A.N. There is m/m kissing in this section.
"This is it," Sam said, putting the car into park. "This is the cabin." He looked over at Nathan.
He looked exactly like Rachel. Pale face, big eyes. Teeth clenched, breathing in short, shallow breaths. All he needed was the long hair and it could be her.
"You okay?"
Nathan nodded. Took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he let it out. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good." He grabbed the handle of the door. "Let's do this."
He climbed out of the car, Sam trailing behind. The door opened under Nathan's touch; it wasn't locked, even after all these weeks.
"Shit," Nathan breathed when he stepped inside. His hand flew up to the charm around his neck and he gasped it, white knuckled.
"You okay?" Sam asked, worried. Nathan's face was grey and he looked like he was going to puke.
"Yeah." His voice was strained. "Fine." Nathan squeezed his eyes shut. Stood a moment. Swayed. "Fuck." He tuned and lurched out the door, into the sunshine, and tripped down the stairs, landing face first in the dirt below.
Sam ran outside and down the stairs. "Nathan!" He crouched next to the other man. Put a hand on his back. "What the hell, man?"
Nathan lay there, panting. Tuned his head towards Sam. "There's something I haven't told you," he said softly.
"What?" Sam ran his hand over Nathan's forehead; he was burning hot, sweat plastering his hair to his skin.
With shaking arms, Nathan pushed himself up. He swayed a moment, then leaned against Sam. "I haven't told anyone, not even Rachel." He closed his eyes. "I'm kind of empathic."
"What?"
He let out a long breath. "I can sense… spells and energies and demons. Feel them. Their powers, how powerful they are." He lifted his head. "That's how I know the demon in the cave is connected to you. All the necklace does is alert me to the fact something is supernatural. I'm the one who senses the other stuff." He licked his lips. "It's why I became Wiccan. It helps me center myself and… and by learning cleansing spells and stuff, I can help. If there's something dark and evil, I can change it."
"Why haven't you told anyone?"
"I don't know. Except, if I did, I'd have to go home. My grandfather would want to dig through my mind, and my parents would want to study it. Rachel would be worried. Hell, I'm worried." He shook his head. "I can't do anything. Like, outside of spells and stuff, or exorcism, it's not a power. It's just… I can feel."
Sam sighed. "So what happened in there?"
"I wasn't ready for the amount of energy in there. There's… tons. It's insane. Not just the demon, but other stuff, and I went in totally unshielded."
"We don't have to go in."
Nathan shook his head, rolling it against Sam's shoulder. "I'll be fine. I just wasn't prepared. I am now." He didn't move.
Sam just sat there, waiting. Gazing out at the woods, at the morning light as they filtered through the leaves. It was so beautiful here. Quiet, isolated. The kind of place you went to get away from it all. It was a jarring contrast to what had happened to Rachel.
"Okay," Nathan finally said. He rose to his feet. "Once more unto the breach."
Sam rolled his eyes as he followed Nathan. "You and your sister, man."
Nathan laughed.
This time when Nathan went inside, he seemed fine. His breath hitched a little, but that was it. Nothing like before.
"Nice place," Nathan said, looking around.
Sam followed his gaze.
The place was your stereotypical cabin retreat: all earth tones and wooden furniture. There was a fireplace with a blanket that might be bearskin in front of it, a coffee table with some magazines strewn across it, a couch and a couple of chairs. There was no TV, but there was a stereo by the fireplace. Some blankets were draped over the back of the chairs and couch.
"Yeah," Sam said.
Nathan frowned. Went to the seating area and picked up a magazine. "Some of the pages are torn out." He dropped it and went to the fireplace. "Burned pages in here. Why?"
"Bad articles?"
"Funny. You know that romance book from the thrift store? I think there's a code in it. I keep finding these little dots under words and letters."
"Is that what you were writing down?"
Nathan nodded. "I can't find the key, though. It's just a bunch of random words and letters." He sat on the couch and slid his hand between the cushions. "I wonder if she tried to leave code in the magazines, only they got destroyed."
"You have such… strange theories."
"Why is that strange?" He pulled a pen out from the couch.
"Why not destroy the whole magazine if there was a code in it? Why let her write in them in the first place? Why would she… No, wait. I actually have no problem believing she'd write a message in code in the magazine" He tugged at his shirt. It was kind of warm in the cabin.
Nathan stood and tucked the pen in his pocket. "I'm working off the theory that we're dealing with two different entities. One rescued Rachel and brought her here. Then the demon showed up and…" He trailed off. "I just don't know how long the other person was here before the demon took over."
Sam shrugged. "I'm not entirely sold on that."
"So you seriously think that the demon burned and salted the bodies of the kids, stopped so Rachel could donate her belongings, and then brought her here?"
"We don't know he did those things."
"Except we have all this proof. God! You are so stubborn." Nathan pushed passed Sam and went into the hall. Into the bedroom. "Shit!"
"Nathan?" Sam ran after him not knowing what to expect. He pulled his gun just in case.
Nathan was standing just inside the bedroom, leaning over, hands on his knees. He was breathing heavily.
Sam blinked, his vision going blurry. It seemed incredibly hot in the room. Steamy almost. There was a thick haze in the air and his vision swam. "What's…what's going on?" He stumbled a few steps. Braced himself against the dresser.
"I felt in the other room, just not this badly," Nathan panted. He turned, looking at Sam. Sweat beaded along his hairline and his eyes were heavy lidded. "It's like a lust spell. More powerful than I've ever heard. Felt. It's like… like it got built up with no one to use it."
He shook his head. "What?"
"Get out of here." His voice was hoarse. Rough.
"What?"
Nathan stumbled towards Sam. Pushed up against him. His hands locked around Sam's neck and he pulled down.
Sam's head swum as their mouths connected. And suddenly, the only thing in the world was Nathan and his mouth and his hands. He kissed the other man, arms wrapping around his waist, holding him. Tasting him, sucking on his tongue and…
A car door slammed outside. He heard Dean's voice.
Nathan tore his mouth away. "We have get out of here," he whispered. He trailed kisses over Sam's jaw and neck.
"Yeah." He groaned when Nathan bit his neck. Turned his head and kissed the top of his head. Pulled him away, tilting Nathan's head back. Kissed him, nibbling on Nathan's lower lip.
"You don't even want this," Nathan moaned, arching into Sam. His hand slipped underneath Sam's shirt, tracing pattering against his skin. "It's just the spell."
The front door opened. Footsteps.
Nathan's hair was soft and silky between his fingers. He couldn't stop running his fingers through it. "Yeah." He found Nathan's mouth again. Kissed him.
The front door slammed. Silence.
Nathan went limp against him. His head pressed against Sam's neck. "Fuck," he whispered. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."
Sam pressed a kiss against Nathan's temple. Moved down and nibbled on his ear.
Abruptly, Nathan tore himself away. "Come on. We're going." He turned, walking like a drunk man.
Dazed, horny, and completely confused, Sam followed him out.
Dean pulled up in front of the cabin and cut the engine. The Impala was already parked out front and the door was open, but Sam and Nathan were nowhere in sight.
"We're here," he said unnecessarily. He glanced over at Rachel.
She was staring at the house, hardly breathing. Her eyes were wide, face pale, and her hands were clasped tightly together in her lap.
"You don't have to go in," he said, undoing his seatbelt and turning to her. He carefully pulled at one of her hands and took it in his own. "Me, Sam, and your brother can look around inside. You stay out here. Or I'll take you to a hotel."
"I thought you weren't going to let me out of your sight ever again."
He gave her a half-smile and kissed the inside of her wrist. Then he laced their fingers together. Right now, he wasn't exactly sure what to say. What the right words were. Rachel had said once that sometimes, just not saying anything was the right words, so to speak. Maybe this was the time.
So he didn't say anything. Just sat there holding her hand.
It took a long time. Well. Ten minutes, but it was a long time to be sitting in a car not doing anything. He wondered where the other two were, and what Rachel was going to do and what he was going to do if she fell apart. He wished there was something here to kill.
"Okay," Rachel finally said. "I'm going in."
"You don't have to."
"Yeah, I do." She released his hand and climbed out of the car. She hesitated when she was out, but then tossed her hair back and straightened her shoulders. Hands clenched into fists at her sides, she marched towards the house.
There was a sick feeling in the pit of Dean's stomach. He couldn't say why, just that something was going to happen. And it wasn't going to be good.
Grabbing his gun even though he knew it probably wouldn't be needed, he climbed out of the car.
Rachel got to the bottom of the porch. Her determined pace slowed as she climbed the stairs. Dean could see her shoulders getting tighter, arms shaking. He wanted to stop her.
He didn't.
The doorknob turned easily, door unlocked. Rachel got one foot inside before she suddenly reeled back. Turned and ran for the stairs, tripping down them and landing in an ungraceful heap at the bottom. She pushed herself to all fours and stayed there. Head hanging down, panting.
Dean walked over to her. Crouched down besides her. "You okay?"
She nodded. Swallowed a few times and slowly sat back. "I don't know what happened," she said, tucking her hair behind her ears.
"You have some kind of flashback? Or memory maybe?" Dean rubbed her back. She was trembling.
"No. No, nothing like that. I just kept thinking that this is where I was kept. This is where I was held and… and hurt and.." She swallowed. Whispered, "Raped."
Dean clenched his jaw. Wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to him. "Let's go, babe. Hit the road and just go."
She turned into his embrace, hand fisting into his shirt. "I'll be fine. Just give me a minute to get used to be here. Being back."
"I don't want you to get used to it. I want to go. To leave." He tightened his arms around her. "Let me and Sam worry about looking in here. You don't have to."
"You don't have any memories. I might."
The door opened. Dean glanced back to see Nathan and Sam stumble out like they were completely wasted. Their clothes were all messed up, hair, too.
He and Rachel rose, turning to them. Rachel was trembling, tears in her eyes.
"Nathan?"
Nathan looked up, blinking. His eyes looked fuzzy, out of focus for a moment. Then they sharpened. He inhaled, straightening. "Rach."
Rachel sniffed. Pulled away from Dean, climbing the stairs. "You didn't call. You never called me."
"I know. I'm sorry, Rachel."
"How could you just…" She grabbed him, fists clenching in his shirt. Pushed him away, then pulled him to her. Her arms wrapped around him and she clung.
"I'm sorry," Nathan whispered, holding her. He closed his eyes, rubbed her back. "I'm sorry, Rachel."
She held on for a few more minutes, then pulled away. "You smell like Sam."
His face turned bright red and he shot a look at Sam.
Sam was red, too, and looking anywhere but Nathan.
"Nathan?" Rachel's voice was flat.
"It's not like that. There's a…" He cleared his throat. "A lust spell on the place. It's built up since you left, and, uh…"
Rachel sighed. Stepped away from him and rubbed her eyes. "So, basically, it's not safe to go in?"
"Not until we diffuse it."
"Wait. Wait, what?" Dean came up behind Rachel and put his hand on her shoulder. "Lust spell?"
Nathan blushed more deeply. "Yeah."
It still wasn't quite registering. He looked from Nathan to Sam and back. Nathan was flushed and there were bruises on his neck. His lips were all swollen, like he'd been kissing and he looked like Rachel after they'd…. Oh. Oh fuck.
"Wait, you and my brother were… Gross!"
"Oh, don't be such a Neanderthal," Nathan said, rolling his eyes. "It's not like…"
"Look," Sam said, stepping in. "Whatever's going on in there, it's powerful. I've never felt anything like that. It was like I couldn't stop myself."
"Dude! I don't need details!" shouted Dean.
"I'm not giving details, asshole," Sam shot back. "Christ. All I'm saying is that it's not safe for anyone to go in there until it's cleared up." He turned to Nathan. "You do know how to do that, right?"
Nathan nodded. "Yeah. I need to get some supplies, but it shouldn't be a problem."
"All right. So, I'll go with Nathan to get whatever he needs and you and Rachel… Rachel? What's wrong?"
Dean pulled Rachel around to face him. Her face was covered in tears, chin trembling, crying as she looked at the house.
"Babe?"
"Just… Just leave me alone." She pulled away from Dean and started running off.
"Rachel!" Dean shouted, starting to go after her.
There was a hand on his arm. He glanced over at Nathan, who had him.
"I'll go."
"Oh, yeah, now you're interested in talking to her," Dean said, snorting.
Nathan rolled his eyes. "Guilt trip me later. Let me talk to her now."
He glared another moment, then shrugged, relenting. Stepped aside and gestured in the direction Rachel had run.
"Thanks." Nathan took off after his sister.
Dean turned and looked at his brother. "These Adamses are going to be the death of me."
"Yeah, I know." Sam rubbed his face with both hands. "Nathan is… he's a handful."
"So I gather," Dean said wryly.
"Don't start. It was… it was weird in there. Like I couldn't think." He sat on the porch and massaged his temples. "Lust spell. I've never felt one of those before. It's like being drunk on another planet."
"Whatever that means." He sat next to Sam. "You know, Rachel told me she's gotten some flashes of what happened. That they were good memories. Being with someone she liked." He glanced at his brother. "Think the lust spell had something to do with it?"
Sam shrugged. Sighed. "Maybe. I don't know." He sighed again, feeling exhausted. The spell had taken a lot out of him, and he felt drained. "Nathan is pretty convinced that there were two… entities."
"Entities?"
"I don't want to say people. One was the demon. But the other, well, Nathan thinks it was` someone else. Someone who burned the bodies for her. Who let her donate her clothes to charity instead of trashing them. Let her feel safe enough to put a code in a book and some of the magazines in there."
"What?"
Sam explained about the book and the magazines, bringing him up to speed on what they'd found.
"What do you think?" Dean asked.
"I don't know." Sam shook his head. "Maybe… maybe there's something to his theory. Maybe the demon didn't hold her for two weeks."
"But she was burned. There was sulfur."
"I'm not saying that he wasn't here. Nathan said that he could feel the demon both in the cave and here. Just, maybe… maybe he let whoever he was possessing take the reins for some of the time. And, whoever that was, Rachel trusted him. Liked him."
Dean rubbed his chin and gazed out at the woods where Rachel and her brother had disappeared. "So. What we need to do is for Rachel to remember who she was with and maybe we'll get some kind of answers."
"Or maybe we won't. Maybe… maybe there are no answers. Just the demon taking her and fuckin... screwing around with us. Our heads and sense of security. Maybe there was no other point."
Dean sighed and closed his eyes. "Yeah," he said. "That's what I'm afraid of."
Rachel ran, crashing through the trees blindly. She couldn't think, didn't want to think. Just needed to get away. Escape.
So, of course, she tripped over a fallen log. Went flying and hit the dirt. The air was knocked from her. Instead of pushing herself up, she just lay there, panting against the ground, smelling pine needles and sap and dirt.
A lust spell. There was a lust spell on the cabin. A strong one from what Nathan had said. And those things fed off themselves, meaning the more you fed off it, the stronger it got. And then, if it wasn't used, it built up to the level it'd been used.
Meaning she and whoever had been in that place had been really affected by it. They'd fed off the spell and fed it back.
It was all kind of humiliating in addition to being really fucking scary.
"Not a good place for a nap," Nathan said, his feet crunching in the debris of the forest.
Rachel closed her eyes. Didn't say anything.
"I know I'm jerk of the year. I'm sorry, Rachel. I didn't know how to handle this any other way."
Now she did push herself up. "You didn't know how to handle this?" She turned, wiping dirt off her face.
Nathan looked miserable. There were tears in his eyes, and he was hunched over on himself as he sat on the fallen log. "I know this is stupid, but you're my big sister. You're invincible, you know? You're the one that makes everything okay, and then…"
She sighed. Reluctantly moved to sit next to Nathan. "You are so full of shit."
He almost cracked a smile. "What? You are my big sister. You always made everything okay for me. And I'm just freaked out about not being able to do the same for you. So, I thought, hey? Why not come out here and get her stuff?"
"I didn't want my stuff. I wanted my brother."
"Yeah, well. Your brother's a jerk. And a wimp."
Rachel sighed. Leaned over and kissed Nathan on the temple, then leaned her head against his. "You're not a wimp."
"I just don't want to think about what happened to you," he whispered. "To think of you scared and hurt and all alone."
"Yeah," she said, bitterness in her voice. "Except now we know I wasn't so scared and hurt, huh? Not with a lust spell spurring me on."
He took her hand. Squeezed it. "I'm seriously questioning if a lust spell would work around a demon of that power."
"What?"
"Whoever or whatever that demon is, it's crazy powerful. More powerful than the spell. I think that its mere presence would probably be enough to extinguish the spell."
"Then why have it there at all? And how do you know how powerful it is?" Rachel asked, pulling her head away from Nathan's.
He waved his free hand dismissively. "I'm empathic. And I don't know. Unless it was cast to make you sleep with whoever was there before the demon took over."
"You're what? And what?"
"I think that the demon probably, like, made a pact with someone. Someone you know and trust. He rescued you, brought you here."
"And…slept with me? Why? What's the point?"
Nathan shrugged. "I don't know. That's where my theory falls flat. I don't get any of this."
"Me neither." She sighed."You can get rid of the spell?"
"Yeah. No problem."
"And what's this about you being empathic?"
Nathan turned red. "Oh, yeah. That."
"Yeah, that. Start explaining. Now."
