AUTHOR'S NOTE: This will be the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed my fic, and thanx for reading up until now.
CHAPTER 12
Dean ran up the steps when he got to Justine's house. It was silent; too silent. It made Dean run faster. There had been a strange car parked in the front and Dean had a bad feeling that Sam had been there for a while.
His feeling was strengthened when he got to the door and found it already opened. The door had been kicked in and the sides splintered. It had swung shut on its own and the damage hadn't been noticeable until you got close.
Dean started searching the downstairs for any sign of them when he heard a muffled thump from upstairs. He pivoted on is heel and moved back towards the stairs calling out Justine's name. His brother would already now that Dean was there anyway, so it wasn't like he was blowing the element of surprise.
He heard another thump from Henri's study and ran down the hall to reach the room. When Dean got there, his breath whooshed out of him in despair; he had gotten there too late.
"I've been expecting you, brother" Sam said wickedly from across the room. His clothes were spattered with Justine's blood and Dean had to stop himself from jumping for the taller man's throat. "Such naughty thoughts" Sam tsked at Dean playfully, shaking his finger.
Dean gritted his teeth. "What did you do to her?" he asked harshly.
Sam laughed. "I think that you know the answer to that question already Dean" he answered, in the same light tone. "You and I both know that I was never going to let her talk"
"The blood…" Dean started.
"Don't worry about that" Sam dismissed the problem. "I'm not going to let a fine piece of ass like that die before I have a go at her"
Dean saw red. He lunged at Sam but was thrown back against the wall. His head smacked into the plaster hard and he saw stars. He knew that his legs wouldn't have held him up, but he wasn't on the ground. Dean opened his eyes and looked down. His feet weren't touching the ground.
"Cool trick, huh?" Sam asked in an excited voice. "You can't even touch me now. Not with your…love not having the use of her vocal cords" he laughed again. "Lucky for me that she never did get a chance to tell you how she felt"
Dean looked helplessly at Justine as tears welled up in his eyes. She was sitting up against the far wall clutching at her throat. It was obvious that Sam had slashed her voice box, stopping her from telling Dean that she loved him.
Her eyes spoke eloquently though. Dean's heart felt like it was bleeding as he shared the look. "I'm sorry" he whispered to her. Tears spilled over her own face as she heard him.
Sam glanced at Justine in feigned shock. "No answer?" he asked. "She's not very nice to you Dean" he continued, turning back to his brother. Sam walked forward until they were only inches apart.
"What are you going to do?" Dean asked Sam silently. He was stalling or time so he could think of something.
"Kill you, rape her…then kill her too" Sam answered nonchalantly, ticking off each thing with a finger as if with a grocery list.
Dean's eyes clenched shut at the words. He didn't want to think of what the evil in Sam would do to Justine after it killed him. He remembered the story; torture is what this…thing liked.
"This is no fun though" Dean said, his eyes still closed. "Do you really want to kill me so quickly? You could have us fight instead"
He could hear Sam chuckle. "Good idea brother" he said softly. Dean felt the unseen pressure go away and he slid down the wall until his feet hit ground. He wobbled, but managed to stay standing.
Sam stepped back and stood there with his arm splayed out wide. "Take your best shot big brother" he said on a chuckle. "Then I'll take mine" his voice turned dark with its lust for blood.
Dean searched his pocket for the knife that he had put there earlier. It was small, but it would do the trick; or at least it would have if Justine would be able to speak. He clutched it in his hand and faced his brother.
Dean looked a Justine once more before he made his move. He would die now and he wanted to see her face first. He noticed that her hand had been moving in the pool of blood near her side.
She had written something with her fingers there: I LOVE YOU.
Dean's heart welled up. He didn't think that it would work that way, but he was just happy to know how she felt for sure. "I love you Justine" he cried out as he thrust the knife into Sam's chest.
Sam laughed and just stood there. "Now it's my tur…" His words were interrupted as a burst of light exploded from where the knife had entered Sam's chest. Dean fell back covering his eyes. The light grew stronger until it took over Sam's whole body. Then it disappeared.
Dean's eyes took a minute to readjust to the normal light. But when it did he looked down at his brother. Sam was lying on the ground in a heap, unmoving. Dean's heart was in his throat as he edged closer.
Sam's eyes were open and staring out into space; they were completely lifeless. Dean cried out as sobs began to work through his body. He fell to his knees at his brother's side and pulled the Sam into his arms, rocking him in the same way he had his father.
He felt Justine move behind him but didn't stop holding Sam. Dean knew that he needed to let go and get her to the hospital, but he just couldn't. He had always taken care of his brother…and now he had killed him.
He didn't know how long it was before he laid his brother back down on the ground. It must not have been too long, because Justine was still there, holding her throat. The amount of blood on her shirt hadn't increased so much that it would kill her; yet.
That thought galvanized him and he stood up, moving to the phone and dialing 911. Dean got an ambulance on its way before he turned back to Justine. She had stood too and they stared at each other for a minute without moving.
"Justine" he whispered desperately, moving to her and holding her in his arms. He felt her shake as sobs made themselves silently out of her. Holding her served the double purpose of calming her and comforting himself. It helped ease the guilt of what he had done to his brother when he thought of what he had saved Justine from.
-----------------
Dean sat in the waiting room of the ER as Justine got operated on. He had just finished being questioned by the police about what had happened at the house and he was exhausted.
Emotionally, if not physically, this had been the worst day of his life. The last two members of his family were now dead and he was all alone. His nightmare would become reality and he would spend the rest of his life wandering around in his Impala, trying to hunt down the things that went bump in the night.
Dean didn't even want to think about Justine. His presence had put her in danger for the last time; he would leave when he knew that she was ok.
"Mr. Winchester?" a doctor asked him as she walked up. "Ms. Edmonds has asked for you"
"Asked for me?" Dean said, confused.
The doctor smiled in understanding. "She wrote it down for us" she explained softly.
Dean was amazed that so soon after her surgery she would be able to write anything. Then he smiled; if anyone would be that resilient it would be her. Dean suddenly knew that she would bounce back from this faster than anyone would expect.
----------------
Dean finished packing his stuff into the trunk and slammed it shut. The lock on it was tricky, so being gentle wasn't really on option with part of the car. He still grimaced though; he liked everything that was done to his car to be gentle.
He sighed as he breathed in the crisp Montreal air. It was getting colder outside now that autumn was half gone. Dean was just glad that he was getting out of Canada before the full on winter hit. The salt would be hell on the Impala's paint.
He took one last look at the house that had brought him together with Justine, and then turned away. He got into the driver's seat and started the engine up. The small explosion of the car revving put a smile on Dean's face as he pulled onto the road.
It wasn't until they were on the bridge off the island before the silence was broken.
"Where next?" Justine asked from the passenger seat.
Dean smiled and pushed the car faster.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wanted to end happy so I cut out all the depressing grief stuff and just got to the end. I don't think that Dean is the kind of person to dwell on that kind of stuff anyway. I hope you were happy that I sent Justine with Dean; it was breaking my heart for him to be alone.