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Sam awoke to find warm sunlight falling across his face through a crack in the curtains. He lay in the silence for a few minutes, caught in that limbo before he was fully awake, blinking slowly. He felt so very peaceful, as if he could just slip back into the darkness and lie there forever... although, despite the calm quiet, he couldn't help but feel that something was different. He rolled onto his back and crooked an arm lazily over his eyes. The sleeping bag did little to pad out the hard wooden floor, but he couldn't really find it in his heart to care that much right now. He wondered dimly what time it was...
And, all at once, he realized what was different. This was the first time in weeks that he had woken naturally, not clawed from sleep by a terrifying nightmare. For a few seconds he lay motionless, wondering if he was somehow having a nightmare right now, if he was wrong. But there were no screams, no flickering red eyes, just the gentle creak as the house settled around them. He sat up slowly, pushing his hair back off his forehead. He remembered the night before all too well. He looked quickly at Dean, but his brother was still asleep, one arm hanging off the sofa, his mouth hanging open. Sam turned his gaze to the kitchen table. It was deserted - Opium must have remained upstairs. Sam glanced down at his watch. Twenty past ten. They had even slept in.
He rose to his feet and made his way over to the bathroom in the corner, scooping up his duffel bag as he went. As he retrieved his toothbrush and began to brush his teeth, he studied his reflection in the mirror. He was looking much healthier than he had been over the last few days. The bags under his eyes had faded enough to almost be invisbile, and his skin was no longer that ill, paper-white. Sam spat into the sink and leant both hands on it, frowning. Maybe he should have heart-to-hearts with vampires more often... he changed and made his way back into the other room, where Dean was beginning to stir. He dropped his bag on the ground beside the sofa and ruffled Dean's hair in the way he knew his brother hated.
"Rise and shine, Dean."
"Muurrggnnn," Dean groaned, turning his face into the pillow.
Sam walked into the kitchen and got himself a glass of water. He didn't have a headache, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He drank most of it, leaving a little in the bottom of the glass, and then returned to Dean. Slowly, diliberately, he tilted the glass and deposited the last few drops of water on the back of Dean's neck.
Dean yelped and scrambled up onto his knees, slapping at the back of his neck. "Bugger off, Sam!" he yelled furiously, shivering as the water ran down his back.
Sam sniggered and moved away again to sit down at the table. Dean rose to his feet, still swearing under his breath and trying to dry the water before it could dribble all the way down his back. He looked at Sam, frowning slightly.
"You okay?" he asked, his tone suddenly changing. Sam grinned back at him.
"Never better."
"Huh," Dean muttered, his eyebrow arching.
Clearly he was surprised to find Sam so cheery and... awake. Shrugging, he rubbed both hands over his face.
"What did you get me up for?" he demanded, scowling.
"We've got a job to do," Sam replied. "We gotta find Gordon before he finds us."
"In broad daylight?"
"With vampires all over the city, I think broad daylight is our best bet right now."
Dean shook his head, but couldn't ignore the sense in Sam's point. Sighing, he reached for his bag and walked over to the bathroom, ruffling his hair with one hand as he went. Sam watched him go and then looked around, wondering where the food was in this house. Maybe he should ask Vicky anyway before helping himself to the contents of her cupboards.
As if on cue, Vicky suddenly appeared on the stairs, her short blonde hair spiked with gel. She reached the bottom of the steps and looked around, smiling as she met Sam's gaze.
"Hey. I looked in you guys earlier but you were still asleep. How long have you been up?"
"Not long," Sam replied. "Listen, thanks again for letting us stay here..."
"Its fine," she said, waving his words away. "Really. The way I see it, Opium and I need all the help we can get." She moved over to the fridge. "Fancy some breakfast? I think I have some bacon left over around here somewhere."
Sam nodded eagerly and got up to help her make the food. "Where's Opium?" he asked as she handed him a pan and began to peel strips of bacon from a plastic box.
"He always sleeps in late. The sun's brighter in the morning."
Sam nodded, understanding. By the time they had fried the bacon and scrambled some eggs to go with it, Dean had returned from the bathroom dressed in a grey t-shirt and jeans and was eyeing Vicky up again. Sam fought down the ache to kick his brother in the shins: getting the hots for a vampire's girlfriend was never going to end well. If Vicky noticed, however, she said nothing and kept her attention on her breakfast.
"So this hunter," she said at last, a few minutes into the meal. "Gordon Walker. Do you think you'll be able to find him?"
"Well, he's good at covering his tracks," Dean admitted through a mouthful of egg. "Its going to be hard to pin him down. But we'll find him."
"Is that the plan? Find him and drive him out?"
Sam shook his head. "No. We'll find him and then set the police on him, leave it to them to drive him out of town."
Dean nodded. "Yeah. Sorry, Vicky, but we're not going anywhere near Gordon Walker unless he's chained to an electric chair we have the remote to. He's got a price on Sam's head too, and he cares more about taking him down than hunting vampires."
"Is he really that dangerous?" Vicky asked. "I mean, it would be two against one."
Dean just shrugged. "Maybe. But I'm not taking chances where Sam's concerned."
Sam squirmed a little in his chair. Sometimes Dean's fierce over-protectiveness was a little embarrassing, even if it did comfort him to hear it. He opened his mouth to change the subject before his brother could say anything else, but at that moment Opium appeared on the stairs. He was wearing jeans and a shirt which was hanging open, clothes he had clearly just thrown on in a rush. He vaulted over the banister, landing neatly on his feet, and strode over to them. He was holding a mobile in his hand.
"Hey, vampy," Dean greeted him, grinning. "Little early to go out and dance in graveyards and drink bats blood, isn't it?"
Opium ignored it. He was looking at Vicky. He lifted his mobile, his eyes flashing with a strange kind of anger and intensity. "Lusing just called," he said softly. "He want's to meet."
Vicky rose to her feet, her eyebrows pulling together worriedly. "What for? He threw you out last night."
"He said he wanted to talk. Just him and I. Three o'clock at the old church."
Sam and Dean glanced at each other.
"He wants to meet in a church?" Dean repeated incredulously. "Why?"
Opium shook his head. "Doesn't matter." He paused, and then looked at Vicky once more. "I'm going."
"And you don't want me to come."
"After what happened last night..." he let his voice trail off. She sighed and then nodded.
"Fine. I'll stay here. But you have to promise to call me as soon as you finish."
Opium agreed. Dean cleared his throat, causing both vampire and human to look at him.
"We'll be coming along too then, Opium."
Opium frowned, but Sam spoke before he could say anything.
"Sorry, man, but Lusing's still on our most wanted list right now. We'll hang back, but just in case..."
The vampire hesitated a moment longer but then at a nudge from Vicky nodded. "Alright."
The church was ancient and overgrown, abandoned long ago by the genral public. Sam very much doubted if anyone in this city was even interested in religion. The building served now only as a reminder of the city used to be, what it would now never be again.
Dean drew up in the Impala outside, and the three men got out. Sharing a short glance, they moved as one towards the huge rotting wooden doors, currently hanging open. Inside, the church was made up of a huge empty space, the alter at the front rising up to be seen from any angle. Stone pillars reached up towards the roof, which was supporting large ragged holes as if it had been bombed. The pews still stood in their calm, orderly lines, one or two knocked on their sides. A huge silver cross rose up before the alter, complete with the skinny Jesus figurine hanging from its arms. Dead leaves blew across the floor and ivy climbed the walls and pillars, reaching across the building like fingers trying to drag it into the ground.
Lusing was sitting in the front pews, his head bowed, his hands clasped in his lap. He stood up as they approached, and Sam and Dean stopped a few rows back, allowing Opium to continue alone. From their position, guns held ready at their sides, they could hear the soft words the vampires exchanged.
"Still in league with the hunters, Opium?" Lusing asked, his voice bearing only the ghost of the laughing sarcasm it had held the night before.
"You know as well as I do why they're here," Opium replied. "But for what its worth, I didn't tell them where the colony was staying. They came alone."
"Yeah, I know." Lusing shifted along the pew, opening up a space for Opium to join him, but Opium remained standing. Lusing didn't seem surprised at the rejection. Instead, he rested his feet on the pew in front of him and folded his arms on his knees, running his tongue over his lips before he spoke again. "About what I said last night... I'd drunk a lot of blood. I was a little wild..."
Opium snorted.
"... but that doesn't effect the truth of what I said. You can't run from what you are forever."
"I'm not running," Opium snapped back. "I'm evolving. You will always be hunted because of what you do. I can finally start a life again."
"You honestly think this will work?"
Opium nodded. Lusing stared at the alter, his eyes blank and unfocused.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe this is the only way to survive."
"Then you'll join me?"
Lusing let out a short bark of laughter and shook his head. "No." He looked up at Opium, meeting his gaze properly for the first time, and smiled sadly. "You were always the strongest one out of the two of us. You survive. Me, I'll just carry on killing, and laughing every step of the way."
"You're signing your own death sentence," Opium growled, his voice verging on fustration.
"At least I'm not pretending to be something I'm not." Lusing rose slowly to his feet and moved out into the asile, clapping Opium on the shoulder. Sam watched as Opium's face took on a whole new expression, but not one he had been expecting. Was that fear? Confusion?
"I'm sorry," Lusing murmured.
"What did you do?" Opium's voice rang suddenly clear and loud. He pulled free of Lusing's grasp. "Lusing, what did you do?"
Lusing opened his mouth to reply - and an arrow appeared out of nowhere and slammed into Opium's shoulder, sending the vampire stumbling backwards against a pillar and pinning him there. Sam let out a shout, Dean span around, lifting his gun. Gordon stepped out of the shadows, lifting his crossbow in one hand and his gun in the other. Lusing was backing towards the side door behind the alter. Opium, clawing at the arrow in his shoulder, let out an animal roar of fury.
"Lusing!"
"I'm sorry, bro," Lusing repeated. "All he wants is the Winchesters. He threatened the colony. I had to do it." He took one final look at Gordon, and then turned and ran.
Sam and Dean were both facing Gordon, weapons raised. The hunter stepped towards them, smirking.
"I'm sensing a pattern here. You guys keep getting between me and the monsters I hunt."
"They're not all evil," Sam snarled back. "We can't condem people who aren't evil!"
"These things aren't people!" Gordon spat. "And neither are you."
Sam just had enough time to see Gordon lift his gun before the gunshot went off. He ducked too late - a screaming pain errupted in his shoulder and he tumbled to the floor, letting out a harsh yell of agony. He could dimly hear Dean shouting, heard a second gunshot roar through the church. Sam forced in a few deep breaths, trying to control himself, and then weakly rolled onto his stomach. His shoulder was throbbing agonizingly, blood pumping out of the bullet wound. He clasped his hand over it, doing his best to staunch the bleeding, and then lifted his head to look for Opium. If he could just get to the vampire and free him, they would have the upper hand over Gordon... Sam frowned and looked around.
Opium was gone.
Sam rose shakily to his hands and knees looking around, but there was no sign of the vampire. Had he freed himself and run? No, Opium wouldn't have abandoned them... a chill ran down Sam's spine. What if Gordon wasn't working alone? What if someone was helping him? Sam scrambled up to his feet, his head spinning, and turned to look for Dean. Dean was locked in a struggle with Gordon, his gun lying on the floor a few meters away. One hand was forcing Gordon's gun hand backwards, the other was clutching at the other man's collar. Gordon was straining against him, his teeth bared with fury.
"Dean!"
Dean turned his head at Sam's shout - and Gordon brought his knee up and kicked the Winchester hard in the stomach. Dean stumbled backwards, gasping, his arms wrapped over his stomach. Gordon lifted his gun... and his mobile rang. As the hunter paused, Sam ran to Dean and pulled his brother upright.
"Dean, you okay?"
Dean nodded, breathing hard through clenched teeth. They both turned their attention to Gordon, who was looking at a text he had just recieved. He grinned and looked up at them, his eyes dancing.
"That was a friend of mine. Amy."
"Do we give a crap?" Dean hissed breathlessly.
"I should think so," Gordon replied. "Because she's just evacuated the premesis of all vampires."
Dean looked around, noticing Opium's absense for the first time. He swore loudly.
"Gordon! Where is he?" he demanded, striding forwards.
Gordon lifted his gun at once, a warning. "Far gone by now," he said. "Of course I might be willing to negotiate..."
Sam felt a cold fist close around his heart. This was going to go very, very wrong. He wet his lips, glancing quickly at Dean, one hand still closed over his shoulder. His brother had moved in front of him a little, as if reading Gordon's mind.
"What are you talking about?" Dean asked coldly.
"I think you know," Gordon replied softly. "Sammy the demonic prodigy for the vegitarian vampire. Your choice." He glanced at his watch. "Call me when you've decided on who you want to save. I wouldn't take too much time over it. There are a couple of questions I'll be asking the fang..."
"Touch him and I'll tear you apart!" Sam spat, his free hand balling into a fist.
"You're an idiot, Gordon," Dean growled. "There's no way we're letting you leave here alive."
"Beg to differ," Gordon replied, and without warning his gun swung around.
"SAM, MOVE!"
Dean slammed into Sam, carrying them both to the ground as the gunshot went off. Sam let out another scream of pain as he landed on his injured shoulder, his vision blotted out by the agony. He had a vauge memory of someone shouting his name, hands shaking him roughly. Then the pain became too much to bear and he succumed to the darkness.
Good or bad? I'm really interested to see what you guys think of this story. Where do you think the story will head next? I can tell you that there's going to be an unexpected helper in the next few chapters... please REVIEW!
SUPRNTRAL LVR.