Chapter 45
Sam left Bloomington, Indiana very unsettled. Elizabeth Proctor, the witch that had killed Mike Sorenson, was dead; and her coven disbanded and powerless. On the surface, that looked like one for the win column, but he wasn't sure. Mary Proctor had lost the young man she loved, and then was forced to kill her mother. He knew she would not recover from that easily. The young woman had also come into her own supernatural powers. And even if Amelia was positive Mary was destined to do good things with her natural gifts, Sam's personal experience with supernatural powers left him doubtful.
There was also whatever Mary had seen when she had hugged him and Amelia. She had implied Amelia knew what she had seen. Neither woman had seemed scared by the vision; but he really disliked others knowing his future. Destiny was still a dirty word in his vocabulary.
Forgetting anything to do with Mary or Elizabeth Proctor, they still had to identify and locate the seventh donor to save Dean from Purgatory; and exactly one week left to do it. The name still at the top of the list was Evan Hudson, mainly because Greenwood was the closest.
He was also exhausted. Even though they hadn't slept the night before, neither he nor Amelia had wanted to stay in Bloomington a moment longer, so had hit the highway in the middle of the night. He had headed east to connect to the I-65 South, and had hoped to make Louisville and the Kentucky border before stopping, but had only made it to Seymour before he couldn't drive anymore.
By the time he had checked them into a room, he was running on fumes. As he brought the last of their gear in from the car, he saw Amelia was already laying down the salt lines. He was still filthy from the dust and debris of the cave-in that buried the witch, but he was just too tired to care and fell onto his bed.
Amelia was almost as tired as Sam, but the thought of climbing into bed covered in the dust from the witch's cave was more than she could bear. She finished securing the room, shed her contaminated clothes and climbed under the soothing shower. She stayed under the water a long time, trying to rid herself of the sorrow she felt. They'd had no choice in killing the witch; Elizabeth had been totally engulfed by the evil she was using. But she hated that she was racking up such a large body count. They may have all been possessed by evil, one way or another; but they had all been humans, too. She would continuing to do whatever was necessary to save Dean, but really hoped Elizabeth would be the last death she helped hasten.
She wasn't happy with the future she had left Mary to face, either. The girl would come through the police investigation of her mother's disappearance without difficulties. It was the more distant future that would be difficult. Her powers would be discovered, as would her affiliation with Amelia. It would cause renewed interest in the mysterious stranger that had appeared from a collapsing building in Spokane. Mary would be guided, by circumstances beyond her control, into being the leader of the cult that would form because Mother Nature's return to the planet.
And then there was Sam. She sensed the unease he had felt tonight. Even as he collapsed on bed she knew he was approaching that point where he would be ready for the final revelation related to the ritual to free his brother. She hated that he had to go through what was coming, and hated it even more because she couldn't be there to help him.
When she finally came out of the bathroom, she saw Sam was in exactly the same position he had been in when she headed for the shower. She had only been back on Earth six weeks and only been with Sam for eleven days; but it felt like an eternity. And she knew how absurd that sounded, because she had spent thousands and thousands of years coming and going from this planet. Why did this exquisitely beautiful but equally as damaged man affect her so much? She wished she had more time to explore the question. But in seven days, after collecting his donation, she would help him bring his brother out of Purgatory and be sent back to the void to wait her next coming.
Mother Nature took Sam's shoes off, yet again; and threw a blanket over his still frame. She turned out the lights and climbed into her bed. She had been lying there a few minutes when she felt moisture on her cheek. At first, she thought she hadn't dried her hair well enough; but realized tears were escaping her eyes. Maybe the shower hadn't been long enough to wash away all the pain. She couldn't remember the name of the movie that had been on the TV the night they had eaten the pizza, but a line from it started running through her mind. "I'm too old for this shit." She felt a few more tears roll down her face as she drifted to sleep.
X
Sam wasn't sure which woke him up; his bladder that felt like it could explode, his mouth that felt like he had sucked on gravel all night, or being so hungry he could eat a horse – no, make that a herd of horses. He headed to the bathroom to take care of two out of the three. Seeing his reflection in the mirror gave him quite a start, so he decided to take a shower before finding something to eat.
He'd been in such a hurry to get to the bathroom, he had forgotten about Amelia. He looked at her now and saw she must have taken a shower before going to bed. They had been so preoccupied finding Mike's killer the last two days; he hadn't had time to just watch her sleep. If they had enough time, he'd let her keep sleeping; because it had become one of his favorite parts of their days together. But, Greenwood, Mississippi and Evan Hudson were almost a thousand miles to the southwest.
He sat on the edge of Amelia's bed and touched her arm to wake her. She stretched her arms over her head, arched her back, moaned and then blinked her eyes open. She smiled as her eyes focused on him. "Good morning." She whispered as she yawned.
Her entire body looked warm and inviting, and he could still smell that wildflower scent she always had after a shower. It was just too tempting. "Morning," He said as he stood up to get distance himself from Amelia's inviting presence. "We need to get up and get going." He added as he grabbed some clothes out of his duffel. Amelia got up as he was gathering his clothes and headed to the bathroom. He was dressed by the time she came back out.
"You want me to find something to eat while you get dressed, or wait and we get something to go?" Sam asked as she was looking for clean clothes.
Amelia saw how anxious he was to get on the road; and how close he came to giving in to his desire for her. As much as she wanted him, too; she knew they had to stay focused on the plan now that time was crucial. "You go find something to eat and I'll get us packed up while I dress."
He headed for the door. He turned and looked back at her before stepping outside. "Thanks." He said, knowing she would know it had nothing to do with packing their gear.
X
Sam was cursing himself for his timing as they crept through Louisville on the I-65 during the morning rush. As they were clearing the outskirts of the home of the Kentucky Derby, Sam asked Amelia if she wanted to stop and smite any more horse breeders.
She was getting ready to make a comment about a hunter she'd like to have colic, when she saw he was just trying to relieve the tension that had been in the air since he had woken her. "Do we have time?" She asked in her best naive voice.
He turned to look at her, thinking she had missed that he was joking; when she beamed a huge smile at him. As they both started laughing; Sam though again, how much Dean would like this woman.
They sailed down the interstate and reached Nashville in three hours, just In time for a late lunch. After the meager breakfast, Amelia insisted they find someplace to have a real meal. Sam asked the kid behind the counter of the convenience store, where he filled up the SUV, for a recommendation. As they sat at a picnic bench with the rest of the lunch crowd, overlooking the Cumberland River, they enjoyed the best Barbequed chicken, coleslaw and cornbread on the planet. Or, at least, that's what the sign said. Amelia didn't have anything to compare it against, but Sam did; and he couldn't disagree.
The next leg of the trip was on the I-40 heading west. Sam figured it should take about four hours to get to Memphis, and from there they would head south toward Greenwood. He glanced at Amelia; she appeared to be concentrating, staring at his chest where the amulet hung around his neck.
"Tell me about Evan Hudson." Amelia asked when she noticed Sam watching her, just as they crossed the Tennessee River. "Why do you think he'll be our seventh donor?"
Sam wondered if Amelia was asking for herself or the god, but he was happy to have something to talk about; the monotony of the interstate and the huge lunch were making him sleepy. "Evan was this nice, normal guy. But, his wife was dying of cancer. He made a deal with a cross-roads demon; he sold his soul to save his sick wife. Evan was actually the fourth person we found who had made a cross-roads deal in that town."
Sam paused, remembering how worried he had been about Dean's mental state at the time. "It was a short time after our dad was killed. We hadn't talked about it, but we were both thinking he had made a demon deal to save Dean." Sam sighed, knowing Dean would always carry survivor's guilt about what their dad had done. "By the time we talked to Evan, Dean was so angry; I was afraid he'd do something really stupid when he went to find the demon and break the deal."
Amelia could see all the conflicting thoughts racing through Sam's head. The pride he'd had in Dean for resisting the taunts of the demon; instantly followed by his sorrow and anger about Dean selling his soul a few months later to save him. She could see images of everything that had occurred since then threatening to overwhelm Sam. Amelia knew it was time, so she asked if they could pull over for awhile. The sound of concern in her voice brought him back from the edge of the dark abyss of all those memories.
"I'm okay." He replied, knowing she must have seen all the turmoil those memories invoked.
"I know you are. But, I'd still like to stop and stretch my legs." She replied, she had to get him to stop. Sam was pretty sure she was just saying that to get him to take time to clear his head. "You know, the world does not revolve around you mister." She stated, and it took Sam a second to realize she was responding to what he had just thought. She'd also used what Jody would call her 'mom' voice; so he pulled off at the next exit.
Amelia pointed them at a small store near the end of the exit ramp. She was halfway through the door when she asked if Sam wanted anything. He just shook his head, trying to avoid thinking about anything until she was inside the store. The second the door closed behind her, he was out of the car and running down the dirt road that started next to the store.
He hadn't wanted to admit Amelia was right, but he needed to move. He had felt uneasy since they left Indiana. He needed to run, run so hard and fast that he wouldn't be able to think. It had been one of the ways he had fought off the images of hell and Lucifer. He needed to make his body work so hard that the only thoughts in his head were putting one foot after another on the ground and breathing enough air to keep going. He didn't want to think about the last seven years; years of death, destruction and pain; of Dean sacrificing himself over and over again. Who was he kidding; Dean had been sacrificing his life for his little brother a lot longer than seven years.
Sam kicked up his pace, this wasn't working. The harder he tried to run away from the past, the faster the images bombarded his mind. His vision started to narrow, dark tunnels closing off the periphery. He had no idea where he was or where he was going. 'Nobody does.' He heard a voice say as he burst through a large, heavy door. Suddenly, he found himself in a courtyard surrounded by a cool, shaded portico. He was no longer breathing heavily and his clothes were fresh and comfortable.
He heard voices approaching and his Hunter's instinct told him to hide, but he seemed frozen in place; when one of the voices called out, "Sam! It's so nice to see you again." As he looked toward the voice, he saw Apsu walking in his direction. "Come out of the sun, join me."
"No, that's okay. I'm good here." Sam replied, backing away slightly from the approaching god.
The god smiled at him. "You're not dead, you know?" He held out an iced drink. "And you're not hallucinating, either."
Sam thought he should be scared, or at least, concerned. But, he believed the smiling god, and he took the cool drink. "Okay, if I'm not dead or dreaming; you mind telling me what's going on?"
"I wanted to talk to you, without Tiamat." He gestured to the same chairs they had all sat on before. "I'm sorry for making you so uncomfortable, but it was the only way to get you here."
"Here? I'm in the amulet? I thought only Amelia, sorry, Tiamat, could bring me here?" Sam asked.
"Well, the first time, that's true. But, coming back is easy."
"Easy? You call that easy?" Sam stood and started pacing. "I felt like I was going crazy, again!" He paused as something occurred to him. "Does this mean my body is laying somewhere along that dirt road?"
The god just shrugged his shoulders. "You needed escape your physical plain of existence. She'll find you and protect you."
"She knew about this?"
"I told her I needed to talk to you."