Sam groaned as he woke up. His chest burned with pain and his vision blurred as he sat up. As he was blinking to clear it up he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Alex?" He asked as the teen's bruised, bloody and swollen face came into focus.
"Are you okay?" Alex rasped as he looked down and saw the scratches on Sam's torn chest. The man looked down and saw the four long drag marks that...thing had attacked him It wasn't deep but it sure did hurt like hell.
"Yeah, I'll be okay. You look like hell though. I take it he did this to you?" Sam asked sympathetically as he sat up straighter to give the boy a once over.
The boy's face looked like it had been on the losing end of a bar room brawl. Defensive wounds littered the boy's arms and one arm was wrapped around his ribs and chest. Sam was willing to bet that if he lifted the thin t-shirt he would see more bruises. Alex's jaw was clenching and unclenching in attempt to keep the pain at bay.
"I'm fine." The blond answered stubbornly.
"Did he beat the hell out of you for kicks, or what?" Sam questioned, trying to get a feel of what situation they were in.
"No, I escaped and ran to a house and this couple let me in to use their phone but..." Alex trailed off. This wasn't the part of the story he wanted to tell.
Sam's head jerked up at that, suddenly more alert. Bobby monitored dispatch calls.
"That's great! Did they track the call? If they did then Bobby..."
"I wasn't on the phone long enough for them to get an address. Lasriel showed up, shattered the phone and...killed the couple before laying into me." Alex said, his head lowered and full of guilt.
Sam sighed, his earlier hope deflating.
"I did mention Bobby's name if that helps." Alex added.
Sam nodded as he stood up.
"It's better than nothing." he said as he patted Alex on the calf.
Alex cried out as Sam jarred his hurt ankle. Sam jumped in surprise, shocked that the innocent gesture hurt the boy.
"What's wrong?"
Alex breathed heavily as the pain simmered back down to tolerable.
"My ankle is broke." He finally got out.
"Damn...I'm sorry. Can I take a look at it?"
Alex sighed. He felt he could trust the man. He hadn't lied to him yet and it seems that they were both stuck in the same boat at the moment.
Alex nodded and closed his eyes as the man touched his ankle with gentle hands, which surprised the boy considering Sam's size.
"So, not that I'm not thrilled to have found you but did Lasriel tell you anything about why I'm here or what he's planning to do?" Sam asked softly.
Alex smiled.
"Oh yeah. Apparently demons aren't too different from mad men trying to take over the world. He told me his plan to boost his ego."
Sam laughed at that before Alex explained everything that Lasriel had told him.
By the time Alex was done Sam was done checking his ankle and was pacing around the room, looking for a way out.
"A Seriquin? Well that one's new. I don't even think dad has anything in his journal about them." He said to himself more than Alex.
"So, he's using me as a bargaining tool for this dagger. That means he's going to have to get in touch with Dean. Bobby or Cas will figure out what we're dealing with."
"You sound pretty confident." Alex had seen Lasriel at work but he wasn't familiar with the Winchesters.
"Trust me, Alex. Some demon that thinks he can manipulate my brother is going to get his ass handed to him. In the meantime we need to work on trying to get out of here."
Sam looked over at Alex who looked exhausted.
"We're going to take on a demon by ourselves?" The boy asked skeptically.
"Don't worry. I've been doing this my whole life. We'll be fine." Sam assured as he went to the door and tried to use his weight do force the door open. For all his effort all he got was a sore shoulder. The door wasn't going to budge until Lasriel opened it from the other side.
Alex sighed as he tried to find a position that was comfortable without jarring any of his injuries. The hunter had a pang of sympathy for him. He knew how much pain he must be in.
"Hey, as soon as we get out of here we'll get Cas to fix you up. You just gotta stick with me through this part, okay?"
Alex lifted his head at the topic.
"That Castiel guy? The one in the trenchcoat?" He asked.
Sam nodded.
"Yeah, why?"
"Lasriel said he was an angel. Is that true or was he just messing with me?" Alex asked. It had been bugging him for awhile.
Sam smiled and nodded.
"'Fraid so."
"He isn't exactly what I picture when I think of an angel."
"Yeah, none of them are. In fact, most of them are douchebags. Except Cas but then again he isn't exactly a model Angel at the moment."
Alex looked like Sam had sprung two heads.
"Are you sure you should be talking about them like-"
Sam held up a hand to stop him.
"Look, I know you have a lot of questions. About Heaven and Hell and Angels and the whole deal. And you deserve an answer to at least some of them. But if you want my opinion the best thing for you to do is to asked as little of questions as possible. It'll make going back to a normal life easier for you."
Alex snorted, "Yeah, normal."
Sam winced, "You know what I mean."
"How much do you know about me?" The teen asked, he wasn't sure how comfortable he was with strangers knowing his business no matter how well intending they were.
The hunter sighed.
"All of it," He admitted, "that's another upside to working with an angel. He could get us files we needed as well as the stuff that wasn't mentioned in the files MI6 had on you. I'm sorry but it really was important that we found you. We were trying to avoid this."
Alex felt himself blush at the last statement.
"Look, I'm sorry I ran away. I ran right into this thing's hands and now you're involved too."
Sam shrugged.
"Eh, well to be fair we probably should've left someone else behind to look after you. I suppose we underestimated you a bit. Bobby's good but even he wasn't ready for a spy attack."
"He sure did a good job trying to stop me with that shotgun." Alex noted, still surprised the older man had managed to get a jump on him like he did.
"The gun wouldn't have hurt you. It was loaded with rocksalt." Sam assured.
"Rock...salt? What?"
"The bullets weren't shotgun bullets. They were the casings with rocksalt in them. Rocksalt hurts demons. Put it on the ground and they can't cross it."
"Demons are afraid of salt? Wow, as soon as I get out of here Jack and I are going to load up on the sodium."
Sam was glad his back was turned to Alex because he physically winced at the mention of the boy's guardian. This was really going to suck telling the boy that he was alone in the world...Sam just hoped the topic would put itself at bay until Alex was back at Bobby's where his brother could help break the news to the teen.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Dean was pacing along the living room.
"Dean just calm down. We'll figure this out." Bobby assured, knowing the boy was going to work himself into a tizzy over his brother.
"Isn't there anything you can do?" Dean asked Cas, finding it hard to believe that he had an angel on his side and he was still losing.
"Give me a location and I will go to your brother, otherwise-"
And then suddenly Cas was gone. Mid sentence.
"Cas? Friggin' angels." Dean huffed as worry for his little brother set deep into his bones.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Cas was startled as he was jerked from Bobby's and away from the young hunter's tirade. He noticed he was in a dark warehouse before a ring of fire erupted around him.
"Huh," Lasriel's voice came from behind him, "that worked even better than I thought it would."
Holy fire.
This would have been the time where Dean would utter the phrase "Son of Bitch," Castiel surmised as he looked at the demon before him.
"Give Sam and the boy back to us." The angel demanded.
Lasriel shook his head.
"No can do." He replied simply.
"Then why did you bring me here?" Castiel asked impatiently.
"Well, seeing as I have a few house guests to...entertain I was wondering if you could run an errand for me."
"And why would I do that?"
"I'm more than certain Dean has gotten fond of his little brother. You do what I want and I'll return little Sammy Winchester back to his brother. No harm no foul."
"And the boy?"
Lasriel shook his head.
"I'm afraid he'll have remain in my care. It's not like he has too much to go home to now."
"Because of you." Cas accused.
"If you and the Winchesters had kept your noses out of something's that's none of your business I would have taken the boy and his guardian would have been fine. You killed her."
Castiel had had enough.
"What do you want?"
Lasriel pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Cas from over the holy fire.
"Two days. Meet me back here with that or else Alex is going to have himself a cellmate for a very long time."
Castiel could sense that the demon was on the verge of leaving and he knew Dean would threaten to clip his wings if he didn't ask the obvious.
"Are they okay? Sam and Alex? Are they harmed?"
Lasriel winced.
"Sam'll live. A few scrapes here or there. Alex on the other hand...well let's just say he won't running any marathons any time soon."
And then Lasriel was gone. Castiel looked around before sighing. Dean wasn't going to like this. He pulled out his cell phone as he gazed at the offending Holy Fire around him.
"I require your assistance." He said as he heard the Hunter answer the phone.
"You better have a damn good reason for disappearing like that." Dean thundered.
Castiel had to force down his objection to being yelled at by someone that he still felt he deserved respect from. He liked Dean but sometimes he felt the hunter thought that he was only there to serve him and his needs.
"I just spoke to Lasriel. He does have Sam. He's using as bartering. There's a knife he wants in exchange for Sam...But I'm stuck."
"Stuck?"
"In a ring of holy fire to be precise."
He heard Dean curse.
"Give me an address. I'm on my way."
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Sam had long given up on trying to get out of the room. He would just have to wait for the right opportunity to arise. This Seriquin was what was consuming Sam's mind. He wracked every memory of his childhood for and recollection of a mention of such a beast but he was coming up empty.
The hunter looked over to his right as he heard his young companion groan from beside him.
Alex was holding his own pretty well. The teen hadn't thrown himself into a panic but Sam figured after seven missions as a spy being held captive wasn't exactly new to the boy. The supernatural element had to have been a shock though...but then again finding out your from a spy family couldn't have been too easy. Sam sighed, just when he thought his family was the most screwed up family in the world he meets Alex Rider. Sam still thought his family had Alex's beat but the teen's family was starting to come in at a close second.
The boy shifted and groaned again. He finally sighed and opened his eyes from where he was trying to get some sleep. Sam wished he could help with the teen's pain in some way.
"Well, so much for that." Alex muttered.
"Sorry," Sam sympathized.
"Not your fault...So, what can you tell me about my dad?" Alex asked. They were obviously going to be in the dark cell for awhile they might as well make the most out of it.
Sam shrugged.
"Not much. Let's see...He was chasing Lasriel and he got wind that he was somewhere in the Ohio area so he got a plane and came to America. He was looking for the demon and he found some poltergeist instead. Dad was also in the area looking in on the strange activity where he met up with your dad. They met and hit it off. I suppose they agreed to do the hunt together because the next thing I know Dad is introducing us to John and giving him the couch to crash on until they killed the thing. I remember one night I was trying to teach Dean how to play chess and Dean being Dean just wasn't getting it. Dean got frustrated and quit and your Dad laughed and said he'd play a couple rounds with me. I think he let me win though."
Alex nodded and imagined the scene playing out with himself in Sam's shoes with a sigh.
"Thanks. Sorry, I just had to ask." Alex said after a moment, it was rare he met someone who could give him an insight like that.
Sam noticed the teen's depressed tone. Alex had lost both of his parents. No matter how many fights he had with his father at least he had gotten to spend time with the man and gotten to know him.
But Sam knew what it was like to feel that hole in your chest of a loss of a parent. It ached with every passing thought, with every mention of their name.
"We lost my mom when I was a baby." Sam said before he even knew what he had said.
"Were both your parents hunters?"
Sam decided to spare the boy the long story.
"Uh, no. My parents were about as normal as yours were until she died. A demon killed her. Then Dad kinda went on a rampage to find out what and who killed mom."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Yeah, the point is...I know what's like to wonder about a parent. I've spent half my life asking questions about our mother to Dean. Dad didn't really like talking about her too much but Dean told me about her."
Alex nodded.
"Ian didn't like talking about them at all. After a certain age I just quit asking about them. You're lucky you have Dean, I guess."
Sam smiled.
"Yeah, I know I am."
A/N- Another chapter under the belt. I hope Sammy and Cas aren't too bad. I'm about to have wisdom teeth surgery(gross) in a few days so I thought I'd try to update at least one story...and this one wonxD.
And who all watched the last episode of Supernatural? That ghost thing was creepy as hell!
Review!
Follow me on tumblr!