Sam circled closer to the vampire he had strapped to the chair. Gabe could smell fear on the creature which Sam supposed was just what he wanted to know. When he decided to take this approach, he thought it would be easy to find a monster to corner but instead it has become increasingly harder. Wherever Serrath was hiding them, it was not in an open valley near a desolated town like last time. Sam knew the ultimate goal was for her to bring an assault down on Sam's family to force his hand against them, so it shouldn't be this damn hard to get answers about it!
"Tell me again how it is you don't know Serrath," Sam probed and at the same time he used wisps of Grace to caress open the vampires mind. The vampire, looking to be about twenty or so, but probably centuries older, chattered his teeth involuntarily at the intrusion.
"I don't…I don't…" he panted but Sam could picture her in his mind. Clouds of misty grey convoluting into the form of a person. It wasn't really her but instead her shadow. Countless Shadows forming a small army of their own. Sam could see past them now. It was the woman he yearned to reach.
"What did she tell you to do? What are your instructions?" Sam asked and he turned the wisps of Grace into a blade. The vampire screamed. Sam found torture distasteful. He really did. But there was a sort of eloquence in the way the mind can snap under psychic pressure that almost seemed satisfying. Like bursting a pustule or popping a water balloon.
The vampire slumped over, eyes staring vacantly, and Sam sighed. Maybe not centuries old then. Probably only a few decades. His mind wouldn't have broken so easily if he was any older than that.
Turning, he looked at Gabriel who was idly resting in the corner. Their eyes met and Sam's frustrations met Gabriel's patient understanding. No words needed to be spoken beyond that. Staring down at the drooling vampire, Sam had an idea. It was far beyond anything he had ever tried before but… well it had already been two days since his last meeting with Crowley and he was running out of time. Numbly, he unstrapped the vampire from the chair.
Getting down on his knees, Sam looked up into the vampires empty eyes and concentrated. His mind became a narrow channel of thought; almost an entity swirling inside him. He focused it smaller; tighter. Gabriel lifted his head and sniffed at the air. Softly he whined.
"Shush, I know what I'm doing," muttered Sam, when in truth he had no idea what he was doing! He continued to stare into those eyes; empty, open, like a vessel. Suddenly he saw it there. A doorway. Sam took his narrow channel of conscious thought, reached out, and opened the door.
Sam stood up and looked at his feet. Gabriel was barking at him, but he had no idea what the dog was saying. On the other side of him…laid his own body. Sam smiled. Looking within himself, he realized that his name was Arnold James Bartholomew Jameson the fourth. But his friends called him Arnie. He was eighty nine years old. He grew up in the south, on the shorelines to Texas, and gutted fish in the local fishery for a living.
He would steal the guts and take them home to feed to his wife and two children. It was how they survived during such hard times. That was of course until one late night and a set of fangs changed his future forever. Arnie was a part of a nest now and his wife and children were dead. His nest.
Sam thought deeper and knew exactly where it was. It was a nest of about 9 but recently more have been coming to stay with them. And not all vampires either. It was the work of the Lady in Grey. The Chieftess. She brought them weapons too. Long rods that can send pulsing electricity through anything they come in contact with. Sam secretly hoped Demons could withstand such a device. He dug deeper and saw the Lady in Grey. Telling Arnie that he is special. That he would be the one to deliver to them the message of their fate.
Sam had to wonder if she knew in some way that he would be doing all of this. It didn't matter. Moving was an effort at first but Sam managed. He took a step forward, and then another, and then he looked down at a still barking Gabriel.
"I don't know what you're saying," he said and his voice sounded thick. Not at all like his own. "But I need you to protect my body until I get back. Please keep me safe." Gabriel stopped barking then and instead fell into a keening whine. Sam ignored it and stepped out of the warehouse room.
He embraced the darkness of the night and the body he wore seemed to almost glow in the moonlight. He took a deep breath in; scenting blood in the air. He noted absently the almost constant inner hunger that Arnie was feeling and thought to himself this is what it's like to be a vampire.
Then his mind turned outward; focusing, and Sam was able to almost see the path that led Arnie back to his nest. It was like a yellow line spray painted onto the asphalt leading him home. Sam followed it. In the back of his mind he noted the tether that held him to his actual body and he held onto it tightly. He knew this was risky. He knew that he could lose the tether and never find his way back to the body he belonged in. But he did something similar to this before with Dean so it wasn't entirely new. He just needed to not let go of the tether.
Sam started out walking but as he grew more confident, he broke into a run. Then, as he got closer to the nest, he fell into a sort of inhuman sprint that only vampires were capable of. He reached the entrance in no time and smiled. There were only a few hours left of pure night and he suspected he might be walking in to a full house. Good. The more at home, the more available to answer his questions.
Eros had about a dozen books piled in front of him and his eyes gleamed when Castiel and Dean walked into the room.
"This library is wonderful!" He exclaimed to them both and smiled. He really liked this little bunker that the Winchester's had set up. He noticed that Castiel was spending a lot of time there. Probably living there from the looks of it, and Eros would love to be allowed to live there as well. He could spend so many days reading about the ancient knowledge acquired over the centuries by these scholarly humans. Or he could turn the shower room into a giant slip-and-slide like he wanted to do when he first laid eyes on it, and then there was the lab. That glorious glorious laboratory that no one was using. It was just sitting there, collecting dust, and a small voice seeping out of its walls called to Eros. It begged him to turn on its Bunsen burners again and discover. Discover. Discover.
But Castiel never asked Eros to stay. It never even crossed his mind. He certainly didn't ask Eros to leave either, but to just toss him to the wind for a month only to show up when he wanted Eros to help him and then not have the decency to invite him to stay…it hurt. Thinking about it, stung at his vulnerable heart and his smile fell from his face.
"What have you discovered?" Castiel asked as he went to sit directly across from Eros.
"Yeah, Cas said you had something to show us," Dean said, a few feet behind. Eros has been working with the stupid human to teach him how to control his emotions better. He made some effort on his own, and while he seemed to be making progress when he seriously thought about it, he barely ever thought about it. Dean actually thought that the only times Castiel was at risk was during their love making. In truth, Castiel was never safe. He was always at risk around Dean. And while Eros was hurt that his brother was so focused on his human lover that he couldn't see his kin desperately yearning for attention right in front of his eyes, he still didn't want Castiel to die. So he trained Dean, all the while thinking about the thousands of things he would like to do to him in the name of science and discovery.
"I have spent some time looking into the connection between Sam and Lucifer as Castiel instructed," Eros said flatly while his eyes bored into Dean. Stupid human. He hardly deserved Castiel. "I started with the things that the demon Crowley had said regarding his discovery and went from there. I am quite certain I stumbled upon the same information or at least similar information to what he had discovered."
"That's excellent news!" Castiel said with a wide endearing smile that made Eros almost want to cry. Stupid emotions. Stupid human emotions. "Tell us, Eros, please." Eros stared at them both for a long time. The child in him; the boy that didn't want to grow up, was tempted to stick out his tongue or give them the finger, but his heart…oh, Castiel.
"Serrath intends to corrupt Sam's sentinel soul," Eros said and Castiel's smile fell away in surprise.
"I didn't think such a thing was possible," he said softly.
"What does that mean?" Dean asked and Eros rolled his eyes. How did Castiel put up with him? It was like educating a cherub.
"Sentinel souls, like you and your brother, are special human souls that are pardoned from the Ten Commandments to do God's will."
"Like the FBI," Castiel said, leaning towards Dean conspiratorially. Eros gave them both a face that expressed his displeasure at the analogy.
"Where the commandments say that Thou Shalt Not Kill, the sentinels are able to kill with God's forgiveness and pardon."
"Joan of Arc," Castiel added, "William Phips."
"Really," Dean asked, amazed.
"There were a lot of witches in Salem, Dean," Castiel said, looking at him with such serious intensity if was somewhat comical.
"Anyway," Eros said loudly, trying to return the attention to him, "Being that you are sentinel beings, your souls can not be corrupted. Or so I thought." Castiel turned to Eros and frowned. This was news to him as well.
"What do you mean? How is that possible?"
"A lot of deaths, Castiel," Eros said and his fingers brushed the cover of a book directly in front of him. "They need to be responsible for a lot of deaths."
"Thousands of deaths," Dean whispered and Castiel's eyes grew wide.
"No! No no no no no!" Castiel was to his feet, backing away. His eyes a reflection of the deep seeded pain he was feeling. Eros's heart hurt to see Castiel in this way. He already knew the score.
"What?" Dean asked anxiously, "What do you know? Tell me!" Castiel looked at Dean and tears swam into his eyes.
"Dean…" he pleaded but he couldn't get the words out. Eros did him the favor.
"There are times when a soul becomes so corrupted, it loses the ability to have free will. This was Serrath's intention Dean. If Sam takes enough lives, his soul will no longer be pure. It will crack. Sentinel or no, he will warrant hostile takeover."
"I don't understand," Dean said urgently, his voice on the edge of panic, "Cas, explain it to me I don't understand." Castiel reached for Dean and took his hands. Smiling at him sadly, he finally found the voice to speak.
"Lucifer will be able to take Sam as a vessel, Dean. Sam won't have the right to refuse him anymore."
Sam walked into the main sleeping chamber of the vampire nest, and counted five vampires in waiting. Some smelled of fresh kill while others simply smelled of ash. It didn't matter. They would all be dead come morning.
"Arnie, what's up with you?" The taller male asked. Sam knew him to be Andrew. "You smell…different."
"Take me to see the Lady in Grey," Sam said in Arnie's voice. "I have a message for her from Sam Winchester." That seemed to get everyone's attention rather quickly. Vampires were to their feet, hissing their distaste, but Sam only had eyes for Andrew. Andrew was the leader, he could tell. He could sense Arnie's subservience to him. The fact that Sam was meeting his eyes directly was a challenge but it didn't matter. Their hierarchy meant nothing to people like Sam and Serrath.
After a moment Andrew nodded slowly. He could see in Sam's eyes, and know the man behind Arnie's mask as not Arnie.
"Right, okay, right this way," he said turning. Sam could see his thoughts as clear as day. The Grace coursing through him made it far too easy to tell deception. It was a wonder that Castiel never used his Grace in this way. If he had just put a little effort into cracking into the human brain and reading its contents like tea leaves in the bottom of a cup, he would have known when Sam or Dean were lying to him. He would have known everything about them in an instant.
Sam followed Andrew back a narrow corridor that led to a distant hallway, and behind him, the five other vampires in waiting dropped like flies. Like maggots was more like it. It was just so damn simple; severing their spinal cords from their brains, just a slight nudge to send them eternally to their deaths. It didn't even require beheading.
"The more he kills, the more corrupt his soul becomes, and the easier it will be for him to do the killing," Eros explained and Dean bit at his lip. This was bad. This was like the Mark of Cain bad. Were they already too late? Dean couldn't even comprehend how many lives Sam has already winked out of existence. It made him more than just a little terrified of his brother. And now he has a dog with an endless well of Grace to just tap into whenever he pleased. Oh shit. Oh fuck.
"All we can do is wait," Castiel said decidedly, "I suspect Sam is going to probably contact us when he needs us. That demon mentioned that Serrath is targeting you, Dean. So there is very little Sam can do without us."
"We can't just sit here, Cas!" Dean shouted but already Eros was nodding.
"No, Castiel is right. We should wait for a little while longer. I think you will be of much use in the final battle, Dean, but I need to train with you more. Much more. We need to fine tune the connection you have with Castiel." Dean opened his mouth to object but Castiel talked over him.
"In the meantime, I will prepare a room for you, Eros. So that you can stay close at hand." Eros gasped at this, his eyes wide on Castiel.
"You…want me to stay?" he asked in a very childish voice.
"It would only be temporary," Castiel said nervously. "I don't want to inconvenience you in any way but…it would help if you were here more often. For Dean's sake." Eros's face fell, and his eyes sought out Dean. Dean swallowed under his glare. He suspected the two of them were never going to get along very well.
"Fine," Eros said curtly and got to his feet. "Dean, for the rest of the day, you belong to me. And tonight, you are making me pancakes." Dean's eyes about popped out of his head. He glanced over to Castiel, looking for a little backup to rescue him from his little brother, but Castiel only waved them both off and padded out of the room.
Scowling, Dean sent a small tendril of angry-fuck-sex-lust emotion back the hallway and was satisfied to hear Castiel yelp. Suddenly, Eros smacked him hard. Really hard. Dean would have seen stars in a cartoon setting, and he shook his head to clear away the brain fuzz.
"What the fuck, man!" Dean snapped but Eros was shoving him. He threw his shoulder into him hard, and Dean suddenly found himself pinned against a wall.
"Castiel is not your play toy!" the boy angel growled through his teeth as he leered up at Dean. He was a good foot shorter than the hunter but he was fucking strong. Not to mention really pissed off.
"I know, I get it," Dean gasped, trying to wiggle free of Eros's grasp.
"You will treat him with respect. He loves you but he does not belong to you," Eros said, his voice even harder and Dean stopped struggling. He looked down at Eros and really thought about what he said.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly and Eros let him go.
"You will not apologize to me. You will apologize to Castiel." Dean closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Gently, he sent out the words.
I'm sorry.
A warm sunny feeling like a soft spring day returned to him, surrounding him, and Dean could almost cry from the pureness of Castiel's love for him. He didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve anything that his angel gave him.
"Good," Eros said, "you're learning." Dean opened his eyes and looked down at Eros once more.
"I don't understand," he said honestly and Eros rolled his eyes.
"Of course you don't. The problem is, Dean, you keep trying to fight the normal course of subservience. It is human nature to bow to angelic presence. The more you fight it, the more intense your emotions become. Love, longing, desire…they amplify when you are fighting against them with every action you take. You need to submit. Submit to Castiel." Dean frowned. He didn't like this one bit. Not one bit at all.
Andrew led Sam into a large corridor lit by candlelight. In the middle, stood an alter decorated in blood, herbs, and sacrifice.
"Here is your Lady in Grey," Andrew said bitterly and Sam severed the spinal cord in his neck. He approached the alter, not interested in making a sacrifice to it, and instead pushed all previous offerings onto the floor with the force of his Grace. His Grace. He liked how that sounded.
"Serrath!" He shouted, "It's Sam Winchester. I must speak with you!" Mist swirled upon the alter and Sam stepped back as it expanded out to become a dress, a torso, hands; a face.
"Hello Sam Winchester, tell me where your body is if you have taken it upon yourself to claim another." Her voice was raspy and raw, barely more than the sound of insects crunching under a boot.
"I want to see Serrath, not her shadow," Sam said, showing obvious distaste in his expression but Serrath hissed.
"Is that a tether I see on your back?" She whispered and Sam knew he was out of time.
"Dean will be Wyoming in two days," Sam said and he projected coordinates at the shadow before him. He hoped she got them, because he wasn't going to stick around and find out. Reaching behind himself, to the darkest corner of his mind, Sam pulled on the tether, and felt himself being ripped out of Arnie's body.
An instant later, he sat up in the warehouse room gasping for breath. Gabriel sat up instantly, whining next to him.
"Were you licking my face?" he asked, feeling stiff dried saliva on his skin. Gabriel looked away, not meeting his eye. "You shouldn't have worried so much about me. I am fine. And I talked to Serrath. She knows where to meet us. Now all we have to do is go and get Dean. We're going to Wyoming."