Summary:
Dean and Sam fall into a vampire hunting pack's trap; Sam manages to escape but has to leave Dean behind. When he loses the trail to the nest, he calls on the vampire whose life he saved, Lenore, to help him find his brother. Kate, part of the nest that has Dean, decides Dean's punishment for helping to kill her mate, Luther, should include becoming a vampire himself. Post Croatoan.
Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own the copyrights to the Boys. But thank you Kripke for such fab characters and letting us play in your universe!!
Rating is for some bad-boy language. Some chapters get a bit bloody and lean toward mature themes.
Blood Debt
Chapter 9
Sam snapped awake when the chain on his arm was tugged so hard he went sprawling.
Kate had a hold of the chain and continued to pull him toward her. He was already out of reach of the bars and had no leverage to stop her.
"I'm not yours to kill," Sam said. "The others will be pissed."
She smiled. "Oh, I don't intend to kill you."
Horrified, Sam realized she was pulling him toward Dean's cage.
"Here you go, little doggie," Kate said. "Wouldn't you like some fresh blood to ease that blood lust of yours?"
Dean knelt at the bars between his and Sam's cage. Blood trickled from the corners of his mouth; Kate had fed him again and the vampire virus demanded fresh blood. Dean's face had a look of hunger and he eyed Sam with a predatory gaze. She handed part of the chain into Dean. Dean grabbed it and began hauling Sam closer.
"Dean, fight it!" Sam said. Wedging his feet against the bars, he tried to keep Dean from pulling his arm through.
Dean stood up and pulled with all his strength. Sam slammed hard against the bars, dazing him. Dean pushed the chain back into Kate's waiting hand and she passed him a knife while keeping the chain taut. Dean crouched by Sam's outstretched arm, knife in hand, as he ran his fingers lightly over the inside of Sam's forearm, right along the artery.
"Dean, you don't want to do this," Sam said. He struggled to pull his arm back but every fraction he gained Kate recovered easily. She had the chain pulled so taut that Sam felt the shackle cutting into the base of his hand; blood began to well up along its cold metal surface. He thought she was going dislocate his shoulder.
"Lenore!" Sam screamed. "Lenore! Kate's trying to take your kill! Shelly! You won't get your revenge! Eli!"
Wrapping his fingers around Sam's arm, Dean carefully placed the knife and cut a two-inch long gash along Sam's artery.
"Dean!" Sam yelled in pain.
Oblivious, Dean set the glistening knife aside and put his lips to the flowing blood. His teeth clamped tight and he drank.
"Dean, stop. Please, Dean," Sam begged. It didn't take long for the lightheadedness to overtake him.
"Dean," Sam said and reached through the bars, digging his fingers into the back of Dean's neck. "Dean, you're taking too much. Please, brother. Stop. Please," Sam pleaded as his world began to spin.
As his eyes began to droop closed he whispered, "Dean."
The hungry gleam in Dean's eyes faded and his consciousness swam slowly back to the surface. He fell back from his brother, aghast. Sam's head lolled forward and his body lay limply against the bars.
"Sam? Oh, God, oh, no. Sammy?" Dean gasped, shaking his brother. He looked at the blood still pouring from the arterial cut and hastily made a restricting band with one of the bandages from his own arm.
"Come on Sammy," Dean said. "Come on. Wake up, Sam!" Dean yelled at him, shaking him.
Kate laughed with delight and let go of Sam's chain.
Dean saw the bloody knife lying on the ground. Fury filled him as he grabbed the knife and turned toward his sire. He lunged for her, but she side-stepped the jab and locked gazes with him.
"Hand me the knife, doggie," she said firmly. Stepping forward, she smiled and held out her hand.
Dean felt himself begin to obey, to hold the knife out to her, but fought against her control with every scrap of willpower he could muster. He plunged the knife into the side of her neck, trying to sever her head from her body with the blow but the blade just wasn't long enough.
"Dammit!" Kate cursed as she fell back and yanked the knife free. Her head tilted and she hissed, "Oh, you think you still have your own will, do you?" She gashed open her arm and held it out to him.
Dean froze, his eyes locked on her blood, the smell of it clouding his mind and sapping his willpower. He sank to his knees and stared at it. He licked his lips and tasted Sam's blood.
"No," Dean whispered and squeezed shut his eyes. He threw himself back from the bars. The bloodlust didn't burn in him at the moment. That had been sated by his own brother's lifeblood. He turned toward Sam and made Sam become his world. He had to ignore the tantalizing smell and the pound of his own heart in his ears as he fought every second to stay away from Kate's crimson offering. Dean felt for a pulse in Sam's neck. It was weak, it was rapid, but at least it was there. Dean shook with relief. His brother was still alive.
"Come here!" Kate demanded.
Dean stayed focused on Sam, though every fiber in him wanted to go to her. If I leave Sam now, he'll die, he told himself. He had to get a bandage on Sam's arm so he could take off the restricting band. He could see the imprint of his own teeth in Sam's arm and felt sick. He ripped off the bandage wrapping his ribs and began to wrap it tightly around Sam's wound, the wound he'd cut into his own brother's arm.
She grabbed Dean's chains and pulled him over to her. She put her arm in front of Dean's face. Dean clenched his fists, fighting the gruesome addiction that begged to be satisfied.
"Feed!" she demanded.
Dean tried to hold himself back but it was too much. He had to have it. As he wrapped his fingers around her bleeding arm and brought it to his mouth, his gaze slid to his brother and felt the tears burn his eyes. The bloodlust would come back. He knew it would. He knew he'd finish off his brother as soon as it did and there wasn't a damned thing he could do about it. He tried to find solace that at least Sam wouldn't be turned, or tortured, or forced to endure the things he knew Kate yet had in mind for him.
"What the hell are you doing?" a woman yelled.
Kate's arm was ripped away from him as she was thrown across the room. Dean flew at the bars, desperate for the blood, desperate to protect his sire. He froze when he saw the woman who'd flung Kate away.
"Lenore?" he whispered.
Lenore punched him in the face and he fell back, nothing but stars in front of his eyes. By the time his vision had cleared, Kate was bloodied and nursing a broken arm. Several sleepy-eyed vampires milled about, watching the scene. The barn door had been thrown open and morning sunlight streamed in along with a crisp smelling breeze. Thompson stood nearby, watching.
Lenore was a vision of fury. "He is mine! He killed my family! How dare you claim rights you don't have!" Lenore screamed at her. "If you've killed him, I swear I will rip you limb from limb before I behead you!" She started forward, ready to attack Kate again.
Thompson interceded, stepping between them. "Lenore, he killed her family as well."
"And she ran like a dog with her tail between her legs," Lenore spate at him. "We caught him. She has no claim on him!"
"You're right," Thompson soothed. "And what she did was wrong."
"That doesn't help if he dies!" She wheeled and stalked toward Dean with a look of murder on her face. Instinct made him back away from her.
"If he dies, this one is mine," Lenore said, pointing at Dean. She turned back around and dared anyone to challenge her. "Until I'm assured he's going to recover, this one will be mine."
"Thompson!" Kate said and took a step forward, cradling her broken arm. "He's already well on the way to being turned. She can't claim him."
Thompson raised an eyebrow at her. "You should have thought of that before you pulled your little stunt. A week from now and they might well have given you permission to let your dog kill their food. You screwed up, Kate. Until the other one is well enough, assuming he recovers, she's got fair claim to do whatever she wants."
Lenore smiled. "And let's just make sure of that, shall we?" She turned to Dean. "Come here."
Dean reluctantly moved to the front of the cage. Lenore looked him over. "Until your brother is better, you'll be my dog. Since I can't trust Kate, let's see if I can't override her." Lenore opened her wrist with a quick flick of a blade. She held it out to him. "Drink."
Dean shook his head. "Thanks, I've had enough today. Bad for the complexion, you know. Tends to make you pasty." His voice tremored as he felt an unnamed terror well inside of him. The vampire in him wanted no part of any vampiric blood that wasn't his sire's.
"Kate!" Thompson threatened.
Kate snarled. "Feed from her," she ordered sullenly.
Dean's hands shook as he slowly reached out to Lenore's arm. He hesitated and he looked over at Kate again.
"Do it!" Kate ordered him.
Dean obeyed. He waited for Lenore to pull her arm away as Kate had always done, but Lenore let him drink his fill. Giddiness swept over him momentarily and he looked at Lenore adoringly. She reached through and stroked his cheek. "If Kate comes near you or your brother, I want you to rip her throat out."
Dean nodded. "Of course."
"And you will not feed on your brother. No matter the bloodlust, he's not yours to take. In fact, you'll protect him from anyone not of my family."
"I won't touch him. I'll protect him," Dean repeated, having no choice but to obey her. The human in him wanted to kiss Lenore. So she was Sammy's plan. He wondered briefly, if it turned out that he couldn't be brought back to human, if his bloodlust could be handled with cow's blood. Maybe, just maybe, Sam wouldn't have to kill him. Maybe he could be like Lenore and her family. Maybe he could learn to control it. If nothing could kill him shy of beheading, maybe there would be some advantages. For the first time in too many days, he felt that his world might not be as totally screwed as he had figured.
"Shelly," Lenore said, "Get him enough to cool his bloodlust. I need to tend to our food."
Shelly came forward, took hold of the chains connected to his shackles and led Dean away to other cages. Lenore opened Sam's cage and went to him. She knelt and felt for a pulse. It was weak and growing weaker. His brother had taken too much. Sam was dying. She only had one choice and it was a slim one.
She finished the bandaging that Dean had started, and removed the restricting band. She confirmed the bleeding was under control. Next, she rubbed her arm above where she'd cut it for Dean, to get the blood flowing again, and put her own lips to it. She sucked her blood into her mouth and then kissed Sam, pushing the blood into his mouth as she sat him up. The virus would be absorbed in the mouth and just had to get him through the next rocky few hours.
She waited, hiding her fondness for Sam in the anger she felt for Kate and what Kate had done. They'd been only a few hours from escape. Now Lenore wasn't sure they could risk leaving today. She glanced over at Dean's empty cage. She also wasn't sure Dean could afford staying another day. Especially with her blood in him. She was old enough, her virus strong enough, that there might be no coming back for Dean at this point. Sam, on the other hand, probably wouldn't have any problem. She doubted the virus would even take hold. She could taste the demon in him. It was an exotic spice that flavored his blood deliciously. Seconds later his eyes fluttered open.
"What ..?" Sam asked, confused.
"You've just been elevated from food to vampire."
Sam's eyes widened in horror but when he tried to move, his limbs felt like lead.
"I couldn't have my food die from blood loss. You need to drink a little more if you want to live."
Sam's lip curled in disgust and his gaze went from her offered wrist to her face. Her face remained stone. "No choice. Eat or die."
Sam hesitated then did as she asked. The thick liquid was disgusting and roiled in his stomach. A strange relaxing feeling swept over him suddenly, followed by a hunger that cramped his stomach. He felt his heart thump irregularly in his chest. A smile crawled to Lenore's lips and she waved Eli in with a woman. She took her wrist away from Sam and offered him the woman's. "Drink," she told him.
Sam gave the woman a sorrowed look, but the woman seemed oblivious to him. Again, he did as Lenore told him. He'd told her he trusted her completely. He prayed she had a good plan. He prayed she was willing to take care of two newly turned vampires and bring them back. Then again, he'd been immune to one demonic virus. Would he be immune to this one as well? Or had he just been lucky and dodged a bullet as the doctor had said?
Sam stopped drinking and shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut when he thought he was going to throw up. He felt so weak he could hardly move.
"Sleep, Sam," Lenore told him.
"Will I live?" Sam asked her softly. At the moment, he wasn't entirely sure he would.
"I don't know. We'll know in an hour or so if it was enough. You'll either sleep and get stronger, or sleep and just not wake up, though it may take a few days to be certain you'll pull through this."
Sam said, "I'll do anything you ask. Just protect my brother."
Lenore considered then gave a slow nod. "Considering Kate wants him dead? You can be assured that he'll live if you die because of what she did."
Sam fought against the sleep, but its pull was too strong. Lenore got up and left him there.
The other vampires watched and waited for her. Her gaze roved over them. "We'll know probably by this time tomorrow." She stalked up to Kate. "I'd had plans to slowly drink him dry. Now he's ruined for food." She slapped her. "I've decided I'm keeping your dog. With both hunters in my family, I don't imagine I'll ever have to worry again about losing those I love."
Thompson cleared his throat. "You only have claim on the dog if yours dies."
Lenore spun on him. "She took my kill!" she fumed. "I've full rights to take hers!"
Thompson looked between the two women. "Let's see if he survives. If he does, you may not get to drain him, but you can still extract exquisite suffering and finally his life. You will still have your kill."
She gave Kate a final withering glare. "You come near either of my dogs and I'll drain you myself," she hissed. She turned on her heel and walked over to join Eli. She announced loudly. "I'm sleeping here, next to my dogs, since a certain bitch in heat can't leave well enough alone."
"I'll get our cots," Eli said.
"No, Eli. Just mine. You can take the later watch."
Eli frowned and ran his hand over her hair. "You're weak; you fed two. You shouldn't be alone."
"I'll be fine," she reassured him. "I'm going to go feed. Stay with my new dog until I get back."
He rested a hand on her arm. "He killed our family, but you like him, don't you?"
She grinned and shrugged. "What's done is done. If Shelly wants him for herself, it would be justice that's he's the first new member of the family, don't you think?"
Eli laughed and shook his head. "No wonder I love you. You can be so twisted."