Chapter 17

Dean thought something was off when he felt the ground beneath him feel soft and comfortable and something was rubbing his hand. He then felt something rough and wet licking his fingers and gently nipping them. Slowly he opened his eyes and found himself staring at a ceiling that reminded him of a wooden cabin that he and Sam were made to spend the night in one summer when they were kids and in training. It was different though since the ceiling looked new and well-kept and not beat up at all. It had Dean frowning as he contemplated where he was.

The licking and nibbling continued and Dean realized that may be the clue as to where he was. He slowly looked down towards his hand even though his head was aching like crazy. He saw a small ball of black fur near his hand and its head was nuzzling his fingers and chewing and licking them as if that would be the key to reviving him. It was the little monster that he assumed was a rat. Normally he would have been saying something at its appearance but at that moment it was comforting and it was a subtle hint that he was no longer in that hell hole but somewhere safe and that Sam was safe.

The reason he knew Sam was safe because the monster belonged to her. However his big brother instincts were still on and he needed to see with his own eyes if his baby brother was all right. He flexed the fingers that the kitten was licking and rubbed the ears as he turned his head to look around.

He found Sam on the bed next to him passed out. The coloring of his brother had him worried though. His brother was very pale and Dean suspected it was mostly the blood loss but he remembered how bad the leg was and then there were injuries that Dean couldn't see like broken bones and the like. They were beat up bad and he hadn't even seen Angela.

She came after them.

She came after them even though she was not one hundred percent. Dean was proud of her and he could admit that he loved her. Not in the way that most people think and would certainly have Sam rushing to punch the living daylights out of someone. She was like a sister to him. Thing was he avoided chick flick moments like the plague so telling her how he felt was a bit of a difficult decision.

His train of thought was interrupted by footsteps. His eyes darted towards the source and found Angela with her arms full of her stuff to treat injuries. She crossed over to Sam's left and revealed to Dean a nasty set of scratches on her back at a diagonal from the back of her left arm and down towards the center of her back. Granted she wasn't topless, which was a good thing, but she was wearing her usual tank tops and he could see the gashes through the torn fabric. He couldn't help but wince at them as she set up a large bowl of water, unrolled her bag and pulled out various vials and the like. It was the same precision as a surgeon.

Dean could have said something to indicate that he was awake but decided against it. He could give her the courtesy of a comfortable environment to work. Besides she would chew him out for whatever reason she would come up with. He trusted her but he had to wonder who she had to help her if… He hadn't forgotten that she was still under the weather so to speak and he wondered how much her rescue attempt drained her.

He watched as she went to wash her hands in the bathroom. She came back drying her hands on a towel and she laid that aside. She picked up a pair of scissors and began cutting away the bloodied shirt to reveal the stab wound. It took a lot for Dean not to give himself away by hissing at the sight. Instead he focused on her as she calmly worked though he caught her lower lip tremble from time to time as she cleaned the wound and began the laborious process of stitching that one up.

Dean was mesmerized by the speed and elegance she stitched. Part of it was because as soon as she made the first stitch, she glanced at Sam since he twitched. He watched as if she seemed to think about something for a moment. She then turned back towards her work and began singing… at least he was certain it was. It sounded like the song she sang for that kelpie but the words were nothing like it. This one was different and it didn't interrupt her rhythm as she finished stitching the stab wound.

It wasn't interrupted even as she put a clean bandage over it. Dean watched and listened as she kept up the song. He could tell that she was repeating it… at least he thought so. Since it was in a language he wasn't familiar with, he couldn't tell if she just went right back to the beginning when she reached the end. She kept singing as she emptied the bloodied water in the bowl and got fresh water to start on Sam's leg.

This time she had a good view of Dean and it would be a perfect opportunity for her to nag and tell him to lie still. She didn't need to though since Dean was as comfortable as he could get in his state. She just kept singing and he kept watching. While he was watching her, Dean flexed his fingers to rub the kitten's head and it responded by rubbing its head on his fingers and purring up a storm. He could feel its whole body rumble with its purring as it cuddled against his wrist and continued to rub its head on his hand.

Sam had twitched but he didn't bolt upright in pain all the while Angela was stitching him up. Dean knew she hadn't even used one of those sedatives that he discovered she kept handy. When he asked her about it, she made a joke of it saying that she 'borrowed' them from a clinic. Dean knew that meant she had stolen them but he was certain she was teasing. He had gone through her herbalist book and found a few recipes for sedatives and figured that she was telling him to mind his own business at the time. She did have her way of teaching things.

Dean watched as she cut away the leg of Sam's jeans to get to the wound. It was a perfect opportunity to tease her about her sense of modesty but Dean was too mesmerized by her song. Even when her lip trembled as Sam flinched in his sleep, the guttural words continued to pour forth. Dean half expected her to stop once she stitched and bandaged Sam up but she didn't. He watched as she continued while she positioned her head as if she were trying to listen while she felt along Sam's torso and limbs for additional injuries.

The sorcerer went to work as she picked one of her vials and shook it up. She applied it to Sam's chest wherever she had felt something wrong. To Dean she seemed to have placed a concentration near where Sam could breathe in the fumes and wondered if something was wrong with his brother's lungs. Dean knew that he didn't know everything she did about her kit but he trusted that she knew what she was doing.

She used a different salve for Sam's wrists since they looked more like burns. He remembered that stuff because it was the same stuff she used when she burned her fingers before they headed out to Darby. She finished tending to Sam's major wounds to her satisfaction, which was on par with Dean's standards as far as Sam was concerned. It surprised Dean that she reached out and stroked Sam's cheek with the back of her hand gently before cleaning up but not that much.

Dean continued to use his fingers to play with the cat when Angela came in his view. She teased gently, "So did I pass?"

Dean studied Angela's face and noticed that the shadows under her eyes looked very pronounced. She looked like someone had punched her in both eyes and she did look a little pale. He couldn't believe that she knew he was awake for the whole thing and he hadn't made a sound. He replied, "You always pass."

"Flatterer."

"Honest truth," Dean replied. He couldn't help it and added, "And it's because of my expertise."

Angela just smiled and chuckled. She disappeared from Dean's view to get fresh supplies. She reappeared with more water and whatever. She asked, "Stomach feel better?"

"A little but not much."

Angela nodded as she began ripping Dean's shirt off. Dean noticed her eyes widen slightly at the gashes on his chest. At least he thought it was the gashes. He couldn't see the bruises that had formed and he was all colors of the rainbow and his wrist and arm was killing him. His ankle was also killing him but he was going to tough it out… unless she gave him the look. He was about to tease her when she said, "I'll take care of this and when I'm finished, I'll give you something to settle your stomach."

"You saw it didn't you?"

"Smelled it," she replied. She then began touching and feeling all over and listening. She got to his lower back and Dean flinched at a pain that he hadn't been aware of before. "Sorry Dean."

"Hey, how else am I going to get a beautiful woman to touch me?" Dean grinned up at her.

"In your dreams Dean," Angela replied as she picked up a bottle of distilled water and a clean rag. "This washed out hag just knows a thing or two about bruised kidneys and other types of injuries."

"Do you really think you are that?" Dean made a slight face when Angela began cleaning his gashes. He was surprised the kitten hadn't moved when his hand twitched. Instead it increased its purring as it cuddled against his wrist.

"I'm not exactly looking like a fashion model at the moment."

Dean knew that was a cover statement. He hadn't failed to notice how guys and the occasional woman eyed her speculatively or would stop them in their tracks. He knew she noticed the lecher looks because she tensed up ready to defend herself. He may not be the smartest guy in the world but he could see things too. He didn't fail to notice how she never made herself attractive in the physical way and some references she made about herself… "I wasn't referring to your looks, Angie."

Angela wiped the blood and dirt and grime away gently from the gashes. She paused when Dean said that and looked at him. His face was swollen and she could tell that his nose had been broken. He was wearing a serious expression. "They must've hit you on the head harder than I thought," she replied after a slight chuckle. She resumed cleaning the wounds but she felt very uncomfortable. Did he actually mean what he implied? She knew what Sam meant and he meant it. To hear something from Dean was…

"Angie." Dean watched she tried to ignore him. He reached with his good arm and gripped her hand. "Angie, I'm not that shallow. Physically you have a body that I know women would kill for but what I meant was who you are. Besides it's a known rule that big brothers are biased."

Angela looked at Dean. She couldn't tell if it was the pain talking or what. She looked at his grip and noticed his wrists. They were as bad as Sam's. She then looked him in the eye but said nothing.

Dean knew that she had to think about it. He released her hand and let her get to work. He watched as she resumed her work. She didn't really look at him but continued to work and he heard the faintest sound of a song being whispered while she worked. It wasn't as loud as when she sang for Sam and the tone was different. Dean understood it was more for her than for him. Still it was nice to hear her sing.

Angela just continued to sing as she cleansed the wounds. A couple of them required stitches since they were deep. She fetched a clean needle and the surgeon's thread that she often got from a friend of a friend who was a doctor who was a surgeon. It was better than dental floss though that stuff would do in a pinch.

Dean willed himself to be still as she made the first stitch. It hurt like it always did but when Angela started moving her hands, they moved quickly. Dean found that her speed minimized the sting of the needle and she handled it with an expertise that could only come from years of experience. "You're good with that little sword there."

"I've always been good with a blade." Angela didn't look at Dean as she continued her stitching. As usual the stitches were small and neat; a product of learning to be a young lady. It was part of a young lady's education when she was younger… way younger. "My first weapon I trained on."

"I thought it was the staff."

"Deportment lessons, Dean. The only education worthwhile to a girl," Angela explained. She was no longer bitter about that since times had changed. "Mother though hired a progressive tutor and I got a Latin and Greek education."

"No wonder you're like college boy over there," Dean replied with a slight grin.

Angela finally looked at Dean with a slight look. She was finished with the last gash and was tying it off. The faintest smile crossed her face as she cut the remainder with a slight tug and laid her needle aside. She then swooped down and popped his shoulder back in so fast, it barely registered that she did that. At the look on Dean's face, she said, "You would have tensed. Now for that nose."

Susan got back to Hell's Outhouse looking around. After getting the girl and the kids along with Deputy Russ out, she backtracked to the hideaway she had in the outcropping to retrieve a set of clothes she kept just in case she couldn't resist the urge. She kept an eye out for any sign of her friend just in case she would need some help.

Susan was able to find faint hints of her friend's scent and maybe her friends but they were too faint. It was as if they were long gone. She wished then that she hadn't waited too long but Michael Ellis didn't want them going back until everything settled. He was confident in setting the charges since he knew what he was doing but he wanted to make sure no one else was hurt.

Finding no sign of her old friend, Susan made the choice to go back to her place. Hell's Outhouse was still standing even after the rumble she and her friend went through. The rain had lightened up considerably but it was still falling as she walked up to the main office. The car the trio had been driving was nowhere in sight and she wondered where they had went.

If they left, they wouldn't have gotten far. That would be especially if her friends' boys were injured. In fact she had seemed certain that they were the way that she was carrying on in her concern about them. No they had to be there. Her friend wouldn't take them out of town in any condition unless she was sure that they were all right.

Instead of going in, Susan decided to take a look around. She figured that her friend hid their car out of concern in avoiding the law. Susan had a few ideas were to look and knowing her friend, that was the best place to start. So she started heading towards the portions of her property where she had hidden a few things in the past like her means of drowning out the memories and the hallucinations that were brought on by those memories. Now that she had some purpose again, she could go about getting rid of most of the stuff. She wouldn't need it anymore.

The first location showed nothing. While the most obvious, it was hardly inconspicuous. The benefit was that people stayed away from her property because of all the stories that circulated about her. Susan kept at it and in the end found nothing. It had her perplexed. She was sure that they were still there and in one of the two rooms that they rented. They hadn't checked out so they had to be there.

Susan checked all over the property that was hers. Finally discouraged but not defeated, she made her way back to the motel. She made the decision to make her way down the end where they were renting their rooms. She wouldn't be able to see into the rooms since the curtains were drawn but she could listen.

It was her surprise that she found the Impala behind the row of rooms. It had been cleverly hidden behind the brush and the location was well away from the main road. She had to smirk at that. She would have never thought to put it in such an obvious place. Then it occurred to her that maybe her friend needed to be that close due to medical reasons.

She walked along as quietly as she could, listening for voices. There was only one sound that came from the room that held the double. Listening, Susan could make out that it was a feminine voice and it wasn't talking. It was singing. Susan paused by the door to try and hear the words.

She could make out that it was her friend's voice. She couldn't figure out the song though. It wasn't anything she had heard of. Not even the old tunes that she remembered from those days came close to what she was hearing. It was beautiful though. It was like hearing a lullaby and she actually felt soothed and sleepy by the whole thing.

Well at least they were in there. Susan was tempted though to go and see if they needed help or supplies. Yet when she paused to listen more to the song, she figured that maybe coming in and offering help was not a good thing. She remembered how, it wasn't exactly pride, but it was more of a protective outlook on things. She wouldn't refuse if it were offered but she wouldn't willingly ask either and more out of a not wanting to be a nuisance to anyone.

So Susan went back to her place but continued to watch that row. She had a good view from one of the parlor windows. The only time that door opened was when she saw her friend come out and go to her room. It was maybe about five to ten minutes, maybe a little bit longer before her friend came out with something tucked under her arm and a mug in her hand. She walked as if she was grabbing something for a coffee break or something but Susan knew better. It was part of a midnight vigil thing. It occurred to Susan then that her friend was going to be up for quite some time and that meant that her friends may have had pretty serious injuries.

Susan remembered the last time that happened. They had captured/rescued a young Halfling who thought he could make a name for himself by trying to be the next Billy the Kid. He got into trouble for a crime he didn't commit and ended up with a gunshot wound that should have killed him. Her friend patched him up and spent the night keeping watch just in case something happened. Susan knew that this was no different. She would be there if her friend needed her.

After everything that happened, Charlie was glad to be heading back to his Nancy. The explosion in the mine brought Sheriff Talbert over along with the usual. They looked like they had seen a ghost when they saw him standing there with the girl Mary Lou and the kids Laura and Jared. It was like they couldn't believe that he was alive.

Michael Ellis was a smooth talker. Charlie thought that people thought it strange that the young and recluse Mr. Ellis was out of his manor and there at the mine. Yet they readily accepted the fact that he had come to check on the mine. He gave the idea that some loose timbers probably collapsed and was surprised to find the four of them in one of the outbuildings but he helped them out. Ellis even said something about Charlie saving one of the kids from falling down a collapsed shaft from the explosion.

Charlie had to admit that it was a pretty good story that Michael Ellis came up with. Sheriff Talbert accepted it and Charlie helped by confirming it. They were given a checkup with minimal fuss and he was with his Nancy who kissed the hell out of him.

Looking back at things now, it was a good thing that Michael Ellis stepped in when he did. Charlie had seen what those things were that killed Towers and Stanley and Rick. Of the two boys, he wasn't certain but what he was sure of was that not all of those things were bad.

There was the one that had freed him and helped him escape the mine. She could have easily killed him but she turned on her own kind and cleared a path. He wasn't sure who it was but she knew him. He still had a hard time seeing that thing as a female. The gravelly voice didn't help since it made her sound like a male. It was pretty weird but it had been strangely comforting to have someone like that on their side.

Charlie sighed as he looked out the window. He found out that Stark was okay. He had been badly injured but he was going to be okay. He was still rambling about the two things that he had seen but Charlie would have a talk with him and explain a few things. There were some things though that he wouldn't tell. He did see what happened to Michael Ellis and what he did. He understood a little as to why he was not big on public appearances and even though he didn't know it yet but Michael Ellis had a loyal supporter.

Mary Lou looked around the study. Laura and Jared had been put to be nearly thirty minutes ago by the old man that called himself the butler. They thought it cool to be sleeping in a mansion and she couldn't blame them. They had been living in a cave for most of the time they were with the pack. Mary Lou though wasn't so sure. She didn't know what to think especially about Michael Ellis and the vampire that let them go.

Deciding to have a look around, Mary Lou slid out of her chair and started looking around. Most of the pictures were from the early days of the mine. There were some things on the shelves. Most she didn't have a clue but some looked like they were from something religious. Of course there were books; more books than she had seen in her life and they all looked like they had been read at some point. She wondered how anyone could find the time to read them all.

"I take it Bertrand and Mrs. Hugh have seen to the kids?"

Mary Lou felt like she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She had been reaching to touch a wooden figure that looked like a Lupei when the owner spoke. She snatched her hand away and lowered her head to compose herself. Her back was to the speaker so he didn't have to see how red her face was getting. She replied, "They are excited to be staying here. It is a nice change."

Michael had a few choice phrases for that. However he didn't mention them and instead walked into the study. He had a plan somewhat but it was shaky. Yet he felt that it was better than what others would have done and the system wouldn't have a clue as what to do with two children with 'special needs.'

He had to admit that it was a surprise he came up with it and he had the girl Angela to blame. She was the one who reminded him a few things. He thought of it as he managed to get a ride for him and his guests back to the manor. He just had to convince the girl before him to go with it and he would have to explain a few things. They had seen quite a bit during the night's action and he owed it at least to her.

Stepping into the study he replied, "That is good. I was hoping the place wasn't too museum like. I haven't found the need to change much of anything."

Mary Lou managed to get her face under control and was able to turn and face Michael Ellis. She was confused that he was being so pleasant. "It's nice."

"I'm glad you find it that," Michael replied and motioned that she was to take a seat. It was awkward and he was aware that he might have to be the one to start things.

"Thank you."

"Excuse me?"

"Thank you… for not saying anything about us… Joseph… everything." Mary Lou shuffled in her seat, not sure of what to do. "If you wouldn't mind, could you let me have a copy of the bus schedule? The kids and I can leave in the morning."

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

Mary Lou felt a little indignant at that. They weren't prisoners and they weren't pets. "Why?"

"I thought that maybe the three of you would like to stay here and call it home," Michael replied. He had the feeling that she was a proud one and that was fine with him. If he had to, he would turn it into a job.

"Home?"

"Yes. You were a part of Joseph's pack and Joseph was family to the Ellis family." Michael looked at Mary Lou. "Of course you don't have to accept but I figured that it would provide you a place to stay until you figure out what to do and the kids…"

Mary Lou listened to Michael Ellis speak. She was definitely in a brave new world. She could say that it was all because of the vampire that smelled of wild roses. The vampire that set them free.

A/N: Looks like things might be going well for the Lupei that Angie let go. Dean watches the sorcerer in full action and manages to convey some idea of how he feels. Stay tuned for the conclusion of Pack of Strays...