A/N:
Thank you so much to goldacharmed and Kajensen07 for the reviews!
Bowman's heart fluttered. He'd lost track of Sam.
Even Jacob's footsteps were too far away for him to hear. The night took hold as the sun dipped beyond the horizon, and Bowman's eyes widened without him really noticing. Flying at night with friends was one thing; doing it alone would put any sprite on edge. To people adapted to thrive on sunlight, the night only held predators that lurked in heavy shadows with dark promises of death.
He circled back around towards Jacob's clearing. If he could just see the night sky above him, it might help regain his bearings and find Sam. Sam was at an even greater disadvantage in the night air, unable to make sharp turns if he needed to evade an owl.
The sound of an owl's coarse, almost delicate voice cooed through the night air as though summoned by his thoughts, and it sounded almost like it came from right next to him. Bowman flinched in midair and dove into a panicked spiral to evade a bird that wasn't even there.
Owls could throw their voices. Bowman was on the lookout for it everywhere, because it could be anywhere.
He darted between trees at a lower height than usual. His nerves frayed more with every passing second he couldn't find Sam. Sam was his backup, the only one of the pair that had a fighting chance against the forest predators.
At least he didn't hear another owl call. Bowman wished he could simply call out for his brother, but making noise in the dark drew the ear of every predator around and became a beacon that would lead the way to easy prey in the sky. Every nestling in Wellwood knew that.
Bowman craned his neck this way and that to find someone. After rounding one tree, his eyes widened at the sight of a looming darkness straight ahead. He didn't have time to bank around it, and his thoughts barely summoned up the word Demon! before he flared open his wings in a futile attempt to slow down.
Bowman was unable to halt his flight, slamming right into the shadowed shape. He felt his wings go numb as the impact dazed him.
Then, he fell backwards.
A quiet yelp of fear slipped out of Bowman's mouth as he twisted in confusion, trying to get his wings to respond and catch him.
A solid surface materialized beneath his fall, and he crashed onto ground that was warm and pliant, the texture sickeningly familiar. There was a surprised sound up above as the giant that had caught him reacted to the impact, and then the surface underneath the sprite moved.
Before he could even try and flutter off of the hand he'd landed on, fingers curled inwards and sealed around his slim body. Each finger was bigger than most sprites, and there was no chance of resisting them as they closed. Even Sam couldn't fight back against that, and he was far stronger than any sprite in the Wellwood.
Scar had tested him, after all. One by one, each knight attempted to arm wrestle the youngest knight, and one by one they all lost.
Wasting no time, the hand rose speedily up into the air towards the giant's face.
Panic and defiance kept Bowman struggling despite the strength of the hand around him. His heart pounded and his wings twitched, but they were trapped with him in the giant fist. Dean's warnings about how strong demons were filtered back to the fore of his mind. Bowman would be obliterated if the demon decided to use that unnatural advantage on him.
Or, it could try to get him to reveal where the village stood. No one would stand a chance if that somehow happened. "S-stop!" Bowman couldn't let it happen. He had to fight. Few could match his stubbornness.
In the dark, he saw a face coming closer and closer as he rose towards it. A shadow fell over the huge eyes facing him. He had one option. Out of pure desperation, Bowman leaned forward and bit the finger closest to him, latching on as hard as he could.
"Ow!" A distinctly non-demonic response came at the unexpected bite. The fingers loosened up around Bowman's slim body, but only for a moment. "Sonovabitch…"
The huge eyes peering down at the sprite resolved into murky greens instead of Bobby's ice blues, looking at Bowman with concern and a hint of pain after the bite. Lines were etched into Dean's face with the serious frown that came with the exclamation.
"Dude," Dean whispered, letting his fingers loosen up slightly, "what the hell? First you hit me like a runaway hummingbird, then you bite me when I catch you?"
Bowman stared in shock at Dean's face, breathing hard before realizing he'd been asked a question. He collected himself and squirmed, pulling his arms free from Dean's loosened fist. "I, ah," he stammered, his eyes wide in the dark. Relief that he hadn't fallen right into the demon's hand struck him, and he sighed.
"I thought you were the demon thing," he hissed back, exasperated. His snark made a quick recovery. "Lurking around in the dark. Grabbing me. What in all Wellwood was I supposed to think?" He remembered Dean's warning from earlier, that if a sprite startled Dean, they'd get grabbed.
Of course, he'd still complain about it all he wished.
Dean rolled his eyes with a smirk. "And if I hadn't grabbed you, you wouldn't have fallen to the ground?" he asked knowingly, remember how hard the sprite had impacted against him. Even if Gunner had collided with him earlier, the sprite wouldn't have beaned Dean with half as much force as Bowman had managed in his panic. It almost stung a little.
The hunter opened up his hand all the way to free the sprite, keeping it a stable surface under Bowman's feet. "You okay after all that?" Dean asked with concern, his other hand coming up to brush one of the leafy green wings in the darkness. He'd feel awful if he managed to hurt Sam's little brother right after meeting him, startled or not.
Bowman's wing twitched, and then pulled away from Dean's hand in surprise. "I'm okay," he insisted, before patting himself down and making extra sure. He flexed his wings a few times, stretching them behind him and making sure they didn't hurt.
He ended up reaching one wing around in front so he could massage the delicate finger bones within the green membrane. "I didn't even hurt my neck in that," he boasted mildly, though the thought of it made him cringe inside. He could really have done some damage if he had hit Dean at the wrong angle, at the speed he was going.
While he preened, he glanced up. "I'm guessing you haven't seen the demon?" His tone was casual, but Bowman was tense all over. "I ... Sam and I got split up. I tried to find him and heard an owl, but no demon."
Dean shook his head. "Haven't heard anything except Jacob when we split up. I should probably show him a thing or two about masking his footsteps for the next time he's out in the woods. He's not subtle, that's for sure."
His forehead creased and he scanned the canopy above them for the invisible owl stalking on silent wings. Owls were hunters through and through, and it jarred Dean to realize that the predators of the forest were a significant threat to his little brother, who might be on his own out there.
"It's getting too dark to split up again," Dean said in a hush, holding Bowman close enough to see him fully, "and I can't risk giving away my position with a flashlight. Stick close from now on. We'll find the others together."
Bowman nodded. He didn't want to argue a point like that. Flying alone had left his nerves frayed almost beyond recognition, and he was wired. Dean, someone he'd known about all his life as a source of safety, was an obvious choice. "Yeah," he said quietly.
With one last check of his wings, Bowman hopped off Dean's hand once more. He barely needed to actually fly to land on the human's shoulder, his boots settling on the strange material of his jacket. Rischa had claimed the same spot earlier, and it seemed like a decent enough place to perch. The top of Dean's head felt a little too exposed in the night with predators around.
There was barely time to pick a direction to search before a sound reached them. Bowman perked up and his wings flinched at the sound of footsteps, and he swiveled his gaze around to find the source.
He sighed and rolled his eyes when he saw who came stomping into view, looking confused. "Dean wasn't wrong, you're not blasted subtle at all."
Jacob winced and rubbed his hand gingerly over his sternum. "Hey, at least this time I got an excuse, tiny," he shot back resentfully. "Saw Bobby and he smacked me. He's just having a merry fuckin' time out here."
Dean frowned, something about the way Jacob was talking putting him ill at ease. Jacob didn't seem the type to get riled so easily.
He had to shrug it off. They'd only met that day, after all. For all Dean knew this was the way Jacob normally acted. Besides, getting clocked by a demon wasn't fun.
If only he could risk the sawed-off against the demon. The salt would be effective in keeping it back, but with Sam out of sight there was no chance in hell he could use it. The gun had a scattered shot; to be able to use it safely he'd need all of the others in sight or they might be struck by the debris. Jacob was the only other person who could weather a hit from it. Sam and Bowman wouldn't stand a chance.
"Look, just stick close," Dean said sternly to Jacob. "The demon has the upper edge in the dark. We need to find Sam and get rid of this bitch together. Where did you last see Bobby?"
Jacob nodded in agreement and pointed vaguely in the direction he'd come from. "Somewhere over there. I, uh. You were right, he's a lot stronger than I expected and I lost the holy water andthe salt." A familiar, sheepish expression crossed his face for a moment before turning his gaze back towards the trees as if worried Bobby might rush out at them. He really looked like an unprepared kid for a moment, worried for his friend while he realized how far in over his head he'd found himself.
Normally Bowman might have drifted over to check on his friend, but something kept him back. The thought of flying in the open air while it was so thick with tension from all three of them deterred him, as did the thought that danger could lurk anywhere in the dark. The demon had struck Jacob hard enough to daze him. It could be waiting for another opportunity, and Bowman wasn't keen on giving it one.
"Did you see Sam out there at all?" he asked hopefully, leaning forward slightly on his perch.
Jacob frowned and shook his head. "Y'mean you lost him? Dude, Bowman, what if something happens to his glider? You're the one who's supposed to be able to help him." He looked back out among the trees again, this time aiming his gaze higher in search of their erstwhile knight.
Bowman's wings sagged with the weight of guilt he'd tried to ignore. Jacob was right. Sam's glider was excellent (modelled after the fastest wings in Wellwood, after all), but there was always a chance of something happening to it. "I ... yeah," he answered. "I lost track of him. Then when I tried to find him there was a blasted owl."
"Scared ya, huh?" Jacob said quietly, his voice sympathetic. Bowman glared indignantly and Jacob shrugged. "Hey, little guy, it's alright to be scared, no one will judge. It's a big forest."
Dean gave Jacob an offended glare on Bowman and Sam's behalf, bristling. "Hey, last I checked these two have been flying patrol in this forest long before either of us came along," he said tersely. "Sam knew the risks. Chances are he banked the opposite direction when he heard the owl, that's all. Just like how you wandered off on your own with a demon on the prowl. It's no one'sfault." The unexpected resurgence of his protective nature caught him off guard. For so many years he'd been on his own, with no one else to look out for. He wasn't about to let Bowman go blaming himself for something any of them could have prevented.
"Now," Dean said, glancing at the dark forest around them, "we stick together since we couldn't track him down before sunset. No one goes off on their own, and when we find Sam, he'll stick with us too. Especially since I'm the only one with a working weapon against the demon." He sent Jacob one last annoyed look, since the teen had managed to lose both his weapons at once.
"It's true," Jacob replied with a sigh. He lowered his head sheepishly, but his smile didn't match the action. The expression looked more amused to Bowman, but he couldn't be certain in the dark. His eyes, keen as they were, weren't as useful at night, when everything blended into the shadows whether it meant to or not. Even Jacob's looming form was a little eerie.
"Sam's still got his weapon, at least," Bowman recalled, though there was still plenty of worry behind the confidence in his voice. He'd been separated from Sam on patrols before, but never like this.
"Hopefully he gets a chance to use that little needle of his before anything happens," Jacob answered. There was an unmistakable layer of doubt in his words.
Bowman sighed and finally fluttered off of Dean's shoulder to fly a quick circle around Jacob's head. The human watched him in surprise. "We'll find him before he needs to, okay? What's-" Bowman's voice cut of sharply as a hand swept through the air at him. He had to tuck his wings in and dart around Jacob's wrist, narrowly dodging a swat.
Suddenly, his unasked question of What's gotten into you had an easier answer as Bowman had to shoot up into the air to avoid a grab from the other hand. The startled realization bolted across his mind like lightning streaking across a cloudy sky.
"Dean, Jacob promised not to grab us!"
Black eyes suddenly glittered up at him where before they were brown, and Jacob grinned again. The look he gave Bowman sent ice up his spine before he focused on Dean instead.
"Yeah, that's right you demonic son of a bitch," Dean said as he goaded the demon on, not put off by the shockingly black eyes that stared back at him. "You look at me now. You tried playing hard to get, but that's all over now, isn't it?"
While Dean talked, he slipped a hand into his jacket and drew out the bottle of holy water. The leaves crunched under his boots, clear signs of the approaching fall giving away any chance he had at stealth. "Bowman, do not get close," he warned without looking away from Jacob's dark shadow. They couldn't afford to lose him in the forest again, especially not now that he'd seen Bowman and Sam and knew of their existence. "I will take care of this."
Hunter's instincts guided him, and he lunged forward to splash the demon with holy water. Skin sizzled but didn't burn, and steam rose into the air but left no red marks behind it.
"Jacob, if you're in there, you can fight this!" Dean shouted. "Don't let him hurt your friends!" He fumbled with the journal in his jacket, praying he could read the exorcism in the darkness that surrounded them. He'd need two hands for the flashlight, and without Jacob backing him up, the odds were much worse.
Yeah, Jake, a voice taunted in Jacob's head. Don't let me hurt your friends.
Jacob was drowning as he watched everything play out without any ability to stop himself. He didn't know where the voice came from, but he was helpless against whatever made him lift his arm and knock Dean aside while he fumbled for something in his jacket. It was like swatting a persistent bug out of the way as Dean flew backwards. Jacob had never felt so strong, and yet so weak.
Stop...
Wow, Jake, is that all you got? You're really bad at protecting people you seem to care about. How're you gonna stop me from walking right into that little village once I'm done with the hunter here?
Jacob strode towards where Dean fell, and frantically tried to halt his steps. The inexorable march wouldn't halt no matter how hard he concentrated. Bowman frantically called to him from above, and Jacob could hear the terror tightening his voice even as the words scrambled in his head. The demon controlled what he saw and heard, and it only wanted to show Jacob how easily it used his hands to do harm. He was doing this.
He stooped and grabbed the front of Dean's jacket. Hauling the more experienced fighter to his feet, Jacob landed a punch to his gut before turning and shoving him bodily against a tree. Dean moaned as he slumped down, disoriented by how easily the demon handled him.
"S-stop," Jacob thought again, and this time it actually whispered out of his mouth and made Dean's eyes widen.
Damn, Jake. You're a fighter after all. That's fun.
Jacob moved so fast. So much faster than he ever thought a human body was capable of. One arm shoved against Dean's collarbone while the other hand clamped around his arm and squeezed. There was a smirk on Jacob's face and in his black eyes while inside he railed against his imprisonment, betrayed by his own body.
The demon let him hear and feel, with sickening clarity, when the bones snapped. A strangled gasp of pain escaped Dean, his face covered with a sheen of sweat as the shock set in.
Dean was roughly shoved to the ground, landing with a grunt. Jacob turned, not concerned about showing the wounded man his back. He looked up at Bowman again, where the sprite hovered in shock. Jacob felt the satisfaction that didn't belong to him coursing through his mind, like a cat with a mouse to chase.
"C'mere, Bowman," he said with a grin, stalking forward while the sprite moved backwards in fear.
A/N
Hunter vs sprite vs demon vs Jacob...
Next: December 16th, 2018 at 9pm est
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