Siren's Song
Disclaimer: I wish I'd thought of this, but I did not, so I'm not paid for playing.
A/N: This isn't the last chapter, we still have one more after this one. I want to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, and/or put me on watch. It means a lot to me.
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
Dean climbed into the passenger side of the Impala with an acceptance that worried Sam a lot. After riding shotgun for so long, he thought Dean would have at least tried to drive to the lake, if only to not have to listen to Sam's iPod and the music it held. True, Sam had had mercy on Dean and kept the music turned down, but normally, Dean still would have protested as badly as if Sam was blaring the theme song to Love Story. Sam jumped when Dean spoke up. "So, you ever work a boat before?"
"If I said no, would that make a difference?"
"Eh, you're a bright kid, you'll figure it out." He coughed and moved his forehead slightly against the window, trying to soak up the cool feeling from the glass.
"There's no way we're getting out of this, is there?"
"Nope, sorry. Besides, we already paid for the boat and we wouldn't want to disappoint our neighborhood Siren bitch, now would we?" He tried to give Sam a Dean like grin, but didn't quite make it. "You still have the receipt?"
Sam nodded and pulled out his wallet. "Yeah, I do." He parked the car at the top of the hill and make his way down to the boat house. He sighed and shook his head as Dean came down after him and leaned heavily against the wall of the shack, waiting for the man at the window to grab the keys and take them to their boat.
"At least they gave us one that's not going to capsize." Dean sounded very relieved as he looked down at the large, sturdy boat in front of him. "You ready Little Brother?"
"As I'll ever be, I guess." Sam took a breath and got behind it to shove it off. "Put this on." He held out a life vest to Dean.
"Are you serious? Dad made sure we knew how to swim almost as soon as you knew how to walk." Dean eyed the vest as if it were made of snakes.
"I know, and you're still wearing one. I'm wearing one too. This isn't exactly a pleasure trip, Dean. If you go in that water before I can grab you, you need something to keep you up."
"Everyone took these things off before they jumped, remember."
"Stop arguing and just put it on, please."
Dean sighed and pulled on the vest. "Alright, you have your iPod, right? And those earplugs?" Sam held up both. "Okay, then get them in and let's get this show on the road." Dean coughed rather badly and spat something over the side.
"You're disgusting, you know that?" Sam turned on his music before Dean could respond.
After fifteen minutes or so, the air around Dean started to feel very heavy, hot almost. He wiped his forehead and moved to take off his life vest. He didn't need it, after all, he knew how to swim. Sam grabbed his wrist and raised an eyebrow, shaking his head. Dean scowled, but didn't fight him. At least, not until he heard... it.
It was the most beautiful song he'd ever heard in his life. Not just the sweet voices, although those alone were enough to peek his interest. The words promised him anything he wanted, if he would just come and stay with them on the island. Dean turned his head to the right and fixed his eyes on three of the most breathtaking women he'd ever seen. They were dancing, beckoning him to come to them. And would he ever go to them! He moved to follow where the voices led, but something held him back. Frowning, he looked down to see his brother's arms around his waist and shoulders. The boat, while left to itself, was drifting farther away from where Dean knew he needed to be. It didn't matter, he could swim. if he could just get away from Sam. "Sammy, let me go, will ya. I'm just gonna go talk to them." Hell, maybe spend the rest of his life with them, if all went well. If all went the way they assured him it would go. "Sam, get off." Dean was struggling more now, he'd almost... no, Sam still had too tight a hold on him. Dean pulled, prodded and jerked to free himself, but it just wasn't working. As a last ditch effort, he reached down and sank his teeth into Sam's arm, not quite breaking the skin, but hard enough to bring a shout of pain to his ears. The cry shook him out of his stupor just a little bit. Not enough to keep him from wanting to go to the Sirens, but enough to know that he'd hurt his brother. The one person he was never supposed to hurt. He looked into Sam's white face, his eyes pleading, telling him mutely to let him go. He didn't want to hurt Sam, he just wanted to be allowed to go.
Sam bit his lip and studied his brother's crazed eyes. He was a lot more flushed than he had been that morning, and it wasn't from the fever. Sam shook his head again and pulled his brother into a tight, almost choking hug. "I think we can go now." His voice was louder than he meant it to be, because the Sirens, unwilling to let their prey leave, picked their own song up a notch. They sang of heart's desires, of wisdom, of joy, anything to keep Dean's focus on them, rather than what he should be doing. Dean struggled and fought hard, almost breaking free of Sam once or twice. Sam held him tighter, fearing that he was going to cut off his brothjer's air supply if Dean fought much more. Sam eased himself against the motor, turning the boat from the island with his elbow.
Finally, the voices faded from Dean's ears and were replaced with an unearthly screech that made his head explode with pain. He tried to cover his ears, but Sam had his arms pinned so tightly that all he could do was listen. The screech ended, but still echoed through to open lake. Dean collapsed against Sam's shoulder weakly and coughed. He felt drained, as if he'd been running a marathon without any breaks. Sam looked down at him. "Are we good?" All Dean could do was nod. He felt as if he was going to be sick. Not only that, but he felt worse than before. He was sure his fever was higher than it had been when they left that morning and he wasn't sure he could make it back to the car without passing out.
Sam took out his earphones and gave his brother a very dirty look. "Dude, what the hell did you have to go and bite me for?" He pitched the earplugs in the trashcan before handing his rental pass over to the man at the boat house. Only then did he notice how sick Dean looked. With one fluid motion Sam's arm was under Dean's shoulders and he was helping him up the hill, disturbed that his brother wasn't protesting. He rested a hand on his brother's brow. "Oh God, you're burning up."
"Feels good. Sammy? I have a headache." Again, Dean's voice was slurred, but there was a weakness to it that Sam hadn't heard before.
"I bet you do. You're going right to bed and you're sleeping until I say you can wake up, you hear me? Tomorrow I'm going to go see if all is right with the world." He got Dean into the car and didn't talk again until they were back in their motel room. When he'd gotten his brother back in bed and given him a healthy dose of pain killers and Dayquil, Sam sat down on the edge of the bed and took Dean's temperature again, this time without a fight. "The thing that's bugging me though?" He frowned and stared at the wall, "is why were there three of them. I mean, I know what the myth said, but I thought Sparrow was the only one."
Dean shook his head and waited for Sam to take out the thermometer before answering. "She told me the other day she had a sister, and talked about how her mother loved birds. That must have been them. Weren't the beautiful?" He sounded groggy, his voice was thick with sleep and congestion.
"Not really. They looked like normal women to me." Sam shrugged, figuring that optical illusions were another way to lure people in. "You sleep and let those meds do their job. You're hanging steady at 103.3 and I'd rather you not get any sicker, or I'll have to take you to the doctor."
Dean closed his eyes and felt his body drift off. Sure, he didn't really want to go back and try to find those women, now that he was away from them, but they sure sang nice anyway.