We face a crossroad never knowing what's in store
There's an angel on my shoulder
There's a devil at my door
She proclaimed, "Tonight
Will be the greatest of our lives"
And I said, "Don't be so sure
Let's just wait until the morning light"
I feel my temperature rising
My body explode
I feel like somebody's watching
Like I'm not alone
I stopped, I vowed right then and said that
Whatever path you take (the path you take)
Wherever you might go (where you may go)
Whenever you decide to leave
I'll follow
I'll follow
HEART
City Morgue
San Francisco, California
I straightened my suit jacket and looked at Sam with a smile. It was good to be back on the job again without feeling like a huge dark cloud hanging over us all the time. Yeah sure, it was still there lingering on the horizon, and would get nearer if we focused on it for too long, but over all things were starting to feel just a little bit better.
The morgue attendant opened the compartment to the refrigerated area, and slid out the tray holding the latest victim. It was a middle-aged man, in pretty decent shape, and completely cut up along his chest, stomach, shoulders and throat. He had been mauled.
"Here he is Detectives," the attendant, Sally, said to us.
I grimaced at all the stitches. "That's a pretty nasty bite," I commented, looking up at her.
"Mmhmmm," she agreed with a nod.
"You know what bit him?" Sam asked, looking over at her.
Sally averted her eyes, looking like she would give anything to avoid that question. "I haven't quite determined that just yet," she said finally, and we could see clear as day that she was lying.
"Come on Doc. Off the record." Sam said, pushing for information, turning those eyes on her.
"Ok," she said, looking guarded. "Way, way off the record."
"Sure," Sam agreed, looking over at me. I raised my eyebrow.
Sally took a deep breath and thought about what she was going to say. She looked hesitant and afraid, like the answer she was about to give us would freak out an ordinary person. What she didn't know was that we were no ordinary detectives.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say the guy was attacked by a wolf. But unless I know that the zoo is missing one of their lobos, I'm going with pit bull." Sam raised an eyebrow and she eyed him carefully. "I like my job," she said firmly.
Sam chuckled. "Oh yeah, I hear you."
"One more thing," I said to her, drawing her gaze away from Sam. "This guy – was his heart missing?" I asked. Sally looked surprised.
"Yeah, how did you know that? I haven't even finished my report," she said.
I shrugged and smiled. "Lucky guess." I gave Sam a pointed look over her shoulder and he nodded imperceptibly at me.
We excused ourselves and walked back to the car.
"Dean is going to have a field day," Sam said, shaking his head. I laughed at that and nodded, it sure was something we didn't come across on a regular basis.
Motel Room
San Francisco, California
Dean looked up from cleaning his gun as I entered the motel room. I went straight for the bed, kicking off my shoes and shrugging out of my jacket. I was feeling a little over dressed and uncomfortable. Rummaging through my duffel bag I found one of Dean's t-shirts and exchanged it for the button down blouse I was wearing – I felt better already. Dean's eyes were watching me playfully, then flicked over to Sam when he came in a few minutes later carrying Chinese take-out.
"So?" He asked finally, when neither of us said anything.
"Hmm?" I asked, slipping out of my skirt, and standing there in the t-shirt and my panties. Dean swallowed and then looked up at me, eyes narrowing.
"Don't try and distract me. This lawyer guy, was he the first heart-free corpse in town?" He asked. I grinned and stepped into a pair of sweatpants, pulling them up and tying the string at my waist.
"The first man," Sam answered for me. "Over the past year, several women have gone missing. Dead bodies all washed up later in the bay, too deteriorated to draw firm conclusions."
Dean looked like he was about to burst. "But no hearts?"
"No hearts," I said, crossing over to the food Sam had put on the table and fishing out the lemon chicken and combination fried rice.
"They were all hookers working Hunter's Point. Now, cops are trying to keep things under wrap, but they're looking for a serial killer." Sam finished, looking for his Black Mushrooms with baby bok choy. I handed him the box along with his egg rolls.
Dean was looking hungry, but he wasn't giving in to the teasing distraction we were trying to put him through.
"And the lunar cycle?" He asked, eyes narrowed.
I smiled and tilted my head. "Month after month, all murders happen in the week leading up to full moon." I confirmed with him, and his little smirk turned into a wide grin.
"Which is this week, right?" Sam asked me, playing dumb, waving his chopsticks around in the air.
"Yeah, yeah I think it is," I said with a grin.
"Hence the lawyer," Sam said with a nod and I agreed.
Dean's face couldn't have gotten any brighter. "Awesome!" He exclaimed, jumping up off the bed and coming over to the table. Sam and I rolled our eyes at him.
"Dean, could you be a bigger geek about this?" I asked, putting my food down and opening up my can of coke.
"I'm sorry apple-pie, but what about 'a human by day, a freak animal killing machine by moonlight' don't you understand?" He asked, sashaying up to me and putting his hands on my hips. "I mean, werewolves are bad ass. We haven't seen one in years!"
"Yeah, and am I the only one who seems to remember what it did to you?" I asked, frowning and reaching up to run a gentle finger along his eye socket, just under his right eye. The last time we'd gone up against a werewolf, it had tried to make him his chew toy, if John hadn't been such a good shot... I sighed frustratedly at his devil may care attitude.
"Awww come on, it got the jump on me, could have happened to any one of us, and I'm ok!" Dean said, looking down at me. "You gotta admit, this is exciting."
I rolled my eyes, looking at Sam. "Ok, Sparky," Sam said. "And you know what? After we kill it, we can all go to Disneyland."
Dean ignored him and instead pulled away, going back to the bed he'd been sitting on. "You know what the best part is?" I shook my head, thinking there was no best part in all this, but curious what he thought. "We already know how to bring these suckers down!" He reached down to the bag on the bed and pulled out a case which housed a good couple dozen silver bullets, brandishing one in the air confidently.
"So, what's our next move?" Dean asked.
Sam shrugged and shovelled some mushroom into his mouth with a satisfied grunt.
"Talk to the girl who found his body," I said, picking up my own lunch again.
"Hmmm, ok then." Dean said thoughtfully before coming over to look at the food. "After lunch," he sniffed at a couple of the containers. "What'd you get me? Mu Shu? Chow Mein?" He looked up at me and I nodded at the last comment. He grinned again and hungrily dug around for the plastic forks that were also in the bag. When he found it, he opened the container and leaned over to give me a kiss on the cheek.
"You're the best," he said with a grin, digging in.
"Yeah, I know," I smirked at him, shaking my head a little enjoying the delight that was on his face.
Madison's Apartment House
You could have scraped the boys' jaws off the ground, this girl was so drop dead gorgeous. She was peering at us with round dark eyes, long straight dark hair, and a curvacious body accentuated by a skin tight t-shirt that clung in all the right places. I watched the boys drool over her with guarded amusement. Personally I thought one eye was a bit bigger than the other and she looked a little bit buggy, but then, that could have just been the green-eyed monster talking. I shoved the thought out of my head as quickly as it came, reminding myself that Dean had been drooling over my ass not fifteen minutes earlier as I'd changed into a pair of comfortable jeans, similar t-shirt and my leather jacket.
"I don't understand. I already gave my statement," Madison said to us, showing us into the living room where there was a bearded man sitting on the couch in a Mission Church t-shirt.
"Right, well we just need to verify a few things," Sam said to her.
Madison nodded and turned back to us. "This is my neighbour, Glen. Glen, this is Detective..."
"Landis," Dean replied, quoting the director's name from one of his favourite 80s werewolf films. He went on to sprout out the director's names of two more werewolf films released that year. "And Detectives Dante and Wadleigh," he said, gesturing to Sam and myself respectively. I internally rolled my eyes, Wadleigh, really?
Glen stood up, looking a little uncomfortable. "Well, I guess I'll leave you to it," he said to Madison, giving her a bit of a puppy love look.
"Ok," Madison said with a smile. "Thanks for the casserole."
"Oh, how thoughtful," Dean commented with a grin as Glen passed him, I poked him in the ribs. Dean could be a bit of an ass sometimes, especially when he was playing it up in front of the ladies.
"Just call if you need anything," Glen said back at Madison before leaving. She smiled and watched him show himself out.
"He's sweet. He came over to check on me," she explained. "Please have a seat," Madison continued, showing us to the nearby dining table. We each took a chair and waited for her to join us.
"You must be pretty shaken up," I started, looking at her. "You were Nate Mulligan's assistant, right?"
"For two years, yeah," she said, nodding.
"So, you knew all about him?" Dean asked.
"Probably know more about him than he did," Madison said with a smile. "Nate was... he was nice."
"But?" I asked, sensing something more below the surface of that comment.
"Nothing, really. He had a few scotches in him, and he started hitting on anything in a five-mile radius. You know the type?" She asked. Sam looked over at Dean, who had raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. I do, actually," Sam said, and I practically snorted. Dean wasn't quite so bad these days, thank god, but neither of us were above having a little good clean fun occasionally, something Sam managed to avoid like the plague. Dean winked at me and rolled his eyes at Sam, I smiled in reply, at the end of the day I knew where his heart was.
Dean's face turned serious as he looked back over at Madison. "Did he have any enemies?"
"What do you mean? It sure looked like an animal attack," she questioned, a slight frown creasing her brow.
"Yeah, we're just covering all the bases," Dean explained. "Was there anyone that might have had a beef with him – a former client, an ex?" She hesitated, thinking of something.
"What?" Sam asked gently.
Madison took a breath and looked at us. "Well, this is embarrassing, but my ex-boyfriend, Kurt ..."
"Kurt have a last name?" Dean interrupted and she glanced at him.
"Mueller," she said, looking back to Sam. "After we broke up, he went kind of nuts. He's...well kind of been stalking me. He got it in his head that something was going on between Nate and I. He showed up at my office."
"What happened?" I asked, leaning on the table.
"Kurt got into it with Nate, threw a punch before security grabbed him. I was lucky to keep my job." She replied, looking at me for what seemed to be the first time during the interview.
"When was the last time you saw Kurt?" Dean asked.
"A few nights ago. Actually, the night Nate died. We were all grabbing drinks at this bar and Kurt showed up." She definitely seemed to have a thing for Sammy, turning her eyes back to him as she spoke.
"And?" Sam prompted, his eyes watching her just as closely.
"Nothing. It was like he was watching me. Then he was gone. To tell you the truth... he scares me," she said, shuddering a little.
We saw ourselves out, I bounced down the steps ahead of the boys, walking toward the Impala.
"So, what do you think?" Dean asked of us, and I paused to think about the fact that he'd been asking that a lot lately. It was not like Dean at all, he was always take charge and lead, but in the last few hours he'd asked us twice what we thought about the next course of action. It was a little puzzling.
"Stalker ex-boyfriend? He hates the boss. And he was there that night," I commented as he reached me.
"You think he's our dog-faced boy?" Dean asked me as we rounded the car and climbed in.
"Well, it's a theory," I said, nodding.
"We've had worse," Dean agreed, looking over at Sam, who was also nodding his agreement.
"What do you say we pay Kurt a visit?" Dean said, starting up the car.
We waited until dark. The address we'd gotten for Kurt was across town. It was in an apartment building, clean but not exactly high end either. Dean picked the lock and entered the apartment ahead of us. We quickly canvassed the small area, kitchenette with combined dining, living room and one bedroom with an ensuite. It was clean and comfortable.
"Anything?" Sam asked and I shook my head. Dean had his head in the fridge, of course, and he closed the door with a sigh.
"No, nothing but leftovers and a six-pack," he commented.
"Check the freezer," I said to him, flipping through a couple of photo albums. "Maybe there's some human hearts behind the Haagen-Dazs or something."
Dean looked thoughtful and turned back to the freezer. At the same time we all heard a door open and close. There was a muffled crash outside which drew Dean's attention. He crossed to a sliding glass door that led out to a balcony.
"Hey guys!" He called back to us, and we joined him. "Check it out," he said, pointing to the wall of the building. There were claw marks sliding all the way down to the bottom floor, as if the creature had used the wall to slow down its fall.
We looked around but it was very dark, and there was no obvious sign of anything moving around below. I moved to go back inside and heard it as soon as the boys. A gunshot rang out from the alley and we all looked at each other startled.
Dean was pushing past me in an instance, Sam and I hot on his heels. We raced to the ground floor as quickly as we were able, rounding into the alley only to find a policeman's body completely mauled. I reeled back, the smell of blood on the air, causing me to dry retch.
There was a sudden panic that maybe we weren't alone, and I looked around our perimeter at the shadows that could hide a multitude of sins.
"I'll call 911," Sam said as Dean kneeled down next to the body. He looked contemplatively at the mauling of the body, and grimaced.
"I'd say Kurt's looking more and more like our Cujo," Dean said, looking up at me. I nodded, completely agreeing on that one. It suddenly occurred to me where he might go.
"Dean, if he's out there, we better check on Madison," I said, Sam looked a little startled and I wanted to chuckle. I wasn't used to seeing Sam all crushing on a girl.
Madison's Apartment House
Dean knocked on the door when we got there. Glen stuck his head out of his own door across the hall when he heard the noise.
"What's going on?" He asked.
Dean turned a stern face to him and answered shortly. "Police business Glen."
Madison answered the door still dressed in a robe.
"What is it?" She asked, when she saw us standing in her hallway.
Sam glanced over at Glen, who was still inquisitively staring at us all. "Well, maybe we should talk privately," he said to Madison who nodded and let us into her apartment.
She went to the kitchen and handed us all some mugs, reaching for a pot of coffee on the counter.
"Has Kurt been here?" Sam asked. Madison began pouring us all some coffee.
"Not exactly," she said.
"What exactly does 'not exactly' mean?" Dean asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Well he was outside last night. Just...looking. Just looking at me." Dean and Sam exchanged a look and it showed her that there was definitely more to this routine questioning than met the eye. "Has he done something?" She asked.
"We're not really sure," Sam said quietly.
"It's probably nothing, but... we just don't want to take any chances," I said to her. "In fact, one of us should probably stay here with you, just in case he stops by." The boys were nodding at that suggestion, so I turned back to her. "Where does he work?"
"He owns a body shop," Madison said.
"You mind grabbing that address for us?" Sam asked. He looked over at me as she left the room. I hadn't missed the uncomfortable look on his face whenever Madison was around.
"OK Beth, you stay here with Madison, Dean and I'll check out Kurt's workplace." Sam said and Dean snorted, shaking his head.
"What?!" I said indignantly. "Why do I automatically get stuck with the babysitting the bug eyed woman?!" Sam panicked a bit at the tone in my voice and started to reached out to smooth away the implications of his statement.
"All right, you go. Dean can stay here." Sam said. I stared at him. Wow, he must really like this girl.
I snorted, looking at Dean. "Yeah right, like I'm leaving him here unchaperoned with the hot chick! Screw that. No, we settle this the old-fashioned way," I said to Sam, raising my fist to them in our tried and true rock-paper-scissors game gesture.
The boys raised their fists too and we bobbed our hands three times before choosing our weapon. Sam and I chose rock, Dean chose scissors. I chuckled at him.
"Dean, always with the scissors!" I said, he was so predictable sometimes.
"Shut up, shut up! Two out of three!" Dean said, always annoyed that he didn't win at this game...ever. So we went again.
We chose exactly the same thing again, and Dean cursed, he was out. It just left Sam and me. I smirked at him and we pumped our fists again. This time I was paper, predictably covering Sam's rock, which he'd chosen for the third time.
"Sam, always with the rock!" I grinned and covered his first with my hand.
"OK, you win, you stay with the girl," Sam said to me and I laughed, shaking my head.
"I win, I choose: you stay with the girl." I said, and Sam rolled his eyes.
Dean chuckled, the look on his face showing that he didn't really care about the results, he pulled the collar of his jacket up around his neck and slipped a hand around my waist.
"Enjoy bro," he said with a lascivious grin. I smiled cheekily and led Dean out the door. I intended to make the most of our time alone anyway, we'd been kind of crazy lately, making up for lost time; my libido was back in full throttle, so watching Dean on a minute by minute basis wasn't doing me any favours.
Madison's Apartment
Sam's POV
Dean and Beth couldn't have been more obvious, throwing me back into the room like an offering to some old pagan god. I turned around to Madison with an apologetic look on my face for their behaviour, but it was lost on her – she'd missed the whole rock-paper-scissors exchange.
Madison had taken the time to get changed after they'd left. She was now wearing jeans and a form fitting top and she smiled at me, gesturing to the living room.
"Um...do you want to sit on the couch?" She asked. I looked at the couch, and then shook my head.
"No. No, no. I'm ok." I said back to her, seemingly reverting to awkward teenager all over again. Where did that come from? I took a seat back at the dining table.
"It's more comfortable." Madison pointed out.
"Ah, I'm fine." I said. She disappeared and then came back into the room with a basket full of laundry, dumping it unceremoniously on the table to sort. I noticed little black lacy panties among other scanty items and it just turned things ten times more awkward as she started folding them and making neat little piles right in front of me.
"You know, I think I will sit on the couch," I said, getting up and doing just that. My phone started ringing and for the first time in a while I answered it gratefully even though I knew what was coming.
Predictably it was Dean.
"Let me guess. You're sitting on her couch like a stiff, trying to think of something to say," he said on the other end of the line, not even waiting for me to say hello.
I ignored him, especially since it was true. "Did you find Kurt?"
"No, he hasn't been at work all week. But because I'm good, and I mean really, really good... I got a line on where he might be." Dean paused, listening to something Beth was saying in the background. He then chuckled and came back on the line. "Oh hey, so Beth wants to know what bug-eyes is wearing?"
I rolled my eyes. "Bye Dean," I answered simply, hanging up the phone. Those two were impossible.
Madison came over once I was off the phone and sat down on the couch. She picked up the remote and turning on the TV, flipping the channel to some stupid soap opera that Dean would watch. I rolled my eyes and she looked at me.
"I saw that," she said with a little smile.
"Saw what?" I asked innocently. She wasn't having any of it.
"OK, this is the deal: my house, my TV. I never get to watch my show." She turned back to the television. "So suck it up." I laughed and conceded the point.
A hour later I was completely riveted by the show, although I didn't want to admit it. But at least it gave me something to talk to her about.
"Wait, so... Kendall married Ethan's father just to get back at him?" I asked her. She smirked and nodded.
"Yep. And now she's set to inherit all the casinos that were supposed to go to Ethan," she said.
"What a bitch!" I said and we both laughed.
"Admit it, you're hooked," Madison said with a victorious grin.
"No, no, no, no, no. I wouldn't say I'm hooked." I denied, shaking my head, she giggled and it felt good to actually make someone laugh again.
"You know, can I ask you a question? It's – it's a little personal." I said to her.
"You've seen my entire underwear collection," she pointed out and I almost blushed thinking of how she'd just dumped it all over her kitchen table. "Go ahead." She prompted.
"Ok, um … well, you're – you're clearly smart." I started. "I mean your house is full of great books, you know? And you're independent."
"Uh-huh," she said with a nod, looking at me intently.
"What were you doing with Kurt?" I blurted out, feeling a little self-conscious.
She paused, and I started to think maybe I'd said the wrong thing, but then she shrugged.
"I don't know," she said honestly. "I mean it's not like he introduced himself, like, 'Hi, I'm possessive and controlling and I like to punch people. Want to be my girlfriend?'"
I laughed because life would be so much easier if that were the case. Then again, maybe I wouldn't want to know what the big honest broadcast would say about me. Beth was kind of lucky in that regard, she already knew all Dean's secrets.
"Yeah, well, I guess we all make mistakes," I said in response.
"Yeah, well mine's wanted by the police," Madison said, shaking her head. "You want to know why I stayed with him? Really?" I nodded, curious. "I was too insecure to leave," she confessed.
"I find that hard to believe. I mean, you don't really seem the type," I said to her, and that was the truth.
"Yeah, well some stuff happened. My life changed, I changed. For the better, I think." Madison said to me, smiling a little. She ran her hands through her hair as she talked, and I found it slightly distracting.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Well for one thing, I got mugged," she said with a short chuckle. I almost laughed, my mouth hanging open at her nonchalant attitude over a mugging.
"And that's supposed to be a good thing?" I asked her with a chuckle.
Madison sat up straighter, laughing with me. "I know, it sounds strange. And don't get me wrong, it rattled me. But then it hit me. I could keep feeling sorry for myself, or I could take control of my life. I chose the latter. First thing I did was tell Kurt he had to go."
"Smart move," I said, nodding.
"Apparently. Everything else just opened up, blossomed. It's all been wonderful, really." I shrugged at that idea, not seeing how she could be so positive about it all. "What? Doesn't everybody think that being a victim of random violence is the best thing that ever happened to them?"
I thought about Beth, and my gaze fell to my hands. I didn't know anyone who thought being a victim of random violence was the best thing they'd ever had happen... I laughed at the idea, I mean really, Dad? Dean? Beth? Cole? Me? Violence was kind of the whole problem.
"Yeah... not so much." I said finally with an ironic laugh. "You're... unusual."
"Unusual, like... unusual?" She asked, rolling her eyes and pointing to her head like she was a crazy person.
"No, no, no, no, no. Unusual like... impressive." I said, trying to explain.
"You think so?" She asked with a shy smile. I was about to answer when my phone started ringing again. It was Dean.
I smiled apologetically at Madison. "Sorry..." She nodded and I answered.
Strip Club
Beth's POV
Dean had called Sam, how he could hear a word over the blaring music of this place was beyond me. I was pushing my way back from the bar, a couple of beers in my hands, eyes on the back of Kurt's head. He'd planted himself at one of the stripper tables and I internally rolled my eyes. Dean was smiling like it was Christmas and I watched him hold out a dollar bill to the stripper who quickly took it from him. "Oh yeah, my eyes are glued," Dean was saying to Sam as I made it to his side. "Look, Sammy, I gotta let you go. I, uh, I don't wanna miss anything." He hung up, smirking at me and I shook my head.
"You really know how to show a girl a good time," I said to him, leaning against the table and taking a drink.
"You want me to get up there?" Dean asked with a raised eyebrow. "Because I seem to remember you didn't mind my little table dance when we were buying that new one for Bobby..." he said, eyes glued to me now. "In fact, I seem to remember getting you up on that table too..."
I grinned at the memory, Dean had supposedly been testing out the weight bearance of the table, given that John and Cole had broken Bobby's other table during an evening of god knows what on the old one. Dean still chose to believe they'd just been fighting and Cole had flipped his father through the table – which was true. But there was a little more to the story than that, he just didn't want to look at the whole relationship thing that had been going on there.
Either way, the table we'd picked at the store got tested by Dean's faux stripper dance, and by me trying to put him through it. There'd been a lot of frustrated moments between us those days.
"Hmmm," I said, taking another sip of my beer and glancing over at Kurt, who was still staring at the stripper. "Well you know, had to make sure we got our money's worth – that table is still there at Bobby's I might add."
"Yep," he said, leaning over to kiss me, his hot lips drawing a slight sigh from me. "You made the right decision." He said to me with a smile. I raised my eyebrow.
"Wasn't the only good decision I made that week, if I remember rightly," I said, smiling back at him. That week I'd also found out about John and Cole, and so I'd kind of decided that if John could mess with his own rules, to hell with them as far as Dean and I were concerned. Sure, it was still slow going to get to a point where John gave us his blessing, but we got there.
Dean chuckled and took at sip of his own drink. "Took you long enough you tease," he said. I grimaced, so many years where we'd have these little moments of touching, kissing, connecting – only to have it pulled out from under us when reality hit and I was too scared to go anywhere with it because of John.
"Come here," Dean said, putting his beer on the table, then sitting back on the stool, patting his knee. I smiled sadly at him, still in that memory, but I took the hint – putting my beer next to his. He held my hips as I climbed up to straddle him, sitting comfortably in his lap and facing him. "Stop dwelling," he said to me, eyes now completely on me. "We're here now aren't we?" I nodded, feeling the sadness slip away.
He slid his hands up under my jacket, pulling me in for a lingering kiss, and suddenly there was no stripper dancing around behind me, there was no werewolf we were hunting, there was nothing but him, and those lips: and they were just as amazing now as they were five years ago when I'd had a whole night of making out with him after his brush with a werewolf, somehow John's rules had seemed inconsequential when faced with Dean almost ending up a wolf's chew toy.
I got to spend the next thirty minutes practically giving Dean a lap dance for free, instead of us actually focusing on the stripper behind us. I looked at my watch and decided it was time to find us some food. Strip clubs, as it turns out, have a fairly varied range of food, so long as you can deep fry it. I ordered us a bit of everything, wings, fries, chicken strips, nachos, and was very disappointed that the phenomenon of the deep fried cheese curd hadn't made it out of the midwest yet.
The food kept us amused for another hour or so, but after that even Dean was starting to look bored with the scenery – and that was saying something. There were some couches in the corner, for doing dark and mischievous deeds, I didn't want to think about how long it'd been since they'd been cleaned because right now they were looking pretty darn comfortable compared to the stools we'd been on for the last few hours.
After another hour we gave in and took up residence on the couches. I lay back against the armrest, my legs draped across Dean's lap and he casually ran his hand back and forth along my calves and thighs. I shivered at the touch, giving him a cheeky grin and he smiled, looking just as tired as I was.
"Stake-outs suck," I muttered, leaning my head back against the arm of the couch.
"You'd think this one would be more enjoyable," Dean said, agreeing with me. "Man this guy has stamina!"
Kurt finally made his move, heading for the door. We pulled apart and followed at a discreet distance. We were within walking distance to Kurt's apartment, so we were all on foot.
Slipping into the shadows of a couple of trees, we let Kurt cross the road and go inside, waiting a few moments until we saw a light come on. Dean pulled his gun out and looked at me, I nodded and we started to cross the road, about halfway across the sound of shattering glass echoed from the front window of Kurt's apartment.
"What the...?" Dean muttered and started to run. We took the stairs two at a time and burst through the open front door, moving quickly through to the main room. In the centre of the living room was Kurt's mauled body, the werewolf hovering over him. I turned to us, and I gasped. It was Madison! She was still in human form, only her eyes were electric blue, her teeth had elongated into fangs.
She was on us in an instant, growling and pushing Dean into the wall. I aimed my gun, but she was too close to Dean for comfort, I hesitated to pull the trigger. He had pulled out a silver knife when he dropped his gun and he nicked her arm with it, she reared up with a growl and then smashed through the window nearest her. I ran to the window, trying to get a shot at her, but she was gone.
"Dean!" I muttered, and hurried to his side. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Sam, at the same time I shook Dean. He was completely knocked out.
Sam answered after a couple of rings. "Beth, you ok?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine... Dean, not so much. We're at Kurt's, the werewolf knocked him out cold. Look, Sam, it's Madison." I said, checking Dean's pulse, just in case. It was thready but it was there.
"What?" Sam exclaimed. "Beth, I've been here the whole time. She's in bed, asleep."
"Yeah well why don't you check the bedroom, because she was just here Sammy," I said to him, a little frustrated. I shook Dean by the shoulder, tapping his cheek a little. "When she shows up, look below her elbow. Dean nicked her with a silver knife."
Sam sighed over the phone and hung up on me. I looked at Dean with a bit of concern, that knock to the head was going to hurt when he woke up.
Madison's Apartment
Sam's POV
Beth had officially lost it, I'd been here the whole time. But just the same, when I hung up the phone I decided to go check the bedroom. I knocked and got no response, so I let myself in anyway. She'd be asleep, that's all. But that wasn't it, the bed was empty, and the window was open. There was movement from the bathroom and Madison came out looking a little worse for wear.
"Morning," she mumbled, rubbing her head.
I noticed the wound on her arm right away.
"Wow, my head, I feel like I was up all night drinking!" She said, grimacing in pain. I was so shocked to see that cut on her arm, I backed away, heading for the front door. Madison followed me, confused.
"Sam? What's going on ? Where are you going?" She followed me into the living room and watched while I locked the front door, sliding the chain into place.
I turned back to her and sighed. "I'm not going anywhere. And neither are you," I said. She looked panicked and tried to run, but the sun was coming over the horizon, whatever powers she had granted from the moon were gone. I grabbed her, and pushed her into a chair. I had rope in my duffel bag and I used it to secure her arms.
A half hour later she was looking at me with a mixture of betrayal and self-defeat.
"You're psychotic. The whole 'I'm a cop' trip, God I am so stupid!" She said, shaking her head.
"Well, I guess neither of us are who we said we were, huh?" I said to her, pacing back and forth in front of her, my gun in my hand and ready to be used.
"Sam, you're sick, ok? You're imagining things. Monsters don't exist, not really," she said. She hadn't taken too kindly to my werewolf theory when I explained it to her.
"You know what? Save the act." I said, crossing my arms. I was so sick of being lied to.
Madison started to cry. "It's not an act! I am not a werewolf! There's no such thing! It's made up, all right? They're not real! You know they're not real!"
She was begging me to see reason, and I hesitated for a moment, and then I saw the cut again on her arm.
"No?" I said, pointing to it. "Then where did that come from?" I asked.
"I don't know! Sam, God, you need help. Please, don't do something that you're going to regret. I'm not what you think I am. I'm not." Madison said, pleading.
I struggled to see the monster in her. Maybe she was telling the truth, maybe she really didn't know? I didn't know what was worse, because either way, she was a danger to us.
There was knocking at the door, and I went to unlock the chain, letting in Dean and Beth.
Dean looked pissed, he smirked as he walked into the room, looking over at Madison. "How you doin'? My head feels great, thanks," Dean said to her. She just sat there, staring in defeat at all of us.
"We gotta talk," I said quietly to Beth and Dean. I ushered them into another room and they turned questioning eyes to me. "She says she has no idea what I'm talking about."
"She's lying," Dean said confidently, no question in his mind.
"Or maybe she really doesn't know she's changing, you know? Maybe – maybe when the creature takes over, she blacks out." I said to them.
Dean looked at Beth and raised an eyebrow. "Like a really hot Incredible Hulk," he said with a grin. Beth rolled her eyes and looked at me.
"Sam, two of the victims were her boss and her ex-boyfriend. That doesn't sound rash and unconscious." She said to me, and I hesitated.
"Yeah, but what if it was?" I argued. "I mean, what if some animal part of her brain saw both those guys as threats? Hell, the cop, too."
"What are you the Dog Whisperer now?" Dean asked me, smirking.
"Look, man, I just... I don't know, there – there was something in her eyes." I was seriously starting to doubt Madison was aware of what was going on.
"Sam, she's killing people!" Beth said, frowning at me.
"But if she has no control over it ..."
"Exactly!" Dean interrupted. "She can't control it. Even if she's telling the truth, it's not gonna change anything."
"I'm not putting a bullet through some girl's chest who has no idea what's happening!" I stated angrily.
"Sam, she's a monster, and you're feeling sorry for her?" Dean asked. Sometimes he just didn't get it.
"Maybe I understand her." I said, and he just stared at me for a heartbeat. "Look, there might be another way we can get the job done without having to waste her."
Beth looked at me with a thoughtful look. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" She asked.
I pulled Dad's journal out from my jacket and flipped to the page I'd been reading earlier, nodding at Beth. "Dad's journal – 'lycanthropy might have a cure if you kill the werewolf who bit you, severing the bloodline.'" I looked up at them both.
"Might have a cure," Dean said. "Meaning 'who the hell knows?'"
"It's worth a shot," I said to him.
"Well, we don't even know where to start looking Sam, I mean the wolf that bit her could be anyone, anywhere – it might have been years ago!" Beth said with another frown.
I thought about it, and then something Madison said came back to me. "No, I don't think so." I said, and I pushed past them, going back into the living room.
Beth's POV
Sam was in super protective mode, he just didn't want to do what really needed to be done on this one. I felt sorry for the girl, I really did, but at the end of the day – if you can't control yourself, and you're hurting people, what were we supposed to do? I had to agree with Dean on this one.
We followed Sam back into the room where Madison was tied up.
"Madison, when were you mugged?" Sam asked her, she just glared at him, stone silent. "Please it's important all right? Just answer the question."
"About a month ago," Madison said haugtily.
"Did you see the guy?" Sam asked, and she shook her head.
"No. He grabbed me from behind," she answered, looking confused.
"Did he bite you?" Sam asked, I chewed on my lip, this really wasn't sounding good from where we were standing there. Sometimes life just sucked.
"How did you know that?" Madison asked quietly. Sam sighed and looked at us, Dean exchanged a hopeless kind of look with me, you could see the sympathy that was there, he didn't like this development any more than I did.
"Where?" Sam asked.
"On the back of my neck," Madison replied. Sam put down his gun and moved behind Madison, brushing her hair away from her neck, there was a scarred lump the size of golf ball on her neck, it was mostly healed now, but it would have been nasty when it happened. Dean swallowed, looking back at me and shaking his head.
"Oh that's just a love bite," he said. "Believe me, that could have been a lot worse." I was thinking about the time he got jumped, how close he'd come to being bitten, this could have been us five years ago, and I felt the horror seep into me.
"Where were you at the time?" I asked her, trying to shake the image out of my head.
"Walking home from a friend's loft," she answered, starting to look even more scared.
"Let me guess. Not too far from Hunter's Point?" Sam asked. She nodded in response.
Sam pushed us back into the kitchen, closing the door behind us. "The same place where those other murders happened. I'm telling you, it's a werewolf's hunting grounds," he said, looking at us both.
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean it's gonna be out there tonight," I said to him.
"It's the right time of the lunar cycle," Sam argued. "Look, I know it's a long shot." He looked desperate, on that same old quest to save himself by saving others. I understood, I really did, but it was still a one in a million chance.
"Hey, you're forgetting something. Maddie's probably going to turn soon, all right?" Dean said. "We can't just let her take off to an all-you-can-eat buffet."
"I'll stay with her," Sam said. Sure, now he wanted to stay with her!
"And if she busts loose?" Dean asked, looking him in the eye. Sam didn't say anything. "Sam?"
"Sam?" I echoed in a warning tone. He sighed.
"I'll shoot her all right? But guys, I need you both to go out there. At least look for the thing. Dean, please," he said, turning to the one he had to convince the most. "We can save this girl."
Dean paused, staring at Sam for a few moments. His eyes flicked to me for a split second and then back to Sam. "All right," he agreed quietly.
I left the apartment with Dean, taking a second look at Sam, who closed the door with a final glance at us.
A few hours later we were down at Hunters Point, patrolling the area. So far it had been quiet, nothing out of the ordinary. If you could call drug dealers and prostitutes nothing out of the ordinary.
I was about fifty yards down the street from Dean, still within sight, but not too close either so we could cover more ground. There was a howling noise and I looked around, startled. I saw Dean start to move out of the corner of my eye, gun drawn as he walked quickly into an alley before him. I started running toward them as quickly as I could, gun low and by my thigh, ready to be used.
As I rounded the corner I heard Dean shout. "Hey!" The werewolf was dragging a hooker across the pavement, and she was screaming for help. At Dean's shout, the wolf looked up at him. Dean didn't hesitate, firing three shots and hitting it directly in the chest. The wolf collapsed by the hooker who was scrambling to her feet.
I shadowed Dean as I reached him, but the werewolf wasn't moving. The woman looked at us both, our guns drawn, and then took off running in the other direction.
"Hey don't mention it!" Dean yelled after her, turning to grin at me. I shook my head and placed a kiss on his cheek.
"Nice shot," I said to him, which earned me another grin.
The werewolf had turned back into it's human form and I was surprised to see it was Madison's neighbour Glen. I hadn't been expecting that. He was coughing and choking on his own blood.
"What happened? Where am I? Help – help me!" He reached out to us, but we stayed back, just in case. "Oh, God. Oh my God!"
"All right, easy Glen," Dean said to him, glancing over at me. "Just take it easy." Glen looked at us confused, a small gasp of breath coming out of his mouth before the light left his eyes.
Dean pulled me into his arms with a sigh, and I leaned into him gratefully. It had been a really, really long day. I was going to sleep for a week as soon as we found a motel.
Madison's Apartment – Outside
We were waiting for the sun to go down, I was groaning about the face that we couldn't at least wait until it got dark before sitting in the car staking out Madison's apartment. I really wanted to be in a motel, tucked up in bed, preferably with Dean next to me, but right now I was willing to take or leave that condition.
"It was sort of sad, actually." Dean said, looking over at Sam. "Glen had no clue what was going on." He paused and looked over at me. "Hey why do you think he turned Madison instead of just killing her in the first place?"
"I don't know. He seemed to have a real puppy love thing going on," I answered with a shrug from where I was lying on the back seat.
"Maybe his primal instinct did too. Maybe he was looking for a little, uh, hot breeding action?" Dean said with a grin back at me, I smirked, no points for guessing where his mind was.
"Something like that," I commented, shaking my head.
Dean turned to look back at Sam. "So?" He asked.
"So what?" Sam asked.
"Speaking of Madison..." Dean said suggestively, a grin spreading across his face.
Sam sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh whatever!"
"Don't 'whatever' me man, you liked her. Maybe, uh..." he trailed off with another lascivious grin.
"Dean, she thought I was a stark-raving lunatic!" Sam said, frustrated.
"You saved her life," Dean said, like the lunatic part was now irrelevant. She might believe us about the werewolf thing after seeing what she'd done to her bedroom over night – it had been torn apart, but that didn't mean she was going to just jump into bed with Sam.
"Yeah but she doesn't know that," Sam said quietly.
Madison's face suddenly appeared at the passenger window and she rapped on the glass. I jumped because I hadn't seen her coming and I'd been half way toward nodding off. Sam rolled down the window to talk to her.
"You know, for a stake-out, your car's a bit conspicuous. What are you still doing here?" She asked.
"Honestly?" Dean asked, and she nodded. "Uh, we're pretty sure you're not gonna turn tonight, but we've gotta be a hundred percent, so... you know, we're lurking."
"I know this sounds crazy," Sam said, trying to smooth over Dean's direct approach.
"Sure does," Madison said, but she smiled regardless. "Well, if we're gonna wait it out... we might as well do it together."
I groaned, now I'd have to sit up instead of being able to lie down in the back of the Impala. I wondered if I could get away with being rude and sleeping on Madison's couch. Dean reached over and smacked me on the ass.
"Come on princess, let's go," he said to me, and I sat up feeling a bit bleary eyed. He didn't look a lot better than me, but he was pushing through. Sam, for reason, was bright eyed and bushy tailed despite not having gotten any more sleep than us.
Madison showed us into the apartment, Dean and I took up residence at the dining table.
"You were telling the truth, weren't you? About everything. What you did –- it was to help me?" Madison asked, looking at Sam.
Sam nodded at her sadly. "Yeah."
"I did all of those horrible things…when I turned." The horror was starting to show in her eyes, the sinking knowledge of what she had done.
"You didn't know." Sam said quietly, compassionately to her.
She paused, as if considering his words. "So, when will we know for sure? Moonrise?"
"No, I don't think so. You turned middle of the night last night. I think we've gotta hang in until sun-up." Sam said.
Dean grinned at me. "Well, it looks like we've got ourselves a few hours to kill. Poker, anyone?" I shook my head in amusement and then nodded. Why not? It was the perfect opportunity to work on my poker face.
A few hours later the sun sank below the horizon and the moon started to climb into the sky. The tension in the room dialed up a few notches, especially when Dean took out his gun and laid it on the table. Sam and Madison looked at this action from their place on the couch, I grimaced and laid my head in my arms against the table top. I couldn't remember the last time I'd slept.
"Oh no, you guys talk," Dean said, waving at them. He reached out a hand and started to knead the back of my neck, I groaned softly at the touch, it was lulling me to sleep – I wasn't sure if that was the intention or not.
A few more hours later and the sun started to rise, golden rays of sunlight streamed through the big bay windows in the living room – we were all standing in front of it, watching. Madison turned her big bug eyes to Sam, they both looked hopefully at each other.
"Does this mean it worked?" She asked.
Sam looked relieved and nodded. "Yeah, I think so."
"Oh, God, thank you. Thank you so much." Madison exclaimed, throwing herself into Sam's arms. He laughed and hugged her back. Dean cleared his throat, looking over at Sam and Madison. They pulled away from each other and Madison looked a little sheepish. "You two Dean and Beth, thank you."
"Aw, don't mention it," Dean said, looking at them, pleased. He stood there like a bit of a stunned mullet, and things grew awkward. I broke the silence.
"OK, so we're gonna go back to the motel and... get some sleep, or something." I said, pushing Dean toward the door. Dean was chuckling as we left the apartment, he pumped his fist in the air in a celebration for Sam looking like he was going to get some action.
"Smooth Dean, real smooth," I said with a laugh, slipping my arm around his waist.
He pulled me in tight against him and kissed me as we walked to the car. "So looks like we got some time to kill..." he said, nodding back at the house.
"Looks like," I said at him, raising my eyebrow.
Dean was all hands by the time we got to the motel room, sleep having kind of left him behind the moment he got behind the wheel of the Impala. I let myself get pulled along with his enthusiasm, giggling from pure sleep deprivation. Just the same, he was a little rushed, stripping us down within seconds, kissing me hot and fast, his hands moving to all the right places and getting me turned on within minutes.
I groaned at the touch, and arched up to meet him, my legs wrapping around his waist and urging him on. We met in the middle, gasping for breath as he inched his way inside me and then started to thrust with a quick primal need. It was all over with a delicious consuming wave of tremors, and I clung to Dean's shoulders, kissing his neck as our immediate passion subsided. With that need sated sleep quickly tried to pull me under so I crawled beneath the blankets and groaned as I fell face first into the pillow, Dean wasn't far behind me.
He got up to lock the door, putting the chain across, and then checked the rest of the room, something he usually always did when we got there, but his mind had clearly been on other things. Momentarily he crawled in behind me, slipping his arm around my waist and nestling in to hold me. It was our favourite position, and it was even better when we were riding high on an afterglow. We were both fast asleep within minutes.
Motel Room
We slept for most of the day, waking up to order dinner via room service – I had no intention on moving from the bed for the rest of the night – if it couldn't be done in bed, it wasn't happening, unless of course it was calls of nature, those would have to see me to the bathroom, but other than that!
We hadn't heard from Sam, Dean didn't really expect to, though I was a little surprised he hadn't at least checked in. Dean had flipped the channels on the TV, finally settling on a re-run of Teen Wolf. I smirked at the irony of it, but happily snuggled in beside him, munching on a couple of fries from the plate on his lap.
"Oh Pamela..." Dean sighed at the blonde on the screen. "Such a hottie." We were watching the scene where a pretty blonde was attempting to seduce the Wolf in his change room. I punched him in the arm and scoffed.
"What? The girl is a major league bitch Dean!" I pointed out to him, and he nodded.
"Yeah, but for a high school guy, she's a dream! I bet she gives it up at the drop of a hat." He said with a grin.
"You'd know," I said, raising my eye at him. "I seem to remember a particular young blonde who would have been more than willing to give it up for you. Then you went and broke her heart."
Dean sobered, thinking about it. "Yeah well...I had other things to focus on. Like getting your shit sorted out," he finished with a kiss to my forehead.
"Really? My shit?" I laughed. "I wasn't that bad was I?"
Dean pretended to think about, and then leaned down to kiss me lingeringly again. "You were confusing as hell – all tough on one hand, and having a total break down on the other." I thought about it, it really had been a difficult time for us all.
"Then Dad dumped us for, what, a week? Here I was with a new .. totally hot I might add... sister to deal with and he books on us?" Dean shook his head. "I was starting to think I'd been mad to weigh in about bringing you with us."
"Why did you?" I asked, curious. "I mean, you were pretty dead against it when you'd spoken to me about it, before Dad made his decision." We'd never really discussed this.
Dean shrugged, putting the now empty plate on the bedside table. "Maybe I wanted an easy lay?" He said with a challenge, raising his eyebrow at me.
I punched him playfully. "Hey!" We tussled and I found myself on my back with my wrists pinned above my head. "Did you really think that?" I asked, frowning.
Dean laughed at the idea and rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding? You were locked up tighter than Fort Knox, Dad had you so completely indoctrinated to his 'thou shalt follow the rules' club, I didn't stand a chance. You know, you were like... Boof," he said, looking up at the TV screen.
I chuckled. "Well at least she's cute," I said to him and he grinned, leaning down to kiss me again. When he broke away he looked at me a little more seriously.
"Honestly?" He asked, and I nodded. "I was kind of tired of dealing with Dad's shit on my own. I had Sammy to take care of, hell I had Dad to take care of... and sure, while you were going to be someone else to add to that list, you had it together – for the most part. There was also something I saw in your eyes, a determination to fix some of the wrongs that had happened in your life." I stared up at him, thinking about that.
"You were lonely?" I said softly, and watched as all sorts of emotions passed across his face.
"Well I wouldn't put it quite that way." He denied. But I could see it in his eyes. That was the crux of it.
"OK then how would you put it?" I teased with a raised eyebrow.
"Well..." he said, kissing along my shoulder and up my neck. "I'd put it like... I wanted you to take over the Sammy-duty while I went and got with hot chicks like Pamela!" He quipped, finally reaching my lips and hovering over them.
"Instead I got Boof!" He said with a chuckle. I smiled, shaking my head just slightly, and the rubbed my nose against his in a cute little eskimo kiss.
"Yeah but Boof is Scott's true love," I said simply and Dean smiled. His eyes melted into giant pools of liquid emerald as he stared down at me.
"Like I said... I got Boof," he said, brushing his lips across mine in a loving, tender fashion. I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him close. This time, fully rested, we could take our time, and suddenly I didn't give a damn about where Sam was – hopefully he was having as good a time as we were, and would be less of a stick in the mud for it, at least for a few weeks anyway.
"By the way," Dean said as he started kissing his way down the length of my body. "Boof is way hotter than Pamela."
Motel Room
Next Morning
We woke up to a loud banging on the door, and then there was the sound of the lock tumbling as someone picked it. The door swung open and caught with the chain. Dean was out of bed and across the room by the time the door had even opened. He had the gun pointed at the door, and was standing there in all his birthday suit glory. I was busy scrambling for clothes, pulling a t-shirt over my head, and panties on which had been on the floor since the morning we arrived.
"Dean!" Sam's voice sounded when he realised the chain was on.
Dean visibly relaxed and rolled his eyes, walking back to his duffel bag. I slipped into some jeans and padded to the door while Dean pulled on clothes of his own. I undid the chain and opened the door, Sam barged in looking frantic.
"Jesus Christ dude, I nearly shot you!" Dean muttered at him, shrugging into some jeans and then adding a long sleeved t-shirt and jacket.
"She turned!" Sam said simply, it took me a moment to figure out what he meant.
"What?" Dean asked.
"I couldn't grab her in time," Sam said distraught, starting to pace the room.
"We'll find her, Sammy," Dean said quickly, trying to reassure our brother. The look he gave me was less than certain.
Within minutes we were heading to the Impala. Dean and I discreetly made sure we had guns with silver bullets, and silver knives on us. We didn't want to upset Sam any further than he already was, but the situation was looking very bad.
"I already called Bobby," Sam said leading us down the stairs to the car. "He doesn't know anything. Except he knew severing the bloodline wouldn't work. That's everyone. They all say it's impossible to reverse it."
"How come she didn't turn when we were with her?" I asked, frowning.
"Beth..." Sam said, holding his hands up.
"So what, you put her to bed and then she wolfed out? Maybe she's gotta be asleep to turn," Dean said, trying to reach a natural conclusion with this.
"What the hell does it matter, Dean?" Sam said, coming to a stop on the pavement and looking at the two of us. "Look, we've gotta find some way to help her, some legend we missed or something." Sam said urgently, not wanting to face reality.
"Sammy, if there was, don't you think someone we know would've know it? Hell, you and I are more well read than half the hunters out there, wouldn't you think we'd have come across something by now?" I said to him, the harsh reality was starting to blind me.
"Well, then we have to look harder until we find something," Sam said, shaking his head.
"Sammy, I don't think we've got a choice here anymore," Dean said, his eyes were full of sympathy, but out of the three of us, he was the one who always ended up having to make the hard calls.
"What?" Sam asked incredulously.
"I hate to say it," I said quietly. "But I agree with Dean. She's a sweet girl, but part of her is..."
"Evil?" Sam interrupted, turning to look at me.
"Yeah," Dean said seriously.
"Yeah, that's what they say about me, guys. So, me you won't kill, but her you're just gonna blow away?!" He looked hurt and frustrated. His phone rang, interupting us, and he answered it quickly.
His face crumbled when he heard her voice on the other end. I looked at Dean, chewing on my bottom lip, this was bad, this was really bad.
"Madison, where are you?" Sam asked, his eyes meeting Dean's before he started walking to the car. "Well do you see any street signs?" He followed up after she said something. He was already climbing into the front seat, Dean getting in the driver's side.
"All right, hold on Maddie. We're coming to get you, just stay where you are." I sighed and jumped in the back. So much for a relaxing day off.
Madison's Apartment
We were back at Madison's. We were all sitting around the dining table, or standing nearby. Dean had put his gun on the table, mine was tucked safely at the small of my back under my jacket, just in case.
"I don't remember anything." Madison said softly, shaking her head. "I probably killed someone last night, didn't I?" She was still dressed in nothing other than an oversized men's shirt that she'd stolen of a clothes line when she woke up naked and far from home.
"There's no way to know yet," I said gently from where I was leaning up against the kitchen counter a few feet away.
"Is there something else we can try to make it go away?" Madison asked, hopeful.
"Well find something," Sam promised. "I mean, there's gotta be some answer, somewhere."
"That's not entirely true." Dean countered with a sad look at Sam. "Madison, you deserve to know. We've scoured every source. There's just no cure."
"Is – is he right?" Madison asked tearfully, looking at Sam. Sam's face fell and he stood up, turning away.
"Well, we could lock you up at night, but – when you bust out, and some night you will, someone else would die." I said softly to her. "I'm sorry, I am."
Madison sniffed back tears, and I felt doubt starting to creep into my mind. I pushed it back out, there was no room for emotional attachments on a job like this. Dad had taught me that.
"So, I guess that's all there is to it then," Madison said calmly.
"Stop it. Don't talk like that!" Sam said, more upset than the girl in front of us.
"Sam, I don't want to hurt anyone else. I don't want to hurt you," she said. She grabbed the gun from the table and stood, walking over to Sam, pushing it at him.
"Put that down." Sam said, shaking his head.
"I can't do it myself. I need you to help me." She said quietly, holding the butt of the gun against his chest. Sam refused to take it.
"Madison, no," Sam said, looking her in the eyes and fighting back tears.
"Sam... I'm a monster," she said, still pushing the gun at him.
"You don't have to be. We can find a way, all right? I can. I'm gonna save you." Sam promised her, and the tears started to flow freely from Madison's eyes.
"You tried," she sobbed. "I know you tried. But this is all there is left. Help me, Sam. I want you to do it. I want it to be you." Sam struggled, his gaze falling back and forth between Madison and the gun.
"I can't," Sam said, his voice breaking.
"I don't wanna die. I don't. But I can't live like this. This is the way you can save me. Please. I'm asking you to save me." Madison pleaded. Sam shook his head. Dean and I exchanged a look and I tilted my head, offering in an unspoken question – I could do it, if it meant sparing Sam this pain. Dean shook his head imperceptibly to me, and I knew he'd already made up his mind.
I watched as Dean walked over to them and carefully took the loaded gun from Madison. Sam struggled, tears starting to run down his face, he looked Madison in the eyes and then left the room. Dean followed him, an agonised look on his face, I flashed Madison a sorry look and then followed the boys, leaving her to her thoughts.
Sam was down the hallways, and Dean was watching him, "I'm sorry," Dean said, looking down at the gun in his hand. I stopped a few feet away, watching them both.
Sam sniffed back tears and shook his head. "No, you're right. She's right." He admitted. There was a moment where Sammy stared at the two us, and we watched him. I moved up alongside Dean, and then gently laid a hand on Sam's arm.
"We'll do this," I said to him, and Dean nodded.
"Sammy, I got this one. I'll do it," Dean agreed. We would do this to spare him this pain, our little brother who had already been through so much, lost so many people. That's why we were here, to protect him from moments like this, just as we were to protect him from the life threatening ones.
"She asked me to," Sam said quietly.
"You don't have to," I said protectively, trying to spare Sam the pain of what was going to happen.
"Yes, I do." Sam said, putting his free hand out to Dean, gesturing for the gun. Dean hesitated, looking at Sam sadly. "Please." There was a pause and then Dean handed over the gun. "Just wait here." Sam instructed us, and I nodded solemnly.
Sam left the room, tears streaming down his face. Dean had a defeated slump to his shoulders. I crossed to him, putting my arm around his waist and looking up. There was a single tear that trickled down his cheek as he looked forlornly at me. I shared his sentiments, this was one of the harder things we'd ever had to do.
A single gunshot rang out through the apartment, loud and ominous. We both flinched at the sound, and it echoed in my head. I had a feeling it would be echoing in all our heads for a long time to come.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
The song for this chapter is : Midnight Hands by Rise Against.
Shout out to Teen Wolf of course, who couldn't reference it during a show like this?
I'm away for the weekend and won't have much of a chance to update then (unless I get o na roll tonight and manage to whip it up, but I doubt it, I just don't see myself getting the time). I'm hoping to get a couple of short stories up to tide you guys over though, so will see how I go for time. Otherwise, we'll be back with Hollywood Babylon which will be an early-relationship flashback.
I'm pretty tired right now, so please excuse any typos etc. as I may have missed some.
As always, thank you for the reviews and PM's, they mean a lot to me, and I love to chat with readers about what they're liking (or even hating or finding confusing) about the story. So please let a review when you're done, even if it's just to tell me what your favourite line was from the chapter! (Mine was "Don't try to distract me" and the look that would have been on Dean's face LOL Although I did have a lot of fun with the Boof comments :))