Ok only this and the final chapter to go.

Little reminder that this isn't a deathfic!!

Chapter 17

Bobby tried to push her off as she viciously pulled his head to the side. He screamed the name of the only person left in the room that might help him. She was almost on his neck when he heard Dean's voice.

"Don't touch him."

There was no escaping the warning in his tone. Helena stopped and turned to face him. Bobby felt relief flood him as he looked up and saw a little bit of Dean, his Dean in the man before them. Helena hesitated just for moment before she spoke, noting the change in him.

"Look what he did. Do you see what he did to me? Why shouldn't I touch him?" She walked up to Dean. "Are you going to stop me? Do you think you can?"

Sam's plea had reached him but it was the pain from the rock salt shot that had brought him back, loosening her hold on him. Bobby's scream had been the final cog in the wheel. The real Dean Winchester was fighting back. He could feel it though, the blood rush, it was still making him fight it, still trying to drag him down.

He gripped her wrist hard, twisting it, making her cry out in pain. "I just might." Just touching her however, made him want her.

He grabbed her hair and forced her head back; bringing his head down to her neck, resting his lips against the place where he had fed from her. He wanted to feed from her again. He let his lips gently wander over her skin, sending a small thrill through both of them. He was losing it, his grip was sliding again, and the line that he was walking on was desperately thin.

Bobby watched in silence.

"Do it, you want to. I know you do." His head hurt and the confusion inside him was drowning him. She bit into him instead, slowly drawing the blood from him, making him groan. He dipped his head and pulled her off him, flicked a quick glance at Bobby and then turned his back on her, facing his brother.

For a moment she thought she'd won. Until she saw Sam smile.

"Enough. I….I don't want this." He struggled over the words and his feelings. Stepping forward he picked up the stake from the floor.

"No." She pleaded with him. "Kill me and you'll be lost. You'll be alone. Don't do this. Let's finish this and we can be together." She realised that somehow his brother had a stronger hold on him than her and she tried one last time to reach him, to turn it to her advantage.

"We can take Sam with us, find someone for him. We can be invincible, you can live forever." She couldn't read the look that passed quickly over his face.

Dean turned, brought her into face him and slowly brought his lips to hers, the kiss gentle and tender, his arms encircling her, pulling her into his embrace. She didn't fight him.

"Finish it, please." He heard her words and a single tear ran down his face. He almost gave in; he wanted to be with her. But he wanted his brother to be safe more.

"I can't. I can't let you hurt my brother and I won't let you try and make me again." He raised the stake that he held in his hand and put it against her back. "Besides"…..He touched her face with his free hand and rested his forehead against hers….."I don't want to live forever." He plunged the stake into her, almost forcing it all the way through and he cried out as the pain tore through him. He let go his grip on her and fell to his knees, the pain exploding like a white heat in his chest and his head.

He watched as the fire slowly consumed her, working its way up, swirling in a circle, until she was nothing but thousands of tiny pieces of ash dancing in the breeze that had sprung up. The ash dissipated, spread out by the wind and finally fell to earth, littering the floor of the room. He had given her life back it was only fitting that it should be him that took it away. He fell back. The world faded into nothing but pain and darkness, then he closed his eyes and the world was gone.

Bobby sat stunned for a moment and then he crawled over to Dean. He checked Dean's pulse and his breathing. Nothing. Bobby didn't know if he was dead or still a vampire, he simply had no way to tell. He looked at the flask of holy water but it was empty, the contents spilled out on the floor.

"Bobby, what happened? Is she gone? Is Dean alright?" Sam couldn't sit up far enough to see what was going on and he was frantic. "Bobby! Get me out of these damned cuffs!"

Bobby got the side of the bed and hauled himself up on it. He went to work on the cuffs taking only a few minutes to get them opened with his pick. Sam was up and moving passed him, dropping to his knees on the floor, taking Dean's head in his hands, copying Bobby's actions of checking his pulse, his breathing. Finally he looked up into Bobby's eyes as if seeking some confirmation that this wasn't real, that this wasn't happening to him again.

"I'm sorry Sam. I really am. He saved my life." Bobby choked on the last words, tears forcing their way up with the knowledge that no matter if Dean was dead or still undead, they'd failed him.

Sam let out a sound that was almost a howl. "No, not again, please Dean, I can't do this again. Please wake up, please." He rocked his brother gently in his arms.

A small moan reached Bobby's ears from the corner in which Lenore lay.

"Sam!…...Sam!……Sam!" He turned to Bobby on the third call. "Lenore's bleeding badly, we need the first aid kit from the Impala, I can't go, will you, please, she needs our help."

Sam looked at him, then at her and then back at his brother. Bobby leaned over and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll sit with him 'til you get back." For a moment he thought that Sam wasn't going to go and then he stood and hurried outside.

Bobby slipped onto the floor and gathered Dean into his arms. He was so cold and lifeless. "Son, please, if you can hear me I need you to wake up, I don't care if you're still a damned vampire, I really don't, just open your damn eyes." There was nothing, no movement, no flicker of life and Bobby could feel the wound that he'd managed to heal over from a year ago begin to tear wide open again.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Lenore's men had arrived as Sam stepped outside to fetch the kit. One of them set about tending to Lenore's wound and the other helped Sam lift his brother out to the car. Once Bobby was safely in the front seat Sam turned to Lenore who had come round a few minutes earlier. Her face was even paler than before if that were possible.

She smiled sadly as he walked towards her.

"I need another favour, I want to take my brother back to our friend's house, but I don't want to leave him in the back of the car alone, would one of your men drive for us? Please?"

One of the vampires nodded his agreement and Lenore offered to go back to the motel, clear out the rooms and meet them at Bobby's house.

Sam hugged her. "Thank you, I wouldn't have found him without you."

"I'm sorry." She didn't know what else to say.

Sam couldn't answer. He just got in the car, gently lifting Dean's head onto his lap and placing an arm across his brother's chest hugged him to him.

She closed the door and raised a hand in salute as they drove away.