Elixir

Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Supernatural and I'm not making any money from this fic. Any character you don't recognise from the show, I probably own. Anything you recognise from another fandom, I don't own

Warning(s): Violence; character death; mental torture; spoilers for the entirety of season one and up to episode eight of season two

Author's Note: I'm really sorry for my lack of updating. My inspiration's been quite low lately, and it's been difficult to sit down and just write. Thanks for your patience! And thank you for all the reviews I've had for this, too

When Sam woke up the next morning, it was to sunlight streaming through the window and the smell of baking drifting through the open door.

For a moment, Sam just lay there, blinking a few times. The room he was sleeping in had… did belong to Amber. He hadn't had much of a chance to see what the room was like before going to bed and he wasn't sure he really wanted to see it now.

Finally realising that he wasn't going to find anything new by just lying around, Sam got out of the bed and allowed himself to take a look around the room.

There wasn't a lot of stuff in the room. The desk against the far wall was free of clutter, with only a laptop resting on the surface. The walls were a soft green in colour and there was a chest of drawers with a jewellery box resting on the top. Sam also saw a white bookcase beside the bed. His curiosity piqued, Sam moved over to the bookcase to take a look.

There were a number of different fiction books, particularly crime and romance. As he looked over the books, Sam almost missed the non-fiction ones – he would have done, if he wasn't so observant.

They were interspersed well enough with the other books that a casual observer wouldn't have noticed them. A few books appeared to be about magic and general supernatural creatures, but the one that mainly caught his eye was titled, Spirits and their Meanings.

Sam took the book out and flicked through it. He frowned slightly, noticing a passage that had been marked – probably by Amber.

'Although most spirits will stay on the earth because they have unfinished business, a very few spirits will be bound to the earth because a loved one will not be able to grieve properly and let them go…'

Sam closed the book before he saw any more. He remembered that when he'd first met Amber, she'd held onto the spirit of her dead sister. He figured that Amber had probably been able to let go of the past fully. It kind of sucked that she'd been captured right after finally getting her life back.

After putting the book back, Sam turned and walked over to the door of the room. Provided Dean's hangover isn't too bad, we could probably go looking in those caves today… The only reason Sam wasn't going to go dashing off to Amber's rescue unprepared was that, in his vision, she'd been alive and more or less unharmed.

Of course, she'd also killed Dean…

Sam was just about out of the room when he felt a stabbing pain in his forehead. He gasped and pressed the heels of his hands to his temples as the vision wracked his body…

Dean was lying on what seemed to be a stone table. His arms and legs were spread-eagled and were tied down with heavy chains, cutting into his skin. He was naked, and Sam could see that there were lacerations all over his chest. Dean's eyes were closed and he seemed to be unconscious. Sam could only just make out the fact that his brother was breathing.

Footsteps behind him alerted Sam to the presence of another, and he stepped out of the way automatically, turning in time to see Amber come through the roughly-hewn stone doorway. He narrowed his eyes, watching as the woman walked past without seeing him and over to the stone table.

Sam took a few steps forward, but then paused – paralysed with shock – as Amber raised a knife high above her head. Sam leaped forward, but before he could do anything, the woman plunged the blade into his brother's chest.

Sam was all but thrown out of his vision and found himself on his hands and knees, shaking violently. It took him a few moments to realise that Dean was alive and unharmed, and was crouched in front of him, hands resting on his shoulders. "Sam? What is it? Another vision? Are you all right?"

Sam swallowed and reached out for his brother, touching Dean's shoulder and his chest, trying to convince himself that the vision hadn't come true. "Dean…" He choked on a sob.

Dean opened his mouth, but then closed it again, apparently thinking better of what he'd been about to say. "Sammy… Whatever it is, it's not happening now. I'm right here. You need to pull yourself together. These visions are probably one of the only things we have of giving us any idea of what to expect. You know that we're gonna be walking in there blind."

Taking deep breaths, Sam waited until he thought he could speak without completely losing it. "I saw you die."

"I think we already established that," Dean pointed out. "Nothing's going to happen to me. We know what's going to happen, so we know how to stop it."

Sam shook his head and gave a heavy sigh. "It's changed. Amber doesn't shoot you now. You're… tortured and chained to a stone surface. While you're unconscious, Amber comes in and stabs you." Try as he might, Sam couldn't keep the slight tremor out of his voice. Everyone close to me… they've been hurt or even killed. I won't let that happen to Dean!

Dean slowly straightened up and extended a hand to his brother to help him up. "Well, forewarned is forearmed. Nothing's going to happen to me, Sammy. I keep telling you that." He smiled at his brother, though there wasn't much humour in it.

Sam took his brother's hand and let Dean pull him to his feet. "Dean… you have to promise me you'll be careful," he said, his tone pleading.

For a moment, Dean looked like he was going to make some kind of smartass remark. Then, he simply nodded. "I promise, Sammy." He lightly squeezed his brother's shoulder and then grinned. "You know, I think I can smell breakfast. Why don't we go get something to eat before we find Amber?"

Find her… not look. Sam shrugged slightly. "I guess." He frowned at Dean. "Aren't you hung over at all?"

"Nope." Dean turned and headed in the direction of the stairs. "So tell me you at least made a move on her," he said over his shoulder.

Sam started to follow his brother, but paused, frowning. "Who?"

"Jody, naturally," Dean replied as he walked down the stairs. He looked back over his shoulder again and raised his eyebrows. "Seriously? You didn't do anything? What am I teaching you, Sammy? She obviously likes you – I could see that after the whole Doctors Crazy and Crazier. You'd be in with a chance there."

"I hardly think Jody's gonna jump at me after I handcuffed her to the bed," Sam muttered, neglecting to mention that she had done pretty much that.

"So just tell her that it was one of your crazy sex kinks."

"What sex kink?" Jody asked as she walked out of the kitchen. She blinked at Dean. "Oh. You're awake. Are you feeling any better from yesterday?"

"Nope," Dean replied. "After breakfast, we're gonna go looking for Amber – before Sammy's vision of her killing me changes again. Speaking of which, what's cooking? It smells good." He ducked round behind Jody and into the kitchen.

Jody watched Dean go into the kitchen and then turned to Sam. "He's not all right… Is he?" she asked slowly.

Sam sighed a little. "I really don't know what's wrong with Dean," he answered, still bothered by the new vision. "I'm sorry to tell you this, Jody, but Dean's right about the vision changing. I need to know everything you do about the caves – we're heading to the beach right after breakfast."

Jody nodded, looking somewhat relieved to finally have something be done about her friend. "Breakfast's ready now, if you want anything. There's bacon and eggs and pancakes… also toast and cereal."

Sam hadn't realised just how hungry he was until Jody described what she'd been cooking. I suppose it's got to be better than eating breakfast from fast food places. "Thanks for doing that," he said out loud. "Dean's probably eating already, so I'd better go and have something before it all goes." He stepped round Jody and started to enter the kitchen.

"Um… about last night," Jody said before Sam could get very far.

Great, Sam thought, unable to help a sigh. I should have known she'd want to apologise for it or something. He turned back to her with a gentle smile. "Look, it's all right. I know that grief and fear can do strange things to you."

Jody looked down, a slight blush playing around her cheeks. "It wasn't only that," she replied. "I… Well, I am attracted to you. We have to find Amber, but maybe… afterwards…" Her voice trailed off, and she shrugged, not making eye contact with Sam.

Sam hesitated for only a moment. He walked over to Jody and placed his hands on her shoulders. Then, he leaned forward and simply brushed his lips over the top of her head. "Let's just see what happens after we get Amber back, all right?" He slowly removed his hands and then headed into the kitchen, his stomach growling a little as the smell of food intensified.

Jody followed him into the room. "You do realise that I'm going to come with you, right?" she asked, leaning against the wall and watching as the two men dug into the food, acting as though they hadn't seen food in months.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Sam replied slowly. "It could be quite dangerous."

"Was I in either of the visions where Amber killed?" Jody asked bluntly. When Sam shook his head, she ploughed on. "So maybe my being there will affect how it turns out. Did you think of that?"

"Or it could just change how my brother dies yet again," Sam answered, his voice low.

"We should let her come," Dean commented, a little unexpectedly. When Sam stared at him, he shrugged. "It's not like we've had much luck in leaving people behind before. Might as well have Jody where we can keep an eye on her. Besides…" Dean was cut off as Sam kicked his ankle under the table, and he tipped his head slightly to the side. "Why did you kick me, Sammy?" he asked with feigned surprise.

"Did I kick you?" Sam's eyes were wide; his expression exaggeratedly innocent. "Oops. My foot must have slipped."

Jody leaned over Sam's shoulder to steal a strip of bacon off his plate, ignoring the way he batted at her hand. "So when are we going?"

She stood silently as the dry wood was piled around the stake she was tied to. Her body was broken and bleeding, but she still stood tall with her head held high. From somewhere deep inside, she seemed to have accessed a kind of inner peace.

No such peace existed inside him as he heard the people around mock the woman and throw accusations at her. It wasn't enough that they had broken her body and were about to kill her; they seemed to have the desire to break her spirit as well.

As one of the townspeople stepped up to the stake, holding a burning torch, she closed her eyes. Her lips moved silently. Some people thought that she was casting a spell, and the chief questioner stepped forward and struck her hard across the mouth, sending her head snapping to the side.

His fists clenched at his sides and he hated himself for just standing by and doing nothing. But, try as he might, he couldn't move forward to stop the terrible injustice.

The man touched the torch to the wood and the fire blazed immediately. It moved both too fast and with an almost agonizing slowness as the flames spread towards her feet. She didn't start screaming until the fire started licking at her ankles. When she did, the screams were filled with terror more than pain.

Each scream tore at his heart and made his blood pound. When the sickening smell of burning flesh hit him in the face, he couldn't handle it anymore and rushed forward, tearing at the ropes, ignoring the small flames that licked at his fingers. Something stronger than physical pain drove him on.

At that moment, everything became confused. The screams turned into a long, continuous wail, and he was grabbed from behind and pulled away from the stake. As he continued to struggle, pain suddenly flared in his chest. As his vision darkened, he looked down to see the blade of a sword impaling him.

When they let him go, the body simply collapsed onto the ground next to the thing on the stake that was no longer recognisable as being a person…

Amber stared blankly at the ceiling of the cave, not registering anything she could see – which wasn't much. She could hear the others talking, but she didn't care to really hear what they were saying. Her hand ached dully, but her mind was filled with the screams of the damned and scenes of bloodshed.

"Are you sure of this?" one of them was asking. "How do you know we can trust her?"

"I don't trust her," the second male voice replied. "But as it stands right now, she knows that she's been abandoned. The only concern she has is getting revenge for everything that's been done to her."

"I really must advise against this." The third speaker was a woman, and her tone was flat and emotionless. "With the way you've caused her mind to be right now, she's just as likely to turn on us as do what you want. You're holding a tiger by the tail." A cool hand was touched to Amber's forehead as she spoke.

"The difference being, they expect her to be a friend," the second voice replied with a trace of amusement in his tone.

Amber must have blacked out for a few moments. When she came to again, she was alone. Purely instinctively, she started struggling, though not expecting any good to come of it. She only felt mildly surprised as she realised she could move – but the screaming inside her mind was making it difficult to think of anything.

Slowly, Amber pushed herself up, ignoring the dull ache in her injured hand. As she started to feel around, her fingers closed over the hilt of what she realised was a dagger. Slowly, she lifted it, staring at the metal as it glinted in the darkness.

When Amber raised her head again, her eyes reflected flames.