Sorry for the long wait everyone, I was in Scotland for two weeks without internet. Anyway, thank you for the reviews & enjoy!
It had been a week. A whole fucking week, and no sign of Dean whatsoever. He'd yelled to Castiel for help until his throat was raw, then tried Gabriel, trying and failing to not care about the fact that the archangel was ignoring him. There was nothing. Now, of all times, every single fucking angel decided to go MIA.
But now he finally had a lead.
He was currently sitting down in poor Mrs. Baker's living room, solemnly drinking his tea while Mrs. Baker told him when she had last seen her daughter.
"She was just.. just walking the dog, she does that every evening," the woman paused, blowing her nose. "Half an hour later, little Muppet was at the door, tail between her legs and shivering. Emma wasn't with her."
"I'm very sorry. We're doing everything we can to find her," Sam promised, leaning forward to pat her hand.
She gave him a brief smile before taking a huge gulp of her tea.
"Where did she go for her walk?" he asked urgently.
"Um.. I know she walked by that bar that no one goes to.. what's it called? The.. Playhouse, or something.."
Sam stiffened. "The Playpen?"
"That's the one. She always takes a route along there, and there's never any trouble. Please.. please find my little girl," Mrs. Baker ended with a small sob. "It's been four days now and there's no sign of her. Please, we're so worried."
Sam frowned sympathetically. "We'll find your daughter, Mrs. Baker."
About half an hour later, he was storming into the bar, door thudding against the wall as he threw it open. The three or four people that were sitting there (at 11 in the fucking morning) jumped up. The pretty girl dropped the glass she was holding in shock.
Sam glared at her, stomping towards her. "You," he snarled.
Desperation had made him lose any of the natural cool and rational thought he was so known for having. Dean being in danger did that to him.
She blinked at him. "Uhh.. excuse me?"
Sam reached into his coat hastily, pulling out his FBI badge and shoving it in her face. "I'm going to have to ask you some questions."
The girl faltered, her eyes widening at her badge. "FBI?" she stuttered.
"Yep," Sam snapped, gesturing for her to get a move on.
"Of.. of course, just follow me.. I had no idea you.. anyway," she mumbled, ignoring the stares of the customers and leading him through a door out back.
He was led to a small room with a couch, a couple of chairs and a table in it. She sat down on one end of the couch, and he grabbed a chair and set it opposite her, sitting down on it.
"I was here a couple days ago, asking about my brother," Sam started, his voice a sharp growl.
The girl visibly flinched. "Um, yeah. I .. I remember that. Is.. is this about him?"
Sam narrowed his eyes. "Yes, it is. It's also about a young girl called Emma Baker. That ring any bells?"
The girl nodded. "I know her mother. I've never actually met the girl. What's going on?"
"What's your name?"
"Shannon."
"Right. Shannon, you're gonna answer all of my questions truthfully or you're gonna be in a shitload of trouble," he threatened.
Shannon nodded.
So far, there was nothing suspicious about her. She was reacting exactly like any bewildered young woman would when being bellowed at by a huge, intimidating man. Except Sam had been a hunter long enough to know the signs, and he wasn't quite done looking for them yet. It was too early to determine her innocence or guilt. Well, he was Sam Winchester.
"You said you know her mother. How do you know her exactly?"
Shannon frowned. "Uh.. I used to walk her dog, back when I wasn't working here. I put up an ad and she called me a few days later. She's really nice."
Sam watched her actions carefully, every twitch of her fingers, every facial expression. It had to be her. She just had to slip up so he could be sure.
"How long ago was this?"
"About.. say, two or three years ago."
"Okay. What exactly were you doing the night Emma Baker disappeared?"
"Well, I was here."
"What were you doing here exactly?"
Shannon raised an eyebrow. "Um. My job."
Sam sneered. "Cute. You got anyone who can prove you were here the entire night?"
Shannon swallowed. "Yeah, uh.. Jake. He was here as well. He's not here at the moment, though. You'll have to come back tomorrow."
Sam looked at her for a long time. She looked back, bewildered. Finally, he sighed. There was nothing weird going on with this girl. He'd have to speak to Mrs. Baker again to confirm the fact that she knew Shannon, but he didn't really doubt it. He couldn't see anything weird about her. Except..
They'd been on a vampire hunt before Dean disappeared. This was where they had come first.
"All right. Um, listen, this may seem like a weird question, but it's just because of the recent evidence, and we have to be very thorough," he started slowly.
Shannon raised her eyebrows. "Okay?"
"Right, listen.. I'm gonna need you to open your mouth for me."
She stared at him. "Open.. my mouth?"
Sam nodded. "And show your teeth."
"But.. why?"
"Look, like I said, I know it's a weird – "
Sam's sentence was interrupted by a sharp pain in his temple. He grunted, and before he could even think about fighting back, his head exploded with even more pain, sharper this time and he fell to the ground, his vision clouding.
The last thing he saw before everything turned dark was Shannon standing over him, her face expressionless.
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They used to have a lot of nightmares. Not that John knew, and if he did, he had apparently decided it wasn't serious enough and hadn't done anything about it.
Whenever Sammy had had a bad dream and he was old enough to walk, he'd silently make his way to Dean's bed. He'd poke his cheek with tiny, trembling fingers and whisper his older brother's name.
Dean would wake up, and as soon as he saw his little brother standing by his bed, lower lip quivering, he'd move over and pull some of the blankets away.
Sam would sniff quietly and climb into bed with him, and Dean would snugly wrap the blankets around them both. Sam would cling to Dean tightly, hiding his face in his neck while Dean rubbed his back and whispered, "It's okay, Sammy. It's gonna be okay."
There was no one to comfort Dean when he had nightmares. He couldn't go to John for obvious reasons. He wasn't going to wake up his baby brother just 'cause he'd had some bad dreams. Sam had had enough of his own without Dean's to worry about.
So he would just lie there all night, his head bursting with images of fire and screams and blonde hair and monsters and blood.
This was all just another nightmare. Any moment, he'd open his eyes and Sam would be lying a few feet away from him, snoring softly. Cas would – well, he had no idea where Cas would be. It didn't really matter. All that mattered was that none of this was real, and he'd be freed from this horrible dream very soon.
He could feel it already. Something tugging at the back of his mind, something like relief, freedom. He tried to reach out to it, but to his frustration, something was holding him back. Something was urging him not to let go.
Everything was pain, and blood, and agony. He was so tired.
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Alisha looked at Dean with a mixture of disgust and amusement. He was barely even conscious anymore, the only signs of life being low moans when the vampires fed. It wouldn't be long until he was drained, and it had only taken a week. She'd hoped to go a little slower. It didn't matter.
Sam was on his way here, two of her children were taking care of that. He'd been brought outside through the tunnel running under the bar, which led to an abandoned parking lot, as she returned to her customers, assuring everyone that she was all right and telling them the FBI agent had left through the back door. She'd decided it was too risky to be present while Sam was being transported, in case he woke up. The man was the size of a car and there was no doubt she was the first one he would try to attack.
Alisha would make him watch how Dean was drained of his last few drops of blood. She'd make Dean open his eyes and see his little brother there with him, trapped. He would die knowing that he had not only failed himself, but Sam also.
And then she'd suck Sam dry. Or... better yet, she could turn him. Now that would be the ultimate torture.
Alisha smiled to herself, sending her children away with a snap of her fingers.
"Oh, Dean," she sighed, kneeling next to his head and smoothing his hair away from his face. "You really are pathetic."
Dean didn't respond, unsurprisingly. She leaned forward, her lips brushing his ear.
"Sammy's coming to visit, you know," she whispered.
She leaned back again to see Dean's eyes twitch at the mention of his brother's name.
"That's right. He's coming here. I've caught him, and he was trying to save you, Dean. Really, are you boys even trying?"
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The first thing Sam realised when he came to was that he was gagged and his wrists and ankles were bound. The second thing was that he appeared to be in the back of some van, judging by the noise and the way he was being thrown about. His head was throbbing. He groaned, wanting to punch himself for his own stupidity. How the fuck could he let this happen?
Sam moved his wrists about, trying to see if he could wrestle himself loose, but they were bound too tightly and too expertly. They seemed to go over an exceptionally large bump, and he grunted as he got thrown up in the air and back down into a corner.
He closed his eyes as a last, desperate attempt.
"Cas, if there's any chance you're listening, which I doubt, please come help. I've been kidnapped by some vamps. I've no idea where we are so I can't give you a location. I.. don't even know why I'm doing this.." Sam ended on a groan.
He wriggled about, his fingers searching for any kind of sharp object lying around, when suddenly, the van screeched to a halt.
Sam's heart sunk. Shit.
There was a shout, and then another, and then Sam had to close his eyes because everything was engulfed by white light.
Could it be..?
The light he could see behind his closed eyelids dulled down, and he opened his eyes again, looking around wildly.
He cursed – well, it was more a "Mmph! – when the back doors of the van were thrown open.
A pair of wide, clear blue eyes met his.
"Sam."
Castiel snapped his fingers, and Sam was unbound and the piece of cloth was removed from his mouth. "The vampires were easy enough to find, despite the engraving on your ribs."
"Cas!" Sam yelled, jumping out of the van.
Cas looked at him, and gave him a small, tight smile. Sam shook his head, and let out an incredulous laugh. Then he punched Cas in the face with all his might.
"FUCK!"
"Sam, I thought you knew by now that that's not a clever thing to do."
"Shit! Fucking hell! Ugh, Jesus!"
"Let me fix that."
Sam pulled his hand away. "Where the fuck have you been?!"
Cas' face fell.
"How could you just leave like that?! How could you leave Dean like that! He's been missing for fucking days, Cas!"
"Sam, let me explain – "
"I prayed myself hoarse to you. You and that fucker Gabriel. Dean might be fucking dead by now."
"Sam! Listen to me – "
Sam neared Cas and shoved him with his good hand, all the desperation and anger of the past week rising up. Cas stepped back, probably more for Sam's benefit. Sam drew out his fist and punched him again.
"Ouch, shit!"
"Damn it, Sam, don't you learn – "
"I don't care how many bones I break, it's less than you deserve, you son of a bitch – "
"SAM!"
Castiel reached out and grabbed Sam's hands, healing them while he did. He glared at the youngest Winchester.
"Shut up and listen!" he snapped.
Sam glared at him, but kept his mouth shut. Cas slowly lowered their hands and drew his up, showing him that he wasn't going to touch him again.
"Look. A couple of hours after Dean and I.. after we reconciled, I found myself dragged away from the room. I found myself dragged away from Earth. I had no choice – nor did Gabriel. We were plunged right back into battle. Our brothers and sisters summoned us. A rebel group had formed among us. They were.. corrupt. They wanted to kill you and Dean. They had decided that with you two gone, a lot of our problems would be solved. I had to stop them, Sam."
Sam looked down at Cas, tight-lipped.
"You would be dead by now if we hadn't gone," Cas said firmly.
"So.. what happened?"
Cas turned away. "They've been taken care of."
Sam stared at him for a few moments. "And you couldn't let us know that? Just – I don't know – leave a note or whatever? To Dean, at least?"
Castiel hung his head. "I tried. The rebel group had captured me. I was their prisoner for days. They took my grace."
Sam did a double-take. "What!"
"Don't worry, Gabriel found me before they could kill me. He restored my grace. How else could I have smote those vampires?"
Sam nodded, noticing Cas looked incredibly tired. "Right. Speaking of which, where is Gabe?"
"He's still in Heaven. He's coming down as soon as he can."
"Okay. Uh.. sorry about the whole.. punching thing."
"Don't worry about it."
"We need to find Dean, Cas."
"I know where to start."
"Wait – why can't you just look for the place with your angel mojo?"
Cas' brow furrowed. "They know I'm here. They've obviously warded the entire location with sigils to keep it hidden from me."
"Damn it."
Cas nodded and reached out two fingers, placing them on Sam's forehead. The next moment, they were in the Playpen.
Sam heard a surprised "Shit."
He and Cas turned around to the bar, seeing the bartender freeze.
"You're supposed to be with Alisha," he mumbled, staring at Sam.
"Surprise," Sam sneered. "Where the fuck is that, exactly?"
"Bite me," the bartender growled, recovering quickly and curling back his lips to reveal his sharp teeth. "Or better yet, let me do the biting."
Cas snapped his fingers, closing all windows and doors, and simultaneously killing every occupant of the place.
"All vampires," he said as Sam was about to object. He turned to the bartender, who was staring at Cas with wide, scared eyes.
"I strongly suggest you start talking," Cas said quietly, his eyes boring into the vampire before him.
Thank you for reading, please leave reviews and I'll continue!