Dawn – chpt 8
by: sifi.
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"T'sokay Sam, it's okay," Dean said softly, pushing out of the chair and wiping away the streamlets of sweat pouring down the young man's pale fevered face.
"Dean," he breathed clutching at the jonnie above him, a yip came as he moved his arm too quickly, setting off a piercing pain through his shoulder, "Dean? You're okay? It stabbed you, I saw it..." he panted pressing his hand to his big brother's chest, feeling for that smoky shaft or evidence of its recent presence.
"No Sam, I'm okay, we're both okay little brother," he assured softly, "Sam you're sick, you've got a nasty fever, we're in the hospital, but we're both gonna be fine I promise," he soothed, rinsing the face cloth and pressing its coolness to his brother's puzzled expression.
"But I saw it, it climbed out of the lower cell, and it ran you through..." he insisted while breathing hard, the air wheezing tightly into and out of his lungs; he shook his head disbelieving.
Enki felt his lips grin as he cupped his son's head in the palm of his hand, "No such low thing can kill me my son, and will come the day when you will have no need to fear them either such will be YOUR power."
"No Sammy, you were dreaming," Dean arranged the pillows behind him and gently pressed him back down to the bed, "C'mon now lay back," he drew the covers up, the weight of his little brother's gaze heavy in his own eyes, the confusion in the young hunter a palpable thing that set his heart racing and his hands trembling. Why is this, whatever this is...happening to us?
His little brother's sweat slicked hand grasped his fingers, "Father..."
Dean shuddered a breath, blinked back the mist and nodded as he squeezed the questing hand, I know Sam, I know... "Easy Sam, it's just me..." he sniffed.
"Doan go'way, doan leave me 'lone..." he wobbled his head back and forth.
"Never gonna happen little brother," he hooked the chair with his foot and drew it closer as he lowered the side rail and sat holding Sam's hand in his left, and mopping his forehead with his right, while he fought the burning pain of remorse that coursed between his heart and his head.
--
That seeking tendril of consciousness drew more surely in the calm of night toward the emissary, her flavor a memory on the back of its mind. At the door to the room in which she lay sleeping it paused, the taste of acidic fire protective over the entrance. Deeper in the earth than it had been earlier in the day, its particles almost smiled, salt could turn its body away, but not its mind.
The tendril moved forward under the stinging mineral, under the structure until it was directly beneath the emissary.
All you fear shall come to pass, I will feed on them and grow strong until you are no more.
The tendril shot upward through the earth until its end was surrounded by living warmth, and then it slowly began to blossom.
--
A spasm bowed her back and a sheen of perspiration rose through her skin as her eyes slid open for a second before she drew a deep breath and changed her position. Her eyes flicked across the room where Tom and Shep lay once more sharing the bed, then closed again as she returned to sleep.
--
"So did Bobby tell you what he's got in mind or is he playing it close to the vest?" she asked sipping from her beer.
Ellen shook her head and slugged back her shot of whiskey, "All he said was there's new developments they need to share," she poured another shot and looked into her daughters' eyes, waiting.
"What if it's a trap?" Jo asked.
That wasn't the question she'd been waiting for.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not doubting Bobby, but we both know demons are manipulative sons of bitches," she arched an eyebrow at her mother fighting the memory of the last time she'd had any interaction with Sam or Dean. Sam had been possessed and she'd been too green to know it. That little bit of ignorance still brought a flush of shame to her cheeks once in a while.
"Then we'll get a chance to get rid of a couple more demons than we thought," Ellen smirked, she still hated the path her daughter had chosen, but she was glad for the opportunity to clear the air between them again. For two years it seemed as if they'd avoided each other, neither one knowing what to say or how to start. But with Bobby's invitation, she had the excuse she needed.
"This... right here? This is the hardest part about the path you've chosen, knowing who to trust and when," Ellen nodded.
"And you trust them?"
Ellen nodded despite the flashing memory of Sam's fury as he unloaded half his clip into that Jake kid. From what Bobby told her, the kid almost killed Sam, and she'd not only seen his eyes flash, but she'd also seen him open the gate with her own eyes. Nodding again, she understood the young Winchester's fury. "Bobby gave them something to help protect against possession..."
Jo snorted and took a long draught on her beer, "Demonic prophylaxis..."
Ellen chuckled, "Something like that," then she waited. She knew her daughter well enough to know that eventually the reason for her reluctance to see John's boys again would come out.
"The last time I saw either of them, Sam was possessed. The demon told me it was there when dad died..." a film slid over her eyes with the memory, the pain still cut her to the bone and she knew the demon had been telling the truth, she knew in her deepest part that John Winchester had put a bullet into her dad's brain. By now, after seeing some of the things she'd seen, and doing some of the things she'd done on her own, as hard as it was to admit, to move past the pain of loss; she also knew that if he'd done something like that, it was because her father had been suffering and wouldn't have survived anyway. It just felt like the truth.
"...do they ever tell the truth?"
"Yeah, especially if they know it'll mess with your head..." Dean nodded before throwing back another slug of tequila.
Ellen felt her belly crawl, her daughter was holding on to something big, something painful and though she wasn't sure she wanted to hear it, if Jo was willing to share it, it was her duty to listen.
"If that son of a bitch is one of the ones we wind up taking out because of whatever
Dean and Sam want to share, I say we don't have any choice but to throw in. They are friends," she smiled shakily while thumbing away the tears from the corners of her eyes and raised her bottle.
Across the table Ellen wrapped her hand around her daughters' and tapped the bottle with her shot glass.
Your father would be proud of you, she thought, her own smile a slightly more stable variation on her daughters.
--
"No wait! Don't touch that!" Bobby tried to pull away from the small warrior who frowned darkly then jumped back as a stack of books collapsed, many of them sliding across the floor and knocking two more stacks down sending the half dozen sidhe leaping through his living room.
"Oh maaan," he groaned looking at the bearded one who stood scratching his head beside the pile with a blush on his face and shrugged.
"I told you not to touch that," he shook his head and crouched before the one who kept alternating between yanking on his hand and stomping on his foot. "I got a CORN on that foot y'little bastard! Wha'd'you want?" he finally asked.
"Mm'sary?" he asked.
"Laura?" Bobby asked.
The one she'd introduced to him as Mustardseed nodded grinning happily.
"Yeah she'll be here," he schooled the concern out of his features, "She had a long night last night and needed some rest. Shep called earlier, she'll be hitting the road tomorrow," he huffed as the man's face fell flat. He patted the diminutive warrior on the shoulder and joined the rest of the sidhe in their efforts to sort through his belongings and completely disrupt his life.
"If y'find one that deciphers Cuneiform hold it aside," he half grunted.
--
As it spread its consciousness through the surface of this world it recognized more and more of the flavors of its inhabitants, chief among them was fear.
The proud creatures of the first God's creation huddled like naked, blind rats, trembling at the thought of lengthening shadows let alone the reality of what may lay within them.
Riding the backs of human fears the marauder felt itself warm, it could reach any of them without moving from its resting place. It could soak up the life energies of this world, siphon off the unwitting humans and when it was time, when the moment was right, it would make its appearance and take the justice due, starting with the first one's favored kin.
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A/N - this one is painfully short, and I apologize but chpt 9 will come up quickly Maybe Tues or Wed. If you've read and have a preference please let me know.
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sifi.