Changes – chpt 3.
By: sifi.
OOooOO
Oooh I HAVE communicated with him like this before… back when that demon tried to trap him in his nightmares! She recalled as a faint smile turned up the corner of her mouth. "Where are we going?" she asked looking around as the car sped down the highway. "North huh okay…" she could tell by the sun's position and took the opportunity to look around the vehicle to see if there was any clue about where the wraith might be leading them. She knew the chances were slim that she'd actually be able to make contact with him, it was like being a ghost in an empty house. She leaned forward noting the newspaper pages on the floor, as well as the one she was 'sitting' on. She couldn't affect any of these things since it was just her consciousness that was present in the vehicle but she could try to get an idea of what was going on.
"Dean? Can you hear me?" she tried again and swept the transparent image of her hand down his cheek. She wanted nothing more than to touch him, to feel his warmth beneath her hand and to taste his easy loving smile. Her heart burned with pain and seemed to want to draw into itself in despair. "Come back to us Dean. Don't let this thing take you please? Remember how much we love you." She sighed, recognizing the familiar publicity shot of Old Faithful on the newspaper page. "You're stronger than this thing inside you. You are the first King… please… you have to fight this!" she urged softly and stroked the back of his head even though she couldn't touch him. Imdugud lost Lilith near Yellowstone… you can't go after her alone! No wraith is strong enough to go after her and win!
"With all he is at my disposal she doesn't stand a chance." Dean's mouth smiled as his hand reached out. Doing the impossible, he grasped her by the throat. His normally luminous green eyes sparkled darkly as her air cut off and her existence began to feel 'pulled' like taffy that was still far too loose.
OOooOO
"Laura?" Spencer rocketed out of the chair as she choked, her body bowing backwards deep into the bed just before a series of convulsions and rasping gasps tore into the room.
He swept away the silver dish and the phone book it rested on and grasped her gently but firmly to make sure she didn't hurt herself. He tapped her cheeks glancing at the fretful sidhe warrior, "What's happening?" he asked and frowned as the male simply shrugged and looked distraught. "Damnit… I need to call…" he wanted to call 911 more than anything else. It was what he was trained to do, it was the right thing to do and he knew it, under normal circumstances. Instead he grabbed her cell and return dialed the last number noticing the name that came up as "Sam" just as she stopped and went suddenly frighteningly lax. Spencer pressed his fingers to the side of her throat breathing a grateful sigh as he felt a pulse there.
"What's up?" the younger brother answered.
"Something's wrong with Laura, she did this spirit walk thing and first she started convulsing and now she's unconscious… I really want to call 911, and Mustardseed looks really worried, wow does this sound weird." he breathed.
"She WHAT!?" Sam barked, "Son of a bitch! She's alive though?"
"Yes."
"Bleeding?"
"Not that I can see."
"Alright," the young hunter's voice frowned through the line. "Look, as long as…"
But Spencer didn't hear most of what he was saying. Movement of her flesh caught his eye as her bony prominences started to become more pronounced and the crows feet around her eyes, and smile lines around her mouth seemed to deepen before his eyes.
"Holy crap!" he breathed feeling his heart race in his chest, "Not good, what do I do? Sam? What do I do it looks like she's starting to mummify…"
"What!?" he barked again, "What the hell did she try to do? God damnit! Tase her. It's got its hooks into her somehow, you have to tase her." He ordered and waited, listening to the sounds of rummaging. A few seconds later he heard the tell-tale clicking of the stun gun and sat on the shoulder of the road, not remembering having pulled over at all, his foot pressing the brake pedal deep to the floor as he waited, barely breathing. He hadn't even realized just yet that the young FBI agent had called him by his real name.
Spencer watched the lines appear to fill and the angles of her bones soften once again then set the stun gun on the night table and picked up the cell. "Okay, I think she's okay, it looks like she's getting back to normal again." He breathed.
"If she tries to do anything other than sleep or work on the computer, I want you to…" Sam ground between clenched teeth then shook his head, "nevermind." He took a couple deep breaths to steady himself and force down his anger, "Did she find out anything?" he asked softly.
"I don't know, she didn't say anything," he grasped her chin, turning her face toward his and gently slapped her cheek, "Laura? Wake up… c'mon… did you see anything? Neil…" he turned his attention back to the cell at his shoulder, "or is it really Sam?" he asked, "needs to know."
Slowly her head moved left to right and a low moan slid from her throat, "Mmm 'ellostone…" she groaned, "Lilith…" her teeth slammed into her tongue as she tried to coordinate herself enough to sit up.
"Stay down," Spencer pushed her easily back, "I had to tase you." Then again returned his attention to the cell, "Did you hear her?" he asked.
"Yeah," Sam huffed, "He's going after Lilith. Listen, our friend Bobby should be there before dinner time, can you stay with her until he gets there?"
"Of course."
"When he gets there Spencer, really, you need to leave. Get yourself away from her, away from Bobby, away from the vortices, all of it, all of us okay?"
"Are you talking about the pre-biblical Lilith?" he asked ignoring the younger Winchester's admonishment.
"Spencer…" Sam sighed, this time far too aware that their covers were as close to being blown as he could risk them being, "Dr. Reid please, once Bobby gets there please."
"I don't know if I can do that. You're asking me to turn my back on actual empirical evidence…"
"That you can't share with anyone!" Sam barked.
"Who says I'm interested in sharing it with anyone? Do you really think I'm going to run back to the bureau shouting that I've actually been in the presence of an Assyrian demi-god while hunting down a mythological creature that decided to go after a reincarnated Lilith!?" he argued starting to feel his ire rising. "I'd wind up locked up and sedated for the rest of my life!" he shook his head, "Uh uh."
Frustration thickened Sam's voice, "I thought he was headed to Tucson."
The young man startled when her hand dropped onto his forearm and her eyes shone oddly bright in their depths. She spoke in that strange and ancient feeling language to the warrior at the foot of the bed who then leaped through the veil, disappearing into thin air for all appearances.
"He's headed North," there was something heavy in her voice as she spoke looking directly at the man who was the FBI's youngest recruit in history, "he will find the bitch and she will kill his vessel if we do not act!" she growled grasping the phone from his hand and turning so she now sat at the side of the bed. "You must awaken and save him."
"Ina?" Sam sighed his frustration into his end. "What the hell am I supposed to do? Pump him full of rocksalt?"
"You will do whatever you must, as will I." she commanded then dropped the phone onto the bed where Spencer picked it up.
"There's something up with her eyes… not like normal reflector cells either like you'd find in a cat or dog… I don't know if I can keep her here."
"Lemme guess, kinda molten copper colored?"
"Uh huh."
"Yeah odds are you're not going to be able to, and honestly, you don't want to try."
"She said she 'crushed' your stalker… I didn't think she could in her condition but… now I'm not so sure." He admitted watching the bathroom door like a hawk.
"Oooh." Sam grunted wincing with the memory of the crossroad demon, guess it was Inanna then and maybe not Laura, "Yeah. Look as much as I hate to say it if she tries to leave in this particular state of…"
"Being?"
"Yeah. For your own safety, let her."
"What about your friend Bobby?"
"He knows to stay out of her way, but you, this isn't your field. You got dragged into this and honestly it's time for you to get out before you get hurt."
"Tell me about Lilith." He urged turning the computer toward himself.
OOooOO
"Don't you touch her!" something inside him snapped wide awake. He could feel her inside of him, the warm steely core of her life force moving through him, filling him in a way that was so much more than sexual. The last time he'd felt this 'whole body orgasm' was when he redirected her soul from the burnt out husk of her old body, into the one Tommy had sculpted for her. "Laura?" he gasped as if coming awake from a deep sleep.
"What the hell…" he muttered catching sight of the paper on the seat beside him. "Old Faithful…" Lilith is around there… Imdugud is hunting her, Cernunnos is running around feeling up the preggers… mmm something a little erotic about that… he thought with a wry smile at the same time his root gave a twitch. It was almost as if he could feel Inanna's baby-heavy body in his arms, the infant she carried kicking and pressing against him through her, making his presence known. "Gaaah…" he gasped a deep breath as mist covered his eyes, "What's happening to me? Please… stop this… I can't live like this…" he whispered against the tide of panic in his heart. Fear of losing the man he is today to the memories of another life left him feeling weak and insubstantial. 'It's her fault… if she'd leave me alone everything would be as it's supposed to be…' "No!" 'We could keep her inside forever… her energy is…' "Try to touch her again and so help me I'll pull over and fry us both with the car battery!" 'okay, okay… for now. You'll come around eventually… just think about it.' That little voice smiled then seemed to yawn, perhaps going to rest for a while.
Taking advantage of the quiet Dean used his knee to steer while his hands raced over and into his pockets looking for his cell but coming up empty. "Ah!" he reached into the glove compartment deep into the far corner of it, behind the Glock and under a stack of maps he shook his head flipping open his dad's old phone the long habit of keeping it charged exactly the stroke of luck he needed at the moment.
Shaking with relief he swiped at the cold sweat running down his face and dialed his little brother.
OOooOO
"Dean! Thank God… where are you?" Sam gasped into the phone, the back of his brain realizing he almost didn't recognize their dad's cell number anymore.
"Heading North on 10, I'm almost at Chandler where are you?"
"Heading South on 10 just outside of Scottsdale, I should be in Chandler in about twenty minutes. Dean you need to come back up to Sedona, we gotta get that wraith out of you."
"S'not gonna happen Sammy, not until we're done. I want you to turn around and make your way to Yellowstone, that's where Imdugud is, it's where Cernunnos is… and it's where Lilith is. I can feel it."
"No." Sam shook his head, "It's too dangerous, by the time we get there and find her that thing is going to be bound to you and we're not going to be able to get it out! Now listen to me, just meet me at the vortex, we'll blast that bastard out of you and head up to Yellowstone together okay?"
Dean shook his head, "Sam would you just trust me? Please?"
"Dude, I can't. I don't know who's in control…" he drew a deep breath and shook his head as he maneuvered the car back onto the expressway but now on the Northbound side where he pulled over to the shoulder and waited with the hazards flashing. I was in that house Dean, I saw what you did. I saw everything you did and for the life of me I don't know if it was YOU that did it or the wraith… I don't think I want to know… 'cause I think I already do.
"Right now I am in control Sam… I don't know when it's going to 'wake up' but it wants to go after Lilith, and I think… I think it can wake up Enki's power. I think between the two of us, and Imdugud and Cernunnos all in one place… I think we can kill her Sam."
"YOU can wake up his power! It's YOUR power! You don't need a wraith to do it!" Sam yelled watching a small bundle of cars approaching the highway from behind him, wondering if Dean was in that group. If we go together then we go together, I'm not leaving you alone. "It almost killed Laura!"
"I know." He answered softly.
"Who's to say that next time it won't?"
"It won't, I swear."
"You don't know that! It's only gonna get stronger!"
"We can use this Sam, we can use this to kill that bitch and stop her setting Lucifer free all in one fell swoop." His voice was low and felt tired, as if he didn't have the energy to argue anymore.
"These things are territorial! Sure it'll be happy to help take out Lilith, then it'll turn on Imdugud, and Cernunnos and probably even me Dean… any one of us it sees as a possible threat to its territory it'll kill! Do you think you're going to be in any condition to fight something on the INSIDE after it uses everything you've got to kill Lilith?" he asked trying to talk some reason into his brother. He scanned the cars quickly as they raced by, none of them the classic black and chrome beauty he was looking for.
"You must awaken and save him." Laura's well actually Inanna's voice came again inside his head making his belly twitch. I haven't tried to use my powers in so long, I don't even know if they're there anymore. But that was a lie. He knew they were there, more readily present in this life for what Azazel had done to him as an infant. Could I pull it out of him? Without hurting him?
"It won't come to that Sam. You gotta trust me okay? Just start making your way to Yellowstone. Leave Laura at the trailer the sidhe'll take care of her, send the kid home and come with me, we have a chance to end this before it actually happens. We can stop her Sammy but we gotta work together." He pleaded then caved to exhaustion.
The Impala swerved onto the shoulder, bit the gravel and fishtailed for a long moment that would have scared the elder hunter if he'd been aware of it.
"Do you have a plan?" Sam's voice came over the line.
"Yeah, I do." The mouth smirked.
"Well what is it?"
"Not now, it's waking up."
In the rear view mirror in the upcoming wave of cars Sam could see the distinctive grill of the Impala shimmering through the curtain of heat even from a quarter of a mile away.
"Drop back from the group Dean I'll stay behind you, we'll head there together okay?"
"That you up ahead?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's me." Sam watched the Impala drop back barely feeling the rocking of the car as the others tore past him.
He watched that black and chrome beauty slide into the left hand lane and slapped off the hazards before rolling the gold sedan up onto the blacktop. Even with the windows closed and the air conditioning working hard to force cool air out at him that distinctive glass pack chop rumbled louder, something almost malevolent in its intent. He turned his head just in time to see the right front corner of the frame shooting at him like a missile.
"Dean!" was all he had time to shout as the newer and much lighter car was pitched off the road, stuttering over the embankment while he struggled for enough control to keep it upright. The steering wheel jumped and quaked in his hands as the airbag exploded into his face muting the plastic crackle of safety glass shattering inside its protective coating. He did his level best to stay oriented as the car flipped first skidding on its side before reaching the base of the drop off and finally pitched onto its back slamming crushingly against his head. Pain shot out from his neck in staccatoed bursts that ran down his arms and shot somewhere into the center of his back as it bowed under the impact. Stars burst to life in his eyes and for a moment that lasted far too long he felt his heart stop in his chest along with his breathing.
Salvation lay inches away from his right hand. Blood ran playing hide and seek along his hair as it pressed against the roof of the car. He looked down grateful that the seatbelt was still holding and wiggled his fingers at the cell phone. They crawled almost of their own volition to the device, severed the current connection and shakily dialed 911 while fuzz encroached at the periphery of his vision. I hope I dialed right… his thoughts were slurred as consciousness toyed with him. His fingers fumbled for the seatbelt release but he couldn't seem to find it and when he tried to look down another volley of spear-like pain shot through him wrenching halfway down his back. This agony was more severe than anything he could ever remember. Even when Jake stabbed him he'd felt a single instant of white heat before blissful numbness took over, but this was like a razorblade working millimeter by millimeter into his spine. He tried to breathe through it and tried not to whimper or cry out, or do anything that would embarrass the Winchester name until finally he gave in to the last resort he had and simply slipped into unconsciousness, the rumbling chop of the Impala long gone from his ears.
OOooOO
A cry came from the bathroom just before a couple hard rumbling thumps.
"Laura?" Spencer pulled himself away from the computer screen and dashed to the door, "Laura?"
A moaned response started him breathing again as he pushed it open slowly. To his relief, she was sitting on the floor, her back up against the wall with her knees pulled to her chest.
"What's the matter?" he asked crouching at her side, one hand on her knee the other behind her head as it lay pressed into her palms.
"Something's wrong," She gasped, "call Sam, see if you can get in touch with him… I can barely feel him either… I can't lose them!" she ground between clenched teeth as Milkthistle came through the veil carrying that now familiar stone cup. This time though the sidhe female had streams of tears falling down her face and her hands trembled as she held out the brew.
"What are you doing?" Spencer asked, unnerved by the tears. He also noticed just on the other side of the veil several sidhe warriors, including Mustardseed standing, their fear written on their faces. "Laura? What's in the cup?" he asked even as she downed its contents in a couple quick swallows.
"Help me up." She grabbed at the young mans' surprisingly strong arm and rose to her feet, "What I just drank is going to put my body into a kind of coma." She explained as he walked her out into the room and helped her get situated on the bed again.
"What? Why?"
"Because in my current condition I can't do them any good, I need to be able to interact with them and with the world. I need to be able to help them," she yawned deeply and curled onto her side, "I need to be able to…do..." but she trailed off leaving the young FBI agent with a crawling sensation in his guts and for the first time since he'd run into the two men a feeling that he might really be deeply out of his element, and a desire to maybe do what Sam had admonished and simply walk away once their friend Bobby arrived.
In the meantime he reached for the cell and called Sam.
OOooOO
Tbc.
Please R&R.
Thanks sifi.