(For people who enjoyed the previous long chapters I hoped you enjoy this one too.)
Flames enveloped her body as she screamed. The pain was unbearable as the flesh started melting. She could see the bones on her hands as her skin slide off of her like jelly. The blood in her veins bubbled and exploded, spraying red mist all before her eyes. This was impossible! She still had a few months left. It couldn't be up now! Then as quickly as the horror began, it ended. Bela suddenly found herself standing in an empty warehouse completely unharmed as if the pain she felt before never happened.
"Just a little sneak peek of the coming attraction," a male voice laughed in a Scottish accent. It echoed all along the walls and ceiling, making Bela unable to guess its origin.
"Where am I? Who are you?!" demanded Bela.
"Call it a meeting of the minds sweetheart. The deal you made created a link between you and me. And while I can't use it to track you down, I can use it to visit your dreams," the voice stated. A man suddenly appeared in front of her. Average height with dark hair and pale white skin. He wore an expensive business suit and tie as if he was the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. The moment he mentioned deal, Bela knew he was some sort of Crossroads Demon. But since when came they invade your dreams? That was a slight problem. One Bela would have to look into solving once she woke up.
"Who are you?" Bela repeated her earlier question.
"If you know anything about business my dear then you know that every salesman has to fill a quota. Enough to keep their supervisors content enough to keep their jobs. I'm the one they need to keep content," the demon smiled. His eyes flashed a deep red, revealing he was a Crossroads Demon.
"So the top sales demon wears a kilt?" mocked Bela. Obviously the demon had come to her because he needed something and it was better to negotiate if you didn't sound desperate so she just laughed this all off.
The demon glared at her. "Don't talk about kilts and don't call me a sales demon. It's King of the Crossroads to you but Crowley will do luv," he said. Bela wasn't familiar with the name. Azazel, Lilith, Asteroth, and others were important figures in demonic lore but she never heard of Crowley in any of her research.
"You pay a visit to all of your customers like this? Or do you just enjoy playing Freddy Krueger?" asked Bela.
"I won't be caught dead in a fedora and no I don't revisit old customers. The hellhounds do that for me," smirked Crowley. That last comment made Bela shiver. "I'm here because I have a problem. My employer…yes even I have a boss…has been having a lot of sleepless nights as of late. Ever heard of Azazel?" Bela nodded in response. "Good. Old yellow eyes was the top dog for millennia. The bloody King of Hell itself. Then two annoying insignificant little prats by the name of the Winchesters managed to do the impossible. They killed him. All thanks to some old antique colt revolver that somehow can kill anything it shoots."
Bela couldn't say she was surprised. From the moment Dean first told her about it, she knew it was her ticket to getting out of her deal. The problem was figuring out how. Now just maybe with the right push she could get finally get her soul freed from damnation. "If your boss wants it so badly why doesn't he just go after the Winchesters?"
"The he is a she and the Hardy boys have been on quite the lucky streak as of late. Azazel, the seven deadly sins, and Asteroth are just a few of their most recent victims. I find this whole trying to kill them gag to be rather ineffective when you can simply hire a thief to get what I want," explained Crowley.
Bela had to bite her tongue for a moment. She couldn't appear desperate now. She needed to seem willing to walk away. "Normally I always accept someone's money without question but I don't take a demon's," Bela stated.
"Don't be so piggish darling. I know what you really want so go ahead and ask for it," Crowley replied.
"My soul for the colt. I get your precious antique for you and you rip up my contract. Nonnegotiable," Bela said firmly.
"Deal," smiled Crowley who snapped his fingers.
Bela's eyes snapped open as she realized the dream was over. She checked her alarm clock and realized she only had gotten a few hours of sleep. It was the middle of the afternoon and Bela felt somewhat groggy from barely getting any sleep last night from a lengthy negotiation over the price of a rare artifact. But that didn't matter because for the first time in almost nine years, Bela finally felt a sense of hope.
She was about to grab her cell phone and call Dean. But the more she thought about it, the more Bela realized that might not be the best approach. If she calls asking for the Winchesters for their location like what happened with Gordon Walker a few months back, they'd be suspicious. Bela liked to think she'd earned their trust after helping them but the fact was that every time she encounters the Winchesters, she steals something from them. First it was the lottery tickets, then the Impala, then the Hand of Glory, and most recently the fifty grand she paid them for saving her life. They might trust her enough to work with her but not keep their stuff around her.
Bela's cell phone rang and to her surprise, it was Dean's number. That's a little surprising and convenient. He hasn't called her since the Gordon Walker incident in Atlantic City so it must be important. She took a deep breath before she answered her phone in a cheerful voice. "Hello Dean."
"Bela we need your help," Dean said with urgency.
"You certainly do when it comes to your manners. You're supposed to start a phone conversation with hello," Bela joked.
"Not in the mood for this. Look do you know Bobby Singer?" Dean asked impatiently. Bela certainly did from her time in Flagstaff. He put her in touch with a wealthy entrepreneur to sell some amulet so Bela sent him an expensive bottle of whiskey as a thank you.
"I ran into him at Flagstaff though I mostly remember his mustache and the fact that he smelled like liquor," admitted Bela.
"He's in trouble. Bobby's in some kind of coma and he won't wake up," Dean said, ignoring her joke. He explained that Bobby was investigating a professor's strange death and apparently was now a victim of the same killer. The perp was using an African Dream Root to attack Bobby in his sleep like Freddy Krueger. "We need to talk to Bobby to figure out who's doing this and the only way to do that is enter his dream."
"And let me guess. You need me to get you some Silene Capensis," Bela said. She was quite familiar with the plant as it had mystical properties and worth a good fortune to the right customer.
"Yeah…that thing. We'll pay you whatever you want," Dean replied. Bela had to bite her tongue before demanding the colt. There was no way in hell they were going to make a deal like that and besides, Bela didn't want to devastate Dean. She'd get him what he wants and once Bobby was safe and sound, she'd snatch the colt and split. She's pretty sure that would be the end for whatever friendship she has with Dean but at least she'd be alive.
"That plant is pretty rare Dean. I can't make any promises that I'll find one in time to save Bobby," Bela explained and it was the truth. African Dream Roots were difficult to cultivate and most died before even sprouting from a seed.
"Just do whatever you have to," sighed Dean. She was going to take his advice and not in the way he expects.
"I always do Dean. I'll be touch," Bela smiled before hanging up.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Dean had a subtle urge to blow out his brains as he skimmed through Doctor Walter Gregg's research. The man's notes mentioned so many things that were above Dean's head and that was just what he could make out. The handwriting was horrendous just like any typical doctor and he didn't have a list of the volunteers for his experiments. For all Dean knew, the killer might not even be a volunteer at all which left him at square one. While he was suffering through research, Sam on the other hand was catching some shut eye and seemed to be dreaming. Judging from the noises he was making, it must have been a good one.
Dean found it unfair that he was miserably reading illiterate notes while Sam was seemingly having a threesome with Jessica Biel and Olivia Wilde. Finally he just couldn't take it anymore and called out, "Sam wake up!" Sam slowly stirred in his seat and suddenly sat up, wiping drool of his hand. Dean couldn't help but laugh at his brother's embarrassment. "Dude you were out and making some serious happy noises. Who were you dreaming about?"
"What? Nothing. No one," Sam answered in a way that screams I'm a liar.
"Come on you can tell me. Angelina Jolie?" asked Dean.
"No."
"Brad Pitt?"
"No!" Sam replied, slightly embarrassed. "Dude it doesn't matter."
Dean just shrugged and changed the topic. "I called Bela," he stated.
"Bela…yeah. What'd she…you know say? She gonna…help us?" asked a stuttering Sam. That must have been one hell of a dream for him to be this flustered.
"She said she'd be in touch but since I haven't heard back from her in the past few hours, I'm pretty sure we're back to square one. I've been trying to decipher the doctor's notes. Unfortunately he has worse handwriting then you do. You gonna help me with this stuff?" Dean explained.
Sam seemed somewhat shaken up as he answered, "Yeah just give me a sec." That must have been a damn good dream.
Before he could get up, there was a knock on the door. Dean immediately pulled out a pistol and slowly made his way to the door. After slighting opening it for a peak, Dean didn't know whether to be happy or angry when he saw Bela. He called her hours ago and suddenly she show up unannounced at their hotel room. Dean didn't bother wondering how she found them even though she was never told where they were staying. All he cared about is whether she got that African Dream Root. Dean stepped aside and let Bela step inside.
"Bela as I live and breathe," Dean sighed.
"I see your manners still need help. I'm starting to think they're a lost cause," commented Bela.
"Hey Bela…what's going on?" Sam greeted her. Since when was he so nice to Bela? Dean thought he was still holding a grudge for getting shot by her.
"Did you get it?" Dean demanded. He didn't want to sound ungrateful but there was no telling how much longer Bobby had to live.
Bela pulled out a plastic container from her purse containing a small ugly looking plant. "Here you go. Nasty stuff and not easy to come by," she said.
Dean took it but something in the back of his mind said something was off. It could be paranoia in that every time Bela shows up, she steals something from them. "Then how'd you come by it so quickly? I don't hear peep from you for hours and then you just show up without even a phone call telling me you're on the way?" he glared at her.
"If I wanted someone demanding to know where I am every hour of the day I'll get a husband," chuckled Bela. Dean tried not to blush at the insult. "I had to call in quite a few favors and probably lost a customer getting this so I think a little gratitude is appropriate."
"Alright then what's the strings?" asked Dean.
"What does that even mean? Did they teach you English at school? Oh wait let me guess. You're a dropout. That would explain a few things," chuckled Bela as she took off her coat. Behind her Sam gasped.
Dean was losing his patience. "What do we owe you Bela?" he snapped.
"I haven't decided yet. I think every relationship needs a little mystery," smirked Bela. Dammit was she intentionally trying to make him blush because it was starting to work. "Speaking of which. When do we go on this little magical mystery tour?"
"Oh you're not going," replied Dean. "I don't trust you enough to ride in my car much less Bobby's head. No offense." It was a slight lie but a believable one. It wasn't that he thought she couldn't take care of herself, Dean just didn't want Bela to get hurt. This was Sam and Dean's fight, not her's.
"None taken," Bela said with an angry smile. Dean took the container to the room safe and set it next to the Colt. After shutting the safe and spinning the dial, he turned back to Bela whose smirk and charming attitude were gone. "It's two am. Where am I supposed to go?"
"Get a room. They got the magic fingers, a little Casa Erotica on pay per view, you'll love it," smiled Dean. Furious, Bela grabbed her coat and stormed out of the room.
"Nice seeing you Bela," Sam called out her as she slammed the door shut behind her.
Dean threw him a look. "Nice seeing you Bela?" he frowned.
Bela was livid as she purchased herself a hotel room for the night, coincidentally a few doors down from the Winchester's. The nerve Dean had to tell her that after all she's done for them. Sure she stole from them a couple of times but she also saved their lives as well. Bela was starting to feel less and less guilty about going to steal the Colt. But she wondered whether this was about trust or some knight in shining armor routine. The idea that Dean was keeping her out of this because he was afraid of Bela getting hurt only infuriated her more. She really should just let that chauvinist pig and his younger brother deal with whatever's killing Bobby by themselves. In the meantime, she could sneak into their room and take the Colt while they were off fighting Freddy Krueger.
But for some reason Bela just couldn't get over being left behind on this. It wasn't like she needed to prove anything to Dean or really owed Bobby Singer enough to risk her life for him but Bela kept herself a leaf of the African Dream Root she gave the Winchesters and some hairs from Bobby's head. She was planning on selling the leaf and giving the boys the hair just in case they didn't understand how to do the ritual correctly. Apparently they do which means Bela had everything she needed to pop in and join in their little trip down the rabbit hole.
Bela questioned why she was even doing this as she mixed a hair and the leaf into a cup of tea. It wasn't like she should feel left out. The boys might get themselves killed in dreamland which Bela found more horrifying then satisfying. She kept trying to come up with more reasons to not do this but here she was, ready to join the boys. Bela knew she was going to regret this. "Bottoms up," she groaned as she gulped it down the hatchet. Instantly, Bela had to resist the urge to gag. This stuff was disgusting.
She waited a minute or two but strangely enough didn't feel groggy or tired at all. Bela started to think she stole the wrong plant until she noticed she wasn't in the same room anymore. It was a single bedroom but everything was wrong. It had red and yellow flowered wallpaper with pictures along the wall of Bobby Singer and some woman Bela didn't recognize. They both seemed happy but the strange thing was how young Bobby looked. He might have been thirty years younger but still had the same mustache. The whole room had a retro vibe to it with the old clocks and black and white pictures.
"Great. All I need is a little black dog and some red slippers," Bela told herself as got up and headed towards the door. It opened into a hallway that had the same decades old dress up. "Dean! Sam! Bobby!" Bela called out but got no answer. As she stepped into the hallways, Bela realized she didn't really have a way to get out of this. She had been so concerned on getting into Bobby's head that she didn't think about how to get out of it. Spending so much time with the Winchesters was starting to make her stupid. Who knew it could be contagious.
Bela headed towards the stairs located the end of the hallways but stopped when she heard footsteps. Someone was coming up. Not taking any chances, she ducked into a nearby room…and suddenly found herself outside in the middle of a crowded carnival. Bela turned around but the door she went through was just gone. It was unnerving how one minute she was in a quiet house and now in a loud fairground. Stalls were lined up all with various games and shops. Like the room earlier, it came off as something from a few decades ago. On the bright side, nothing was trying to kill her. At least not yet.
She moved through the crowd, bumping into several people who didn't even seem to notice her. "Bobby! Sam!" a familiar voice shouted over the crowd. Bela spotted Dean pushing and shoving his way around. Judging from the fact that Sam wasn't around and Dean was calling his name, the two got separated. As usual, it looks like the Winchesters were off to a great start.
"You lost Sam already?" Bela laughed as she came up behind him.
Dean sighed and turned around with an irritated look on his face. "What the hell are you doing here Bela?"
"You told me I couldn't come which made me want to," shrugged Bela. That was about as honest an answer as she possibly could give.
Dean glared at her. "That's it? If I told you not to jump off a bridge, you'd just noise dive off the closest one you can find?"
"Well I do like bungee jumping," replied Bela. That seemed to piss Dean off even more which made Bela smile triumphantly.
"Since you're here be useful and help me find Bobby and Sam," grumbled Dean.
"As long as it's together which is what you and Sam should have done in the first place," agreed Bela.
"Everyone's a critic," Dean grumbled. The two of them wondered around the carnival and while it had hundreds of people, they all seemed familiar. In fact the stalls they passed by seemed familiar as well. "Is it just me or did we just pass that game?" Dean asked. He was referring to a stall for a game where you toss a ping pong ball into a series of glass jars. Bela had to admit she thought it did look familiar.
"We've been going around in circles? But we've haven't made a single turn," Bela commented.
"Welcome to wonderland sweetheart," replied Dean. Then he frowned and headed towards the ping pong stall. Bela followed and noticed he was taking a closer look at a young couple. As she got closer, Bela recognized them from the pictures in the room she just came from. "Bobby?" Dean asked before she could. He didn't have the mustache or the beer gut but it was definitely him albeit in his twenties. He actually wasn't that bad looking in his prime.
"Bobby that you?" Dean called out to the younger Singer but the man didn't seem to hear a word he said. He tapped Bobby on the shoulder but the young man didn't even seem to notice, continuing to play the ping pong game. "Bobby!"
"Calm down Dean. He's just a part of the dream," Bela reminded him.
"I don't think so. If this was just a dream then shouldn't the real Bobby be around here? This is something else," said Dean. Bobby managed to score enough to win a stuffed bear and handed it to his lady friend. Dean's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"What?" asked Bela.
"That's the same toy Bobby always gave Sammy to play with whenever our dad would drop us off at his place," said Dean. Bobby's girlfriend smiled at the sight of her present and the two walked off holding hands.
"And that means what exactly?" Bela asked.
"I don't know," frowned Dean. He started following the couple so Bela followed him. It wasn't like she had any idea what else they should do. The couple they followed went around a stall out of sight. Dean and Bela turned the corner, only to almost lose their heads as a machete swung just inches away from their necks. The attack caused Bela to stumble backwards, nearly losing her balance if she didn't grab onto Dean's shoulder. The only thing more surprising than the sudden attack was the identity of their attacker. A large man wearing a hockey mask and holding a machete.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me," groaned Dean. He took the words right out of Bela's mouth. The two backed off and their attacker followed them. Bela would have thought all of this was completely ridiculous if Mister Friday the 13th hadn't almost taken her head off. She wasn't sure if getting killed in this dream world would make her wake up or die in the real world but it was best not to find out. Jason reached up and grabbed his hockey mask, pulling it off. The face underneath wasn't disfigured or ugly but rather a normal face you'd see on someone walking down the street. With his brown hair and goatee, the young man looked more like a college student then a slasher killer.
"You!" said Dean.
Bela turned to him. "You know him?"
The stranger smiled, "I gotta say I really wasn't expecting to see you here but I'm kinda glad. Two birds, one stone." He hurled the machete through the air. Dean tackled Bela to the ground just in time as the blade passed over their heads. It impaled a pedestrian who dropped to the ground like a bloody doll. Everyone around him continued playing games and walked on by as if they didn't see a thing.
Dean scrambled over the body and pulled the machete out of the corpse. "Who's the bad ass now?" he smirked. The stranger just smiled and snapped his fingers. Instantly the machete began to wriggle like rubber and shifted into a king cobra. Bela watched Dean struggled with it, grabbing the snake by the head before it bite while it coiled around his hands. She ran over and managed to untangle the serpent, allowing Dean to toss it away into a nearby stall.
"You two had no idea who you're dealing with. Out in the real world I was a nobody but here I'm god," laughed the attacker. His right palm expanded and grew, changing into silver metal. Within seconds, he had grown a new machete right out of it. This was not a fight Bela or Dean could win. This guy was morphing the dream world around them at will.
"Run," Bela whispered to Dean. He wasn't happy about it but he didn't argue with her as they took off. They jumped over a stall, knocking the game host down as they dashed through an exit in the back of the tent. As soon as they ran through, the two found themselves inside a living room. Bela turned around but the way they came in had seemingly become a wall. The room had a 1960s look you'd see watching an episode of Mad Men. "Not again," Bela grumbled.
"Well at least I don't see mister slasher fan," Dean commented.
"Who was that guy anyways?" demanded Bela.
"His name is Jeremy Frost, one of Dr. Gregg's test subjects. Doc fed him African Dream Root and I guess we just saw the end result. I should have known something was off about that guy. His room was covered in old horror movie posters," explained Dean.
"Terrific. A Nightmare on Elm Street fan turning into his hero," muttered Bela. The two went silent when they heard a noise in a nearby room. Bela grabbed a vase while Dean grabbed a small lamp. They looked a little ridiculous using them as weapons but they were a little short on options at the moment. The two stopped in front of a door where they could hear an argument going on the next room between a man and woman.
Dean kicked the door open and the two lunged inside, only to find three people who didn't even seem to notice they barging in. One was man in his forties dressed in a mechanic's uniform while the woman had a 1960s dress and a young boy about maybe ten stood in the doorway to another room terrified. Probably a husband, wife, and their child. The woman was on her hands and knees cleaning up a mess on the tile floor while the man loomed over her. The sight of it was very unnerving. "Don't you tell me what to do," the man spat at her before slapping her across the face. The boy took off running.
"Son of a…" Dean was about to kill the abusive man before Bela stopped him.
"Dean wait. None of this is real," she reminded him.
"I don't care," Dean shrugged her off and proceed to smash the husband in the back of the head with the lamp he was holding. The man staggered forward but didn't even seem to register that something happened. "This doesn't make any sense. What kind of a dream is this?"
"I don't think it's a dream at all," Bela spoke up. "Have you noticed in that carnival we couldn't really change anything? What if this isn't a dream but rather a memory?"
Dean threw her a look. "I thought the dream root could only make us enter people's dreams."
"I guess it can do more than that," shrugged Bela. This was certainly a side of Bobby Dean had never experienced before and probably one the old man never talked about. Not that Bela blamed him. There was something about the horror of what happens when a loved one hurts you that is almost shameful. When it first started Bela actually blamed herself. A man has needs. God those words terrified.
"I said I'm sorry," the mother pleaded, blood dripping down her nose.
"Yeah you say that every time," grumbled the father.
"Please just stop."
"NO! This time you listen!"
"Stop it," said a voice. Bela turned to see the son had returned with a hunting rifle.
The father started laughing, "You're kidding right? You're not half a man enough to use that thing. Now leave so the adults can sort this out." His sarcastic tone turned dangerous. "I will deal with you later."
The father grabbed his wife by the hair and pulled onto her feet. She screamed in pain and in terror. "Bobby just do what he says." Well that confirmed Bela's suspicions on who the son was.
"No leave her alone," the boy said with a conviction that meant he was going to shoot. Clearly the father was too stupid to realize that when young Bobby aimed the rifle at his head. BANG! The gunshot startled Bela. Blood dripped down his forehead before the father dropped to the floor lifeless. Bela was just completely speechless as was Dean. This was one part of Bobby's life neither of them wanted to see. Sure the dad got what was coming to him but to shoot your own father as such a young age wasn't something you ever get over. Bela did the same thing to her own parents but they constantly haunt her. She just hoped they weren't waiting for her down in Hell to get their revenge.
"C'mon let's get outta here," whispered Dean, shaken up from what he witnessed. Bela nodded then noticed movement on the father's chest. She thought he was still breathing but that was impossible. He took a bullet straight through the forehead. Then blood splashed onto the chest that Bela realized he wasn't breathing. Something was breaking out. A small creature burst through the chest cavity and clothing, sending blood splatters everywhere. It hissed and slithered out of the body like a snake.
"Oh you've gotta be kidding me," groaned Dean. Bela understood why he felt that way. It looked exactly like something out of the movie Alien. And worse, it was starting to grow. Within seconds, it had grown arms and legs. It stood up and was already four feet tall. Its yellow skin turned black as it opened its jaws to reveal a second mouth. "RUN!" shouted Dean. The two dashed out of the kitchen, the creature in pursuit. Dean slammed the door shut and shoved a nearby chair under the handle to jam it. The alien pounded on the door, screeching in frustration. Wood exploded as the second mouth smashed through the door like a jackhammer.
Bela turned to run towards the front door except there was a problem. It had been replaced by a brick wall. The same thing happened to the windows. It was like that scene in the Matrix when the Agents found Neo and the others and locked them in a building to kill them off. "I take it Jeremy is an Alien fan?" Bela asked.
"Well he did have the poster on his wall. To think I actually liked that movie," grumbled Dean. The Xenomorph was tearing the door open with its bare hands, revealing it was now over six feet tall and covered in slime. Bela and Dean dashed towards the stairs with the monster in pursuit. The windows upstairs were bricked up the same as the others. Bela ran into the nearest room she could find and Dean followed, closing the door behind him. Once again the alien was tearing through the door except now Bela and Dean were running out of rooms to run to except for maybe the closet. Unless they were missing something. Somehow they were jumping through Bobby's memories which meant there had to be a way to control it. Hell they had taken the same drugs as Jeremy so they should be able to do the same things he can do. Bela tried to conjure a weapon into her hands with her thoughts but nothing happened.
"I can't believe I'm about to say this but I really should have listened to you. I should have just let you and Sam deal with this," gulped Bela.
Dean threw her a look. "Oh so you wished it was just me about to die and not you too? Thanks!" he snapped at her. He grabbed a small lamp table and started bashing the alien's face when it burst through the door. It let loose an irritated screech and backed off. Whatever satisfaction Dean must have felt quickly faded when the Xeno's tail shot through the opening and impaled Dean's weapon, nearly killing him as well. The Alien broke into the room and immediately advanced towards Dean. "Oh son of a bitch," he groaned.
Suddenly Bela's eyes snapped open and she realized was back in her hotel room. For a moment Bela thought she was still dreaming but Dean was nowhere to be seen like the last time she transitioned from one memory to another. Unless he was dead but that wouldn't explain how she got here unless Jeremy Frost was just screwing with her. There was only one way to find out. Bela left her room and ran down several doors to the Winchester's room. She banged on the door until finally Sam answered the door. "Oh uhh… hi Bela," he stuttered. Seriously what was wrong with him?
"Where's Dean?" she demanded, shoving past Sam into the room. Standing in the middle of the room safe and sound was Dean.
Bela actually let herself breathe a sigh of relief. "I thought you were monster chow."
"That makes two of us. Were you worried about me?" Dean remarked with that usual arrogant smirk.
Bela quickly hid whatever feelings she had and replied, "Only that I'd wouldn't get ten grand from you. Consider it my fee." That quickly wiped the smirk off his face.
"And after Sam found me and convinced me it was all a dream, I woke up. I'm guessing the three of you did the same once I did," Bobby explained. Dean and Bela were in his hospital room finally getting some answers on what happened while Sam headed to Jeremy Frost's dorm room to deal with him. The punk shouldn't be too big of a problem to deal with in the real world.
"So I guess we both owe you one for waking up when you did," commented Dean.
"You've got it the other way around. Before I woke up, the things that were attacking me seemed to diminish just before Sam found me. I'm guessing once you two got stoner boy's attention, he couldn't concentrate fully on killing me. If you hadn't done that, I probably wouldn't have lasted another minute," said Bobby.
"Good because that's the last time I play bait on a hook," muttered Bela. Dean seemed amused by her mood which only made it worse.
"Hey Bobby…" Dean started to say awkwardly. "...When we roaming around in your head, we saw some things."
Bobby narrowed his eyes. "What things?" Bela decided to let Dean to do all the talking.
"Well the things we saw didn't feel like a dream. We saw you with a very…attractive woman at a carnival and then we saw a boy…shoot his father before he could hit his mother," explained Dean. Bobby sighed but didn't say anything. "I'm sorry," Dean added.
"Don't be sorry. If it wouldn't for you, I'd still be lost in there or dead. Thank you," Bobby told him.
Bela was half tempted to just walk out and let the boys have their little bonding moment all to themselves until she saw Sam walk in. "So Stoner boy wasn't in his dorm. My guess is he's long gone by now," he said.
"He ain't much of a stoner. Jeremy's got a 160 IQ and that's saying something considering his dad took a baseball bat to his head," replied Bobby. Bela was starting to think everyone she meets has daddy issues. "The injury gave him Charcot-Wilbrand. He hasn't dreamt since."
"Until the professor started giving him dream root," Bela chimed in.
"Yeah. From what I understand the professor wanted to stop the experiments. I guess Jeremy didn't take that very well," nodded Bobby.
"How did he get inside your head in the first place? Isn't he supposed to have some of your hair, your DNA, or something?" asked Sam.
"Yeah," groaned Bobby. "Before I knew it was him, he offered me a beer. I drank it. Dumbest friggen thing." Well that was just stupid. Bela never accepted a drink from anyone for one simple reason. She was a beautiful woman who was never going to be anyone's victim.
"Oh I don't know. It wasn't that dumb," stuttered Dean. Everyone glared at him and probably figured out what that meant. Bela certainly did.
"Dean you didn't," moaned Sam.
"I was thirsty," sighed Dean.
"That's great. Now he can come after either one of you," snapped Sam. He wasn't the only one who was angry.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you people? Was it Sam's turn to use the brain cell this week?!" Bela exploded.
"Calm down you two. All we gotta do is find the little bastard before we go to sleep and problem solved," Dean replied.
"Well then we better work fast and coffee up. Because the one thing we cannot do is fall asleep," stated Bobby.
"Ah the guy's a scrawny college student without a full time job and living mostly on financial aid. How hard could he be to find?" chuckled Dean.
Two Days Later
Bela really wished she recorded Dean when he asked how hard could it be to find Jeremy. Because after forty-eight hours of checking every motel, hotel, empty house, strip club, or any possible place the stoner could have been hiding turned up nothing. While Bela and Sam could get some sleep, Dean and Bobby were running on fumes and caffeine. Both of them were getting impatient and agitated at the slightest thing. Not sleeping for nearly two days would do that to you. While Dean and Sam were still checking around the city, Bela was in Bobby's hotel room trying to use some tarot cards to contact spirits of the deceased. Bobby himself was staying with her to make sure somebody could keep him from accidentally dozing off but the old man seemed to be holding up better than Dean.
"Find anything?" Bobby asked Dean on his cell phone. Judging from his face, he didn't get good news. "Strip club was a bust huh?...That was our last lead…Don't yell at me boy! I'm working my ass off here…Well who aint?" Bobby exchanged words with Dean. Bela was glad she wasn't a part of that conversation. The more she thought about this, the more she was starting to think they were going about this in the wrong way. Instead of hopelessly searching around, there was one place they knew Jeremy would be.
"Tell Dean to come back to the hotel. I have an idea," Bela instructed Bobby. He threw her a look but did as he was told.
After Bobby hung up, he cast a suspicious glare at Bela. "Let me ask you something. What are you doing helping us?" he asked.
"I have my reasons," was the only answer Bela would give him. Truthfully she should have just stolen the Colt and skipped out on all of this days ago but just like before, the Winchesters or rather one of them had this annoying habit of making Bela want to ensure he doesn't get himself killed. To say that it was a problem was an understatement. Bela couldn't afford to keep taking risks like this especially with her time running out and the way out of her deal so close.
About half an hour later, Dean and Sam returned to the hotel room. "You got something?" Dean blurted out the moment he stepped into the room. Someone was getting impatient.
"Well I don't know where our little dream walker is right now but we all know where he'll be the moment you or Bobby take a nap," stated Bela.
"You're not seriously suggesting that we take this guy head on in wonderland," sighed Sam.
"Actually I am only this time we even the odds. He was able to manipulate the dream world around him but we couldn't. Why you ask? Simple, he took a larger dosage of the plant. So we split the rest of the plant we have amongst ourselves then get ready for round 2," explained Bela.
"And go Freddy Krueger on his ass. Nice," smiled Dean.
Bobby on the other hand wasn't so enthusiastic. "We don't know how much dream root this guy has. For all we know Mister Sandman might still be too powerful for you three to handle," he pointed out.
"We don't exactly have much of a choice. For all we know he might be two states away and if you two keep avoiding sleep like you are right now…well let's just say you'll start bearing a resemblance to Gollum from Lord of the Rings. One more thing. Since Dean, Sam, and I already have some dream root still in us, we should divide the plant between the three of us. Sorry Bobby but you'd just be a liability needing more of the plant to get caught up," replied Bela. Bobby wasn't comfortable with the plan and Sam didn't seem to like it either but it wasn't like they had much of a choice. They chopped up what remained of the dream root into three piles, mixed them in with whiskey, and down the hatchet they went. It tasted even worse than last time.
Within seconds, Bela went from lying on a bed to standing in the middle of an empty street on what looked like a major city. Skyscrapers were everywhere you looked but yet it all seemed unnervingly empty besides the Winchesters standing beside her. "Wow this is like the beginning scene of 28 Days Later," commented Sam.
"I hate zombies," Dean grumbled. They walked down the empty streets, sticking together as they navigated around the buildings. The city itself didn't remind Bela of anywhere in particular. It was almost like a mesh of different buildings from different cities all over the world had been planted together in this gigantic mess of steel towers. "Okay more of that plant in you has a matrix effect right? You get to bend the rules and change things around you?"
"We better hope so or this is going to be one really short confrontation," muttered Sam.
"I thought Dean was the pessimist of you two," replied Bela.
Instantly, an M4 assault rifle appeared in Dean's hands. Sam and Bela looked in amazement as various weapons appeared and disappeared in his hands. "Oh this is awesome. Grand Theft Auto style!" he laughed. Then something caught his eye and he immediately conjured a 50 caliber minigun. Bela turned to see Jeremy quickly scrambling for cover as Dean unloaded a barrage of bullets at him. "Yeah you better run bitch!" Dean shouted at him. Sam and Bela took off running after their quarry with Dean ditching his oversized weapon for a smaller pistol. Sam conjured up a pistol of his own and when Bela concentrated, did the same. Looks like the tables had turned.
Jeremy bolted into a skyscraper with his three persuaders close behind him. Bela took a few shots at him but missed. The bastard was fast for a stoner. Jeremy rushed through the lobby and towards a door labeled Stairs. Sam took a shot but Jeremy turned and held up his hand, deflecting the bullet off his palm. "Son of a…" cursed Sam as Jeremy rushed through the door. The Winchesters and Bela nearly reached the door at the same time, practically bumping into each other as they rushed through….only to find themselves now in an endless white hallway with green doors on either side that seemed to go on for eternity.
"Now where are we?" asked Bela
"Great. We're in the crappy Matrix sequel," grumbled Dean.
"C'mon. He couldn't have gotten far," said Sam. Instantly he headed for the nearest door and opened it to look inside. The room was dark but they could hear something. As they stepped inside, Bela swore it looked just like the hotel room they were sleeping in the real world. It might have been a little dark but it was more than obvious what the two individuals causing on the noise were doing on the bed.
"Sam! Sam! Sam! Sam!" cried one of the individuals. Wait a minute…that was Bela's voice. Dean headed towards a lamp and turned on the lights, revealing the two were Sam and Bela. The real Bela's jaw dropped as Dean quickly shut the lights back off immediately. The dream images of Sam and Bela kept on like nothing happened. The real Bela turned to a flabbergasted real Sam who looked like he wanted to crawl into a corner and die.
"Uh…I'm pretty sure he's not here," Sam quickly said then headed for the door. Dean's incredulous look matched Bela's as they followed him out.
"What the bloody hell was that?!" shouted Bela as they all got back into the infinity hallway. That was probably the strangest thing she had ever seen in her life. What in God's name was that? It certainly wasn't a memory that was for sure. Sam looked like he wanted to melt with the way Bela was glaring at him.
"Wait a minute. Bela was the one you were dreaming about?" Dean asked.
"What are you talking about?" demanded Bela.
"Sammy here was having quite the catnap just before you showed up a few days ago. He had so much drool on his hands I thought he was going to drown," chuckled Dean who seemed to think this was hilarious. Bela didn't share his sense of humor. The thought of Sam, the awkward too nice and too tall Winchester brother, touching her like that infuriated her.
"Bela look I am so sorry," Sam tried to say before Bela brushed past him to check another dark room. Instantly she shut the door as the sound of a Xenomorph shrieked inside.
"Next," Bela muttered. The three worked their way down the hallway, checking each room which either completely confusing like a bunch of children playing soccer or very intimate like Bela having recreating a certain dream sequence with George Clooney from Out of Sight. Some were more enjoyable though like when Bela thought she saw Dean at Miami Beach wearing only trunks. Others thankfully she managed to close before the boys could see inside of them like one with her talking to Crowley.
"These rooms aren't memories," stated Sam. "Well they kinda are but more like memories of dreams."
"This is way too awkward," complained Dean as he opened another door. Inside they could make out two figures on a bed making various sounds of pleasure. Instantly Bela glared at Sam again. "Damn Sammy how many times did you have that dream?" Dean laughed.
"Dean! Dean! Dean! Dean!" Bela's voice echoed inside the room. Apparently this wasn't one of Sam's dreams.
Dean's smiled quickly faded as Bela turned her attention to him. "What? I can't control what I dream," he protested. Bela couldn't believe she was stuck working with these two oversized immature prats. It was like dealing with a bunch of prepubescent children.
"Oh don't worry about it Dean. I just enjoy being a sex object for the Winchesters," she muttered.
"C'mon Bela that's not fair," said Dean as she moved past him to check another room. No sooner did Bela open the door then a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed her by the wrist, yanking her inside.
(I can't believe this chapter ended up being this long but I crammed in so many ideas that I need to turn this into a two parter. Hope you enjoyed and please review.)
