Chapter Fifteen: Time Is Running Out
Hangovers were anything but fun. Right now mine was killing me. My head was throbbing like it had never throbbed before. I may have overdone it. I remembered being on stage, getting off, grabbing a beer and going out into the alley and bawled my eyes out. No one followed me. When I returned I went straight to the bar and ordered a never ending line of tequila shots. Dean was at my side a moment later. He kissed me deeply before starting on one end while I started on the other. He winked at me and I couldn't help but smile as we started to lick the salt, down the shot, and suck the lime. The shots kept coming and I kept drinking.
It was the first night in a long time that I ended up praising the porcelain God. I woke up on the cold tile floor of the bathroom. My head was foggy and I had the most horrid taste in my mouth. I felt a hand on my thigh. I moved my head enough to see Dean leaning against the tub. One knee was raised, his elbow on top of it, his head resting against his hand. He was sound asleep. His other leg was underneath mine. I shifted my weight and he jerked awake.
"Sorry." I told him with a dry cracked voice.
"Hey." He said softly. He leaned forward and ran his hand over my face and through my hair. "How are you feeling?" I groaned putting my hand out toward him. "Yeah, serves you right though." He said taking it, kissing my palm.
I slowly sat up and leaned against the vanity. My head spun and I gripped him for support as he moved the few feet to kneel in front of me. I thought something was going to come up but everything seemed to stay down. I lowered my hand and tried to smile at Dean.
"So, I was some fun last night, huh?" I said with a half-smile.
"You were fun." He smiled and kissed my forehead. "I learned a lot last night."
"About what?" I frowned at him.
"About what you're really feeling." He told me softly.
I felt the blank expression move across my face. I just looked at him. What had I told him? I didn't want him to see me like that. The lowest point of my life so far. I shouldn't have drank so much. I shouldn't have wanted it so badly. I was wasting time and now he was looking at me like I had been trying not to look at him. Like I was the one going and he was staying. He was looking at me with such sympathy I felt like I was going to be sick again.
"What did I tell you?" I asked him. He sighed and gently caressed my face. "Dean." I said starting to get annoyed. I didn't have the patience for this.
"You…" He said and paused. He sighed again, making my stomach drop. "You told me about Ellen and Jo. About wanting to hide behind the bottle. About how if I was dying you wanted to die too. How you couldn't take it anymore. We had a long conversation." He said and gave me a small smile.
"Dean, that's not very specific." I told him.
"You weren't very specific last night." He stated.
"What?" I frowned at him.
"You talked about a lot of things very fast. Jumping from one thing to another so fast it was hard to follow." He told me gently.
"I don't remember any of that." I told him.
"I wouldn't think you would." He replied.
"Was I that bad?" I asked him with a sad face. He gave me his own sad face. "Oh God." I said covering my face with my hands.
"Hey, don't worry about it." Dean said gently rubbing my hair.
"Oh God, oh God, oh God…" I said shaking my head.
"No, baby. It's okay." He said pulling me against him. "I was happy you told me."
"But I don't remember telling you." I told him, my brows furrowing till they couldn't anymore.
"Evy, you should have told me all of that sober." He told me seriously. "You don't have to burden yourself with my burdens."
"You're burdens are my burdens." I countered.
"Yeah, but we need to work through them together."
"There is no way of working through them. You're leaving. I'm staying. I'm not ready to say goodbye. We need to find a way to save you." I told him.
"I know. And we will. But we gotta take care of you first." He said and grabbed me underneath my armpits, lifting me to my feet.
"I love it when you use your muscles like that." I smiled at him.
He laughed and lifted me onto the edge of the vanity. He turned on the shower before turning back to me, starting to pull off my clothes.
"Thank you." I told him softly.
"For what?" He asked as he pulled my shirt off.
"For always taking care of me." I replied.
"Yeah, well, you'd do the same for me." He said and kissed my shoulder.
"This is true." I smiled at him. "I wish I wasn't failing you now."
"You're not failing me." He frowned at me, pausing.
"I am. I should have stopped you from the get go. I should have done something sooner. I should have tried harder at the beginning. Instead I've waited till the end. With your death looming just in the distance. It took me all year to convince myself that I can't save you. It took me two seconds to realize that I couldn't let it happen. I can't let you die. No matter how much you're willing to just let go." I told him.
"I don't wanna die." He told me. "I don't wanna go to Hell. But I'm not gonna let Sammy die again either. I would love for us to find a way to get me out. To find Lilith and set me free. But I'm gonna be real about this." He said looking me in my eyes, his hand finding my face. "There's no saving me." He said flatly. "I'll try. I'll give it my best shot but we both know the chances of breaking my deal are slim to none."
"I know." I said averting my eyes from his.
"I know you know." He replied. "You told me last night."
"Dean…" I said looking at him again. "What are we gonna do?"
He sighed and leaned against me. I wrapped my arms around him. He put his hands on the sides of my head and his forehead against mine. He took a deep breath. The steam from the shower had started to fill the room. I could feel the moisture on his skin. His lips found mine and as upset as I still felt, these moments with him made it all go away. Even if it was just for a moment.
Drama. I hated drama. But my life was drama. Life. Death. All the in-between. There was no escaping it. Hell, you couldn't even try to run from it. More than once I found myself in the middle of it without knowing how the hell I managed it.
Waking up on a bed of glass is never fun. The taste of blood. I searing pain. Oh yeah, that just screams fun. My head was foggy and my body felt heavy. I opened my eyes and my focus was completely off. I shut my eyes again but when I opened them everything was just as blurry. I was on my stomach. In the distance I could see a figure. As my focus started to straighten out my brows furrowed.
"…John?" I asked.
The figure shifted and soon John came into view.
"Evy, what are you doing?" He asked me.
"John, what are you talking about?" I countered.
"You gotta fight just a little harder." He told me, his tone urgent.
"What are you talking about?" I asked him again.
He helped me to my feet. He looked over my shoulder. I frowned and turned. My breath caught as I saw my body lying on the concrete. Watching as a man pounded on my chest before he breathed for me. My eyes grew wide. Walking over, I bent down, looking at myself. I was lying on a bed of glass. Small abrasions on my face, the bottom of my forearms, my chest, there were small pieces of glass visible stuck into my skin. I didn't recognize the man who was trying to save me. He looked like he was around six feet. He had short, dark brown hair. His muscles working to save my life. His face was in such a focused yet saddened expression like I've never seen.
"Thank you." I whispered to him.
After the initial shock of it all. I stood and tried to remember what happened. I looked up to see a broken window on the third floor. A clear hole in the glass building where my body had flown through.
"How the hell am I still alive?" I asked myself.
"You're fading." John told me.
"Yeah, I figured. That's why I can see you." I said touching his chest.
"What are you gonna do?" John asked.
"Where's Dean?" I frowned at him.
"I don't know." John said shaking his head.
"I need to find him." I said and walked away.
"No!" John said following me. "You need to stay with your body."
"John, what if Dean and Sam are hurt?"
"How are you going to help them when you can't touch anything?"
"Good point. But I need to find him." I said and turned away from him again.
"No." John said grabbing me. "Stay with your body. You can't help them right now. Help you so then you can help them."
I looked at my body. The man still working on me. He had yet to even falter. He was trying very hard. Trying very hard to save me. And he was. He was keeping me alive. I could hear the sirens coming. He had called 911.
"Help is coming." I said looking at John. "I'll be okay. I'm just going to stick with my out-of-body experience for a little while longer. I need to find my guy and I need to find my brother."
He just looked at me and let me run away from him. I went through the doors and up the stairs to the third floor. It was easy to figure out what room we were in. The door was kicked down. I stopped at the doorframe. A second later John appeared at my side. I eyed him with a raised brow.
"Can't let you do this alone."
"How are you even down here?" I asked him. "Unless you're just a figment of my subconscious."
"I could be just that. Either way I'm here to help you." He replied.
"I kinda love you, you know that?" I smiled at him.
"I do actually. I love you too." He said and kissed my hair before stepping through the door.
It was an upscale business building. Nothing but offices. The one we were facing now was full of broken furniture and blood. There were bullet holes in the walls, shells on the floor. Among the wreckage there was a body, near the upturned desk. I frowned and moved to the man lying on the floor. I squatted next to him, taking him in. The more I looked at him the more the pieces started to come together. It was the man we had come looking for. He was supposed to be a demon that had come into contact with the Colt. We had hoped that he would point us in the right direction with the proper leverage. He didn't. I vaguely remembered trying to exorcize him. Something had gone wrong. But I couldn't remember what. I couldn't even remember his name right now. But he was dead. Or I thought he was until he stood up. His eyes black. The demon was still inside of him. I frowned. It was as if the demon could see me. Then he turned and walked from the room. Walking in the opposite direction that my body was in.
"This isn't good." I told John.
"Nope." He replied. "No sign of the boys either."
"That doesn't mean anything. I'm sure they're fine." I stated.
"Do we follow?" John asked me.
"Of course." I said and moved from the room. "Like following a rabbit down a rabbit hole. Follow the demon. Find my boys."
We caught up with him before left the parking lot. My incorporeal form, as well as John's, was able to slip into the back of his car with no problem.
"Someday I'll have to figure out how ghosts are able to do this. They can't touch anything, but here we are, riding in the car." I told John.
He grinned at me. "Sometimes the mysterious stays mysterious."
"There are answers for everything." I retorted.
"You don't always have to know everything."
"Yes I do." I frowned at him.
"Okay." He said giving up.
"Thank you." I said giving him a small smile.
John just shook his head. He drove out of town. A few miles down the road there were lights. Soon we pulled into a dirt lot, driving around a warehouse, parking in the back.
"Warehouses." I said shaking my head. "Always warehouses. Can't they be at least a little original?"
"That would be far too much fun." John said as he got out of the car.
I did the same and we were soon following him inside. Once through the door it opened up into a big room that echoed with every step he took. Lights flipped on and a woman met him. They had a happy meeting before other lights flipped on and Dean and Sam were revealed.
"Found my boys." I said and rushed over to them.
Both had minimal wounds and both were tied to chairs and gagged. I stood in front of them. Glad they were okay. Then my mind started to try and run through what to do. What I could do. What had brought us here. That was when I realized I couldn't.
"John…" I said frowning at him. "I don't remember what we were looking for anymore."
"I told you, you're fading." He told me.
I nodded. Before going to Dean. I couldn't touch him. "Dean. Dean, baby, can you hear me?" I said getting as close to him as I could.
"He can't." John stated.
"So what am I supposed to do?" I asked.
"We gotta get you back into your body. We know where they are. Just pay attention. Remember where we are and you can find them after you wake up." He told me.
I tried to think of a better option. I couldn't. I nodded and looked back at Dean. He looked worried. He looked hurt. He didn't know what had happened to me. He probably thought I was dead. Either dead or dying. He must have witnessed my body flying through the window. Sam's head was down. He was staring at the floor. He was trying to figure out how to get them out of there. I knelt in front of Dean. Meeting his eyes, though he didn't know he was meeting mine.
"I'm gonna find you. And I'm gonna be alright." I said and put my hand up to his face, wishing I could touch him. "I love you." I whispered and wiped a tear as I turned and briskly walked from the building. "We need to find the nearest hospital. We need to find my body."
It was difficult. Without John I would've gotten lost, faded, and died. But with his help we were able to find the hospital. And with that we finally found my body. I was unconscious but stable. The man who had saved me was standing in the doorway. I passed through him. A doctor came in a second later.
"How is she?" The man asked.
"She should be okay. It's just the trauma to the head that worries me. She fell a long way. Though she's in much better condition than anyone else I've ever seen fall so far. I'm shocked she's still alive. But that's thanks to you Officer Holland." He told him.
"Officer Holland." I said and looked at him. "Thank you." I smiled and walked over to my body.
"We'll know more when she wakes up." The doctor continued.
"So you think she will?" Holland asked. His tone sounded concerned.
"I think so. It's just a matter of time." The doctor told him. "Did you find anything about who she is?"
"They don't know me." I whispered to myself.
"No. She's still a Jane Doe." Holland replied.
"Good." I said and looked at myself. I leaned down and looked at my face. "Alright self. We gotta become one again."
I turned and sat on the edge. I hoped that lying myself back inside my body would do the trick. At first it didn't. I had kept my eyes open, annoyed when it didn't work right away. But as soon as I closed them I felt a pull. When I opened my eyes John was gone and the doctor smiled down at me.
"Speak of the devil." He smiled. "How are you feeling?"
I frowned, not saying a word. I felt out my body, realizing that I could move everything. I sat up, to the doctors dislike, and started to pull the wires out of my body.
"No, you have to lay still. I need to examine you." The doctor told him.
"No." I told him. "I need to leave."
The doctor tried to push my shoulders down. I fought back, hitting him hard in his chest with my forearm. He stumbled backward.
"Just wait up a second. You've been through quite a lot." Officer Holland told me, grabbing my elbow.
"Yes. I know." I said and shrugged his hands off. "But I need to go."
"I need to ask you a few questions." Holland told me.
"Then ask while we walk." I said and quickly moved from the room. "And get me some scrubs or something." I demanded.
"This is so wrong." Holland told me as he drove me toward the warehouse.
After I had checked myself out he refused to let me go on my own. Saying something about just waking up from a three story fall. I wasn't listening to him. I needed to get back to Dean and Sam. I didn't have a car and since he was being stubborn I decided to use the resources I had. I told him he could ask me questions if he agreed to drive me where I needed to go. He agreed, even though he seemed a little uneasy about it.
"Listen. I'm only letting you drive me because you're a cop and might be useful. But when we get there I call the shots and you listen to me." I told him sternly.
"Um, excuse me?" He frowned. "I'm the cop so maybe I'm the one who should be calling the shots."
"You're off the clock." I stated.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked sounding almost bewildered.
"Someone who you don't want to cross." I told him.
"Wow. I wish my mother could meet you. She always said I needed to find someone more dominating." He told me.
"Ha!" I said and grinned at him. "Nice try buddy. Engaged." I said showing him my ring.
"Yeah, I figured." He said with a cocky edge. "But that's never stopped me before."
"Ha!" I said again. "My man is much more of a bad boy then you are. So back off."
"It's Rick, by the way." He told me.
"Okay." I replied.
"You're not even going to give me a bite are you?"
"Nope." I smiled and pointed down a side road.
The warehouse came into view. It was midmorning now but the lights were still on in the building. Rick pulled around the back. The building looked quiet.
"Okay. So, the people in there aren't anything like the people you normally deal with." I told him.
"Okay." He said looking confused. "You're gonna have to give me a little more than that."
"I'm not giving you anything more than that. You're on a need-to-know basis." I told him.
"Yeah, I need to know more." He frowned at me.
"I'm the one who decides that." I said and took the shot gun from his car.
"I don't think so." He said grabbing it from me.
"I only listen to one pigheaded man and he's tied up in this building. So give me the damn gun." I said and took it back.
"I have no idea who you are. I'm not giving you a gun."
I sighed heavily before punching him. He fell to the ground. "Okay listen, Rick. I'm not going to argue anymore. You're wasting my time. Wait here. I'll go in and take care of this. Even if you hear yelling, fighting, screaming, or gun fire…stay the fuck out." I told him before turning and running toward the door.
Pushing the door open, I slipped inside. The main lights were off. There was a small amount of space where the light hit. Dean and Sam were in the shadows. That was if there were still here. I moved forward and as soon as I hit the light I was jumped. They had been waiting for me. One grabbed me from behind. His hand found my throat, squeezing enough to stop me from yelling out. Wasn't worried about it. I stomped on his foot, elbowing his ribs. It loosened his grip enough for me to grab his arm, spinning him, snapping it at the elbow. He yelled and I pushed him away. But the short fight allowed the others to circle me. Their eyes were black. I wasn't prepared to take them all on my own. But I would fight. They made the first move. I swerved around the first as another moved to grab me from behind. I dropped to the ground, sweeping the feet out from under one of them. I rolled to my feet before getting into a hand to hand combat with one of the demons. I was holding my own. Two down, three to go. I could take them. But before I could handle the others there was another voice in the room.
"Police!" Holland yelled and came in with his gun raised.
"Rick!" I yelled as I was grabbed from behind.
"Let her go!" He yelled.
"You moron!" I said through gritted teeth before the arm tightened around my throat.
"Let her go, or I shoot." He told them.
The arm tightened around my throat and my eyes rolled up into my head. There was the sound of gunfire and I was released. I fell to my knees. I looked at the demons. They'd be up again in a second. I started chanting. As fast as I possibly could.
"What are you doing?" Rick asked.
I put my hand out toward him as the demons started to yell. I pointed as one started to run. Rick stopped them. The yelling continued until the demons left their hosts. I sighed and looked at Rick who was now surrounded by people he just killed. He had a deep frown on his face.
"What the hell was that?" He asked.
"You don't wanna know." I told him sympathetically.
He just stood there, looking at all the bodies. I found the power box, flipping on the rest of the lights. Dean and Sam were still in their chairs. Panic started to seep into me as Dean sat hunched over in his chair. He didn't even look up, there was blood slowly dripping from his head.
"Dean…" I said rushing to him. "Baby?" The tears were immediate as I lifted his head. He was unconscious. Sam was looking at me with worry and relief. I took the tape from his mouth, looking him over.
"Evy…" He said sadly. "The window."
"What happened?" I asked as I untied him.
"The usual." He said as I moved to his brother. "They un-gagged him. He argued with them. Wanted to know if you were dead or not. He thought he had felt you. He thought you were dead."
"I was. For a while." I told him as he started to untie his brother. "Be careful."
Sam helped me lay him on the ground. He had a nice gash where he was hit. Tears fell down my cheeks as I put my hand on his face.
"Dean, baby, wake up." I said gently.
"Who's he?" Sam said nodded at Rick.
"His name is Rick Holland. He's a cop." I told him.
"Is he okay?" Sam asked.
"No. He just killed three people and doesn't understand what happened." I told him.
"Evy?" Dean mumbled.
"Hey, baby." I said and kissed his forehead. "How are you feeling?"
"Like crap."
I laughed at him. "Good, you look it." I smiled and ran my fingers through his hair.
"You too. I thought you were dead." He said looking at me with quick movements. It was as if he was trying to memorize me all over again. I knew the feeling.
"I'm right here, baby." I smiled and kissed him.
"I saw you go through the window." He frowned.
"Yeah, that sucked." I grinned. "Don't worry. I was kept alive by that man over there."
Dean frowned and sat up. "Hmph."
"Dean." I said and shook my head.
"I wasn't gonna do anything." He frowned.
"Sure." I replied and helped him to his feet. "Easy."
"I'm okay." He said and walked toward Rick. "Hey." He said nodding to him.
"Hey." Rick said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Thanks for saving Evy." He said holding out his hand.
"Evy, huh?" He said looking at me as he shook my fiancés hand.
"Yeah." I said taking Dean's hand in mine.
"I guess he is more badass if he's messed up in all of this." He told me.
I smiled at him. "You don't even know what you got yourself into."
"Yeah, I can see that. What were they?" He asked.
"People being possessed by demons." Sam told him.
"You're kidding right?" He frowned.
"Wish he was." Dean told him.
"I'm sorry." I told him sadly. "I shouldn't have let you come here."
"So…" He said looking at the bodies. "I just killed people who were possessed."
"Yeah." I replied softly.
"And what did you do?" He asked me. "With the chanting and all?"
"I exorcized them. Forced the demons from their bodies." I replied.
"Would they have lived if I hadn't shot them?" He frowned.
"If - emphasis on the 'if' - their bodies were okay. If the demons hadn't hurt them, then yes. They might have lived." I explained. He just nodded and looked at them. I let go of Dean's hand and stepped up to him, making him look me in the eyes. "Rick, there is nothing you could have done. You weren't in the wrong. It was a sucky situation and you didn't know what was going on."
"But I still killed them." He frowned at me. "That's Rob Peterson. And that's Andy Johnson who had a wife and a family."
"You did what you thought was right. You helped me. You're not in the wrong here. Believe me." I told him as gently as I could.
"You don't seem to be bothered by this at all. Who the hell are you?" He frowned and turned away from me.
"Holland!" I yelled after him. He turned and looked at me. "Who I am isn't important. What's important is what you're going to do now that you know."
"I'm not gonna do a damn thing, not with you. I'll call it in and make something up." He told me.
"Just like that?" I frowned at him. "You don't want to know who we are?"
"I know who they are. I can't say I've come across you before." He told me.
"What?" I frowned. Dean stepped next to me.
"They're supposed to be dead." He told me. "I don't know why they aren't. But I'm not the type to go against something that people have tried so hard to bury. So, no, I don't care who you are. Just get out of my town."
"I'm sorry." I told him.
"I'm sure you are." He said but his tone was full of malice.
"Rick…" I said following him. I grabbed his arm once we were outside. The boys stayed behind. "Thank you. I really mean it. Thank you for what you did. For what you're doing."
"You're welcome." He said and looked at me. "You are a strange woman."
"I know." I smiled.
"Here." He said giving me his card. "Just in case you need a cop."
"Thank you." I said and hugged him quickly.
"Get out of here." He said looking back as Dean and Sam came from the building.
I nodded and went to my boys. I looked back at him once more before we made a run for the woods. We followed the road back to town to find our home. Once we were inside the Impala it seemed like a calm had settled over all of us. I looked at Dean, taking his hand in mine. We filled each other in on what had happened. We didn't have anything new. We were in exactly the same place we were when we got here. Only in worse condition. So now we were off to the next town. Trying our best to find Bela and the Colt. We hoped it would be just a matter of time. But that was the one thing we didn't have. Looking at the clock once we were on the road it felt like there were mere minutes left. Minutes that were going by far too fast. But I wouldn't give up. I told him I wouldn't and I would be true to my word. But where to start next was a complete mystery.