No songs and no inroductions
Chapter 8: Breathe
The adrenaline was pumping through everyone's veins while Dean stepped up to the plate and evolved into a true leader.
'Okay so, Sam you get the candles, the herbs, the rabbit's feet, the snake's skin...' Dean paused flipping the page, '...and the graveyard dirt.'
Sam got up and walked to the Impala still bitter from the voting.
'The cars have to be moved, we're doing this a few miles up, I saw a clearing big enough. We'll leave everything but the necessities and if we're lucky we'll be able to hit the sack before dawn.'
They moved out and followed the Impala to the clearing Dean had envisioned.
No one knew exactly what Dean had in mind but he directed the cars like they were his orchestra, he was the conductor and the cars were his music. He placed them so that they would all be facing each other and the middle, which now became a giant lit opening. Dean was content and they all exited the cars leaving the headlights on.
'Where's our little artist?' Dean yelled a bit blinded by the lights.
'I'm here,' Julie answered coming forth.
'Here draw this,' he said tossing a book and some red spraypaint towards her, which she could barely catch.
'Katie, Christina, Lena, prepare the hex bags,'
'Yes sir,' they wanted to say this jokingly but it came out more officially and they now felt really a part of something big, and something other than their natural, boring lives, they felt like they belonged somewhere.
'Sam, Chris, Andy, huddle up,' the guys came to Dean and they were all handed a piece of paper with the chant on. While Andy and Chris stepped away a few feet, Sam finally found an opportunity to talk to his brother.
'Dean, we are nuts, we're putting six untrained people in danger!'
'Sam, I know okay, Lena shouldn't have said anything, I had hoped to gather around 7 other hunters but let's face it since Pamela no one has been eager to work with any of us. And well we couldn't keep them out of this, we tried.'
'We didn't try hard enough!'
'What do you want me to do? Flee the scene so the incantation can't take place?'
'No, look what if we just chant some Latin, something that doesn't have to mean anything, the fucker doesn't show up, we say we failed and that's it. We're done with all this madness.'
'Too late, I already gave Andy and Chris their parts of the chant, besides I am not going to lie. Look Sammy there are many things I'm willing to do, but lie to our best friends and not to mention our girls is just not one of them. They'll never forgive us!'
'Screw that, I'd rather have them angry than dead!'
'Drop it Sam, no one is dying, not now, not tonight, not on my watch! You got that?!' Dean was now yelling, making the others look up, but the brothers were out of earshot nonetheless.
Sam was humbled and knew that when it came down to it, Dean was the leader and he was a soldier that had to obey. He knew that the only way to make an operation like this work was a steady hierarchy, he might not like it but when Dean spoke in his alpha voice he couldn't disobey orders, he was trained to follow them.
**********
'So you're a hypocrite,' Christina noted looking at Lena.
'Why?'
'Look at you, scattering those bunny-bones,' Chris said jokingly.
'Haha, one time deal hunny, at least these didn't die in vain, they might end up saving a hell lot of lives,'
'Okay people,' Dean suddenly yelled. The girls tied the bags and everyone got closer to the middle of Julie's drawing in the grass. Lena looked in amazement, it was so huge, definitely around 750 square feet, she was impressed. They had worked together as a team and hitherto everything had gone great, they all knew who was boss and that they had to obey else the game would be over. To them it really was a game, a nightly adventure but none of them were really prepared for whatever would happen, none of them had experienced something supernatural, not even Julie whose entire family died because of it, she had gotten out just in time. Not that they didn't believe the stories the brothers once told, they did but it was so far form their own lives that it never really hit home. You could compare it with a war that is being fought far from your own bed, you know the horror and you sympathize but you don't really know.
'Okay everybody knows his incantation?' Dean said.
'Yes,' they all answered like a well-oiled machine.
'Okay Sam, where do you want us?'
'Dean and Lena, in front of the truck, Christina and Andy in front of the Impala, Julie and me in front of the Mustang, and Katie and Chris in front of the BMW,' Sam said putting away his compass.
'Okay, so Sam has the knife, I have the colt, everyone has their protection charms, I think we're set. Take your places.'
Dean didn't surprise himself by being the leader, neither did he enjoy the power, he just did what he was trained to do, it was in his blood and he thought nothing of it, though the others were impressed by his authority.
They all resumed their places, each of them blocking a headlight, which made it easier for them to see, the shadows that were cast by each of them in the clearing spelled out a giant black cross.
Lena and Dean commenced holding hands they spoke the first words of the incantation.
'We call upon the four winds to summon evil in our midst
We present the East, power of Air and Invention,' and as they spoke these last words Dean bent down and buried the hexbag.
Christina and Andy continued, though Andy couldn't help but feeling a bit silly, but Chris believed enough for the both of them.
'We call upon the four winds to summon evil in our midst
We present the South, power of Fire and Feeling.' They followed example and buried their hexbag.
'We call upon the four winds to summon evil in our midst
We present the West, power of Water and Intuition,' Sam and Julie said in perfect harmony, burying their hexbag together.
'We call upon the four winds to summon evil in our midst
We present the North, power of Mother and Earth,' Katie and Chris finished quietly but with conviction and followed suit.
They now chanted in unison:
'Spirits of air, fire, earth and sea
Converge to set the Angel free
In the wind we send this rhyme
Bring death before us before our time'
They kept repeating the last part until the lights of the cars started to flicker and the candles flared up. Everybody held their breath and in their midst appeared a young, nice looking man with an Angelic smile.
'Isn't this a nice gathering, how much fun. But didn't your parents told you not the play with fire?' the man spoke.
'We want some answers,' Dean said firmly.
'This should be interesting,' the angel turned to the East and looked right into Dean's eyes reading his mind, 'Allie Lipton? Nice girl, she needed much incentive, I must say strong girl. It took six months to drive her to that ledge.'
'Was she yours, you son of a bitch,' Dean was fuming and he had a hard time keeping it together and not break the formation.
'Well,' he paused looking up to the sky and putting his hand to his chest, 'I don't like to brag but yes, yes she was,' he said smiling proudly wiping away an imaginary tear.
'You bastard, I'm going to kill you,' Dean said furiously.
'Yeah? You and what army chump? Winchester? The legendary Winchester, I must say I had expected more. You're nothing but feeble humans. No way in hell I'll ever bow down to you! You're a joke. Oh and by the way, those books you've been reading? Not exactly accurate, unfortunately, this little picture on the floor is beautiful but not effective.'
Dean now got scared and Lena felt it as his hand clutched around hers, he was scared that this wasn't going to end right and he was out of ideas how to destroy this thing. He felt weak and powerless and the others could feel it too, their united front was now nothing more than eight people watching their own backs.
The demon proved his point by flicking Lena thirty feet away with just a small gesture of his hand. Her head landed on a rock making her slip into unconsciousness. Dean saw a little red stream going down her cheek.
'Lena!' he yelled as he felt her hand yanked away from his.
He pulled out the colt aiming at the man's balls.
'Oh my I am so afraid now,' he said feigning excitement.
Dean pulled the trigger twice, but the angel just stood there catching the bullets in his chest.
'That tickled,' he said grinning widely.
'Sam!' Dean yelled.
Before the angel had time to turn around and face Sam the knife was already in its back.
'Now, that's not nice, if there's one thing I hate it's backstabbers.' He said grabbing Sam by the throat and lifting him up a few feet. Sam struggled to get free but it was an iron grip.
'Sam!' Julie yelled, scared now that the formation had been broken and Sam had entered the circle.
'Julie, stay put!' Dean yelled, 'Let him go or I swear...'
'Or what? Or you're going to bore me to death? Fine.' He threw Sam back in the direction where he came from but apart from hurting his back he was still in one piece, Julie immediately bowed down to him while the angel took out the knife and threw it back at them, not even aiming to hit one of them, he refocused his attention to Dean.
He attacked the demon with all the force he had, he had never felt so much adrenaline and he almost burst out of his skin out of anger.
'No, no Dean, I don't get physical with you unless you're naked.' He said jokingly and he pinned Dean down together with all the others.
'Well this is a bust, eight feeble humans, that's why you called me. And I thought we'd have a barby and drink. Such a disappointment.' The demon looked disapprovingly at Christina and Andy, shaking his head.
'My God, well not God but you know, you two are a walking billboard for lust and gluttony,' his eyes traced along Katie and Chris, he couldn't help but smile.
'My, my you have been a bad girl, I could push you in a matter of minutes.' He grinned at the prospect of Katie haning herself from a tree. Chris grasped her hand even tighter pulling her behind him, whatever this thing was going to do it'll have to go through him to get to her, but it wasn't effective the both of them were pinned down and couldn't move.
He let his eyes wonder to Sam and Julie, and for a moment the joking disappeared and he became honest and utterly happy.
'This is unbelievable, this can not be,' he said coming closer to the couple, only envisioning Julie.
'You search your whole existence for this and only once every century you are lucky to find one, and now after only two weeks I find another one?'
No one knew what was going on or what he was talking about definitely not Julie. But he was so fixated on her that they all felt that this was their way to escape, Dean could feel a little movement but not enough to get him walking.
The demon closed in on Julie as Sam struggled so hard to block her from his view, but he couldn't move, not even an inch.
'You don't know do you?' the angel continued, 'You are so beautiful and precious, you'll be the crown jewel to my work.' He said while he stroked her cheek, she looked away in disgust but she couldn't run or do anything besides turning her head.
'Stop it,' Sam almost heaved as he saw the angel feeling up his girl.
The angel just shushed him and continued caressing her, she turned her head as far as she could while tears sprung into her eyes, then he kissed her full on her lips. She was so afraid and embarrassed, she couldn't look Sam in the eyes anymore and she felt sick to her stomach.
'Okay enough playing 'cause you and me we'll have fun later, first things first.'
The demon scanned Julie's head and found what he needed.
No one now could follow what was going on between the demon and Julie, the only thing they could hear now were her screams building up, and her crying became more apparent.
'Julie it's not real, he's playing with your head, don't let him get to you,' Sam told her over and over again, trying to get through, trying to look into her eyes.
'He's right,' she cried, 'it's all my fault, it's all my fault,'
'No it's not Julie, he's messing with your head, listen to me! Listen to my voice. It's not real.'
Christina, Andy, Katie and Chris witnessed the scene from afar and watching their friend break down like that brought on an excruciating pain. They heard the desperation and love in Sam's voice but saw that it didn't get through to Julie, Chris could no longer hold it together as she cried Julie's name. Katie joined trying to get her attention but it had no effect.
'I killed my family, I made you want to stop hunting, I am a danger to Felix, I am not good for this world, it's all my fault, it's all my fault.'
Sam yelled at her crying in his own agony, he couldn't stand seeing his girl in so much pain and self-loathing. He thought she was the most amazing woman on earth and here she was denying all that he had ever felt for her, denying every feeling they had shared in the past three years, tears started to roll down his face.
Dean heard the voices in the background but he was focused on Lena who was still not waking up even though he had called her name many times. His heart was racing going through the worst-case scenarios in his head.
The angel started smiling as he knew he was succeeding. They all, besides Lena, saw Julie reaching for the knife that had been planted in the angel's back, she lifted it as she suddenly stopped crying, she could hardly see with the water in her eyes, suddenly they shifted from absolute despair to certainty as she held the knife high, Sam yelled one more time to get through to his fiancée, his best friend, his lover, his girlfriend, the love of his life but to no avail. She planted the knife in her stomach and twisted it, not even screaming in pain, she collapsed next to Sam.
'I'm sorry Sam, it's my fault,' she whispered.
'It's okay,' he whispered sniffing through the tears finding his hand suddenly free to move and stroking her face, 'I love you so, so much, I'm going to make this better, I promise,' he said while tears welled up in his eyes again, 'just hold on,' his voice cracked. He couldn't handle this, not again, not after all he had been through.
She looked into his eyes and pushed out her last breath of air and then she was gone.
Katie and Chris broke out in tears as they had witnessed the scene in front of them, they felt so useless as they were fifty feet away from each other and their friend, the pain that came over them could not be described by words. They had loved Julie for so long and it was like parts of themselves had been ripped out by a butter-knife. Dean was broken, he had seen his brother in pain and agony before but this was different, the moment Julie closed her eyes it was as if she had taken Sam away with her. He could no longer see the spirit and soul in his brother's eyes and he didn't even know if Lena was going to make it.
Sam found the strength to stand up again, apparently no longer under the angel's powers and as he rose to his feet a shimmer of fear passed through the eyes of the angel.
'Well this was fun, thanks for the invite,' he said and before any of them could do anything he disappeared just as quickly as he has showed. Leaving behind a wreckage of broken hearts and spirits. They had gone to war, they had seen the horror and things that had seemed so distant were now so close, they had lost and their lives would never be the same again.
Sam got on to his knees and started CPR. Katie and Chris ran over to Julie clutching each other's hands, when they came face to face with one of their worst nightmares it didn't felt real. They kneeled next to her as Sam was trying to get her heart going again.
Dean saw what his brother was trying to do and he hurried to Lena, he grabbed her hand and barely found a pulse, putting his ear next to her mouth he heard a very superficial breathing. He needed to get her to a hospital now. He picked her up carefully and put her in the Mustang. He didn't know what to do anymore, treat his girlfriend or support his brother. He decided that Lena was now a priority and he resumed leadership over the group.
'Andy, call 911 and tell them to meet us on the highway!' he yelled and Andy rapidly obeyed and reached for his phone.
'Sam, get Julie in the Impala, we need to go to the hospital now!'
Sam did as he was told, but holding the dead body of his fiancée in his arms was one of the worst feelings he had ever experienced, trying to bite away the tears he laid her carefully in the Impala.
The others got into the cars as well and they left speeding towards the highway. When the four cars arrived there were already two ambulances waiting.
Dean got out, trying to get Lena out as carefully as he could.
'What happened,' the paramedic asked.
'She hit her head on a rock, pretty nasty fall,' Dean said hurrying the words out of his mouth.
'How long has she been out?'
'Forty-five minutes maybe?'
The paramedic looked confused at why they had waited so long before calling for help.
They mounted the ambulance and Dean glanced back to the other where Sam was explaining what had happened to Julie. He felt so bad for not being there and lying for him so he could concentrate on her but at this moment he just had to be selfish.
Katie took the Mustang and Christina took the Impala ready to move when the ambulances did.
Once the ambulances departed and Dean could hear the monitor of Lena's slowing heartbeat he broke down into tears. He had loved Julie, from the first moment she had walked into their lives she had made them better. He had never seen his brother that happy and he saw how right they were for each other. He had loved the laughter that she had brought to their lives and he had loved that she had brought Lena into his. They made a perfect foursome together. He couldn't imagine going a week without hearing Julie's voice, or her warmth, or her big heart. He tried to remember the joyful girl she was and not the mess she had been the last hour, he wanted to erase the images of her all bloody and crying. He didn't understand, how she could have been pushed to kill herself. It was all his fault, he couldn't let this obsession go, it was his fault she was dead. Dean cried and cried while holding his hand's in Lena's.
Two nurses were trying to resuscitate Julie in the ambulance but the monitor didn't pick up a heartbeat, Sam was silent and exhausted he just stared at the monitor shivering and praying that it would pick up the faintest sign of life. Eventually the praying paid off and the monitor did register a beating heart, Sam's own heart swelled with hope. In the hospital they immediately rushed her into the OR ,a long time after Sam had seen his girl disappear behind two big electric doors two doctors came back taking off their operating caps and Sam knew what this meant, the monitor lost the only sign of life and it would never pick it up again. Sam stayed silent sitting in his chair his lips resting on his praying hands.
'I am sorry to ask you this,' the doctor tries, 'but Julie had a certificate that said she wanted to be an organ donor, you being her medical proxy still get the final say in this matter. She still has some strong vitals, even her heart can be used...' Sam interrupted the doctor, 'she would want you to take whatever is useful, go ahead,' he said with a voice that was so flat that it stunned the doctor. He got up and left Sam in the dull blue family room, wishing his brother was there, wishing Julie was there.
The doctors had been scared for Lena, she had fallen into a coma and the only way out was if she came out herself. Luckily she woke up three days later, surrounded by Dean, Katie and Christina she opened her eyes. She looked around.
'Hi,' she said her voice cracked.
'Thank God, you're awake,' Dean rushed over to her side and smiled for the first time in four days though it didn't reach his eyes, which were red and looked tired. Lena took one look and panic came across her face.
'Calm down, let me get you a nurse,'
'No, no, no! Where is she?' she asked in disbelief and terror.
'I'm sorry,' Dean whispered tears welling up, as she saw Katie and Chris hugging each other silently.
'No, no!' Lena had felt it, she had felt Julie's disappearance in the clearance but she didn't belief it. She didn't understand why but she knew the minute she woke up that something was wrong.
'Please leave me alone,' she asked of her friends.
They nodded and exited the room after they had patted her bed and hugged her.
'You too Dean,' she said looking away from him staring through the window, the weather had changed from sun to rain.
'I'm not leaving,' he said clutching her hand.
'I don't feel like arguing, not now, just go, please!' she pulled her hand back from his and placed it into her own, leaving Dean no option but to leave.
As soon as she heard the door close she broke down in tears. She couldn't believe her best friend had left without saying goodbye, she was so angry and sad at the same time. It was her fault, she was the one who came up with the summoning, she was the one who uttered that they should do it, she had stood up to Sam though he knew it would be dangerous through the lack of knowledge. It was her fault that she was dead, she now had lost the last person she called family. She couldn't bare the grief and cried until a nurse, noticing her high heart rate, came in and gave her a sedative, it was a large black woman and for a minute she took a seat next to Lena's bed, caressing her forehead and shushing her while the drugs kicked in. Lena fell asleep hoping to never wake up again but then morning came and she did.