5: More to Bear

Dean was dreaming that he was in a palace, surrounding by hundreds of different women. They were all dressed in skimpy outfits, and they were all slaves to him. They pined over him, giving him everything he wanted, while he just sat there and did nothing. One of them said, "You can do whatever you want here, Dean. Isn't that what you want?"

He took a beer from her, seeing an endless amount of beer around the room, and he thought about that comment. Then he realized this was not everything he wanted, although it came pretty damn close. He saw Sedona come through the doorway, then she walked toward him, wearing nothing but a see through nightgown, pushing aside the girls around her. Some of the women started to fight her, so she head butted them, or kicked them, or punched them away from her, making her way to Dean. When she was in front of him, she put her foot into his chest and said to him, "Wake up!"

Dean woke up out of the dream, realizing that there was no one around him. He got out of bed, not totally awake, when he heard the door of the motel room open. There was a thick glass wall between the doorway and the bed, so Dean could only see the blurred image of what looked like Sam. Not remembering yet, he got up and started to say, "Sammy, you up this early? I wanted to..."

That's when Dean realized that Sam was dead. He turned around, still seeing the image behind the glass. He got a knife from the table and went to the glass, pressing himself up against it. Then he whirled around and checked to see who it was, but no one was there. Only the door stood open, as though whoever had been there had disappeared in a second.

Dean was driving down the road, going nowhere in particular, when he heard his cell phone ring. He thought it was strange, since only Sam and John were on his list of callers. He turned the phone on, and thinking it would be something strange, asked, "Hello?"

"How are you feeling today Dean?" asked Charlie.

"How did you get this number?" Dean asked.

"I have every piece of information on you, Dean. Do you know what today is?" Charlie asked.

"No, and I don't care," Dean replied.

"Oh, I think you would care if you knew what it was," Charlie said.

"What is it, then?" Dean asked.

"It's your first day off from the job. That means no souls to take today," Charlie answered.

Dean felt surprised. "I don't have to watch anyone die today?"

"That's right. Take your time off carefully, do what you need to do," Charlie said.

Dean didn't know what that meant, but he hung up the phone anyway. He was going to use this day to do something, but he didn't know what yet. That's when Sedona jumped on the hood of his car while he was still driving. Dean slammed on the brakes, whirling the car the opposite way until it came to a halt. Sedona laughed and asked, "Did I scare you?"

She got into the car and handed Dean a folder, then she explained, "I think there might be something here for us. Vampires that don't hunt humans."

"Why would that be my problem?" Dean asked.

"They might know where the ones that hunt humans are," Sedona answered.

"Good point. What else is there?" Dean asked.

"It looks like another hunter is on the case. Gordon Walker, he is a bad ass who thinks that he has to destroy all the vampires in the world," Sedona answered.

"Think we could talk him into letting us join him?" Dean asked.

"Maybe. He's pretty hard core, I don't know if he'll listen," Sedona answered.

Dean pulled up to the house in question, where a dark skinned man was already standing outside the door with a weapon in his hand. Dean and Sedona got out, and the man yelled, "Get out of here!"

"Don't worry, I'm a hunter. I just wanted to see what was going on," Dean said.

"A hunter? This is my territory, back off," the man replied.

"You must be Gordon Walker. I'm Dean Winchester," Dean said.

"Winchester? Like John Winchester?" Gordon asked.

"He was my father," Dean answered.

"I'm sorry about his death, he was a good man," Gordon said.

"So will you let us join the hunt?" Dean asked.

"I don't have time to fill you in on what's happening. There are vampires in there and I'm taking them out," Gordon answered.

"Alright, but..." Dean started.

Suddenly, the door opened to the house and vampires came pouring out. The one that looked like the leader was a woman with black hair, and she pointed something at Dean that he had not seen before. It was a bright white arrow in a bow. He opened his mouth to say something, but she shot the arrow and it went into his chest. Instead of healing, it made him feel very sick, and Dean fell back onto the ground, passed out.

When he came to, he found himself tied down by some kind of bright white rope, that seemed to be draining him of power. Sedona was tied near the far wall to his left, and Gordon was tied down with regular rope a short way from him. The vampires were standing around watching them, but they had made no move to kill anyone. Dean asked the girl, "What is this?"

"It's not about you, angel of death. We need Sedona," she said.

"Who are you?" Sedona asked.

"I am Lenora, and I want something that you have," she said.

"What are you talking about?" Sedona asked.

"We want Pandora's box, and you know where it is hidden," Lenora said.

Dean realized at that moment that the legend he had read about earlier was real. Sedona told her, "I don't know where it is. It has been lost for thousands of years."

"It must be hard, not being able to see your sister again. Risking your own soul to save hers," Lenora went on.

"You aren't going to get me to tell you, so you can just stop now," Sedona said.

"What if we could bring your sister back in human form? What if we could let you see her one last time?" Lenora asked.

"I will see her again, if I do as I am told," Sedona said.

"We can change that," Lenora replied.

She took a vial from a chest on the table, then she took the top off and spilled two drops on the floor. The room began to shake violently as a yellow light came out of the floor and developed in to a young woman with long blond hair and a face covered in dirt and tears. She was one of the most beautiful women Dean had ever seen, wearing a tattered white dress and looking so sad. She turned to Sedona and asked, "Sedi? Is that you?"

"You really expect me to believe that is Pandora?" Sedona asked.

"It isn't completely her. After releasing evil unto the world, her body and spirit were damaged greatly. This is the better part of her, but it is still Pandora," Lenora said.

Pandora went to Sedona and began speaking to her in another language. Sedona spoke back to her, but still seemed unimpressed. Pandora started to hug her, and Sedona tried to get away, saying, "Don't."

Pandora hugged her close, saying, "I missed you so much!"

Sedona looked at Lenora and said, "Stop this. I will not tell you anything."

Pandora looked up at Sedona, then she kissed her lips. It was a long, sensual kiss, after being unable to see each other for thousands of years. When Pandora pulled away, Sedona realized it really was her. She looked at Lenora and asked, "What have you done?"

Suddenly the front door burst open, and the room became encased in flame. Gordon burned up in seconds, as did the vampires, all except Lenora, who jumped through the window and took off. Sedona told Pandora, "Free me."

Pandora untied the white ropes that were holding her, and Sedona got up to face the flames. Dean could feel his skin burning off and then healing back on, only to be burned again. It was an intense pain, like nothing he had ever felt before. Sedona stood up and waited, until the flames turned into a dark figure of a man, without a face, without a name. He walked up to Sedona, looking like an evil that Dean had never fathomed before. He spoke to her in a dark language, but Dean seemed to understand it. The evil said, "She is mine."

"You promised you would take care of her, as long as I reign as your queen," Sedona replied.

Dean didn't know what that meant, but he felt it was something terribly wrong. The evil continued, "I shall take her, but this incident has added another million years to your service."

"I know," Sedona said, not complaining.

The beast reached out its evil hand to Pandora, and she took it, looking at Sedona with fear in her eyes. Sedona told her, "It'll be alright. We'll see each other again."

Pandora was engulfed by the evil, then it faded away, and Sedona fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. The white ropes had burned away, and Dean was able to go to her. He sat next to her, then she put her head on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around her, letting her cry. She cried until there were no more tears, then she got up and started to leave. Dean asked, "Do you want me to help you?"

"No, I'm too dangerous for you," Sedona answered.

"Please, let me do something," Dean started.

"Forget about me, Dean," Sedona said once again.

"You know I can't do that," Dean replied.

She looked back at him and smiled, then she thought about it. Feeling weak, she told him, "You said you wanted someone to talk to. Could I be that person?"

"Absolutely," Dean replied.

They went back to the car, and Dean started driving down the road, letting Sedona ride in the passenger side with him.