Author's note (*Plus trigger warning*) - Hey there everyone! So you must be tired of me apologising about the lateness of each chapter so I probably shouldn't bother. Just know that in a few weeks it should get better because the exams will stop and I'll finally have some free time. Happy day! Anyways, just a warning to the faint of heart. There will be torture in this chapter. Not a whole lot and probably not all that graphic because I'm a big softy but it will be there. You have been warned. =D

Chapter Ten

"Oh, there was a young vampire named Sammy

Who joined the Day Guard Army

I threw a grenade right at him

And now he's haunting me."

Sam resisted the urge to smash his head against the grimy brick wall he was leaning against. This must have been the sixth or seventh verse in the song saga about a 'young vampire named Sammy' that Luther had recently take to singing and the lyrics weren't getting any more creative.

"Not haunting you, Luther. Still alive. No thanks to you." Sam muttered.

"He speaks!" Luther gasped in delight, swivelling around with a triumphant grin.

They had been placed in opposite cells and Sam was really beginning to wish the hunter had just put him in the far end one, where he at least stood a chance of ignoring his companion's endless prattle. He found it hard to match this Luther up with the one that Bobby had described earlier. The one that refused to say a word.

"I was beginning to think you'd gone and fallen asleep on me." Luther continued.

"It's not for lack of trying, I assure you." Sam grumbled.

"Oh don't be like that. We're comrades in arms, you and I. Brothers. We might as well get along. After all, we are in this together."

Sam scoffed. "Brothers? Together? You've got to be joking. You tried to blow me up back in the village, remember?"

"I remember," Luther sighed, sinking down to sit cross-legged on the floor just behind the bars. "Would you believe me if I said it wasn't personal?"

Sam just scoffed again.

"No really. It wasn't. I'm not at liberty to tell you exactly why I had to throw the grenade…but I can promise you it was a necessary evil. And hey, look, you're still breathing, right? So no harm done."

Not at liberty? Luther made it sound like it had been an order from on high instead of some haphazard, split-second decision made in the heat of battle.

But, angry as he was, Sam knew that giving the other vampire the silent treatment wasn't really going to help anything. They needed to think of a way to get out of there.

"So how did they catch you?" he decided to ask instead.

Luther grimaced. "Remember skeletor? That stick of a hunter that brought you in? He got the drop on me just as I was coming out of the tavern. Punk stabbed me from behind and before I knew it, I was all nicely trussed up in the back of his truck." A look of sudden wonder swept over his face. "He had a truck, Sammy. Can you believe that? An actual working truck. I didn't think they existed anymore."

Before Sam could answer, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard and in strode an angry looking John Winchester (Sam was beginning to think that was just his default face), followed swiftly by Bobby, Kubrick and Gordon, who was carrying a grubby wooden chair over his shoulder.

John stopped before Sam's cell and glared at him before barking out, "Kubrick, get the other one out of here. I don't want them together from now on."

Kubrick followed the command quickly, unlocking Luther's cell and yanking the sitting vampire out by arms that were still tied behind his back.

Luther snapped his head forward with a snarl, trying to sink his teeth into Kubrick's bony shoulder but his reach wasn't far enough.

The hunter merely altered his grip so that the vampire was now in front of him. "Try that again and I'll muzzle you," He grumbled, pushing Luther through the doorway and out of sight. "Don't think I won't."

The remaining three men didn't take their eyes off Sam throughout the brief scuffle, their gaze cold and distant.

Without speaking a word, Bobby unlocked Sam's cell and all three men stepped inside.

Sam in turn took a step back, the beginnings of fear taking root as he remembered John's words from earlier; "They'll both talk eventually. I'll make sure of that."

Gordon set the chair down in the centre of the room and the moment Sam's gaze turned to watch him, John made his move, reaching forward to snag the young vampire by his shoulders, turn him and start untying the restraints.

Sam was barely given a moment to experience the feeling of blood rushing back into his cold hands before he was shoved down onto the chair where his hands were yet again tied, this time to the arms of the seat. His ankles were also tied to the legs of the chair. The hunters obviously weren't taking any chances with him.

John was the first one to break the silence. "My son says you saved his life, fang," he said, voice like gravel. "And for that you have my gratitude. But it doesn't change the fact that you are a vampire, our mortal enemy, and our prisoner."

He stopped talking and Sam wondered if he were meant to say something here. If he was, he wasn't entirely sure what it was supposed be so he just continued to watch the hunters quietly.

John sighed and continued. "We have some questions and you are going to answer them. If you refuse to do so, we will be forced to use more…extreme measures. Measures that we'd rather not take."

"What do you want to know?" Sam figured he should at least act like he was willing to cooperate. Maybe the questions wouldn't actually be all that important.

The hunters glanced at each other in varying levels of surprise. Apparently cooperation was not what they had been expecting. Then Bobby spoke up.

"We want to know about Ash Lindberg."

Sam blinked, nonplussed. "Who?"

"Ash Lindberg," Bobby repeated. "He was taken by your lot in a raid a few months back. Where is he?"

Sam vaguely remembered Luther mentioning that the hunters who had captured him back near the City had asked him about someone called Ash but that was the only time he had heard the name. And that was fine by him, it just made the first question that much easier to answer. "I have no idea."

Gordon growled from his spot beside Bobby and without warning, drove a fist right into his solar plexus.

Sam wheezed and glared up at his least favourite hunter. "I'm serious. I don't know. If he was taken in a raid, it was probably as food, and if that's the case…" He wondered momentarily if it was a good idea to say he next bit but then decided he'd gone too far to just shut up now. "Well I'm sorry but humans don't tend to last any longer than a month or two in our farms."

"You're saying he's dead?" John asked.

"I'm saying it's possible." Sam stated matter-of-factly. "It's also possible that he's still alive. Like I just said. I have no idea where he is. I've never even heard of him before." Not strictly true but close enough.

For a moment it looked like John might take a swing at him too but then the man just took a deep breath, calming himself down before speaking again.

"Fine then. If you can't tell us anything useful about Ash then how about something else? Tell us about the City. About its defences and weaknesses, about its leaders and its forces."

And that was as far as Sam could go. He might not agree with everything the vampires did but they were still his people and the City was still his home. It was where he grew up. Where his mom lived. There was no way he would willingly reveal information that could possibly put her in harm's way.

He felt his mind immediately shut down at the request. "You know I can't tell you that."

"I know you won't tell us that." John replied, folding his arms and stepping away towards the entrance of the cell. "Not without a little persuasion."

With a sigh, Sam sat back against the chair, resigning himself to whatever was going to happen next and willing his heart to remain calm.

Gordon looked positively delighted. This was obviously what he had been waiting for. What he'd been looking forward to. He pulled a flask out of his pocket and opened it.

Sam tried to catch scent of what it was but could smell nothing over the stench of ammonia.

"Sure you don't want to tell us, fang?" He said with a smug little smile. He didn't wait for a reply however, just through the contents at Sam's face.

Sam's eyes instinctively closed the moment the liquid touched his skin and for a second, nothing happened. Then the pain hit.

An agonised gasp escaped his throat as he felt his already burned skin set ablaze.

"Concentrated lemon juice, fang, feels good don't it?"

Sam didn't dare open his eyes to glare defiantly as he wished he could, for fear of the liquid getting in them. Instead he just kept his mouth obstinately shut and concentrated on breathing.

Gordon splashed liquid fire across his shoulders next. Then his back and then his chest but Sam was ready for it now and refused to give more than a soft hiss as the lemon juice ran in small rivulets down his body.

"I shall ask again." John's voice said, breaking his concentration. "Tell us about the City."

Sam finally risked opening his eyes, squinting up at the hunter and letting his fangs descend as he snarled. "Go to hell."

John rolled his eyes and Bobby shook his head, looking distinctly uncomfortable with the situation.

Good, Sam thought, he should be uncomfortable.

Gordon started on his fingers next; asking a question and then gleefully snapping a digit when the question went unanswered.

When he reached the second hand, Sam was struggling to keep the screams in and was biting the inside of his cheek so hard he could taste blood.

Upon the last snap, his vision began to dim around the edges and he welcomed the darkness. Wished it would come swiftly and swallow him whole.

"Enough." John finally said and much to Sam's dismay it wasn't only Gordon that backed off. The darkness did too.

John strode forward, grasped a handful of Sam's hair and yanked his head back so that he was staring directly into the hunter's eyes.

"Why do this to yourself?" the hunter asked softly, almost sounding as though he cared. Almost. "Just tell us what we want to know and the pain will stop."

A laugh bubbled up out of Sam's throat before he could stop it. He didn't even know why he was laughing. All he knew was that for some reason he found John's words highly amusing.

"You mean you'll kill me?" he chortled. Bloody spittle flew from his mouth as he spoke, almost hitting John in the face.

John flinched back and released his grip upon Sam's hair and this only made the vampire laugh harder. Tears of mirth squeezing out from under his eyelids.

A hard slap to the face stopped him cold. He blinked, stunned, cheek smarting from the blow, and then glanced back up at John who still had his hand raised, as though ready to strike again.

"We're leaving it here for today." John said. "But we will be coming back tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that and every day after that until you tell us what we want to know. Understand that the only way this ends is with you talking. How much you suffer between now and then is up to you."

And with that, the hunters marched out of his cell, locked it behind them and left Sam alone with his thoughts.