My grammar ain't great in this one, but it's legible and I've not updated in what feels like a good while, so here you go :)
Disclaimer: Don't own either of the beautiful shows :(
Dean watched out of the window as Sam talked to Ruby on his cell. The guy had got seriously twitchy over the last twelve hours and Dean was getting more than a little worried.
Willow came to stand next to him. "Ruby again?"
He nodded. Sam had been trying to call Ruby for hours; he'd been up since five thirty that morning (waking everyone else up as he clanked around in the kitchen) and it was ten fifteen now. His excuse had been checking for updates on both Dawn and Lilith, but Dean wasn't buying it. He'd only spoken to her the previous night and chances were she'd call if she found anything anyway. Something was up and Dean had no idea what.
"He finally got through, huh?" She said.
Dean turned to her with a frown. The was something about the way she said it, something that made him think she knew something she wasn't telling. "Yeah. Been talking a few minutes now."
Her eyes stayed on Sam, her expression one of sympathy and empathy.
Dean's own eyes narrowed in suspicion. He opened his mouth to question her but at that moment Sam hung up and headed back towards the house. He'd corner her later and question her then.
"Well?" Dean asked as his not so little brother re entered the room.
"She might have a lead on Lilith. I'm gonna head out in a couple hours and check it out with her." Sam said, his attempted casual tone failing miserably.
"On your own?" Dean's tone practically shouted that he wasn't interested in the bull his brother was selling.
"Yeah. I did manage on my own for four months Dean." Sam said tensely. "Besides, someone should be here to keep an eye on the Dawn situation."
"I'm sure Willow and Bobby can handle it."
"Dean!" Sam said, his voice a pairing of exhaustion and irritation.
"I'm not letting you go after Lilith alone, Sam." Dean folded his arms.
"I'm not going after her! It's just a lead, if it pans out then I'll call you." Sam turned on his puppy dog eyes. "Please, Dean. Just trust me, I can do this."
Dean's shoulders slumped. He rubbed his hand over his eyes. "Fine. But if you're gonna call me every night and you're gonna be back within five days, got it?"
Sam heaved an annoyed sigh. That was the kind of thing a parent said to their teenaged child. Still, better than nothing. "Fine." He turned and stomped away to collect his things.
Dean followed him with his eyes. "Is he telling the truth?"
Willow looked startled for a minute, wondering if he was talking to her, before casting her eyes down. "How should I know?"
He turned his gaze on her, his face hard. "Look, I know you know something, and you better tell me what it is while I'm asking nicely. You wouldn't like the hard way."
She swallowed. "I think he's going 'cause her wants to see Ruby." She told him the half-truth, hoping she'd get away with it.
He scrutinized her. "A lot of trouble to go to for a booty call."
"You don't know the in and outs of their relationship." She tried.
"Yeah, and I sure as hell don't understand it either. But I do understand Sammy, and he wouldn't be doing all this just to go see his girlfriend." He took a step closer, forcing her to look at him. "If I find out you know something about this that you're not telling me, then you better hope someone yanks your wiccan ass back where you came from before I get to you. You understand me?"
Willow smirked a little without meaning to. He had no idea who he was talking to.
"What's so damn funny?"
Willow opened her mouth to answer, but Dean's eyes suddenly left hers to look over her shoulder. She turned to see what he was looking at.
"Where's the key?" Castiel asked once he had their attention.
Dean frowned. "Huh?"
"The girl... Dawn." The angel said, as though it was obvious. To be fair it probably would have been if Dean's mind weren't still on Sam.
"She's missing." Willow replied, kicking herself for not having thought to ask the angel for help earlier. "We think someone or something might have taken her."
Castiel's impassive face took on a slightly alarmed look. On him in was as disturbing as panic. "How long?"
"Since last night."
Castiel disappeared only to reappear moments later. "I can't find her."
"No shit." Dean snapped. Figured whoever had her would be using hex bags or something. Wasn't like Willow hadn't tried a finding spell.
"You have to find her." Castiel pretty much commanded.
"Yeah, we're on it. We're doing the best we can." Dean snarked, turning away to see his brother come lumbering towards them.
"You don't understand. This is more important than one girl's life," His voice raised to regain the hunter's attention, "In case you had forgotten, her blood is a key that can open the doors between dimensions. It is imperative that you get her back before Lucifer's supporters can use her."
"Use her?" Dean looked a little confused. "How? I thought there had to be some ritual that could only happen once every gazillion years or something?"
"And yet they ended up here." The angel pointed out. "The energy required depends on the distance between realities and the size of the opening. The ritual and ideal conditions would be needed for a far jump as it would open many other worlds to get through to the intended target. Hell and Lucifer's cage are linked with this world. Only those two need be opened to set Lucifer free."
"Great. So our key could be opening Lucifer's time out room while we speak." Dean grumbled, his sarcasm and attitude hiding his real horror at the prospect.
Willow looked pale. "How much energy would be needed?" She asked quietly.
"Not much; her blood should suffice along with a directional spell." Castiel answered.
"But there was no bleeding to get us here." Willow's tone was pleading; she wanted so much to believe that Dawn needn't be in danger, wouldn't have to go through what Glory put her through again. Wouldn't have to die this time, with no blood relatives to take her place.
"You are two small, human lifeforms who hopped quickly between worlds. The window you used was neither very big nor open for very long. Lucifer is an archangel. The sheer size of the portal needed to get him here will utilize almost all of the energy in Dawn's blood. Any leftover will most likely be used as the demons clamour to escape hell." Cas explained.
Sam had been silent in all of this until now, looking between the three people in the room in front of him as he figured out what they were talking about. "So they'll kill her?"
Willow answered before Cas could. "They'll bleed her to death." She could feel her teeth press against each other to the point of pain, and her fingernails digging into the skin of her palms. Not again, this wasn't going to happen again.
Dean locked eyes with Castiel and then his brother. "Not if we can help it."
Dawn watched in confusion as Ruby re-entered the room and sat down in front of her.
"Looks like we're stickin' around awhile longer than I thought. Sam's coming to pay us a visit." Ruby watched Dawn's eyes widen and laughed. "No, he doesn't know you're here. And he won't do, because you're gonna keep real quiet while he's here, you got that cookie?"
Dawn just glared.
"Not that you'll have a choice of course. But if you do somehow find yourself in a position to make some noise, then for your sake I hope you have the common sense not to. Sammy isn't going to be in any state to stop me shutting you up." Ruby grinned. "But hey, it's not all bad news. Maybe if I position right you'll be able to catch some of the show through the slats."
Dawn glanced at the only thing with slats in the room. The built in wardrobe. Ruby was going to put her in the wardrobe.
Dawn spent the next few hours watching bad soap operas with Ruby, who pointed out at least three actors who had made deals to help their acting careers. Apparently LA was as much of a demon capitol here as it was back home.
Surprisingly, Ruby was fast becoming one of Dawn's favourite people to be kidnapped by. Miles better than Glory with her creepiness and constant threats and weird caresses, and definitely better than Sweet, who kept trying to get her to dirty dance with him, not to mention marry him of course, better than Harmony with her kinky wall shackles and whiney voice. All in all, being Ruby's captive was a comparative pleasure. Even if she did keep calling her 'cookie'.
She felt her stomach drop when a car pulled up outside and Ruby peeked out of the window.
"Time to go to your room." Ruby sang out, dragging the chair into the closet and reaching back to grab a scarf which she used as a gag, her fingers tying it around Dawn's head with practiced speed. "Remember what I said; Mommy and Daddy need some quiet time." Ruby swung the closet door shut and turned to face the motel room door.
Dawn tried to ignore the noises coming from the room outside of the closet as she twisted her arms awkwardly behind her to line up the cable ties around her wrists with the sharp plastic of the snapped back-rest bar. One arm was already feeling a little weak from the strain the angle put on it, and her wrists were red and chafed and covered in scratches from where the plastic had caught her skin instead of her bindings.
She let her arms drop for a moment to allow her muscles rest and let her blood flow return to normal. She'd hoped to get out easier than this but her wrists had taken worse, as had the rest of her. She paused to shudder as a loud moan came from Ruby; she wondered if she'd forgotten Dawn was there or if she got off on exibitionism.
Sam, who didn't know she was there, was surprisingly quiet. As much as she tried not to pay attention, she wondered if Sam was really all that aware of what was going on, or if the buzz from his demon blood fix was overriding Ruby's best efforts.
Her fingers were getting hot and her wrists were swelling, pressing against the plastic restraints and making the cuts and grazes sting. She renewed her efforts.
By the time the noises stopped she was over half way through, the edges she'd worn through now attacking her flesh along with the chair back. She winced as she glanced over her shoulder at the state of her arms and tried not to think about how much worse it might get. Especially if she failed and Ruby put fresh cable ties over her wounds. At least progress was faster now that the sharp edge of the chair bar didn't slip out of the split she'd carved so much. She should be done before Sam and Ruby woke up.
She heard Ruby breathe out loudly and shift in the bed, as Sam's feet landed on the carpet with a dull thud.
Maybe not before they woke up then.
She noticed that her arms had stilled while she listened to the hunter heading to the bathroom and set to work again, a little more frantic this time as she knew that once Sam had left it would take very little time for Ruby to wake up and decide to get back on the road.
She gasped as the plastic snapped, whipping against her skin and tearing through a pre-existing scratch.
The footsteps, which had come back into the room, paused at the involuntary noise.
Dawn wasn't sure how the sound had made it past the scarf in her mouth and into the room beyond the door, but she did know that Sam would probably wake up Ruby if he noticed Dawn was there. She kept as still as she could until she heard him settle back on the bed, before removing the gag and setting to work on the cable ties that held her ankles to the chair legs, feeling grateful for the nail file when the plastic bar on the chair refused to break off.
The nail file took a lot longer than the broken plastic to cut through the cable ties, but it got the job done in the end and the couple in the room had been silent for a while when the last bond broke.
Dawn raised herself gingerly to her feet, hands braced against the closet walls to compensate for her numb and wobbly legs. She shifted quickly from foot to foot as the pins and needles set in, biting her lip to stifle the gasps of pain the feeling intensified before fading.
With circulation in her legs restored, Dawn laid her hand against the closet door, turning the handle with her other hand, and pushing it slowly open. Only a slight creak came from the wood from the movement, and she stepped into the room with a feeling of relief.
Her eyes stayed on the bodies tangled in the bed sheets as she made her way to the exit, pausing to pick up Ruby's car keys in the scarf she'd been gagged with. A small jangling sound still erupted, making the sleeping couple stir, but neither of them awoke and Dawn allowed her body to unfreeze and straighten, continuing her escape.
She closed the motel room door behind her with a breath of giddy triumph and turned towards Ruby's car.
She hoped there was a map inside, because she had no idea where she was or how to get back to Bobby's, and she doubted she'd be stopping for directions anytime soon.