OK here's the next chapter. Please R&R. All comments are greatly appreciated.
Chapter 14: - Blood.
Sam heaved involuntarily at the sight that lay before him. Alex let out a strangled cry as they stared down at the floor, Dean lying at their feet in a pool of blood.
Sam shook from head to toe, tears escaping the corners of his eyes. 'Why did I leave him alone again,' he screamed inside, as Alex stood trembling next to him, tears silently streaming down her deathly pale face. Her stomach lurched as she looked at Dean's hair, matted with blood, lying face down on the floor, his cheek tilted slightly towards her.
She sank to the ground, her legs unable to take her weight any longer. Hesitantly, she moved her hand, gently caressing Dean's face, a quiet sob breaking from her chest. Sam stood behind her, the palm of his hand still pressed firmly against the door, frozen in horror, numb, but for the piercing needle of pain that shot through his heart.
Alex looked up at him desperately, silently pleading with him to move, to say or do something. Moving her hand away from Dean's cool cheek, she felt blood, his blood, running down her fingers. Her stomach lurched sickeningly as she forced herself to her feet, tugging at Sam's sleeve to turn away. She tried to wrap her arm around him, but he shrugged her off coldly, instead turning on her with a sneer. "Why didn't you protect him like I asked? Why didn't you stop this!" he hissed.
"I …I" she stammered tearfully.
"Dean phoned you, he trusted you!"
"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice breaking.
Dean stood alone in the motel room as Alex closed the door behind her. Flopping down, slamming his head against the pillows, he mulled over what Sam had said, or more importantly had not said. 'Something had happened to him. Something was wrong. He hardly ever freaked out like this, having only seen him do so after having a very intense vision.'
"A vision!" he groaned. "Why didn't I think of it sooner!" It explained everything, Sam's panic, his determined attempt to make them leave this hunt behind. 'But what had he seen to cause him to react so violently? Torture? Pain? Death? … His death?' He swallowed hard against the fear that bubbled up inside him at the thought of his death. 'This wasn't good. No, wasn't good didn't even begin to sum up this nightmare. And he'd gone and dragged Alex into it as well.'
He cursed himself for being so stupid, wishing they'd never left Chicago. Dealing with Meg the queen bitch, would have been so much fun in comparison to this. Not only was he blind, but some crap excuse for a demon was screwing with his mind.
From outside, he heard thundering footsteps, which grew increasingly louder until he heard a body slam painfully against the door. Leaping to his feet, sensing something was wrong, he listened hard as Sam and Alex entered the room.
"What's wrong?" he asked urgently, as he rushed forwards colliding painfully with the table. Cursing, he stumbled and fell, hitting his head on the corner of the table leg on the way down. His face hit the thread-bare carpet with force, stunning him, as he lay face down on the floor.
Above him he heard Alex first, letting out a muffled sob. Groaning as his temple throbbed; he forced himself to turn his head, finding Alex kneeling beside him so close that he could smell her fresh perfume.
Reaching up to her face as he heard her snuffle, he touched her cheek, feeling the damp clinging tears that hugged her skin. His hands flew over every inch of her face trying to reach her; desperate to know what was wrong.
"Is it dad? Is he in trouble?" Dean shouted in a strangled voice, a suffocating fear wrestling his spirit.
Neither responded.
"Is he hurt," he pressed in desperation.
Beside him, he felt Alex pull away from him, moving back towards the door where he assumed his brother still stood.
"Why didn't you stop this!" he heard Sam snap coldly. "Why didn't you protect him like I asked? Why didn't you stop this?"
Dean's jaw dropped open as he heard a resounding slap and a stumble, as Alex fell backwards gasping in shock. 'This wasn't Sammy,' a voice within him shouted. 'Sam would never be so cold, and would never hit a woman.' Pushing himself up off the ground, his temper and desperation rising, he shouted, "It's not her fault!"
Realising what he was saying, he thought, 'Hang on, what wasn't her fault?' A look of horror entered his eye. 'Hell no!' he thought. 'The demon's not inside him. It's supposed to be me. It was supposed to be coming after me!'
Dean listened as Alex stuttered, "I'm sorry," feeling the blood rush to his face.
"HEY, I'M ALIVE! BLIND AS A BLOODY BAT, BUT ALIVE!" he yelled, trying to make them listen. 'Why couldn't they see him, why couldn't they hear him. This was all wrong. He didn't want to think about what they thought had happened to him in their absence.'
He was pissed off. It was one thing screwing with him, but it was another picking on Sam. This demon was poisoning them from the inside out, and be damned if he was gonna let it continue.
The demon smiled from within Sam and Alex, feeding hungrily off the fear exuding from them, enjoying the side order of amateur dramatics that garnished his meal. "And mother's say never play with your food," it laughed. "Now where's the fun in that!"
Dean looked between the pair, forgetting he couldn't see, instead imagining their faces. Thinking on his feet, he fumbled his way across the room to the kitchenette, rummaging around in the cupboards under the sink. Yanking out a bucket, he hesitated, only for a second, before filling it with cold water. "I gotta hand it to you bro," he said, glancing back at Sam, thinking back to the previous night. "You do have your moments of inspiration."
The demon, having fed enough, looked interestedly as Dean lugged the heavy bucket back across the room. With a mischievous grin, the demon relinquished its hold over the pair, as Dean, reaching out a hand to locate his brother and Alex, gripped the bucket tightly and chucked the water over them.
Sam and Alex inhaled sharply with a gasp.
"Shit … Dean," Sam stammered, the water freezing his senses as he felt himself slide out of the nightmare the demon had created. "What was that for?"
Realising what he'd just said, that his brother was standing before them alive but bleeding, his face sagged into a relieved grin. Without waiting for an answer, he reached forward, grabbing Dean into a rough affectionate hug. "How did you … you were …" he said, pointing at the ground.
"The demon," Dean smirked. "I guessed as much, but I'm very much alive and breathing, almost like my normal charming self!" he said with his broadest smile.
Alex stood in the corner, dripping silently onto the floor, a look of confusion etched across her face. Tears still twinkled in her eyes as she struggled for words. "But … what the-" she shivered, her skin crawling.
"Demon," Dean smirked. "Charming little buggers aren't they!"
Alex, still looking confused and disorientated, sighed, "Why can't we spend a normal day together."
Dean grinned. "We don't do normal."
Alex smirked. "I'd noticed."
Sam looked at her drowned appearance, noticing her red cheek and watering eye. Remembering his actions painfully, he flushed with embarrassment and shame. "I'm so sorry I hit you. I dunno what I was thinking," he said, moving towards her, taking her face in his hands.
"Don't worry about it. We've survived worse," she said, waving away his concern with a sad smile. Her hand reached up and touched her scarred neck instinctively, where back in Covesville she had almost been hung for Witchcraft, the rope cutting deep into her delicate skin. "That was a serious mind screw!" she said, looking up at them both.
"You're telling me," Dean said, letting out a hollow laugh.
Sam shook his head. "We can't stay here."
"Where d'ya suggest we go smart ass? I'm sure it can find us if we switched rooms," Dean muttered sarcastically.
Sam pursed his lips, not liking his brother's sarcastic tone.
"Dude, it was just a hallucination, I'm fine," Dean tried.
"NO! It's not just a hallucination" Sam half-yelled.
Dean, following Sam's voice, turned his head. "Well? You gonna elaborate?"
"Nothing," Sam said shortly, cursing himself for opening his big mouth.
"Sam, I might be blind but I'm not deaf and I'm certainly not stupid."
Sam looked at Alex, who nodded silently. After what had just happened, Dean needed to know the truth. Sighing, he conceded. "I had a vision."
"And?" Dean said, biting back his temper.
"Let's just say I'm not going to let it happen."
Dean reached under his pillow, pulling out a gun and clicking off the safety. "I might not be able to see you, but I sure as hell can hear you and if you don't tell me exactly what's going on, I'm gonna pump your ass so full of lead, you'll drown in your own bullshit.
Alex raised an eyebrow with a smirk. There was the old Dean, sarcastic wit and all.
Sam looked at him frustrated. "Dean … you were dead."
"What's new?" he replied lightly.
"It's not funny okay. This isn't a joke."
"It's just the demon screwing with your mind."
"NO! It was a fully fledged vision. Just like Jess, like our old house in Lawrence, like Alex and her mum."
Dean frowned, running a hand through his hair, wincing as his nail scratched the cut he'd made when falling over the table. "Well what can we do?" he said finally, trying to think of a plan.
"Get as far away from here as possible," Sam said, as though stating the obvious.
"That's not an option. This thing's killing people-"
"Yeah, just like it's doing to us!" Sam protested.
"Dude, this thing might have blinded me permanently. I'm not gonna let the son of a bitch get away with it and I'm not gonna live like this for the rest of my life, bumping into things and relying on people. I won't be able to hunt down the demon that killed mum and Jess!"
Sam flopped down onto the chair, ringing out his sopping wet T-shirt. "Dean, killing that demon isn't as important is your life," he sighed.
"IT'S MY LIFE!" Dean shouted. "And I would rather die than live it having to depend on people, as an invalid."
Silence filled the room, each looking at one another expectantly.
"Then what are we going to do?" Alex said, breaking the pregnant pause.
"Yeah Einstein, any bright ideas," Sam muttered, drawing up a blank.
Dean's face broke into a triumphant grin.
"You can't be serious," Sam said flabbergasted.
"You want us to act like hysterical women!" Alex laughed despite herself, as she reached for a towel to dry herself off.
"Sam would look good in a skirt, he's got the height to pull it off," Dean said, grinning wickedly.
Alex snorted, as Sam punched him playfully on the shoulder, the tips of his ears glowing pink.
"No, you guys have to figure out your fears and act like hysterical ten year olds to get its bloody attention. Distract the son of a bitch by pretending to be scared until we've got it right where we want it."
Sam's eyebrow rose, disappearing into his hairline as he looked at Dean, thinking he'd become severely unhinged. Breaking the silence he said, "And where exactly does me in a skirt fit into this hair-brain scheme of yours?"
"Oh I just thought it'd make a nice change having a little sister," Dean grinned, trying to lift the tension and unease that had settled over the three of them in the last few hours.
Alex smirked, biting down hard on her bottom lip, shaking with silent laughter. Sam flushed, muttering, "You've got a flaw in this plan of yours. How do we work out which fear scares us the most and how the hell do we use emm against it? What happens if the demon starts screwing with our minds again and we can't work out the difference between the demon and reality?
"Stop being such a pessimist," Dean muttered stubbornly.
Alex looked at him incredulous at his sudden change of mood.
"That demon sure fucked with your brain cells," said Sam. "Aren't you the least bit concerned about my vision."
"At least I won't see it coming."
Sam winced at Dean's bad humour, Alex shifting uncomfortably.
"God will you guys lighten up a little," Dean groaned, feeling the tension build. "It's like a morgue in here."
"It nearly was," Alex mumbled, thinking back to how she had seen Dean lying in a pool of blood on the floor thanks to the demon.
Dean shook his head in annoyance. "But it wasn't! Anyway, with you two here, it's like psychic central. Surely you can sense the thing coming!"
Sam shook his head in annoyance. Dean didn't really like to talk about his abilities if he could help it. But trust him to use them for his own gain. "I'll go and get us some food he muttered, changing the subject as his stomach groaned with hunger. If they were going to fight this demon they were gonna do it with energy. "Watch him," he muttered quietly to Alex, as he pulled on some dry clothes and headed for the door.
"I'm not a child," Dean began petulantly.
"Really? You sure act like one sometimes," Sam smirked, before closing the door behind him.