A/N: Because I've already been asked – this is up on AO3 in case you want to download. Just search for the same user name :)
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Advent - December 5th
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"Hey man," Dean holds his hands up and tries to dodge from under the guys grip. It doesn't work. "No harm."
The guy tightens his grip and Dean wants to whimper. He doesn't, because that's just not him and he has a reputation to uphold, even if these people don't know it.
"Of course not." The guy smiles and Dean tries to mentally contact Sam.
He has no idea if it works or not.
"Cherif." The woman says.
"Aimee." Cherif repeats politely.
"Right, I'm just gonna go now." Dean cuts in, "If you could just-"
"Now why would we want that?" Cherif says, dragging him across the floor, away from the bar to the dancing area. "You're a paying customer dark hunter."
"Crap." Dean says, because it's all he really can say.
Dean thinks that maybe he should protest the way the guy is manhandling him but the energy the guy's giving off is disorientating. Dean wonders if it's part of his new powers or something because he's never reacted to any supernatural creature like this before.
It's when they get to the free space in front of the stage that Dean realises that the band has cleared off and the place is completely free of people. There's some wire caging that's been jury-rigged to form a huge circle.
"What?" Dean asks because…well…what?
Cherif snatches the forty dollars Dean hustled from some bikers from his hand and pushes him into the cage, locking the door behind Dean. "Third Saturday of every month is 'Wrestle the Bear' night. Forty dollars to enter." He grins nastily and waves the money he's just stolen from Dean.
Dean scans the cage warily, but it's still free from any and all bears. He turns back to Cherif.
"You're kidding right?"
"Nope."
"Come on! This has gotta be breaking all sorts of health and safety codes." Dean protests and please god where the fuck is Sam? Dean doesn't want to wrestle a bear. What the fuck is wrong with these people!
Okay, yeah. Dean's a hunter and he's gone after some crazy assed shit in his time, but he does that because innocent lives are at stake. He doesn't do it for fun! Well, not all the time. He does enjoy it at the end of the day, but seriously? He's not going to put his life in danger for no reason!
"You'll get a t-shirt for entering and if you win you get to eat for free." Cherif continues, steamrolling over any and all protests Dean's just made. "No one has ever eaten for free, but hey, you might be the first."
Dean scowls and glances behind him. Still no bear which is a relief. He turns back to Cherif.
"I'm going to hurt you." He promises, his face blank.
Cherif raises an eyebrow, "oh really little dark hunter?"
Dean bristles and smiles coldly, "I've only been a dark hunter for one month."
Cherif's smile falters and he looks a little worried. Dean ignores him.
"You wanna know what I was before that?" Dean grins, even as he hears the door to one of the back rooms open and something huge steps through, "A hunter." He stresses the word.
Dean doesn't know if these supernatural bozos know about hunters, about the types of things they go up against every day for their entire lives. But even if he doesn't know about hunter hunters, the insinuation is still there.
Cherif is looking a lot more worried now.
Dean feels the thrill of putting someone in their place. But he can't concentrate on that because he's turned around and there's a huge fucking bear behind him.
"Crap."
It's blond –that's weird enough – and over seven feet tall, which is pretty normal for a bear, actually. But it's giving off pulses of that weird energy signal that Dean's felt in the man who shoved him into this cage and the woman at the bar.
Somehow, Dean doesn't think that this bear is actually a bear.
Shape shifter. Has to be. Dean's fucking with shape shifters.
Dean sighs. "Why does it always have to be shape shifters?" He asks no one in particular, "I hate shape shifters."
The bear roars and opens its arms, like it's going to give Dean the deadliest hug he's ever had in his life. Behind him Dean can hear the group cheering, but whether it's for him or for the bear he doesn't know.
Dean rolls his shoulders and cracks his knuckles.
"Come on then, Yogi." He says with a smirk, beckoning the bear to charge him. "Make my day."
The bear drops to all fours and charges at him. There's a gasp from the crowd but Dean stands his ground. He's done this before, played chicken with something that's so much bigger and powerful than him and he's won.
Or course, back then he had a shotgun, so he's not too sure how well this whole thing is going to turn out.
The bear is fast, faster than he would've expected, but it's not as fast as the wendigo. Dean's crouching and when the bear raises its paw to slash at his face he dives forward, rolling under the outstretched arm and to the side, coming up behind it.
It's close. Dean can smell the strong musk of its fur as he passes close enough to gut it. Which he would have if he'd been allowed a weapon of any kind.
Seriously. Who sets a bear on the customers? How is that good business?
The bear can't stop its momentum and ends up face planting into the cage. The entire thing strains and there's a screech of metal on metal. Dean glances up for a second to see the hooks bolted into the ceiling, keeping the cage in place, straining. Some of them are even half pulled out.
There's a collective gasp from the audience and some of them back away from the cage – out of the danger zone.
From their reaction and the way that the ceiling around the hooks hasn't been patched up numerous times, Dean can tell that this isn't normal behaviour. Even Cherif s looking alarmed and that can't be a good thing.
Dean has the sinking suspicion that he's going to get murdered in this cage and the worst thing that will happen to these fuckers is that their bar will be closed down.
Or, hey, maybe they have some kind of mind whammy and they'll just make everyone forget about him and feed his body to the alligators here. He wouldn't put it past them.
Dean catches his breath as the bear untangles itself and turns. It's looking even more pissed off than usual.
Dean cracks his neck and smirks again. The bear is human, or was human, Dean's sure of it.
Another thing Dean's sure of is that human's make mistakes. And humans make a lot more mistakes when they're angry.
This plan is either going to work, or fail spectacularly.
"What? Don't blame me." Dean says mockingly, "You were the one too stupid to stop."
The bear's eyes narrow.
That was definitely a human expression. Dean buffs his nails on his shirt and pretends to ignore the five hundred pounds of shape shifter currently wanting to eat him.
"No one has ever won against you? I can't think why-"
He's cut off when another swipe nearly takes his head off. Dean barely manages to duck in time.
He has to keep ducking as something he's said has pissed the bear off and it's really gunning for him.
Dean misses his knife.
It's on one of the passes where Dean's managed to trick the bear into running into the cage again, that Dean spots Sam. He's come forward, pushing his way through the crowd until he's at the wire fence. He's the only one within ten feet of the cage apart from Cherif and the bouncer, so it couldn't have been that hard. Everyone else is pressed as far back as they can get, murmuring between themselves and looking worried.
"Dean!" He calls out when he sees that he's got Dean's attention.
Dean gives him a cocky salute because he's Dean.
Sam rolls his eyes just before they widen dramatically.
"Dean! Duck!"
Dean feels the pulse of electricity a moment before Sam finishes his shout and throws himself forward.
Dean hits the floor hard, knocking the wind out of him for a moment, and thinks he's safe. But then screaming agony streaks down his back and he chokes on a yell of pain. No one hears him because there's suddenly a lot more screaming.
Dean wonders why the audience is screaming.
His back is hot and sticky. Dean hopes the bear didn't drool or piss on him or something.
He can still hear Sam yelling at the two shape shifters standing outside the cage though. Something about "no waiver". Guess Sam's remembered his lawyer training.
Dean's interested. Really. But he's got a bear on his back and he needs to get up before he's mauled.
He pushes himself up and chokes again on a yell. Gritting his teeth he only gets the warning of a shadow to know that the bear is right on top of him.
With strength he doesn't know he has, he rolls out of the way. The floor shakes when the bear lands but Dean's more concerned with how fucked up his back is because no way was his vision supposed to blacken doing that manoeuvre.
He scrambles up. More pissed off than usual. His hands skid a little on the wooden floor and Dean thinks that someone might've spilt their drink but when he glances down its blood. His blood.
He turns to face the bear, which is still gunning for him, and there's a collective intake of breath.
Guess it's more messed up than usual.
It's hard to breathe through the pain, but Dean's had worse. Well, he can't think of anything right now, but Dean's sure he's had worse. There's no way that a bear has managed to deal him more damage than over twenty years of hunting. Even if it is a shape shifter.
There's a commotion and Dean hears pounding footsteps retreat.
But there's something wrong with him. There's a lot more electricity than normal. Well, that he's gotten used to in this place. Dean can feel it building in him. Feel it thrum beneath his feet. And he realises that it's in the wires. He's feeling the electricity in the wires.
It's fucked up and Dean doesn't know what kind of shit power this is, because it's more than a bit distracting, and Dean has already got to deal with a pissed off bear.
It doesn't stop it though. Dean's practically lightheaded from the level of power it's reaching. Or maybe that's just the blood loss.
Either way, when the bear comes at him again, he thinks it's an awesome idea to not move out of the way. Instead, he draws his fist back.
If the bear's gonna eat him, then he's gonna punch it in the face.
The bear roars as it pounds closer to him and Dean can smell its breath. It raises his arm for a killing blow and Dean screams back.
The door that the bear came through springs open but Dean's too busy to pay much attention.
The electricity is at breaking point and Dean feels like he's going to rip apart if he doesn't get rid of it. He takes a swing just as the bear does, but he's faster than it and his fist connects first. There's a crunch as his knuckles connect with the jaw and then an explosion and practically all the lights in the place pop at the same time.
The bear goes flying back, landing heavily on the floor with a thump and starts to rapidly flick through shapes, going from bear to man and back to bear again. Dean collapses to his knees, panting heavily. He feels like he's just gone ten rounds with a…well, with a bear, and then someone's tasered him in the back.
Everyone starts screaming.
The electricity's gone, apart from the weird signatures that the shape shifters are giving off. They're looking at him in shock.
Yeah, Dean doesn't know what the fuck just happened either.
Before the lights come back on, they drag the bear-man out of the door and the sight of the humans. Then Sam rushes through and falls to his knees next to Dean, skidding a little in the blood.
"Dean!"
Dean's trying to catch his breath, but it isn't working.
"Hey. Sammy." He pants.
Sam's hands are hovering. He obviously doesn't know where he can touch Dean without hurting him more than he already is. Dean decides to help him out by raising his arm as much as possible.
It's not much because his back is killing him.
"Help me up."
Sam gets the hint and situates himself under Dean's arm, throwing it over his shoulders, and stands, dragging Dean up with him.
Dean groans as Sam helps him limp out of the cage.
They enter the back room. There's a strange sort of light floating by the ceiling and purple-eyes and greenie are there with a whole bunch of other people. Outside of the door, Dean can hear people being asked to leave politely. Seems they're being told a fuse has burst or something.
Dean can hardly concentrate though and lets his head loll on Sam's shoulder. He's not going to fall though. No way is he going to let these shape shifting bastards get one more up on him.
And they are shape shifters, as each and every one of them has that weird power signature. All except greenie and purple-eyes whose power is too much and makes Dean ill when he concentrates on it.
"Savvy?" Greenie asks.
Purple-eyes sighs and clicks his fingers. The pain in Dean's back immediately dims. It still feels like he's had a run in with a baseball bat, but when has a hunt ever left him feeling any different?
It's enough so he pulls back from Sam and raises his chin, staring the group straight in their eyes.
Fuck. He wants to go home and sleep for three days.
One of the guys pushes forward and gets in Sam's face. "You want to tell us what that was about?"
"I don't know." Sam spits back - and whoa is Sam mad or what? – "You want to tell me what a lawyer is going to think of shoving my brother in a cage with an enraged bear?"
"There's a wavier-"
The guy tries to wave Sam off but Sam interrupts him with a "Which Dean didn't sign."
That brings the guy up short.
"Furthermore," Sam says pressing closer to the man, "Whatever happened to the whole, 'no blood spilt' policy that you practically shoved down our throats when we were first arrived? Or does that not count for you? Or is it because you're a were-hunter? Typical." Sam scoffs, "So not only do you try and murder my brother, you think you can get away with it too because this is a were-bar."
"He hit on my sister-" the guy tries.
"I thought this place was supposed to be a sanctuary. It's not much of a safe place if the people who run it try and kill you within its walls."
And Dean has never seen his brother so confrontational. The guy is four inches taller than Sam and practically cowering.
He regroups a little. "Yeah, well the no magic rule still applies. Your boy used electrokinesis. It's gonna take Quinn hours to get over that blast."
"That would be the electrokinesis Dean used to defend his life, yes?" Sam asks. "Do you honestly expect me to swallow that bullshit? Especially after your brother tried to rip out my brother's spine?"
Dean wishes he had popcorn. Man, if this is lawyer Sam, Dean's a little regretful that he pulled him away from the profession to go into a life of hunting. Sam is glorious and completely in his element.
Dean's enjoying it immensely.
"Now wait just a min-" another man says, stepping up next to the man Sam just ripped apart with his argument.
"No." Sam interrupts him. "No, I think we're done here." He grabs Dean's arm and starts to drag him out towards the exit, making sure that he's between Dean and the shape shifters at all times.
He pushes Dean out into the night and Dean turns around to watch Sam get in one last parting shot.
Sam turns to face the group, who haven't moved. "It's nice to know what kind of establishment you're running here." Sam says, "We'll be sure to let everyone know about your welcoming hospitality. After all, it's not like you're supposed to be a safe-haven or anything."
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Dean's walking next to Sam. He's never been so proud of his brother.
Sam glances at him and shuffles uncomfortably, "What?" he asks.
Dean grins and claps him on the arm. "Nothing, man."
Sam scowls and rolls his shoulders, but Dean can see the pleased glimmer in his eyes. "Whatever."
Dean's about to tease him a bit more when he feels another power source. It's weird, like the shape shifters, but twisted into something else.
He stops and stares off into the direction the source is. Sam stops after a few paces when he notices that Dean isn't walking besides him anymore.
"Dean?" Sam asks.
Dean shushes him and then concentrates. He's got a bad feeling about that power.
Dean starts to walk towards it. Quickly speeding up into a jog and then a sprint.
He's getting the feeling that he's going to be too late.
Sam's sprinting next to him, clutching at his laptop bag so it doesn't bang against his hip, following Dean's lead. Dean has no idea where he's going but he needs to get there now.
He spots an alleyway between two tall buildings. It's hidden in shadow and the power is coming from there. Dean changes direction and charges in to find a blond guy sucking on a woman's neck.
Dean barely hears Sam's "Sandy!" or remembers that he's got absolutely no weapons on him or that he's just wrestled a bear and had his back torn open. All he sees is that the woman is fading fast and this thing is killing her.
Daimon, his mind whispers to him as Ash's information comes to the forefront, attack the inkspot and it'll die.
He lets out a yell, which startles the guy into removing his teeth from the woman's neck, and then Dean leaps and spear tackles him to the floor.
Dean hears Sam skid to a stop behind him and curse, but he's rolling with the daimon, trying to untangle himself.
They both pull away. Dean standing protectively in front of Sam and the woman.
"Dark Hunter." The daimon spits at him in disgust, his eyes alighting on Dean's tattoo. Dean smirks at him.
The daimon reaches into his waistband and pulls out a knife in retaliation and Dean really, really wishes Sam didn't talk him out of leaving all his weapons at home.
The daimon smirks when it realises that Dean doesn't have a weapon.
"What's this?" He says, "You're going to die tonight Dark Hunter, and then I will eat that woman's soul."
Obviously the daimon doesn't know that he's dealing with Dean Fucking Winchester.
The fight is short. The daimon rushes Dean with the knife, but it's obvious that he's either never wielded one before, or the alleyway is messing him up, because Dean easily evades the slash. The daimon's momentum carries him forward and Dean catches him by the collar and shoulder and spins, throwing the daimon headfirst into the wall.
The daimon crumples, the knife clattering to the floor. Dean picks up the knife – it's nicely made – and kicks over the daimon, who's dazed and bleeding from the forehead.
The daimon's eyes struggle to focus and when they do a look of horror crosses his face "No, please." He begs.
Dean hesitates.
"Please."
The Daimon's scrabbling back, raising a hand in front of his face to protect him. As if Dean is the bad guy here.
"Please, please don't kill me."
Dean can't do it. His body is frozen and he can only watch as the daimon crawls further away and scrabbles up.
Sam curses quietly behind him again and Dean remembers the woman. The innocent woman whose soul this thing was about to eat. His face sets and he takes two strides forwards and buries the knife straight through the daimon's back, right where his inkspot is.
It happens so fast that the daimon doesn't even have time to cry out before he explodes into a cloud of golden dust.
"Dean?" Sam calls out, bringing Dean back to the present.
Dean lowers his arm, hiding the fine tremors that are running through it, and turns to find Sam with his over-shirt pressed against the woman's neck. His hands and arms are stained with her blood. It's obvious that she's going to die soon if she doesn't get medical help.
Dean hurry's over.
"I've called an ambulance." Sam says, "Could you go out and wave it down when it comes?"
The woman is gripping Sam's free hand, the one that isn't pressing the make-shift compress against her neck. She smiles up at Sam and Dean can see the light dimming in her eyes.
Sam sees it too because he chokes a little and says, "No. Come on, Sandy. Stay with me. There's an ambulance on its way. You're going to be fine."
"My…hero…" Sandy chokes out as she starts to shake.
Dean leaves.
###
The ambulance is quick to come and Dean doesn't need to do much to flag it down. The paramedics have Sandy loaded up and on her way to the hospital in record time. Dean hides himself away, leaving Sam to deal with giving police statements.
The police are not something he wants to deal with before he knows for sure that his face isn't on the 'most wanted' boards anymore.
When Sam heads off with the police, Dean leaves too. A policeman has been left to cordon off the alleyway but it's easy enough to sneak past him.
Then Dean heads home as it's all he can do.
It's almost dawn when Sam gets back. He's pale and Dean can see Sandy's blood speckling his undershirt. His over-shirt is stuffed in his laptop bag. He must have washed his hands at the station though because other than the few speckles, there's nothing to tell that Sam was arms deep in it.
"Sam?" Dean asks quietly, because Sam looks exhausted.
Sam ignores him and slumps down on his bed, his hand covering his eyes.
"Fuck." Sam says after a moment.
Dean can't help but agree.