11

The sound of Dorothy's final scream and the sound of her body crashing into the water echoed across the cold air as if it had been amplified by a megaphone. All activity on deck stopped. The women paused in their circuits as all heads turned toward the railing where Hannah stood. Then, as one, everyone surged across the deck toward the railing. Dean launched himself down the stairs two at a time, careening into the railing to stare down at the trail of bubbles that were all that remained of the witch.

Dean turned back to Hannah, staring at her empty hands. Where was the amulet? Dean reached into his pocket, where he had kept the necklace ever since he reclaimed it from Sam the day Chuck revealed himself. Had this moment changed the future? Would it vanish? His hands closed over the cold lump of metal with a sigh of relief. It was still there.

"She slipped!" Hannah looked as shocked as everyone else felt, suddenly the picture of innocence. "I tried to catch her but-"

If Dean didn't know better, he would have believed her himself. The other women ate it up. They promptly surrounded Hannah with a wall of sympathy.

"You poor thing!"

"How awful!"

"You tried your best to catch her. Good thing you weren't pulled overboard too!"

"I felt an icy patch myself."

Anne's voice rang out above the others, firm and commanding. "Perhaps we should all go back to our quarters. I will inform the captain of what has happened." She wrapped an arm around Hannah's shoulders and steered her back toward her cabin. The other women dispersed, vanishing back down the hatch to the middle deck.

"Wow." Sam approached, Thomas beside him, both wearing identical expressions of surprise. "I was not expecting that."

"It's gone." Why was everyone so worried about Hannah and the witch? Didn't they know that the future could have just been changed! Dean pointed to the water. "She tossed the amulet with the witch!"

"Well, it was the best way to get close enough and catch her off guard at the same time," Sam said. He didn't look worried at all, which was the only thing that kept Dean from hyperventilating. The amulet wasn't as important as the car, but once he'd gotten it back, he'd vowed never to lose it again.

"But-where will it go?" Dean thought of that Christmas, the stole presents, the small package Sam had so carefully wrapped for Dad. The thrill of pride when his little brother hand handed it to him instead. He didn't want to lose that memory.

Sam shrugged. "It has 400 years to wash ashore and be found. But what about the witch? Do you think drowning will really finish her off?"

"It will have to be enough for now." Isaac glared down at the icy water. "I am not jumping in to find her. If she revives and can make it out of the water, I will be waiting for her when she comes ashore."

Dean considered Isaac's stern tone and firm grip on his gun, and nodded. "That'll do."

"Aghhh!" The strangled cry rang across the deck, coming from the Winchester cabin where they had left James in chains. Hannah broke into a run, Anne close behind her, trying to hold the girl back. Dean scrambled forward to help, and caught Hannah around the waist before she could open the cabin door.

"My grandfather!"

"Calm down and let someone who knows what they're doing go in first!" Dean bellowed in her ear. He nodded to Isaac, who pushed open the door with the nose of his gun.

James lay on the bed where they had left him, chained hand and foot to the bed frame. He thrashed, tangling his limbs in the sheets, and writhed in pain. "Ahh!"

"What is wrong?" Thomas was trying to peer over Sam's shoulder. He stepped toward Hannah, and she buried her face in his shirt.

"I have no idea," Dean said. All three Hunters stood helplessly by while James continued to writhe in pain. His twitching became weaker, his breath more shallow, with each passing moment.

"Is Dorothy dead?" James gasped.

"Yes." Isaac gave the vampire a fierce smile. "Hannah killed her."

"Hannah?" James turned to look at his granddaughter, then smiled. "Good girl. Then it is time to say good-bye."

"Goodbye?" Hannah's face was white.

"She tied our lives together." James' voice was strained with pain and his breath came in shallow gasps. "If she dies, I die."

Tears poured down Hannah's face. "But that means I killed you!"

"No! No." James reached for Hannah's hands, his chains clinking. "You saved me. It is better this way."

"Where is that angel?" Thomas' words sounded fiercer and angrier than anything Dean had heard from the boy yet. "Amos! We need you!" Thomas shouted at the ceiling.

There was a rush of air, and suddenly two more people stood in the room. Amos had his hat in his hands and his face was flushed. He took one look at James and burst into tears.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I can't—but I have a friend. Maybe he can help." Amos gestured to his companion.

The newcomer was wearing an old man, bent and wizened, his hair white as snow, but he had a stern strength to him that gave away the angel hiding inside the vessel. "Hello. My name is Samandriel. Amos told me about your problem. I am here to help."

Dean stared open-mouthed at the old man. "Alfie?"

Sam rolled his eyes. Everyone else ignored him.

Samandriel knelt next to the bed and placed a hand on James' forehead. "He is dying."

Isaac snorted. "Yes. We know. That is why you are here, to save him."

"You want me to save a vampire?"

Anne's eyes were full of fire as she glared at the angel. "We want you to cure him."

Samandriel shook his head. "I cannot cure him. All I can do is purify his soul so that he can enter heaven. But if I do that, he will die."

Silence filled the cabin as everyone looked toward Hannah. James wiped a tear from her face with his thumb. "It is alright, my dear. You heard him. I will go to heaven, and we will meet again. I will build a large house for you, and your husband, and your children when they join us. We will see each other again."

Hannah closed her eyes, leaned forward, and kissed James' forehead. "I will miss you."

James bit back a gasp of pain, and Samandriel laid his hand across the vampire's forehead again. James' entire body glowed with white light as the angel's grace did it work, until finally the light dimmed and James lay still. Dead. Hannah reached out and closed his eyes, then buried her face in her arms.

Amos sniffed and wiped a tear form his eye and knelt next to Hannah to whisper in her ear. "I will make sure he reaches heaven." Then Amos titled his head back and a stream of blue light exited his mouth.

Amos the cabin boy gasped and staggered, holding a hand out against the wall to steady himself. He stared around at the cabin with wide eyes. "What happened? Where am I? Who are you?"

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