Chapter Two

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The green eyes that met his were very familiar, pity they looked out from the wrong face.

He recognised the possessor of those eyes, he'd killed her himself, certain she was going to plunge a knife into Dean as required by the Amazon ritual.

The daughter forced to eliminate the male who'd fathered her.

"Emma...!?"

"Uncle Sam!" she offered sarcastically. "Thanks for sending me to Purgatory."

"That's enough!" A voice at her shoulder reproached her. "There's no point to bringing up the past. It won't help any of us."

:

Sam tilted his head to get a better look. "Lenore..?" She took Emma's place at his side.

"Sam," she smiled. "Nice to see you again, though I'm a bit confused about why a human like yourself should have been wandering around in Purgatory."

He pulled himself up, ignoring the hammer in his head which was doing its damnedest to convince him not to, and got a better view of the other figures that approached and encircled him.

"Madison... Amy... ?" He craned his neck past them to where an ulterior group of female souls hovered in the back-ground.

He averted his eyes in regret, two of these had died by his hand, and Amy and Lenore because of their association with him and Dean. He was sure many of the others had also been dispatched to Purgatory by the Winchesters.

He sighed, these souls had all taken human lives, or in Emma's case that had been the intention, so why did he feel so guilty!

:

Sam had always struggled with 'evil means monsters, means ganking' outlook John and Dean had been so sure of, and having some of those kills looking down on him now, twisted threads of regret in his gut.

Lenore studied him.

She'd always been perceptive and knew exactly what was going though the young man's mind.

Sam was one of the few hunters she'd met that had a conscience, not the most desirable trait for those that followed the life.

"How are you feeling. That's a nice lump decorating your head," she offered to distract him.

Sam brought a cautious hand to the tender mass, twitching at the touch.

"I've's been worse. What happened? How did I get here? Wherever here is?"

:

Sam had kept his eyes steadily averted from Madison.

She was the one who still filled his nightmares along with Jess. It had cost him all his courage to put a pistol to her head and pull the trigger, yet she was the one who answered, forcing him to look up at her.

"We came across you just after a group of vamps got in a blow to the head. We fought them off and brought you here. Just a normal day in Purgatory!" she shrugged.

"Madison, I.."

"Don't Sam! Don't...please. What happened wasn't your fault. It wasn't you that turned me into a were-wolf and it was I who asked you to kill me. You and Dean did all you could to try to save me."

Sam swallowed and nodded. Nothing could ever make him feel better about killing her, not even her own words of forgiveness.

"Now that we're at the blame game," Amy butted in. "You let me live Sam, Dean killed me, so please don't take responsibility when it doesn't apply."

:

Sam lifted his head catching each pair of eyes in turn. "I'm sorry, okay, for all that happened, whether it was me, Dean or another hunter that did the killing. None of us deserved what fate served up."

"Right!" Lenore declared. "Let's leave it at that. We can't change the past so let's just move on. What are you doing here, Sam? And complete with your human body, too?"

"Dean's here,. He got dragged in along with the leader of the Leviathans when he killed him. I came to take him home."

The women around his pallet exchanged confused glances.

"We hadn't heard Dean was here," Amy mused.

"Which is strange," Madison added. "Usually that kind of news would've spread by now. A human in Purgatory is definitely cause for rumour."

"Yeah, well we tend to keep to our own little corner," Lenore confirmed. "We don't communicate much with the rest of the goons down here. They tend to kill before gossiping!"

:

"Might have known Dean was the reason you were here," a voice chuckled. Sam studied the woman coming to join them, but he didn't recognise her.

"Do I know you?"

"No, you won't recognise me, not with this aspect anyway. When I was on Earth I wore a different body, one that Bobby, bless his soul, appreciated. You remember the dragon sword, don't you. One that your cocky brother blew to bits!"

"Dr. Visyak?"

"The very one. I should have listened to the warnings but...here I am."

:

Sam felt like squirming under the joint gazes of the five women. "Uh, so what is this place? You girls all stick together or whatever?"

"Something like that, " Lenore smiled. "United we have a better chance of survival in this hell-hole. The men are particularly aggressive, so one at a time we congregated together, found ourselves a secluded little corner of Purgatory and set up house!"

Sam hummed. "What exactly goes on in Purgatory? "

"Well, the pastime seems to be killing as many as you can. Monster soul against monster soul. We didn't want to take part, so here we are, trying to stay alive and keep each other sane."

:

"Thanks for saving my hide, but I gotta find Dean," Sam said swinging his feet onto the ground and pushing himself up, only to see the surroundings swirl around him.

Lenore pushed him back down, shaking her head. "You've got a concussion Sam. Give yourself time to heal. One more day's not going to make any difference. We'll give you a hand to find your brother, if he's still alive. You two belong together, so the quicker you get him back, the better."

"How long have I been here? " Sam blurted out in panic, remembering the reaper had said twenty-four hours.

"Maybe a day and a half." Lenore replied.

:

Sam's eyes glazed over.

The reaper would be long gone and in any case he'd no clue as where to find his big brother.

Now he was imprisoned in Purgatory along with Dean. Great rescue attempt, moron, he chided himself. How the hell were they going to get out?

Lenore was right though. He needed to get back to full strength before taking on this place.

His eyes fluttered closed. Tomorrow he'd find his big brother.

Everything would be better with Dean by his side.

:

The next time he awoke, the hammer in his head had dulled to an ache and he opened his eyes to see a dark-skinned girl sitting at the side of his pallet.

"Hey there. Feeling better?"

Sam pulled himself up and this time the surroundings stayed still. "Yeah, much better, thanks."

He studied the girl's face hoping she hadn't died by his hand, but as if she'd read his mind, she quickly reassured him.

"You didn't kill me, Sam. That honour fell to my brother. He chopped my head off without a second thought, calling me a monster. Have to say the words hurt almost more than the axe."

Sam realised then who she was. "You're Gordon Walker's sister?"

"Yeah. Lucky me!"

:

Lenore strolled over, alerted by their chatter.

"You okay, Sam? Whenever you're ready we can go looking for that brother of yours."

"Yeah, I'm good," Sam replied. "But you don't have to come with me Lenore. The last thing I need is to see any of you killed again though I can't really see how souls that are already dead, can be!"

"We wondered about that too," Lenore grinned. "And our on-going theory is that since souls are immortal, when we die here we get regenerated in some way. Don't ask me how. And I mean all souls, even demon ones."

Sam nodded. It made sense. The bible stated souls were immortal, so it was impossible to eliminate them completely. He wondered just how many things were still to be discovered, but theology wasn't his problem now, Dean was!

"Let's go then," Sam said. "If you're sure."

"We are," Lenore grinned. " Purgatory isn't just dangerous, it's boring too!"

Sam returned her smile.

He was scared for Dean, but finding Lenore and her little group made him feel less alone, and them knowing the territory was a huge advantage in finding his brother.

:

So that's how Sam Winchester found himself at the head of a compact little group of a dozen female souls, all moving carefully and silently through the twilight world of Purgatory.

TBC