Chapter 5: Unusual Suspects

"Black blood of Harnon Oan!" Kate yelled through the noise filtering out of the Impala. "Could you turn that off?"

Dean looked at her, offended. "Not feelin' the Wango Tango?"

Kate glared at him in response.

I guess not, Dean thought to himself, quickly turning away from the sour vampire. He wasn't planning to turn off the music, but all of the sudden, Ted Nugent started to break up. "Static," Dean whispered, turning down the volume.

He slowed the Impala and looked out the window. The trees around them looked innocent enough, but something demonic was obviously hidden inside the forest.

"Stop!" Hel called from the back seat.

Dean slammed down on the brakes. If Caine hadn't been stopped ahead of the car, Dean might've completely missed the shiny black surface of a building just slightly peaking out of the thick grove of trees before them.

"Well, I'll be damned," Kate said, also surprised and impressed by the hidden edifice.

Hel glared at her. "You already are."

Kate made a rude hand gesture at Hel as Dean parked the car on the side of the road.

"Everybody ready?" Dean asked. He smiled as he pocketed his keys.

No one answered him, but he hadn't really expected an answer. It was an unnecessary question since none of the four unlikely companions would be here if he or she wasn't ready for this, but filling up the nervous silence was what Dean always did to mask any pre-battle jitters.

Kate leaned as far away as possible from Dean as he reached across her seat to open the glove compartment. "Salt," he explained almost apologetically as he produced a bag of salt from the glove compartment.

Once Dean checked his guns, made sure the machete hung securely against his side, and stuffed the bag of salt into a pocket inside his jacket, Dean, Kate and Hel climbed out of the car.

Dean locked the Impala, but knew it didn't really make a difference at this point in the game. He brought his index and middle fingers together, kissed them, and then tapped his fingers on the roof of his car.

"Let's rock and roll," he said to the others.

x x x

"Man, why's it so fuckin' dark in here?" Dean squinted as he tried to find his way through the dark building.

Three eerie pairs of eyes pierced through the darkness and unblinkingly looked in his direction. "I can see fine," Kate said matter-of-factly.

Hel and Caine concurred.

Dean groaned. "Well, if you guys are so accustomed, why don't you lead?"

Kate stalked past him and began walking ahead.

"Ooh, look at me! I'm so supernatural, I can see in the dark!" Dean said grumpily. He walked forward until he ran into Kate's hard chest.

"Would you shut up?" she hissed.

"Boobs." Dean grinned.

Kate took a step back since it seemed Dean wasn't going to take a step back from her chest any time soon. Before she could fire back a retort, a bright spotlight flickered on a few feet in front of them.

Dean could finally see the room now. He and Kate were standing an arm's length apart, and Caine and Hel were standing on either side of them, a few meters apart. The floor, ceiling, and walls were painted a sticky shade of black, almost as though they'd been coated in tar, and the room featured nothing else but a hallway straight ahead. However, the hallway was currently inaccessible due to the person who stood in front of it.

"Garmr Medgard," Dean drawled in a deadly voice. He stepped out from behind Kate, who was taken by surprise when she saw him. Dean's face was emotionless, his eyes were cold, and his lips were pursed into a line across his face. He appeared as though he'd never smiled in his life. "We've been lookin' for you, you son of a bitch."

"One cuss word. Minus thirty," Garmr said.

"What the fuck are you talking about? Where's Sam?" Dean shouted.

"Two cuss words," Garmr said in an amused tone. "All right. Minus sixty."

Dean drew his eyebrows together, confused by Garmr's counting. And where was Sam? Dean had expected to find Garmr with Sam, but this was obviously not the case.

As if he'd read Dean's mind, Garmr waved his hand and a small television lowered down from the ceiling. He removed a remote from his pocket and aimed it at the screen. It flickered to life.

On the monitor, Dean saw a tired-looking man strapped down to a chair, an IV tube snaked down his arm, and many wires were attached to random parts of his body. It was Sam. He seemed to have aged ten years since Dean had last seen him.

"What did you—" Dean began to say.

"Tut, tut! Watch your tongue, Dean," Garmr warned. Then he turned toward the television. "Paul?"

An average-looking man wearing a police uniform walked into the screen. He could've passed as a normal human if he didn't have glowing red eyes.

"Please attend to Sam Winchester. Level three for sixty seconds."

Dean watched the television screen. For the first few seconds, nothing happened. Sam appeared to be sleeping, lying as restfully as one could with his arms, legs, and head restrained by leather straps. Then Paul put something in Sam's mouth and stepped offscreen. A shiver ran down Dean's spine, and Sam began convulsing. His hands clenched and unclenched as the electric current ripped through his body.

There was no sound connected to the images, which somehow made them all the more horrifying.

"Stop! Stop it!" Dean yelled, knowing it would do him no use.

Garmr glanced at his watch. "Just another fifty seconds, Dean. It's almost over."

Dean wanted to turn away from the horrible vision, but knowing it was Sam who was being tortured, Dean kept his eyes glued to the screen. A few times, he involuntarily tried to avert his eyes from Sam's twitching body, but his pupils always redirected themselves toward the screen.

Finally, it ended. Sam stopped convulsing. He lay silently weeping, tears streaming down his face. Then Dean saw the final humiliation: a dark stain spread between his brother's legs.

Garmr walked forward and stopped when he stood an inch away from Dean's. It took every ounce of control for Dean not to spit in his face right then.

"Why so quiet—?"

"Where is my brother?" Dean ground out every word.

"Right there," Garmr said, pointing to the screen. "And unless you and your charming…" Garmr eyed the two werewolves and vampire standing near Dean, "…posse leave right now, little Sammy's going to be in a world of pain. Those sixty seconds right there will seem like pure bliss to him when I'm finished."

"You wouldn't," Dean shook his head. "You need him. You need his abilities."

"Yes, but all I need to do is make sure the boy doesn't die. And trust me, I am not kind enough to grant him death. Not even when he begs me for it."

"You son of a—"

"Careful!" Garmr chirped. He pointed the remote at the screen, waiting to see if Dean was going to finish his insult.

Dean closed his mouth and his shoulders slumped. Garmr stepped back, taking this as a sign of defeat, but that was when Dean whipped out his pistol and shot the television screen. Then he fired at Garmr's hand, destroying the remote control. That would take care of Sammy for the time being.

Garmr's eyes grew large, and a heinous, sickeningly oversized grin crept up his face. "You shouldn't have done that, Dean," he said in a low voice, shaking his head. He lunged at Dean, and Dean grabbed his machete, preparing for impact, but Garmr was knocked off course when Caine rammed into him. Garmr fell to the ground, but immediately pushed the werewolf off him. Caine hit the wall and lay dazed on the floor.

Garmr lunged at Dean again, and this time he wasn't stopped. Dean dropped the gun and machete he'd been holding as Garmr slammed him against the wall, pinning him there with one hand. Away from the spotlight, Dean was practically blind. All he could see was Garmr, but it wouldn't be for long. Dean's muscles clenched as Garmr drew his fist back, but just as Garmr was about to punch Dean, Garmr's head was suddenly gone!

Dean felt his mouth fall open as he stared into Garmr's neck, and then he felt his stomach squirm and his eyes bulge as he heard Garmr's head roll off to the side and start yelling. A severed head was yelling!

But Garmr's body still had Dean pinned to the wall. "What the—" Dean struggled against the hand on his chest, but the more he struggled, the harder Garmr's hand pushed into him. Dean began to wheeze, and he feared the hand would either push him into the wall, or actually push into his chest soon.

"Fight all you want, but I can still control my body!" Garmr's voice shouted through the darkness.

Something quick as lightning flashed across Dean's face, and suddenly, Garmr's body fell away from his hand. A moment later, Kate stepped up to Dean and ripped off the hand that was still stuck to his chest. She was holding Dean's machete.

Dean stumbled to his feet. He hunched over his knees to regain control over his breathing. Then he looked to the ground and screamed when he saw Garmr's severed head glaring up at him. With all his might, he kicked it across the room. He waited to hear it hit the ground, but instead, he heard a soft thud.

A moment later, Hel appeared out of the darkness, followed by Caine, who was holding onto Garmr's head. He used one hand to hold onto his hair, and the other to cover his eyes. This way, there was no way Garmr could effectively control his body since he couldn't see it.

"Go!" Caine shouted at Dean and Kate. "Go get your brother!"

"We've got some business to take care of," Hel said, eyeing Garmr in an odd manner.

Dean hesitated for a moment, not sure if he should leave before the demon in Garmr's body had been destroyed.

"We'll take it from here!" Caine shouted. "Go!"

The vision of his little brother from minutes ago flashed across his mind. Before he knew it, Dean was sprinting across the room toward the hallway, and he could hear Kate following after him.

Once Dean and Kate's footsteps turned to silence, Caine walked as far away as possible from Garmr's body and finally turned the severed head to face him.

Garmr was seething. "Gentlemen." He growled by way of greeting them.

"We had a deal," Hel said, jumping straight to the point. "We get you the boy, you relieve us of our curse."

Caine simply wanted to kill the demon. This thing had taken Abel's life, and Caine was here purely for revenge. But to lead a life free of this wretched curse—to be a real human again… It's what Abel would have wanted, so Caine agreed with Hel. "You promised," he said. "You said none of the werewolves in town would have to live as werewolves anymore."

Suddenly, Garmr's expression softened and he stopped glaring at them. "I did promise, didn't I?"

Caine and Hel resolutely looked at the head.

"As you wish," Garmr said. He looked across the room at his body and waved his arm. A moment later, both werewolves stiffened, their eyes grew wide, and then they fell to the ground.

Garmr's head landed a few feet away from the werewolves, and he cursed in annoyance as he felt the skull crack. He would have to fix that later when he had time to reattach this head onto its body.

From the other end of the room, his body walked over and picked up his head. The headless body held the head like a baby as he examined the werewolves on the ground. He snorted in disgust and kicked Hel's arm as he walked past them. The spotlight faded out as soon as he disappeared into the dark hallway.

x x x

Dean had his machete at his side again. He and Kate now jogged down the hallway, which was lit only by flickering lamps hanging from the ceiling. They stopped at every new corridor so Kate could point to the direction from which Sam's scent was coming. It was getting harder and harder now that Sam was close. When they stopped next, Dean suddenly looked up at Kate. "Listen, uh, I'm usually not so chummy with vampires, but, just, well… thanks for saving my ass back there."

Kate's nostrils were flared as she sniffed the air for Sam's scent. It looked like they would have to turn left.

She looked at Dean from the corner of her eye. "I didn't do it to benefit you. I did it so I can have you for myself later."

Dean considered this for a bit. "Oh. Because you couldn't have me if I were dead since then I'd be full of dead man's blood."

Kate made a face. "You're not worried I'm going to take you and your brother for myself once this is all over?"

"Not really," Dean shrugged. "We got away once, didn't we?"

"And you're counting on a second time?" Kate asked mockingly.

"We weren't even counting on the first time, so it can't really hurt to actually be counting on the second time," Dean said. "And who's to say I won't kill you first?"

"Me," Kate said, looking Dean squarely in the eyes.

Before Dean could reply, they heard a scuffling noise from the left. "What was that?"

Suddenly, Kate was swept off her feet and was in a stranglehold. She struggled to free herself, but the werewolf who held her matched her supernatural strength. Kate was unable to get away.

Dean immediately drew out his gun. He cocked it back and aimed it straight ahead.

"Move an inch and I'll snap her neck."

"Paul, right?" Dean said, recognizing the man from the television screen in the other room.

"Don't move!" Paul shouted.

"As long as you quit movin', too," Dean said calmly.

In response, Paul tightened his grip around Kate's neck. "You move and the fang dies."

"You move and—" Dean closed one eye, took careful aim, and pulled the trigger of his gun. The bullet flew through the air and just barely clipped Kate's ear before burying itself into Paul's chest. "—You die," Dean finished.

Shocked, Paul let go of Kate, who jumped away and grabbed her bleeding ear in pain. A little bit of the dead man's blood from the bullet had gotten into the wound on her ear. "You idiot, you missed his heart by a mile!"

"Chill—" Dean began to say as he aimed the gun again, but suddenly, Paul froze, then crumpled to the ground. "What the hell," Dean said bluntly.

Kate closed her eyes and strained her hearing. "He's dead," she said, opening her eyes. "There's no heartbeat—" Her eyes suddenly widened.

"What is it?" Dean asked, alarmed.

Kate sniffed the air quickly, moving her head left to right. "I can't smell the other two anymore," she said.

"Caine and Hel?" Dean said.

"They're dead," Kate replied, confused.

Dean recalled how Garmr had been practically powerless and not even completely intact when he'd left the front of the building, and now he'd managed to kill two werewolves?

Dean swallowed as he bent down to pull Kate to her feet. "We've got to hurry. That thing's probably coming after us next." He hurried down the hallway, and Kate followed, thinking about Sam's scent, but also about how she hadn't even flinched when Dean had picked her up from the ground. What was going on?

But she didn't have time to think on it now. Sam's scent suddenly shifted. "Wait!" she called out to Dean, who had run ahead of her. "We've passed him, his scent is receding."

Dean sprinted back toward Kate, and they both eyed the only door in the hallway.

"Your brother's got to be in there," Kate said as they both stood before the door.

Dean took a deep breath. His hands were trembling as he reached for the doorknob, but when he turned it, he discovered that the door was locked. He aimed his gun at the doorknob, but before firing, he said, "Would it be too much to ask for a head start?"

"What?" Kate asked.

"I know that if Sam's in there, you're free to—"

"You would've gotten a head start anyway," Kate said, looking away. "I can't take you now since you smell too much like me. It would be sickening to suck on your blood while your skin gave off my scent."

Dean swallowed. "And what about Sam?"

"I'm going to take you both at the same time," she said with a straight face. "I can wait a while longer."

Dean knew better than to thank her because she wasn't doing him any favors, but he still couldn't help but give her an appreciative glance. He recomposed his features, and then fired five rounds at the doorknob before the door finally swung open…

Author's Note: Superduper cliffhanger of doom! Actually, this fic was originally supposed to be 5 chapters, but the last part of the finale ended up being too long! Hence, CLIFFHANGER! And, again, SO SORRY for torturing Sam! I really am a Sammy girl! It's... it's all for the plot! Anyway, the next (and last) chapter will probably be up tomorrow. Look forward to it:D