Chapter 12

Darkness had claimed the land as two vehicles made their way down the road to Singer Salvage Yard. Two sets of headlights illuminated the driveway and then the house as the car and truck pulled to a stop at the front steps. Sam was the first one out of a vehicle and hurried to the truck to check on his brother. He noticed he had been weaving slightly the last thirty miles or so and knew something was wrong. Dean was leaning back in the driver's seat with his eyes closed breathing slow deep breaths.

"Hey man, you ok?" Sam asked him after opening the driver's door.

"Yeah, just need to stop driving." Dean mumbled. "Are we there yet?"

"Yes, c'mon I'll get you inside and then get Lark."

"No! Get her first, take care of her." Dean fussed pushing Sam away and looking over at Lark who still hadn't come to.

"Ok, ok." Sam agreed running around to the other side and opening the door. He unbuckled Lark and carefully lifted her body from her truck and headed for the front door. "Bobby! Open up!" Sam called knocking a best he could.

"I'm comin', don't gotta beat the door down!" a harsh male voice answered. "Sam, son, take her upstairs to the spare room. I put clean sheets on the bed. Where's yer brother?" he asked looking behind Sam for Dean.

"Still in the truck, he's recovering from a vamp attack." Sam said heading inside with Lark.

"Dean?" Bobby called when he saw the dark figure trying to make it's way around the truck. He headed down the steps toward the young hunter.

"Bo'by..." Dean grunted leaning heavily on the front of the truck.

"Here son, let me help you." Bobby told him as he slipped an arm around Dean's waist and helped him toward the front door and up the steps.

"I put her on the bed upstairs." Sam said making his way back down the stairs.

"I got it." Dean said moving carefully to the stairs and working on getting his feet to obey him.

"Let me help." Sam told him as he started to take his arm.

"Stop it! I got it!" Dean fussed at him slapping at him hand.

Sam gave him his best bitch face but stayed right behind him in case he was to stumble or fall. He knew how stubborn Dean could be when he felt good, he was usually unbearable when he had been hurt or sick. After what seemed like forever, Dean finally made it to the top of the steps. Once he got his balance, he made his way down the hall, pausing to look in on Lark before heading for the bathroom. Bobby and Sam waited outside the bedroom door for Dean to come back before all of them going into the bedroom.

"Did you find out anything?" Sam asked Bobby as he stood by the bed looking down at Lark.

"Might as well lie down Dean or yer're gonna fall down." Bobby told him when he saw him starting to sway.

"Think I will." Dean said easing onto the bed and laying down trying not to disturb Lark.

"I looked up all I could on djinn and the only thing I can think that is going on is Lark is lost in the dream world the djinn created for her."

"You think she doesn't know it's not real?" Sam asked.

"Maybe he blocked her memories and she doesn't remember who she is, I'm not sure, but the longer she's like this the harder it's gonna be to pull her out, if we even can."

"What can we do?" Dean mumbled from the bed his eyes barely opened as he listened to them talk.

"Is there some way to we can communicate or break into her dream and get her to wake up?" Sam asked.

"Well I looked into that too and about the only thing I found was Silene Capensis, African Dream Root."

"What's that?"

"It's supposed to let you go into someone else's dreams and you can interact with them."

"I'll do it." Dean volunteered raising his hand a little.

"Nothing doing Dean, you can hardly stand. If anyone doing it it's me." Sam told him in no uncertain terms. "What do I need to do?" Sam asked Bobby.

"I happen to have some dream root, but I'll have to mix up the brew and we'll need to put some of Lark's hair in it."

"Sounds appealing." Sam gulped looking slightly sick.

"It's gonna take me about fifteen minutes to mix it up. You'll need to get Dean up so you can take his place, you have to go to sleep for it to work."

"Well that shouldn't be too hard, I'm beat." Sam said wearily. "Go mix it up and I'll get ready."

"I'll be back shortly."

"I'm going to the bathroom and change clothes, you wanna go to your bed?"

"No, I'll stay in here, just put me a chair by the bed and I'll be ok."

"You sure about that?" Sam asked only to get a nod from his brother.

Dean looked over at Lark and could she her facial expressions twitching and her eyes moving under her lids. He didn't know where she was or what she was dreaming but he hoped they could bring her back. He put a hand on her forehead and could tell her temperature had gone up since they had left Redwood Falls. He knew this wasn't good if it continued to rise like it was doing. With his last ounce of strength, he pushed himself to a sitting position on the side of the bed and waited for Sam to come back. He worked on keeping his eyes open wanting to at least be able to give his support if he couldn't do this himself.

spn

Bobby came back upstairs to find Dean settled into a chair by the bed and Sam sitting on the edge of the bed talking to him.

"Alright, just need a few sprigs of her hair." Bobby said stepping to Lark and plucking a couple strands from her head. He put it in the pint jar, screwed on the lid and shook it good before handing it to Sam who looked at it was a disgusted look on his face.

Sam studied the bits of root, herbs and god knew what else in the jar and swallowed hard hoping it didn't smell as bad as it looked. He accepted the jar and took a deep breath before speaking.

"Well here goes nothing." Sam said before opening the jar and quickly downing several large swallows before he changed his mind. "Crap that tasted like shit." Sam spat as he worked hard on keeping it down.

"So what, I just lay down and go to sleep?"

"Yep pretty much, you should wake in her dream, but you may have to find her and I don't know how long you have before you're kicked out." Bobby said accepting the jar back so Sam could lay down beside Lark on the bed.

"Don't waste any time and be careful." Dean told him.

"Your brother's right, what happens to you in there will show up on you out here." Bobby added.

"Alright, here goes nothing." Sam said settling down and closing his eyes while trying to clear his mind so he could fall asleep.

"Want me to sing ya lullaby bro?" Dean mumbled trying to smirk at his brother.

"Bite me." Sam grumbled back. "Jerk."

"Bitch." Dean responded.

"Both of you ya whos settle down so we can get this over with." Bobby growled at both of them before taking a seat in a chair nearby. He watched both the brothers close their eyes and try to relax as the wait began.

spn

The shower felt great as I stood under the spray letting it beat the stress and fatigue from my body. I still had a dull ache behind my eyes that just wouldn't go away and I hoped some sleep would help that. With not having any other clothes, I knew I would have to wear what I had until I could find a thrift store and hopefully find more.

That was first on my agenda in the morning. I wanted clothes that were me, at least what I thought was me anyway. I finished my shower and crawled into bed, settling between the fresh, clean sheets to sleep. I lay there as my eyes popped back open on their own. I couldn't seem to get past the feeling that I was being manipulated by someone and that was something I didn't like. I forced my eyes shut and tried to stop my mind from thinking as I drew in slow, even breaths to relax.

A misty fog started rolling through my mind and I slipped deeper into sleep as visions raced rapidly through it. There were fights and monsters and death and blood as I tossed and turned in my sleep. I saw Sam and Dean in my dreams and they fought side by side as brothers should.

The sun had risen bringing the new day when I jerked awake, soaked in sweat and panting hard looking around for the monster in my dreams as I worked on slowing my pounding heart. After my breathing slowed, I sat on the edge of the bed long enough for the dizziness to pass before heading for the bathroom to take a quick shower to rinse the drying sweat from my body an them I was going to checkout.

"I'm checking out, thank you." I told the older man at the desk when I returned the key.

"I hope you had a nice stay and will come back." he nodded returning the key to its slot.

"Could you tell me if there's any thrift shops nearby?"

"Well, let me think...Yep there's one over on Maple that's about four blocks away and I think there might be one a little farther out on Pine."

"Thank you." I said turning to leave but stopped when he asked me something.

"Would you like a cup of coffee and pastry? I was just getting ready put it out. I'll only be a minute." he told me.

"Why thank you, that would be nice." I agreed turning back deciding if it was free that would save me spending what little money I had. I waited patiently for him to come back out.

"Name's Hank by the way." he said coming back out carrying a carafe and sitting it on a table that had creamer, sugar, cups and stirrers positioned on it. "I'll be right back with the pastries, don't worry they're fresh, I have a guy bring them by on his way home from 3rd shift."

"Thanks, sounds good Hank, I'm Lark." I replied taking a cup and filling it with coffee that I doctored with creamer and a small amount of sugar. I wasn't like Sam who added quiet a lot more to his coffee. I frowned when that thought popped into my mind wondering why I even thought it.

"Here you go Lark, you get first pick." he said smiling happily as he set the box of different pastries beside the carafe.

"Guess its good I'm an early riser." I said smiling back at him and checking out what was in the box before picking one out and taking a bite. "These are good." I commented taking a seat in one of four chairs positioned around the room.

"I get them from the bakery on Main Street every morning." he said pouring himself a cup of coffee. "Are you passing through?"

"I...I live a town over, my parents live here." I said looking down at my coffee cup as I caught my lower lip between my teeth.

"I see." he said not saying anything about my hesitation or uneasiness. He busied himself around the front desk straightening up and replenishing brochures and other small items. "If you like here's a small map of our town showing where things are." he offered.

"Thanks for the breakfast. Guess I should be going, want to get to the thrift shop early." I said getting up and throwing away my trash. "And thank you for the map."

"Have a good day Lark."

"You do the same Hank."

A/N: Only two more chapters left, hope you enjoyed the story. I do like reviews/comments. NC