Sorry the last chapter was so short. I can't promise this one will be much longer. The story is winding down. Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed. Every time I read one I smile and I get excited to post the next chapter.

Day of the Dead

Chapter Nine: This Love This Hate

Dean was panting with sweat. It'd taken him a fucking hour to crawl across the floor to the fridge without the use of his legs. Sam was braced up against the wall, dried blood pooled around him from his own wounds. He groaned as he pulled himself up enough to force the door to the fridge open. He grabbed two water bottles and tossed one across the room to Sam. He caught it and they both drained their bottles. Dean rested his head against the cool metal of the fridge. They couldn't do anything until Castiel managed to get back, and it was hard to tell how long that was going to take. His mind was reeling with the possibilities of what his father was doing to Dalia and Elena.

They should have seen this coming. They should have been able to prevent this. He rolled his head on his shoulders and looked across the room at Sam. "We've got to figure out a way to break Crowley's control."

Sam looked over at him. Hatred was burning in his eyes. Hatred Dean understood. "You heard what Crowley said, the only way to break it is to kill him."

Dean shook his head. "There has to be another way, Sam." He rubbed sweat from his face. "He's our father."

Sam groaned, pulling himself into a better sitting position. "He's a monster, Dean. He's not going to stop pulling this shit and we don't have months to spend looking for something." He shook his head. "Dalia, Elena, and I have been looking for months. Months, Dean. This is the only way."

"We can't kill him."

"Whatever happened to what's dead should stay dead?" Sam demanded. Dean flinched back. He knew Sam had a point, and he hated that. He hated that he could remember when he'd said that. He hated that they seemed to break that one rule more than anyone else in the world, but they weren't willing to break it this time.

The fluttering of wings brought their argument to a stop. Castiel knelt beside Sam and healed his injuries, helping Sam off the floor. "What happened?" he asked, walking over and healing Dean.

"He took the girls." Dean grunted as he got up. "I don't know where they went." He brushed himself up and looked around. Shit. What the hell were they going to do?

"He has all of those cabins that we'd use when we were hunting," Sam said. "We start there."

Dean nodded his head and followed Sam out of the room. They grabbed their jacket off the chairs in the library where they'd left them and made their way to the garage, Cas staying close. Dean jumped into the Impala and tried not to think about what John was doing to the girls. It made him sick to his stomach to think that his father was hurting the woman he loved and his sister-in-law. The whole thing was just about as fucked up as it could get.

"Where's the closest cabin?" he asked.

"About two hours from here," Sam answered. Dean nodded and peeled off, breaking the speed limit by a good thirty miles per hour. Sam was right, he knew he was right. He wished he wasn't. After everything they'd been through, everything they'd done in the last eleven years, you would think they would know of a way or could find a way to break Crowley's control over John. You would think they'd be able to find a way to save him without having to kill him.

"Cas, do you know of a way to break the control?" he asked.

Castiel shook his head in the back seat. "Not without removing the soul, and that never ends up well." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Dean. Crowley's right. The only way to break his control on your father is to kill him."

Dean swore and rubbed a hand over his face. Damn it all to hell.

When they pulled up tot eh cabin he wasn't surprised not to see a vehicle out front. Just because there wasn't a car didn't mean John and the girls weren't inside. Dean and Sam climbed from the car, guns drawn as they slowly walked up the porch steps. Sam kicked in the door and they went in, Dean going low and right, Sam going high and left. The cabin was a small one room place. And it was empty.

"Son of a bitch," Dean swore. He kicked a chair, covered in dust after years of disuse and looked around. There were six other cabins that they knew about. Six other places they could be. It was going to take them too damn long to search them all. They'd be lucky if they got to the girls before John killed them.

At a loss for what to do, Dean pulled out his cellphone and dialed his father's number. He was taking a risk. There was no reason John would talk to him, let alone tell them where he was. But John answered on the third ring. "Dean."

"Dad…where are you?" he asked. He tried to drown out what sounded like muffled screams in the background.

"That doesn't matter."

"Yes it does…" Dean swallowed hard. "Dad, look, you were right." He looked at Sam, hoping to hell John bought what Dean was going to try to sell him. "The girls, they're a distraction. It should be the three of us, just like it used to be. Tell us where you are so we can come to you."

John was silent for a moment. "Remember the rugaru hunt?"

"Yeah." Dean knew exactly where he was.

"If you come here, and you swear you'll give them up…I won't kill them." He hung up the phone.

Dean looked at Sam. "The rugaru hunt, when we were kids still. That's where he's at." Sam nodded and they raced back to the car, climbing inside. Dean kicked up dirt as he turned around and sped off. He knew John had already started in on the girls. He wasn't happy about that fact. He just hoped he wasn't going to be too late. He couldn't lose Dalia again, and he refused to let Sam lose Elena.

xXx

John smirked and looked at the girls sitting in the living room, bound and gagged to old chairs. "Good news girls, you may make it out of this alive." He put the phone in his pocket and picked up the knife again. "But you won't make it out whole."

Dean and Sam might say they're willing to give up the girls, but until John saw it with his own eyes, he wasn't going to believe them. He got a second chance with his sons, and he was going to let a couple of hunter whores get in the way of things. They'd get back to the family business. He'd make damn sure of it.