The rest of the drive to Devil's Lake was mercifully uneventful. Sam had switched the radio to some random pop station. There she found comfort in the pointless, idle chatter of the late night DJ interspersed between random songs of the minute. Finding a motel for the evening had been simple and Sam had paid the uninterested pimpled teenage boy at the front counter before parking the Impala. Gingerly she'd helped her mostly sleeping sister into their room before dressing down to her skivvies and falling into a dreamless sleep. When morning invaded their room Sam woke to find herself well rested and refreshed. Anxiety gnawed at the pit of her churning stomach as thoughts of Lucifer's absence filled her with dread.
She weighed the positives and negatives between telling Dee that she was on edge because Lucifer HADN'T been in her dreams, and just going back to sleep until it was her turn for the shower. The decision was made for her as her eyelids fluttered shut and twenty minutes later she was fighting to keep her blanket in place. When it became apparent that she would not be left alone, Sam roused enough to shove Dee away with her foot.
"Wow, I haven't seen you like this in weeks. That mean you actually slept through the night?" Sam's gaze slipped from her sister's face, watching from the corner of her eye as Dee dried her hair with the towel. She tasted the words for a moment before speaking.
"Yeah. I didn't have any dreams," She murmured, scratching absently at her arm. "Nothin' at all." Dee snorted.
"Well don't sound so ENTHUSIASTIC about it, Sammy."
"It's not that, Dee. I'm just worried is all." She managed.
"Worried?"
"Well, if he's in my head, pestering me and keeping me from sleeping then I know what he's doing." She trailed off, shrugging as she moved to the sink where she found her toothbrush and toothpaste laying haphazardly on the counter next to Dee's. When next she glanced up, mouth full of toothpaste, it was to see Dee leaning against the doorjamb watching her intensely.
"So any idea where to start?" Sam managed through her foamy mouth. Dee offered up a curt nod.
"Go ahead and shower; I'll grab us some food, ask some questions at the local coffee joint, then we'll regroup and head to the police station. Figure we'll start there." Sam nodded; Cas had briefed them the evening prior as they'd packed up. As Dee gathered up her wallet and dressed for the chilly weather outside Sam kicked the bathroom door shut and ruminated on what Cas had told them earlier.
Six attacks, enough to grab their angel's attention despite the hellacious happenings of the coming apocalypse. Sam smirked, stripping mechanically as the water heated and steam filled the room. True the Winchesters were studiously avoiding the coming Apocalypse and the various rampaging angels out for their meat suits, but that didn't stop them from rescuing the proverbial damsel in distress when they came across them.
The attacks that had brought them had started roughly three weeks ago. The first victim had washed up on the banks of the lake and was found by a fisherman in the early dawn. The man's eyes had been wide and unseeing, mouth contorted in a look of agony and lungs filled with lake water. The coroner had declared it a drowning at the scene; seeing no outward indications pointing to anything but drowning (and considering the limitations of the town's fund), Mr. Gregory Alorne was laid to rest a sad victim of off-season swimming.
Then the second victim had shown up she mused as she massaged shampoo into her scalp. Elizabeth Bluffe, twenty-four, sister to a one Jeanne Smith, mother of twins and now currently residing at Mercy Hospital. Unlike Mr. Alorne, Elizabeth had been found wandering through the center of town at 5:45 in the morning; a janitor just arriving for his shift had nearly suffered a heart attack when he found her wandering in dazed circles on the well-manicured lawn. She would soon be transferred to the North Dakota Insane Asylum at Jamestown, as would Jeffrey Burges and Bethany Dupree, both found under similar circumstances. Each victim shared the same set of physical symptoms.
Found on each of the victims an inch or two behind their left ears was a circular wound approximately the size of a quarter, the depth of which differed betwixt the victims. Further analysis of their bodies found that the eardrum on the same side had been destroyed. An inspection of their ear canals showed that the massive damage was likely due to some foreign object being forced inside the delicate canal. Whatever had destroyed their eardrums was likely also the same thing that had caused the brain damage. She frowned as she shut off the water and began drying herself. The damage ranged between the victims from the extreme (ultimately those who had died) to the relatively mild (resulting in various disabilities). Those who had not made it had revealed brains that appeared to be missing literal chunks of matter while those still among the living were left with varying degrees of mental disabilities.
She dressed as quickly as she was able, preparing to meet with the local police department. She hoped that they would be able to meet with the victims before the day was done. Glancing through drawn out reports filled with verbose descriptions and heavy-handed medical terms was one thing and meeting with the afflicted individual was another. The Winchesters had a better chance of determining what had happened to them, assuming the cause was at all supernatural.
Sam was finishing the final touches on her own outfit, straightening her tie and applying some mousse in an attempt to control her waves and curls in a way that looked professional, when Dee hailed her from the other room. A tiny adjustment to the scarf she'd found in her luggage and her ghastly wound was sufficiently covered. She slid from the bathroom in relative silence, easing into the unoccupied chair at the table where Dee had deposited their food. She dug around in the bag on the table until she found the oatmeal, still hot through the small takeaway container. She was delighted to see fresh blueberries and brown sugar still melting in the heat of the steaming oats when she peeled the lid away.
"Ahh, that crooked smile." Sam blinked in surprise, staring owlishly as Dee unwrapped some biscuit based breakfast.
"Err, what was that?" Dee shook her head, smiling gently in a way that made Sam both happy and a little uncomfortable.
"Nothin', Xena. So I managed to get a little more information about the attacks around Devil's Lake."
"Supernatural?" Dee snorted and polished off her sandwich.
"Yeah, to say the least… I've never heard so many crazy rumors coming from one place; everything from aliens to Nessie, I swear. No one has any concrete details but there are aspects of the story that ring true with what Cas told us; namely the mystery toxin, the deaths, the insanity, and the closing of the lake." A couple more bites and Dee's food was gone; she crumbled the wrappers and bunched everything together in the largest of the takeout bags as she stood to pace.
"I'm just gonna change then we'll head over the sheriff's office, then to the hospital. Sound good?" Sam managed a nod as Dee dug through her duffel for a change of clothes. Leaving Sam to her own thoughts felt dangerous; the recent revelations regarding Sam's increasingly disturbing dreams had left her feeling vulnerable and more than a little violated. Already she could feel the scratching at the walls of her mind. It was a light, delicate touch that to many would go unnoticed; nothing more than a tingle or the beginnings of a headache. For the younger Winchester it was the now far too familiar feeling of Lucifer reaching out to her.
She shuddered and pushed what remained of her oatmeal aside, appetite having suddenly fled her. The thought of Lucifer in her head, scratching at her walls and attempting to ooze his way into her waking thoughts was sickening, disturbing, and above all terrifying. There was at least some comfort in that, while conscious, she could keep him safely at arm's length. With a sigh that spoke volumes Sam leaned forward and placed her chin in her upturned hands, gaze drifting towards the small crack left open between the shades.
"YO, Xena! You listenin' to me like, at all?" Sam snapped out of the beginnings of a daydream and jerked into awareness, blinking away the shades of white clinging to her vision as she turned to address her sister who had made herself presentable.
"Err, sorry Dee. I got a little distracted."
"I said, grab your coat. It's just about nine; the sheriff should be in. After we chat with the sheriff we'll head to the hospital, alright?"
"Sounds like a plan. Hey, do you think this'll hide the neck wound without being too conspicuous?" Sam gestured to the scarf around her neck. The dark brown tartan patterned garment was just as soft as the day their father had given it to her and it pulled the entire outfit together. Dee offered up a crooked grin and a short nod.
"Ya look good, Sam. The long sleeves cover the arm and…the scarf covers your neck entirely. You should be good." The sisters tugged their boots on over thick woolen socks and laced up their coats, unable to fully brace themselves for the shock of cold that stole their breaths once they had opened the door. After a quick check of the vehicle and the promise to each other for hot beverages before heading to the hospital, the duo set out into the icy morning.
OoOoOoOoO
Despite the fact that her tea was cold, Sam could not bring herself to throw away the dregs remaining at the bottom of her insulated Styrofoam cup. Her hands were rigid and icy, gripping the creaking vessel and leaving fingernail wounds in its' side. Dee had disappeared to find a doctor; though they had learned a great deal from the sheriff himself, they needed to confirm a few things before hunting that night. Dee hadn't said much before disappearing into the quiet chaos of the small hospital but Sam had seen enough in her sister's tight lipped, openly worried expression to let her go without stopping her.
Elizabeth Bluffe, the twenty-four year old mother of two, sister to one who had recently returned to school to pursue a psychology degree, lay prone on her bed. The woman's eyes rolled behind closed lids as her breath came low and shallow in her chest. According to the nurse they had interviewed moments prior, the woman had moments of lucidity but these were rare and interspersed between night terrors so violent she often had to be restrained. In their line of work, this was normality. Hers was a better fate than even the Winchesters could hope to experience.
No, what terrified the sisters was that Sam and Beth could have been twins. The length of their hair, height, overall build, even the color of their eyes…the resemblance was uncanny and horribly chilling. Aside from Beth's shorter hair and rounder features the woman looked more like Sam's sister than Dee did. They were similarities that left the skin at the back of Sam's neck prickling. The cup was pulp in her clenched hand and tea was dripping between closed fingers but the hunter seemed not to notice. The entirety of Sam's attention was trained on the woman with the hollow cheeks and the dark circles beneath her eyes.
Sam blinked in surprise and dropped her cup as the not so comatose woman struggled to sit up; Beth's eyes had gone wide and were now filled with fear and confusion as her head swiveled this way and that.
"No, here, let me help." Sam murmured just loud enough to be heard as she approached the woman's bed. Using as much care and gentleness as one might use with a child, Sam cradled the woman around her shoulders, placing only a minute amount of pressure on the woman's bed as Sam helped settle her against the pillows of her bed. Once it seemed the woman was stable Sam withdrew her grip and began to rise from the bed.
"No-No wait." The woman's voice, quiet and insistent in the cool, dimly lit room caused Sam to hesitate. The hunter sat back down on the bed beside the woman and took the woman's shaking arm; whatever she was witnessing behind her unfocused gaze was enough to bring goose bumps to Sam's skin. The fear was evident in the woman's tremors, in the way her eyes flickered back and forth nearly rolling in her skull as she twitched restlessly beneath the sheets.
Unsure if what she was doing was the right thing, Sam raised a tentative hand and began to brush back the woman's hair, stroking her head gently in the gloom. When Beth did not panic at this motion, Sam leaned over and began to rock the woman with gentle, careful movements, murmuring that it was okay, that everything was going to be okay. After a short while, the woman calmed; her body relaxed against Sam's, hand loosening its' grip on Sam's until she could stand again. Still maintaining her grip on the woman's hand, Sam reached out and dragged a chair beside the bed. Quietly she sat and brought her second hand up so that Beth's gently shaking hand was held in her own.
"Beth…?"
"Beth Beth-BethBethBethBeth." The woman muttered, murmuring her own name as though it were a chant. Sam winced inwardly, trying to hide the pain she felt at hearing a woman spoken so highly of, a woman who knew everyone and who had been known by everyone, a woman whom even the sheriff had been emotional over, brought so low.
"Yes, Beth. Beth, sweetheart, do you know where you are?"
"Beth I…we…that is…to say." She seemed to chew on her words for a while, frowning as though they tasted wrong.
"It's okay, Beth. Just take your time." Sam murmured.
"I am… I can't be… It hurt so much so much so… It HURT, Sam, it HURT." Sam jerked backwards, kept in place only by Beth's suddenly iron tight grip. It had to be coincidence; Beth thought Sam was someone else, thought that-
"Samantha, it HURT. You and-and Dee can't… you can't go." Beth was talking TO HER, to Samantha Winchester, the hunter hunched over the bed trying to free her arm.
"Beth how do you-"
"You don't understand it wasn't ME. It wasn't ME DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND! Sam. It wasn't for me. It was never for me." Beth's quiet, strained voice was sharp in the semi-darkness, filling the room with her anxious words as her gaze drifted to towards the door.
"Beth I don't-"
"DON'T GO NEAR THE LAKE." Sam blanched as Beth turned and screamed in her face. Beth's hands clamped harder onto Sam's upper arms, pulling her down towards the bed until their faces were less than an inch apart.
"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE YOU STAY AWAY FROM THAT LAKE IT WASN'T FOR ME DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND IT WASN'T FOR ME IT'S YOU DON'T YOU GET IT JUST STAY AWAY GO HOME GET OUT GET AWAY GET LOST GET!" Sam tried to pull away, prying at Beth's fingers as panic began to burble steady and urgent in her throat and belly. The woman's nails were digging viscously into the delicate skin at Sam's wrist, breaking the skin and bringing blood welling to the surface. Though she would hate to admit it to herself later Sam was, at that moment in time, filled with more fear than she could remember ever before experiencing.
"B-Beth please, I-"
"Sammy? Sammy! Doctor, help us here dammit!" Dee's voice was a balm amidst the din of terror Sam found herself in. It brought her back from the precipice of unadulterated fear and reinstated her position in the world. She felt hands, her sister's, gripping her shoulder and arm as she watched the doctor and a nurse go for Beth. The woman was beyond terrified, steeped in hysteria and soaking in panic, eyes rolling and distant as sweat poured down her pale face. Through the shrieks and wails and the flying limbs and hospital smells Sam could smell the woman's fear. It was sour, pungent enough to take the hunter's breath away. Beth's hair was plastered to her face, legs spasming wildly beneath flimsy hospital sheets; her lips were blue and the whites of her eyes were red where a vein had burst. Though Sam's fear had not entirely ebbed, her worry for Beth's frame of mind and physical form far outweighed her own.
"GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUUUUUTTT-" The woman howled, back bowing beneath some unseen stress. Just as Sam could no longer feel her own hand the nurse arrived and medication was administered and slowly, bit by bit, Beth began to calm. Her grip on Sam's arm loosened and, after a tense moment or two, her hand fluttered away from Sam's wrist and down onto the bed.
"Christ, Sam, you're bleeding." Dee's voice was loud at her ear. Sam, however, could not pull her gaze away from Beth. Though heavily sedated and doing little more than breathing, her eyes maintained that wild fear she'd seen only moments prior at full strength. And as they began to flutter, the medication taking hold and dragging Beth down into the darkest depths of sleep, that brightness left them, leaving them glassy behind her slowly drooping lids. Sam maintained eye contact long after Beth's eyes had closed and her breathing had steadied out, only acknowledging Dee's insistence that the nurse take a look at her wrist once she was satisfied that Elizabeth Bluffe was down for the count.
After a quick once over, some basic first aid and tiny bandages over three of the worst punctures, Sam was pronounced "good as new", and the Winchesters were left alone with the doctor. After the dance of formalities, one they could perform with aplomb and grace aplenty in their sleep, they got down to business.
"So has Beth uh… has she ever reacted like that to anyone before?" The doctor sighed, rubbing his hand absently over his face in a gesture that betrayed his exhaustion.
"No. She's actually been the calmest of the ones brought in from the attack. More often than not she seems confused. Lost, most of the time. She asks for her…for her mother a lot." The doctor had to pause then, clearing his throat and glancing to the window where, almost conveniently the graveyard across the street was visible. "But overall? Beth is one of the easiest to handle patients here. We think that her eventual transition will be relatively easy but after that episode I'm concerned." Sam could feel her heart aching in her chest. After a few more questions the "agents" thanked the good doctor for his time and together they left the hospital.
Sam was silent during the car ride back to the motel, hands clenching and unclenching in her lap as she wrestled with feelings she was unable to voice. Deanna hadn't even attempted conversation; what had happened at the hospital had rattled them both. It wasn't until they had returned to their room, door slamming behind them against the icy winds, that Sam finally spoke.
"Don't EVEN say it, Dee, you KNOW I'm coming with you." Dee winced at Sam's sharp tone, guilt flickering briefly through her. Sam was already half naked as she dug through her back for her thick coat and socks.
"Were you NAPPING at the hospital, Samantha?" Sam winced; the full use of her name was always an omen of ill things to come. She continued to change, pointedly facing away from Dee to better avoid the look of fury she knew would be on her sister's face.
"No, Dee, I wasn't."
"So then in what tiny little corner of your mind could it POSSIBLY make sense to go to that damn LAKE?"
"Don't you get it Dee? It's BECAUSE of what happened at the hospital that I have to go." Sam had already stripped to her undergarments; the fresh white bandages at her neck and around her arm stood out in stark contrast against her lightly tanned skin. Dee could not keep her emotions from her face and hated the way she felt her cheeks darken in response to the situation.
"I don't care. I don't know why you think Beth's injuries or the deaths of those people are related to you but I. Don't. Care. There is LITERALLY nothing you could say to me that will convince me that it's a good idea for you to go to that lake!"
"Yeah? Well guess what, Dee? You don't have a choice. You either take me with you, or I walk my ass out there. And DON'T EVEN think about calling your feathery puppy down; you know he'll just agree with me or put me in a poor attempt of a prison cell. I'm going to that lake, Dee. I can't just…" She paused; jaw working as she chewed the remainder of her thought while she finished layering her winter gear. Deanna remained silent, throwing herself wholeheartedly into the task of changing into winter attire. While allowing her sister near the lake that Beth had warned them away from seemed like the epitome of insanity, Dee knew Sam was right. Whatever was out there was clearly targeting the Winchesters, Sammy in particular, and was willing to destroy anyone it encountered. At the very least, they owed it to the existing victims to do what they could to stop it. More importantly, anything directly related to either of the Winchesters was likely apocalyptic in nature.
"Listen, you stay WITH ME the whole time, you got that? I'll call Cas down when we get there and see if I can grab his attention for long enough to search the lake's shores. We're just doing a quick run, all right? We can go back when we've got a better idea of what we're dealing with."
"Sure, no problem Dee." Ten minutes later they were back in the Impala. The twenty minutes it took to drive to the edge of the lake were twenty of the most awkward minutes that either of them could remember; the tension burned in the air between them and neither seemed capable of speaking.
They would later be twenty minutes that Dee would come to regret.
OoOoOoOoO
True to what the sheriff had told them, the lake had been entirely cordoned off. Warnings were posted everywhere urging people to avoid not only the lake but the trails surrounding the body of water as well. There were two parking lots, each leading to opposing sides of the lake through a series of paths that twisted away from the lot; from what the Winchesters could tell, said paths were frequented hiking paths. The hunters chose the smaller of the two lots, driving nonchalantly through the faded yellow caution tape to park in a spot closest to one of the three prominent paths, each marked by equally faded tape. The signs warning people off were fresh and old, faded and sharp, and they were everywhere. Sam wished she could blame the cold for the chills running up and down her spine.
The police had set up a strict, rigorous, and random schedule of sweeps in the area. Through a rather impressive display of smiles and light touches, Sam had managed to attain the rough schedule for this evening. They reached the lake just after one; they would be free of the night watch until 1:45 giving them very little time to check out the lake. Dee parked and they headed down the trail, ducking beneath the tape, weapons in hand and senses on high alert. It wasn't until they reached the edge of the sprawling, expansive lake that Sam finally broke the silence.
"I…I think we should split up."
"Are you kidding me?! No way. We call Cas and wait for him to show up and then we can split up. Under no circumstances are you going to be alone out there, Sammy."
"Just hear me out; there's no point at any distance of this lake where we can't see each other… We don't get within twenty feet of the lake's edge and we meet on the opposite end. We'll just check of the basics. We don't have much time, right?"
"CAS!" Dee whispered as loudly as she dared, hissing the angel's name into the icy air. "Cas, get your feathery butt down here! Come on Cas!" Nearly three minutes passed in this manner with Dee trying with no luck to reach their heavenly companion. Sam was painfully aware of every second passing by; the officer she'd spoken with had mentioned that often they would arrive early for their patrols. Time was most certainly not on their side.
"Come on Dee this is ridiculous; the thing with Beth was WEIRD, yeah, but we live in weird. Weird is our bread and butter. We've both got flashlights so we can keep track of each other across the water and we can use our cell phones if you want. We need to get going, Deanna. The longer we're just standing here the more likely it is the cops'll be by." Dee watched Sam's mouth, words becoming a translucent fog in the freezing night air. She glanced skyward, frowning slightly when she realized that the clouds had finally moved in and the stars were nowhere to be seen. The storm was moving faster than they'd originally believed and now there was the threat of a snow dump added to the possibility of being caught.
"Fine, but every two minutes, and I mean two minutes on the freaking nose, you flash your light three times in my direction and I'll do the same. We clear?" Sam nodded, eyes hollow and dark in the flashlight. Having reached an agreement the Winchesters split up, pistols and flashlights in hand.
OoOoOoOoOoO
For a while, Sam focused on the sound of her boots crunching on the dry leaves and sticks and rocks layered between the freshly frozen snow that made up the lake edge. Her breath ghosted the air before her, swirling and looping around her face and condensing on her cheeks as she stepped through it. She had re-holstered her weapon and pulled out her EMF reader, flashlight held resolutely in her dominant hand. She sighed as Dee's light flashed from the other side, earlier and more insistent than it should have been. Sam could still make out the vague shape of her sister's body, illuminated by the peripheral light of her own flashlight. Trying hard not to be irritated she returned the flashes of light, hefting the monstrous flashlight up to rest on her shoulder, its weight comforting to the wary hunter. She tromped along in the cold with no readings from the EMF, neither seeing nor smelling any sulfur, and hearing nothing beyond the sound of her own breath and the lapping of water at the lake's edge.
Regardless, Sam was on edge. The hairs along the back of her neck stood on end and she couldn't help but grind her teeth as she walked. It was only a matter of time before-
"Sssssaaaaaammmmmm….."
She froze mid-step, eyes widening as adrenaline exploded at the sound of her name, heart pounding and racing violently in her chest. Immediately she tried to rationalize it, to calm herself down-
"Sssssssssaaaaammmmaaaaaaaanthaaaaa…"
She couldn't deny that whisper in the wind.
Unbidden she began to step towards the lake, feet moving her mechanically towards the gently lapping waters.
Her mind began to drift, her thoughts becoming thick and heavy. Vaguely she was aware that Dee would soon be looking for her light, which she was pretty sure she had just dropped. It wasn't until she was thigh deep in the icy waters, feet moving slowly and steadily through the slushy mix, that she noticed Dee's light flashing frantically from almost halfway across the body of water. If she focused, she could just barely hear her name being called. But even her name felt far away, as distant as the stars reflected on the rippling surface of the lake.
She was now waist deep in the lake; her body had burst into gooseflesh and she could not stop shivering. All at once everything clicked, falling perfectly into place. How silly they both were to have fought fate so violently. How ridiculous to think that the end of the world could be halted, that they could be the ones to do it, just because they wished it. She was calm, a sense of manufactured ease flowing through her limbs and chest and heart and brain. Sammy pushed onward, legs on fire and slowly numbing as the water began to kiss at her lower belly; it crept up along her breasts, stiffening her nipples before rising over her clavicle to settle at the base of her neck. She was effectively floating at this point, arms gently waving to keep herself afloat. Her eyes, half-lidded and heavy, searched the rippling waters around her.
It launched itself from the water a few inches from her face; a protrusion as thick as her upper arm shot forward, wrapping itself around her neck and almost instantaneously dragged her beneath the lake. Her mouth filled with water as she let loose a strangled, drowned cry.
OoOoOoOoO
Bythotrephes, more commonly known as spiny water fleas, are a growing hazard in lakes everywhere; they are known to quickly and efficiently throw entire ecosystems off balance. Their spines are proportionally long, making up approximately seventy percent of its' body length and it contains one to four pairs of thorn-like barbs. Their heads consist primarily of a single, large eye filled with black pigment and a pair of mandibles. They possess four pairs of legs, the first pair being the longest of the set. Their spines make it difficult to be digested and they are therefore less likely to be devoured. They are in direct competition for food most important to young juvenile fish often wiping them entirely out. Though terrifying in description, the spiny water flea rarely grows beyond a quarter of an inch in length and due to their diminutive size are more of an irritation that anything.
It was not, however, an average bythotrephe that had grabbed hold of Sam. Approximately the size of a saint Bernard, this particular spiny water flea was more than a mere nuisance to the hunter it was currently drowning. The contact alone of the creature's tail was enough to tear open the wound at her neck; she clawed at the creature's tail, teeth gritted and bared beneath the waters as she desperately tried to free herself. Fear was overwhelming Sam's ability to do more than scrabble helplessly at her neck unable to find any purchase there. The pain in her neck rose to a cacophony so loud she was seeing spots of white in the gloom as a spine pierced her neck, just below her ear and directly adjacent to her previous wound. She screamed silently, face contorting as her lungs filled with water; the pain was sudden and intense and gone almost as quickly as it had occurred. Within seconds she was light-headed and buzzing, her body growing numb in the waters.
On the surface, Dee had finally reached the spot she had seen Sam go under. She'd been just close enough to watch her sister vanish beneath the surface, had had just enough time to curse her own stupidity in allowing Sam to come along before she was wading out into the water. Dee stumbled into the shockingly icy lake, gasping as the sudden cold set her limbs aflame. None of it mattered; she had to save her little sister. Had to reach her before she drowned.
"SAAAAAMMM!" Hoarse, terrified and all too aware that they had fallen into a trap that poor Beth had fallen into, Dee could not have sounded worse if she'd tried.
"Oh god, SAAAMMMM, oh god-" She dove awkwardly forward, caring little that she could see nothing, could hear nothing could feel nothing but the cold. Her desperation to find her sister seemed to override all baser instincts and it wasn't until she was out of breath, floundering in the inky blackness of the lake, that she was forced to surface. Soaked and gasping she came back up for air.
"CAAASS!" She screamed, splashing wildly as she turned to face the shore. "OH GOD PLEASE, CAS HELP ME; CAAASSS GET YOUR FEATHERY ASS DOWN HERE-,"
"Deanna what are you doing in the middle of the lake?!" Using his voice as a beacon, Dee followed it back to the shore where she felt arms pulling her from the lake's edge and helping her stand.
"Deanna you are…soaked…and you are shivering and-,"
"And Sam in still under there; PLEASE I can't… I can't SEE right now you've got to get her back." Cas leaned over and pulled her into something like an embrace, holding her up as her knees gave out. Sam had been under the water for, roughly, three minutes and counting.
"Deanna, I-,"
"NO, NO MORE TALKING GET HER BACK." They heard a noise coming from the lake, the distinctive sound of something breaking the surface. Dee scrambled to her feet and made to move to the water, stopped only when Cas shoved her roughly back to the ground and started out into the lake himself. Dee could do nothing but shiver, shuddering and gasping as she curled in on herself, waiting. Fear was not on her mind; fury, unwavering all-encompassing fury was. Deep down she'd known, had known all along, that something had been culminating here when she'd heard Cas' story.
Not moving was making it difficult to ignore how cold she was and holding herself in one place as she watched Cas retrieve the floating object was a pain of an entirely different kind. She listened, scarcely allowing herself to breathe as Cas gripped the floating form and, grunting slightly with the effort, pulled her sister to the shore.
Dee scrambled the few steps to where Cas was holding Sam, half in his lap and half on the rocky shore. Ignoring whatever it was Cas was saying, Dee leaned forward and brushed the clinging strands of damp, icy hair from her sister's face. Her heart fluttered with something like hope as she watched her sister's gaze, hazy and unfocused, drift from the cloudy sky to meet her own. Sam's eyes cleared for a moment, mouth working silently as though she were trying to speak.
"D-…D…D…" A stutter, one Dee did not believe was caused by the cold, was all Sam seemed capable of as Dee's hands swept up behind her sister's neck and she felt a slickness there that was not lake water. What little blood remained in her face drained away, leaving Dee pale and feeling sick as the metallic tang of blood drifted up from her damp fingers.
"Shh, shh, Sammy it's okay, it's okay Sammy. Cas, can't you-,"
"I am TRYING, Deanna." He muttered, hands both hovering over Sam's face.
"Then try HARDER, damn it." Sam's eyes rolled back, up and into her skull as her back bowed violently up from the ground, leaving only her heels touching the rocky bed and her head in the angel's lap. The sudden intake of air was too violent to be called a gasp and before Dee could even contemplate what one would do in such a circumstance, Sam collapsed only to begin seizing moments later.
"Cas! Hold her down! Don't let her hurt herself!" Together they held Sam down, both trying to apply enough force to control her movements without completely restraining her. The seizure lasted almost a full minute and was the most violent thing Dee had witnessed in quite some time. She considered herself lucky to walk away with only a broken nose, courtesy of a solid right knee to the face. Almost as suddenly as it had begun the seizure ended. Dee counted off a full minute before relaxing her grip, absently wiping at the blood dripping from her nose and upper lip; she hadn't even felt it happen.
"Cas…get her to the motel. Drop me off at the Impala and I'll get there soon." With little more than a nod, the trio was lying beside the Impala, and then Dee was alone. It was then that the cold of the night hit her, taking her suddenly and with full force. It took her three tries to push herself to her feet and another minute to finally locate her keys, wedged deep in her pockets, cursing as her numb fingers refused to cooperate. Another four fumbles as she tried to insert the key in the lock had her incensed, fury burning hot enough to make her nearly bend the keys as she finally tore open the door and jammed them into the ignition. She cranked the heat up and seconds later squealed out of the parking lot, burning rubber as she headed straight to the motel. Sam's blood had dried on her hands; her nose had stopped bleeding and what blood remained was drying into a sticky, tacky set of paths running from her nose to her chin. Though the heater was on, nearly blistering heat blowing at top force onto her freezing face, Deanna could not stop shaking. She wasn't even aware of the moment that it began to snow, the first few flakes flying by the window too quickly for the woman to spot as she raced into the pitch-black night.
OoOoOoO
It felt like it had taken eons to reach the motel when, in all actuality, it had been less than ten minutes. Dee had been forced, against her greater desires, to slow what had begun as a breakneck speed when she realized that the roads had already begun to ice over. Despite the slipping and the sliding, the Impala held steady. Gritting her teeth, she drove in absolute silence with a single-minded focus that set her eyes smoldering in the darkness. She refused to let her mind wander down the paths of infinite possibilities for her sister's future and was grateful for her moment's solitary respite.
Fish-tailing, she slid into the first available spot in the lot and broke free of her car, slipping on a patch of ice as her foot touched down on the frozen sidewalk. The Winchester threw herself at their motel door and burst into the room after fumbling with the lock for far too long. Her gaze lit immediately on her sister, that pesky flicker of hope dancing in her chest.
Sam was, with the aide of the altogether dry-looking angel, leaning against the headboard of the second bed. Her gaze was fuzzy, yes, but she was conscious. Dee's jaw tightened as her nose tingled and eyes stung with tears that threatened to fall. Once it seemed to register that her sister was alive, Dee managed a few steps forward and unlocked her clenched jaw.
"Sammy?" Sam's head lolled across from one shoulder to the other so that it was leaning against Cas' arm.
"Dee… Deanna… What's…where are we…?" Dee's throat constricted but she fought off the tears and, moving slowly so as not to alarm or frighten her already confused sister, Dee sat at the edge of Sam's bed.
"Why….are you all wet, Dee? Did I…miss a pool party?" A wheezing cough seemed to have replaced Sam's deep-throated laugh and for some reason Dee could not help but laugh along with her. Sam appeared to remember nothing of the lake. Dee wondered how much of their current circumstances her sister remembered at all but chose not to speak on it.
"Not quite, Sammy. People don't usually go swimming in below freezing temperatures." She snorted at her own words, the comment a jab at herself more than anything else before continuing. "I…I'm going to take a…quick shower. Do you think you'll be okay while I'm gone?" Sam snickered, the sound more similar to a cough than laughter.
"Yeah I think… I might hit the sack. I kinda feel like I was run over by a truck or something… Wake me up first thing in the morning, okay?" Dee managed a nod and something that resembled a smile, eyes jumping up to meet Cas' before finally responding.
"Sure, of course Sammy. Did you...wanna shower?"
"Naw… I'm pretty much ready to pass out." She nodded again, not sure what else to say as she stood from the bed and slid into the bathroom. She stood there, shaking for a few moments as she listened to the deep baritone of Castiel's voice, unable to hear the specifics of their conversation as Cas and Sam spoke in the other room. Silence fell in the other room and Dee tensed; seconds later Cas was in the room with her, staring at her with an intensity that caused her to blanch and momentarily forgot what it was she wanted to talk to him about. She flushed under his scrutiny; unable to ignore the way his eyes seemed to rove over her sodden and rather unkempt form. Feeling less flattered and more embarrassed, Dee crossed her arms over her chest and directed her gaze at the wall to the left of the angel.
"Alright, Cas. What the hell happened?" She murmured, half an ear cocked for sound from the other room.
"I…am not sure, Deanna. There is a small wound, right below her left ear. It was about this big-" He enclosed his thumb and forefinger in a small circle approximately the size of a half dollar. "I attempted to heal it, but some sort of symbol or bruising pattern remains. It appears as though she's lost her memory. When she came to she couldn't figure out where she was. She does not appear to be in any pain but she," He frowned, tilted his head in the way that Dee found unendurably adorable. "She smells…wrong." The hunter blanched and stared at Cas as though he had grown a second head.
"Sam…smells wrong." Dee repeated slowly as she stared into Cas' far-off gaze. He nodded and said nothing more, as though this simple statement was enough to explain everything.
"Well, Cas, I didn't know you'd become a blood-hound, as of late." She said, her words as laden with sarcasm as her clothes were soaked with lake water. Turning away, back and arms and legs and head aching, Dee braced herself against the sink, bowing her head and leaning over the stained porcelain until her face nearly touched the bowl.
"I'm so tired, Cas. I just-I need to be sure she's okay. This is my fault. I shouldn't have let her come with me." She shuddered when she felt a touch, warm and instantly soothing, at the base of her neck. Her body tensed of its own accord, as though preparing for battle, and Dee cursed her reflexes. She stood as calmly as she was able to, allowing the angel to ease away the physical pains, his fingers dancing along her skin with a knowledge that was almost sinful. He knew where to apply pressure, how much pressure to apply, where to just brush along the skin… The hunter hated how sex should have been the last thing on her mind but was the first thing her body wanted; she ached under his touch, muscles clenching involuntarily and skin heating beneath his hand.
"I must go. I will return in the morning…call for me if there is any change. I will see if there is any word from up in Heaven." With a final, gentle squeeze Cas was gone, leaving Dee cold, frustrated, and bone-achingly exhausted. Dee stripped quickly and started the shower, thankful that her bag of toiletries had remained tossed in the corner of the bathroom. By the time she was done, teeth brushed and body both heated and dry, Dee was even beginning to wonder if any of their insane evening had even happened. A wayward glance to her discarded pile of clothes dispelled that notion. Even from where she stood she could see it; smears of blood staining the pale blue of the flannel shirt she'd worn out to the lake.
A moment's pause outside the bathroom and when Dee could still hear the solid and gentle breathing of her sister she made her way over to the unoccupied bed. It took only seconds from her head hitting the pillow for her to fall into a solid sleep, the first in many nights devoid of dreams.
OoOoOoOoO
She was hot. Then cold. Then both. Then nothing. The nothing was too much and Sam found herself suddenly awake. Tilting her head she caught sight of her sister, lips parted and a soft whisper of breath proving her REM sleep to be solid and uneventful. Sam's gaze flicked up and she realized that nobody had closed the curtains; through the sizeable gap in the shades she could see a pale light filtering in. She frowned; her thoughts and memories were muddy, thick, and dark. Closing her eyes and attempting to recall the past evening brought back brief, violent flashes of darkness and the feeling of being so cold she couldn't breathe. Or…had that been the water?
A headache, so sudden and violent that Sam was fairly certain she'd just been hit with a lead pipe in the back of her skull, exploded from nowhere and left her gasping in bed. She curled in on herself, able only to squeeze her eyes shut and clench her teeth and force herself to take in short, pained gasps until the pain began to subside moments later. Slowly, slowly, forcing herself to take it easy, she opened her eyes and calmed her breathing. Once the hurricane of a headache had slowed to a light rain, Samantha sat up in bed wincing with the movement. She took a moment to perform a self-analysis.
Her throat felt thick, each swallow bringing with it the sharp pain she often felt when she had the flu. She frowned and brought the back of her hand to rest against her forehead and was annoyed to feel the heat of a fever. Swinging her legs out from under the comforter of the bed, Sam ignored the wave of nausea that hit her and, on legs that felt as though they had not been used in ages, she made her way over to the window. Free of the blanket Sam realized the room was icy; she shivered, wrapping her arms around her torso as she approached the window and peeked out from behind the curtains. At once she was both childishly delighted and taken by surprise.
Outside, the world had become a winter wonderland. What had begun the night prior as a few errant flakes and a strong breeze had grown into a full-blown blizzard. The wind whipped tiny flurries of snowflakes around, creating tiny tornadoes that Sam could not help but grin at. The world had taken on a fuzzy hue, the sky blotted out by thick, gray-white clouds that seemed to extend from the sky to the earth. She could just see the Impala, parked crookedly in a spot in a half in front of their room, but it was difficult to see anything much further than that.
A bolt of lightning arced across the grim sky, followed closely behind with a sharp crack of thunder. Sam jerked away from the window, jumping nearly out of her skin as she stumbled into the chair closest to the door. Outside the storm raged but it was, now, an entirely different kind of storm. A howling wind drove the sudden downpour against the window in sheets, rattling the window in its frame and surprising a gasp out the Winchester.
Just as suddenly as the storm had begun, it was over and silence once again claimed the room. Breathing raggedly and terrified to move lest she cause some other insane shift in the weather, Sam leaned forward just enough to catch a glimpse out the window…where a snowstorm was continuing to blanket the world in white. The flu, she decided as she flipped the switch on the heater and tried to ignore the shaking in her hands. The way she was feeling, that freak occurrence with the weather. A hallucination caused by her fever and exacerbated by her exhaustion. She wondered what time it was and whether it would be too soon to wake Dee. Absently she brought her hand up to her neck to rub away her headache and was surprised to find her fingers brushing something that felt like a bruise near her ear.
Frowning Sam shuffled off in the direction of the bathroom, gently prodding and poking the area most sensitive behind her ear. She frowned as she pressed gently on the spot and felt a hard lump under the skin. Sam closed the bathroom door behind her, flicking on the switch and blinking until her eyes adjusted. Squinting past the too bright fluorescent bulb, Sam angled her neck and body so that she could better see her neck on her left side, just below the hairline, and nearly against her spine. She hadn't even reached the epicenter, it seemed, as she glanced at a scabbed over area the size of a dime. The bruise, however, was clearly visible against the paleness of her skin. So dark it appeared black, it radiated out from the wound itself in a nearly perfect circle, spidery tendrils snaked away from the center of the wound to reach the base of her hairline and down almost below her shirt.
What the hell had happened? And why couldn't she remember anything? Her head pulsed with that thought, stomach heaving as the world shifted and tilted around her. She wasn't sure which was worse; knowing she was forgetting something important or feeling as though she would pass out any second.
"Aww, Sammy not feeling well?" Sam jerked away from the mirror, hackles raised as she whipped around to face the wall opposite the sink. Behind her she gripped the cool porcelain of the sink, knuckles whitening under her hands as the devil himself sauntered towards her, grinning the grin of the insane.
"What- How…How the hell did you find me, Lucifer?"
"I TOLD you, Sammy; you are like a beacon in the night. My other half, my shining vessel of perfection. I could find you anywhere."
"That's not possible," She hissed, doubling over in pain as her pounding headache became a thunderclap migraine. "You aren't here, you can't be here; you don't know where I am!" She could smell him, she was sure of it. Could feel his ice slipping over and around and through her warmth, bringing her down to his temperature by his sheer presence. She didn't need to look into his face to feel the heat of his gaze. But her ribs, Dee's ribs; they were invisible to heaven's vanguard; no more a shining beacon than a rock was a mountain. Yet there he stood, watching with eyes glowing as she dropped to her knees and curled in on herself, the pain in her head turning her vision first white and then black.
And then she woke up.
Breathing heavily, eyes swiveling wildly in her head, Sammy bolted upright through a cloud of cobwebs as she fought off the remaining vestiges of sleep. Adrenaline pulsed through her body, heart fluttering and hands shaking at her sides. Nearly a full minute passed before she regained her breath and was able to calm her heart enough to have a coherent thought.
"So real." She murmured through chapped lips and a throat that stung and burned as she spoke.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Her lungs ached, chest heavy and limbs sore. She reached her hand from beneath the covers and ran it through her hair, pushing her hair from her forehead and alerting her to the raging fever she now had. Dee continued to sleep in the second bed and the shades at the window remained parted where she had left them. Sam had a feeling, as she slid her way from bed with a wince, that she wouldn't be surprised by the weather. As the younger Winchester made her way up to the window she couldn't fight the sinking feeling of dread settling in her belly; the blizzard was going just as strongly as she remembered. What this meant for her dream, or what she was fairly sure was a dream, Sam wasn't sure. What she WAS sure of, however, was that being on her feet made her feel infinitely worse.
Groaning, Sam made her way back over to the bathroom, shuffling and wincing with every movement. She spent eons waiting for the water to heat to the point where she would usually find it intolerably scalding before she slid in. It was one hell of a flu she seemed to have caught; her body ached, no HURT, and her head was pounding. The steam eased the burning in her lungs, clearing her suddenly blocked sinuses and warming away the chill that seemed to have settled in her core. Hallucination or fever dream…Fever, sore throat, aches… It was the flu. A bad one, yes, but still just the flu. It was as she was contemplating this that Sam heard a frantic knocking on the bathroom door. Swallowing a couple times, she responded.
"Y-Yeah? Dee?" She winced; her voice sounded worse than she'd originally thought.
"Christ, Sammy, open the door." With a tiny frown adorning her face, Sam fumbled with the lock for a moment or two before managing to unlock the door. Dee shoved her way inside the moment the door was open and froze, staring Sam down with an intensity that caused the tiny hairs at the back of Sam's neck to rise.
"How…did you sleep, Sammy?" Sam blinked, eyes shifting to the left as she contemplated the pros and cons of telling her sister that she'd dreamed her first few moments of consciousness but settled for a shrug, pointing to her throat when she didn't speak.
"Oh…Sammy, are you sick?" Dee's voice sounded incredulous and Sam huffed; yes it was unusual for her to get sick but the time did not seem appropriate for her sister to be poking fun. Before she could attempt to form an some sort of comeback, Dee had crossed the small distance between them and was reaching up to place the back of her hand against her forehead. If the immense spidery bruise remained, her sister did not seem to react to it.
"Holy- Sammy, you're burning up! I've never felt you this hot before; get back into bed. Cas should be by soon with updates or whatever. We'll see if we can get him to work some mumbo jumbo on you, eh?" All the while she was herding Sam back towards the bed, turning down the covers and shoving her in before effectively tucking her in. The younger Winchester barely stifled her desire to roll her eyes, opting instead to cough until her lungs ached, wheezing and gasping, unable to catch her breath. Dee had started suiting up, layering her way to snow-readiness. Amidst her coughing, Sam sat up, leaning against the headboard as Dee gathered up her keys and zipped up her waterproof winter boots.
"Dee?" She finally managed as her sister snatched up her car keys. "Where are you going?" Dee turned, grabbed something from the table and tossed it to Sam who caught it without thinking; glancing down at her hands she saw the remote for the TV and she frowned.
"Just watch some TV or something, sleep, whatever. I'm going to go find some food, coffee, tea, whatever we need to stock up on. We don't have much here and that storm's supposed to get worse."
"Well just…just be careful, okay? It looked pretty bad out there already." Dee nodded and waved before flicking the heat on and leaving, slamming the door behind her as she left. Sam listened until she heard the Impala roar to life before finally turning her attention to the TV. Once she managed to turn it on, she flipped from channel to channel, ignoring the sitcoms and the news. It wasn't until she stumbled on an old episode of The X-Files that she stopped, flopping over onto her side and watching with her mouth parted, nose worthless, the exploits of Mulder and Scully. It reminded her, vaguely, of her own life and had always been a comforting show. It had always been a source of great delight for Sam, something she could relate to. She'd even caught their dad watching once or twice.
At this thought she chuckled which led to another coughing fit, which led to her wondering if Dee would think to get any sort of cold medicine. She sighed, leaning back against the headboard, watching as Mulder ran from something through some thick foliage, Scully nowhere to be seen. She smiled as she started to drift, hoping Dee would remember-
"Aw, what, the GREEN tea, right Sammy? I mean, she wouldn't be your sister if she forgot now would she?" Instantly she was awake, bolting upright from her slouched position. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, eyes wide and face filled with a horror that simple words could not describe as she took in the ever-cocky form of Lucifer leaning against the television.
"You're not here right now. There's literally no way you are here right now, Lucifer, and I am just dreaming. Hallucinating. Going crazy, whatever, but you are not here." He chuckled and pushed away from the wall nearest the TV, sauntering over to stand at the foot of the bed. He leaned forward, that infuriating smile lighting up his calm eyes, body language cool and collected as he pressed his hands against the bed. Sam nearly vomited as she felt the bed dip under the weight he applied and tried to imagine herself shifting in her sleep to produce that sensation. She seemed incapable of movement as the Morningstar began to crawl towards her, Nick's form moving lithely and with a grace befitting the Devil himself. Fear illuminated her eyes as Sam's throat swelled shut; he wasn't here to hurt her, to make her scream for mercy as he'd so often threatened?
"No, sweet Sammy, I'm not going to hurt you. Not yet anyway. So, how long do you think Dee will be gone for? Do you think we have enough time to watch a few episodes? Really BOND before she gets back?" His grin turned lascivious as he moved with that disturbing cat-like ease, sliding over the bed, widening his legs and arms to straddle her. She wanted to move, tried to move, was terrified to find her body unresponsive as he brought his face close to her own, nose inches from her cheek, forked tongue darting out from between just-parted lips.
"Samantha, I believe you are having a night mare." Sam jerked away, body all at once her own as she thrashed and fought with everything she had against the Devil above her whose voice seemed suddenly to be Cas's.
"SAMANTHA, PLEASE CALM DOWN I DO NOT WISH TO HARM YOU." She froze, unable to move her arms. Standing above her, calm hands holding her arms at bay, was Castiel. His eyes were wide, mouth set in a grim line, body tense and ready to move lest she launch herself at him. And for a moment, she simply lay there, legs twisted in the blankets around her.
"…Cas?" She croaked, lowering her arms as he released her and trying to push herself back up into a sitting position. She struggled until Cas wrapped an arm around her and hoisted her up. "Is Dee back?"
"Not yet, Samantha. What did you see?" His eyes narrowed as his gaze floated up and down her body, assessing injuries that were not visible to the naked eye.
"I…I saw…" She swallowed; knowing quite suddenly that was she was experiencing was not solely her own mind. "I saw Lucifer, Cas. Twice, now. I-He was here. Standing right over there…Talking. Just …just talking."
"Did he attempt to determine your location?"
"…No…" She paused, worrying her lower lip as her gaze slipped to the side. That exhaustion was back, heavy and overwhelming. Tears welled behind closed lids, fury and sorrow mingling to form an overflow of emotion. Her headache was worse than ever before.
"Cas what's wrong with me?" For a long while there was silence, and it was only by peeking out behind mostly closed eyelids that Sam was saw he had not left. No, he was simply… standing there. Staring at her face with some unfathomable expression.
"CHRIST IT'S COLD OUT THERE!" Both angel and Winchester nearly leapt from their skins as Dee slammed her way back into the room, kicking the door closed behind her and stumbling the short distance to the table, depositing multiple paper bags into the chairs and onto the table itself. "Oh! Didn't know you were here, Cas. You fix up Sammy, yet?"
"Deanna I don't think-"
"I mean, jeez look at her; no offense, Sammy but you look pretty awful."
"Deanna, I think we should speak, please. For a moment."
"No worries, Cas, I'll tell her," Sam managed, alternating between shuddering and wiping beads of sweat from her brow. "Dee, I've been hallucinating." She paused, watching as Dee stiffened by the door where she was currently stripping free of her snow-covered clothes. That exhaustion, that undeniable sense of sinking, was beginning to grow stronger. Her eyelids were heavy and she desperately wanted to sleep.
"I saw Lucifer this morning…in the…in…" She forced a swallow, arms giving out and depositing her back onto the bed. The world around her twisted and turned, inverting itself and Sam was so sure she was going to vomit. And then it was gone. The world. All of it. And she was lost, adrift in the sea of unconscious, blissful nothing.
Her body's shuddering grew intense and it was only Castiel's alarm that drew Dee to Sam's side just in time to see her begin seizing. It was worse than the lake this time, her body bowing to the point where only the back of her head and her heels remained on the bed. It took both of them to hold her safely still for the nearly three minutes that she was in the throes of a seizure. When finally her body returned to equilibrium, the Sammy Dee had just been speaking with was gone. What remained was a body, living just on the brink of death with not a trace of light left inside.