Disclaimer: If only. . .
A/N I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but this story is set sometime in Season 2, before BUaBS. And yes, the timing is important.
.~o()o~.
Sam was dragged reluctantly out of unconsciousness. His eyes fluttered open and then closed again immediately as pain flooded over him. He fought to slip back into the blackness, but the wall was back, keeping him awake.
His arms were shackled to a beam in the ceiling and his toes barely brushed the floor. The dislocation had been greatly reduced, but the swelling and bruising stretched all along his arm and halfway across his chest. Each tiny movement caused it to burn and throb.
Then he looked across the room and saw Bo, trussed up in similar fashion and trying to balance himself as much as possible on one leg.
"Sam," Bo cried out. "I thought you were dead."
"I'm fine," Sam said through gritted teeth. "Takes more than that breed of hellspawn to take me down."
"Hellspawn?" a smooth oily voice spoke from the darkest corner of the barn. "After I pulled you from a burning car and showed you all my hospitality. That's not very charitable neighbour." A short, fat man in a white suit stepped out of the shadows.
"Boss Hogg," Bo hissed through his teeth. " You have gone too far. You won't escape justice this time."
"Boss Hogg?" the man slowly walked over to where Bo hung. "I guess that is all your uneducated eyes would see, but it isn't him, just his meat suit." He calmly drew back his foot and kicked Bo's good leg out from under him. He put out his broken leg in reflex and all his weight landed square on the injured limb. His body arched in pain and he screamed in agony.
"You see now what I can do," Boss whispered as Bo's thrashing calmed and he hung limply from his restraints, whimpering. "You can feel it just beyond you, sweet oblivion, ready to embrace your pain-filled soul. You can almost touch it, almost taste, but something stands in the way, just the tiniest distance that keeps you from the only escape available to you."
"Christo," Sam whispered in an effort to shift the focus from Bo. Boss whirled to face him, eyes black and lifeless. Sam relaxed as Boss left Bo alone and walked toward him.
"I haven't forgotten about you," Boss chuckled. He reached out his hand toward Sam. Sam struggled to get the momentum to kick him away but he couldn't find purchase on the floor and it just made him sway slightly, lighting fires in his shoulder.
Boss placed his hand in the very centre of Sam's chest and Sam was once again trapped in the throes of vicious seizures and unconsciousness was once more walled away, unattainable.
He did not cry out this time. He could see his enemy. His enemy had a name and a face and Sam was determined it would never see another moment of weakness.
Dean would come, Dean always came, but as his tormented body jerked and swung and agony like a ravenous beast tore into every limb, he wondered if Dean would come soon enough.
.~o()o~.
Luke and Dean sped back into town.
"We need to get more people out," Luke said, holding onto the door with a white-knuckled grip in an effort to keep himself under control. "I'll organize a search party as soon as we get back into town."
"No," Dean said firmly. "We can't bring in anyone else. It's too dangerous."
"What are you talking about?" Luke yelled. "It is far more dangerous for Bo and Sam. "what if we are too late because we cannot cover enough ground. Those bone fragments were found on the driver's side and I know he wouldn't let Sam drive the General Lee. Hell, half the time, he won't let me drive it and I own half. My cousin is hurt bad and we need to get to him soon."
"I know," Dean said, his earlier panic having been reforged into steely determination. "There was a lot of blood on the passenger side too. But the thing that took them. . .it wasn't human and the more people we involve, the more people will get hurt."
"What do you mean it isn't human?"
"My brother and I, we don't hunt down criminals and fugitives. We stick to game that's a little more. . .unnatural. This son of a bitch happens to be a demon."
"A demon," Luke whispered. "You're sure?"
"Yes," Dean replied coldly. "And we need to find out who its inhabiting and where it is hiding, and fast, or we will never see Sam and Bo again."
.~o()o~.
The seizures finally stopped and Sam hung still, trying to breathe deeply as his head cleared and the sharp agony retreated to a dull pulse that echoed through his entire body like a heartbeat, strong and steady.
"Still awake?" Boss chuckled to himself. "Of course you are. I want you aware for this next part. He stepped closer to Sam, who realized that this demon's eyes were a deep shade of purple instead of the black he had originally thought.
"What. . .do you want?" Sam rasped through clenched teeth.
"What I have always wanted. Power! Specifically, your's to command"
"I have no power," Sam whispered.
"Don't lie to me boy. I know about your visions. I know about the moment of telekinesis and, most importantly, I know of your potential"
"Fine," Sam said. "You have me. Let Bo go. You don't need to hurt him anymore."
"Wrong," Boss giggled gleefully. "When you were given your powers by the one known as the Yellow Eyed Demon, you were also given natural defences against control and possession by other demons. These defences can only be broken by your death, but if you die, your powers die with you. You see my dilemma?" He waited for Sam to reply, but Sam refused to give him the satisfaction. Boss shrugged and continued on.
"Imagine my delight when I found a way to kill those defences and leave the powers intact. All I need to do is kill you and have someone ready as a vessel for your power."
"Oh is that all? Well, be my guest. Anything else you want? My head on a silver platter? My firstborn child?" Sam laughed sarcastically, trying to channel his inner Dean.
"Your bravado, while amusing, is not convincing. And this is the culmination of years of planning. First, I had to find the right vessel, one of perfect innocence."
"Innocent?" Bo snorted breathlessly. "do you know my reputation in Hazzard?"
"Innocence, surprisingly, has nothing to do with virginity. . .or the lack thereof. I needed someone who still believed in good and justice, one who hadn't had all their hope pounded out of them by the world. I would have preferred your cousin, him being the more. . .intelligent, but he saw too much of the world when he was in the Marines."
Boss continued on, enjoying the sound of his voice as it echoed in the empty barn. "Then of course, I had to work out the timing and plan a most complicated ritual. I had to make sure your essence would follow the correct path and that it would so at the moment Bo was ready to receive it. Plus, I had to find the ingredients. I can't just run to superstore for the blood of six virgins, you know. Then, Sam, I had to get you here and you and Bo together. I had to set the perfect trap. Of course afore-mentioned virgins provided the means to do so. Then you and your brother walked right into it without a second thought."
"Stop it," Sam cried out in anguish, guilt flooding over him like a tsunami.
"But I digress," Boss said. "What I really should do now is show you my machine." With all the flair of a Shakespearean actor, he grabbed an extension cord and plugged it in. Floodlights illuminated the shadowed half of the barn. Sam and Bo gasped in horror.
.~o()o~.
A/N Wow, two chapters in as many days. That has to be a record for me. Please review!