second later, salt-gun in one hand and a hand-gun in the other. She sat up, looking nothing short of pissed off.
"That. Hurt." She said.
"Oh good, 'cause I was worried that it would only tickle." Dean said. Meg got to her feet. Well, so much for the theory that rock salt could hurt demons as much as it could humans.
"Didn't you learn the last time we tangled that you can't beat a demon?" She asked.
"Well, the last time we 'tangled', I was only semi-conscious and Haley broke your hand," Dean said. He raised the salt gun again, and Meg moved her hand, as if flicking an annoying fly. She blinked when Dean remained where he was standing. She narrowed her eyes, nodding with her head. Still nothing happened. Dean smiled.
"What have you done?" Meg demanded, snarling at him. Dean nodded towards the door. She looked over her shoulder, and saw a large, intricate circle with strange patterns crisscrossing around the inside.
"Neutralizing circle." Dean said, still smiling. "Takes away your advantage so that we're on an even playing field." Meg growled in frustration and leapt forward, kicking Dean in the chest and knocking him backwards, back into the confession booth and through the thin wall that would normally separate the priest and the confessor.
"Ow… that hurt." Dean groaned, sitting up. "Clearly not completely even." He complained; despite having her metaphysical abilities neutralized, namely her telekinesis, Meg had retained her demonically enhanced strength. He'd have to mention that to Bobby. Pending his survival.
He got to his feet, seeing Meg standing out by the benches with a cocky grin of her own. "You want to play rough?" Dean asked, stepping back out of the booth. "Okay, bitch. Let's play." He said. Meg grinned, and then ran straight at him, aiming a punch right at his face.
-;-
"So what's it like being married?" Laura asked Sam as they drove down the road in her Cadillac. Sam gave her an incredulous look, but then came to the conclusion that the question was completely serious.
"I'm not exactly the right person to ask," He said. "I mean, I've only been married for a couple of weeks." He glanced out the side window, as if hoping Haley would just magically appear on the sidewalk. He sighed and turned back to Laura. "Any idea, at all, where we should start looking?" He asked.
"What makes you think I'd know?" Laura asked, glancing over at the younger hunter for a second.
"Well, you've been in Lawrence longer then I have… the last time I was here, we checked out a service station, a mechanics, Missouri's house and our old house." Sam said.
"Well, you've got one up on me." Laura said. "I've seen Missouri's house, a service station, and a grocery store; my dear uncle doesn't want me over exerting myself."
"Over exerting yourself?" Sam questioned. Laura glanced at him again.
"Oh come on. Does anybody know I was in a coma?" She demanded, shaking her head in exasperation. Sam raised an eyebrow.
"You were in a coma?" He asked. Laura nodded.
"Yeah, car accident. Scared the shit out of Uncle Jim." She said. "Now he's convinced miracles happen because I wasn't supposed to wake up, but I did." She frowned. "Does that make me responsible for him renewing faith in his religion?" She had a look of mock concentration on her face, so Sam guessed she was joking.
They continued to drive around for a while, though Sam could see they were no closer to finding Haley then he had been with Dean earlier that day. He glanced in the rear view mirror, and furrowed his brow at what he saw.
"That car's been following us." He said. Laura nodded.
"Yeah," She agreed. "Any idea who they could be?" She asked. The windows were tinted, making it impossible to see inside, so there was a possibility it was someone they'd recognize.
"Demons?" He suggested. Laura shrugged.
"You guess is as good as mine." She said. "Should we try to lose them or just act like we haven't spotted them yet?" She asked. Now it was Sam's turn to shrug, unsure what to do.
"I guess we just wait 'em out, see if they'll get bored with us." He said. Laura nodded, and turned down a side road that headed out of town. "Hey, where are we going?" Sam asked.
"We're widening our search." Laura said. "Besides, it might be easier to lose them, should we have to, without being boxed into these streets." Sam nodded, momentary panic replaced by common sense. He was just a little on edge. And with Haley missing and the knowledge that each and every hunter was being targeted by demons, he had every right to be on edge. He glanced in the rear view mirror again, mostly in a vain hope that they were wrong and the car wasn't following them.
"As if we aren't having a hard enough time finding Haley," he muttered.
-;-
Dean climbed slowly to his feet for about the sixth time since he'd started fighting Meg. She seemed to take great pleasure in throwing him around like a ball.
"You know, this is really not fair," He said. "You've got that whole high endurance thing you demons have. I'm just a mortal."
"Not my problem." Meg said, throwing another punch at him. He sidestepped, grabbed her arm, and used the emphasis of her attack to spin her around and let her loose in the opposite direction, sending her crashing through a door and into another room. Dean followed.
And hit the floor as a knife came hurtling at him, passing through the space his head had been mere seconds earlier.
He rolled over and came back to his feet, seeing Meg standing over by a large collection of daggers, throwing knives, and… swords.
"Oh shit." Dean muttered, seeing Meg holding a rather nasty looking sword with a slightly curved blade. She smiled at him.
"You know, I wondered why a priest would keep these sorts of things in a church," she said. "And then I stopped wondering and realized I could kill you a hell of a lot more painfully by sticking sharp objects into your body." She took a menacing step towards him, brandishing the sword. Dean glanced around the room (or the part of the room he could reach without being impaled by Meg's sword), searching for something he could use as a weapon, or at the very least a way to defend himself against the sword until he could find a weapon.
"Time's up, Dean." Meg charged forward, attacking ferociously with the sword. Dean ducked and rolled out of the way, coming to the table with all the weapons. He grabbed a sword of his own and turned back around to face Meg.
"I couldn't agree more." He said, lunging forward, attacking with a swift stabbing motion. Meg side-stepped and swung her sword at his waist, which he easily parried and then threw a punch at Meg's face. She caught his fist with her hand, spun around and threw him across the room and into the wall.
Dean didn't take the time to try and recover. Running mostly on adrenaline, and pushed himself back to his feet, just in time to parry a no-doubt fatal blow from Meg, and then return to the offensive, slash, striking and stabbing in an attempt to find a way to get at Meg, though he realized after about ten minutes of fighting that it wouldn't matter. Meg had fallen from a seven-story window, then gotten up and walked away, seemingly without a scratch on her. What was a sword going to do to her?
-;-
"Please tell me that's not what it sounds like." Sam said.
"Does it sound like the engine's failing?" Laura asked.
"Yeah."
"No can do." A few seconds later, the car slowed and came to a halt in the middle of the road. Sam sat in his seat, staring out the front window, clearly not pleased by this turn of events.
Laura didn't seem any more pleased then Sam. With a huff, she opened her door, climbed out of the car, and walked around to the front, popping the hood and taking a look inside.
"Okay, I'm just pretending around here. I hunt things. I kill things. I don't fix cars." She said. She looked hopefully around the hood at Sam, who gave an exasperated sigh. "Any chance you could fix it?" She asked.
"Dean does the car stuff." Sam said, getting out of the car as well. "I just drive on occasion." At his words, Laura slammed the hood back down, turning around and leaning against it.
"Okay, how far out of Lawrence are we?" She asked.
"Well, we've been driving for twenty minutes, maybe twenty five." Sam said. "My guess… far enough for it to take us at least half an hour to get back. And that car is still coming." He suddenly saw the car on the horizon. He turned to look at Laura, who turned to look at the car.
"Okay, new plan." Laura said. "I'm assuming you brought some form of weaponry with you." She said. Sam nodded. "Good." She nodded towards the woods on either side of the road. "We hide until they pass. If they don't pass, then we… er…" She frowned.
"We'll jump off that bridge when we come to it." Sam said, already leaving the road. Laura took one last look at the approaching car and then followed him into the woods, ducking behind one of the trees. Sam followed suit, glancing around it to keep an eye out for the car.
Just as they suspected, it came to a stop right behind Laura's Cadillac. The doors opened and five people climbed out, two men and three women. One of the men, Sam noticed, was the guy who'd attacked he, Dean and Haley at the motel room, which confirmed that they had been followed by demons.
"Haley vanishes, Dean goes to wait for a demon attack, and we're being followed by a group of demons," Sam muttered. "Why do I get the feeling these aren't coincidences?" He glanced over at Laura, who shrugged.
"They can't have gone far." The demon Sam had already met, who seemed to be in charge, turned to his fellow demons. "We'll split up. Remember, they're wanted alive." Sam looked over at Laura as the demons began choosing which directions to go.
"I think we need to split up as well." He said. Laura raised an eyebrow. "Let's face it: even together we don't stand a chance against one demon. At least on our own there's a chance one of us is going to get away." Laura frowned, and then nodded.
"Okay." She said. "I'll wait for them to leave, and see if I can get the car started. If I can, I'll meet you at that service station we passed about fifteen minutes ago. If I can't, well…" She trailed off. "If I don't get there within an hour, call your father and get him to come pick you up."
"What about you?" Sam asked.
"I'll either be dead, dying or possessed." Laura said. "Either way, there wouldn't be much point coming back for me." Sam frowned, suddenly not so fond of his idea. "Hurry up, any minute now they're going to start searching." After a few second's hesitation, Sam nodded, took one last look at the demons, and then began making his way deeper into the woods, trying to keep low and out of sight.
-;-
Swords had been discarded in favour of fists. Though not before Dean received a shallow cut above his eyebrow, resulting in somewhat blood-distorted vision, and a minor stab wound to his shoulder. And Meg had a decent-sized cut across her arm, which led to Dean's discovery that she was not impervious to injury, merely seemingly oblivious to it.
He wiped his eye for what seemed like the hundredth time, trying to keep it clear of the blood still trickling from the cut above it. They were circling each other, both waiting for the other to make a move.
"Y'know, I came here to kill a priest," Meg stated. "But this is much more enjoyable; he may keep swords in his closet, but I doubt he's as skilled at using them as you."
"Wow, that would've sounded like a compliment if it hadn't come from you." Dean shot back. Meg smiled coldly.
"Not my problem if you can't see good when it's staring you in the face," Meg said, and then her smile became just a little colder. "But then that's why we're here, isn't it? Because you can't see what's right there in front of you."
"What are you talking about?" Dean asked; as much as he knew that striking up a conversation with a demon in the middle of a fight never ended well, he couldn't stop himself from asking.
Meg just laughed. "You really don't know, do you?" She sneered. "All your life, you've fought for them. To protect them. To protect him." They'd both come to a stop, just facing each other now. "It's the only thing you're really good at, the only thing that gives your pathetic life meaning." Dean's whole body shook. Because what Meg was saying was a little too close to the truth. "And now, you don't even have that. Sam doesn't need you anymore, he's got Haley. He's grown up. And John, well, he stopped needing you months ago. Isn't that why you went crawling after Sammy with your tail between your legs?"
"What, so now I'm a dog?" Dean asked sarcatically, trying to keep his voice steady. Meg ingored his comment.
"Daddy abandoned you, left you out in the cold. Where else where you going to go?" She was walking around him now for great effect, taunting him, cutting him right to his soul with each word. "You're fooling yourself if you think they still need your help. Why else would they send you all the way out here with a dysfunctional spell to fight me?"
"Stop… stop it." Dean stammered, his voice cracking.
"They don't need you anymore, Dean…" Meg whispered tauntingly, stopping right in front of him. "… now why don't you stop hiding behind that mask and give in to what you really are."
"No…" Dean whispered.
"All those years, all those things you've killed. It wasn't for them. It wasn't to protect Daddy and baby brother." Meg leaned in, right up close to his face. "You enjoyed it. The death, the pain. The thrill of holding another creature's life in your hands, and then taking it from them with a single pull of the trigger, the toss of a knife, the stab of a sword." Dean shook his head, shaking from head to toe with the effort of now breaking down right then and there. "Your Dad raised you to be a hunter…" Meg whispered, "… what he created was a monster." Dean looked up, right into her eyes. And somewhere inside, he felt something snap.
He cried out in fury and lunged forward, taking hold of Meg by the front of her jacket and slamming her against the wall, staring at her with rage in his eyes, his breaths coming out in short, seemingly exhausted pants.
"What are you gonna do, Dean?" Meg asked, not the least bit scared. "You gonna kill me? You gonna give into that hate that's bubbling away beneath the surface?" She smiled at him.
"No." Dean said. He took her head in his hands and slammed their lips together in a bone-jarring kiss.
-;-
Sam somehow managed to navigate his way through the woods while keeping one step ahead of the demons that were no doubt still looking for him. His biggest worry was when he ran out of woods to take cover in. Out in the open he'd be a sitting duck, and they'd been driving for at least five minutes between the service station and the woods.
But first thing's first, he had to actually find a way out of the woods. This was a lot easier said then done, even if he hadn't had the threat of demons not far behind him to put him on edge and split his focus.
But finally, almost fifteen minutes later then he had hoped, he made it out of the woods. He looked up the road towards the service station, but saw no sign of Laura's car there. He could only hope she showed up soon, preferably in the time it took him to reach the service station.
He was just making his way from the woods when his cell phone rang. He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard it, having been so carefully quiet for the past forty-five minutes. As soon as his heart slowed back down to an acceptable rate, he answered the phone.
"Yeah?" He said.
Laura looked around as she dialled Sam's cell number into her own, keeping an eye out for anything unfriendly as she waited for Sam to answer.
"… won't start." Sam blinked, feeling pain beginning to flare up behind his eyes. "Sam? Sam, are you listening?"
"Argh… yeah, I'm… listening." Sam said.
"I've got bad news." Laura said, still glancing around, almost like she expected the demons to suddenly jump out of the woods. "The stupid car won't start."
Sam groaned as he tried to pay attention to what Laura was saying in the here and now, not what she was saying in his vision. But the two seemed to be blending and he wasn't sure which was which now.
"Sam?"
"Laura, I think…" He was cut off as a second wave of pain stabbed into his head.
She turned suddenly as a twig snapped, and saw two of the five demons that had gone off in search of Sam standing not five meters from her. She froze, phone still to her ear.
"Sam, are you there?" She asked. "Sam?" The demons took a step towards her. "Sam, talk to me!"
"Laura." Sam gasped as the vision faded, though the pain remained. He suddenly realized the phone was no longer in his hand, and dropped to his knees, squinting in the fading sunlight as he fumbled around on the ground for his cell phone. Finally he found it, and quickly put it to his ear. "Laura, there are two -" He stopped. "Laura?" He froze as he suddenly realized that the line was dead.
He slowly lowered the phone from his ear, suddenly not sure what to do. He felt like a haze had fallen over his brain, making it difficult to focus, and wondered if it was yet another side effect of the visions, as if blinding pain wasn't already enough.
He rubbed his eyes, slowly getting to his feet, feeling a little unsteady. He tried to remember, what was he doing? The service station? Yeah, that's right, he'd been on his way to the service station when Laura had called. And now… now he had to get there and ring his dad so he could…
Sam opened his eyes, and squinted; the sun, which seemed to be only peeking over the horizon, was hitting his eyes with an obscene amount of light. Turning away from it, he half-walked half-staggered towards the service station to call his father. His cell phone lay forgotten in the dirt behind him.
-;-
Meg let out a short gasp as she was slammed down onto one of the benches, knocking the air from her lungs. It was forgotten almost as soon as it happened, as enthralled as they were in each other's bodies.
It was debatable what it was they were actually doing. Some of the time it might have been called kissing, and that's a very big 'might'. Most of the time it seemed more like they were trying to tear each other apart with their lips alone.
Meg's hands trailed along Dean's bare back, slowly, delicately. Dean was wearing only his jeans now, and they were dangerously close to sliding down. Meg too had been stripped of most of her top-wear, wearing only her bra and her jeans. Her touch sent shivers down Dean's spine that he couldn't describe. All he knew was that he liked it. Though at the same time what he was doing made him sick to the core.
He let out a sudden cry of pain as Meg stopped being as delicate with her hands. He could feel her fingernails leaving long, thin scratches along his back. Breaths coming in and out in short pants, Dean growled like an angry animal and leaned down, brushing his teeth along her exposed shoulder, just enough to cause mild discomfort.
Far from deterring her from cutting up his back (though she did stop for the moment), it seemed to turn her on. She grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled his head back away from her shoulder, an excited, almost maddened look in her eyes. Then she took his head in both hands and slammed their lips together again, not letting go of his hair. Dean pushed all the pain to the back of his mind, and focused instead on smothering Meg's lips with his own, holding onto her waist so tightly he was beginning to leave bruises.
After a minute, Meg released her hold on his hair, and he lifted his head slightly, both of them panting like wild animals.
"I've… been after… the wrong… brother." Meg gasped. Dean gave her a crazed smile and moved his lips down to her neck, licking her, kissing her, coming close to biting her on more then one occasion, and, judging from the moans of pleasure she kept giving, driving her wild.
After what seemed like an eternity, she rolled them over, causing them to fall off the bench and onto the cold stone floor. Dean cried out in shock, which was cut off abruptly as all the air was forced out of his lungs this time. While he recovered his breath, he felt Meg working to remove his jeans. He let her, laying his head back and taking in deep, long breaths.
And then he felt her slide over him, pulling him into her body. Dean thrust up, again and again, each time causing Meg to cry out. She opened her eyes after a minute, staring down at him as she moved in rhythm with each thrust. His hands were locked around her arms a painful vice-like grip, which was the only way he could keep from crying out with her nails digging into his shoulder. He was staring up at her with a mixture pleasure, lust and undeniable disgust. But he kept up, using her as leverage with each thrust, as much pulling her onto him as pushing into her.
Another small eternity of pain and pleasure later, he felt as though he erupted inside of her. Meg's eyes just went wide as saucers, while Dean's closed as he laid his head back, feeling completely worn out.
-;-
A/N: Okay, I know, abrupt ending. Now, how many people's jaws are currently brushing the floor? I realize Meg and Dean may not be what you all expected, but I personally think it's a good match. Now, I want your honest opinions on this chapter, especially about Meg tormenting Dean and Meg and Dean having sex, because those are the two parts I was most concerned about (but enjoyed writing the most). Hope you enjoyed this chapter, more coming soon.