Dean drifts in and out of conscious. The impact of his head hitting the wall was hard. He struggled to focus. His vision started to blur.
He heard his name being called but it sounded faraway. He also saw blood pooling around his feet. He slowly blinks and his eyes follow the trail of blood. The blood led to the body. The body laid face down on the ground.
"Wha..."
"Dean!"
Dean glanced and saw Castiel. The angel looked frantic.
"Cas." Dean slurred.
Castiel shakes his head. He turns to the body and begins to put the body on its side.
The body had its back to Dean. Blood soaked it's clothes and it's hair is in a tangled mess.
"I can't heal you." Castiel explained to the fallen casualty. "The bullets it contains poison and it is spreading. I can however try to slow down the spread. Once Rowena is here hopefully we can find a permanent solution."
A moan came from the injured person. Dean tried to whack his brains in trying to find out who this person was but his mind was hazy and the darkness started to consume him.
Castiel gives Dean another worried look before returning his attention to the fallen casualty. Then the angel's eyes glowed and he placed his hands on the wound.
A scream ripped out. The scream caused Dean to flinch. Castiel apologized and quickly got some pillows to make the man comfortable. As Castiel again moved the body Dean caught a glimpse of the man's face.
The shock of what Dean saw made the fog clear from his brain and his eyes widen with horror.
"Patrick." He gasped.
Shortly after the fog started to fill Dean's head again.
Patrick's pale, ashen face with blood pouring out of his mouth was the last thing Dean saw before the darkness pulled him under.
The next time Dean woke up he found himself surrounded by various plants and ornaments. The hunter groans as a sharp pain went through his head. He lifts his hand and touches his head. He rubs it and lets out another groan.
"He's awake." He heard someone say.
Dean turns his head and sees a figure sat opposite him.
"Welcome back to the land of the living Sleeping Beauty." Crowley greeted him.
Dean sighs and slowly sits up. At first his head spun. Dean holds on to his head with his hands and again sighs. He is sure he had a concussion.
Then Castiel walks in. He hurries over to the hunter.
"Dean?"
"Cas?"
Cas grabs Dean by his chin and quickly looks him over. Dean protests and tries to squat the angel's hands away but Cas wouldn't let go. Cas narrows his eyes as he examined the hunter.
"How do you feel?"
Dean finally manages to smack the angel's hands away. He then answered.
"I'm fine...well head hurts like a bitch but other than that all good...I think." He grimaced as he again rubs his head.
"You feel fine you feel like yourself?" Cas asked his voice cautious.
"What he means is do you feel like you want to kill someone more specifically do you want kill a witch?" Crowley added.
Castiel shoots the demon a glare before turning his attention back to Dean.
"What's going on?" Dean asks.
"You don't remember?" Cas frowned.
Dean closes his eyes.
"I um...Its kinda hazy umm..." He shakes his head. "Wait what does he mean by killing a witch?"
"Dean." Cas said his name slowly and his eyes are wide with worry. "What is the last thing you remember?"
"I went to see Chuck." Dean nods. "I spoke to Him about Sam and..." Dean's eyes suddenly widen. The recent events start to flood into his mind. Images flash across his eyes starting from the moment he spoke to Chuck all the way to seeing Patrick's dying form in Castiel's arms.
Patrick!
Dean's wide eyes turn on to the angel.
"Where's Patrick?" He asked his voice urgent.
As Cas opens his mouth to answer he is suddenly cut off by another voice.
"Alive barely thanks to you."
Everyone turns round and sees Rowena has entered the room. She had her hands on her lips and she glares at the hunter.
"You could have killed him." She continued her voice full of anger. "What the bloody Hell were you thinking?"
"He's...He's alive?" Dean shakes his head. "But witch killing bullets..."
"Didn't hit the heart or head." Cas answered. "I arrived when you were both fighting over the gun I saw you were about to pull the trigger so I stepped in to stop you but..." Cas sighs. "You still pulled the trigger but fortunately because I intervened I managed to get you to miss the target so the bullet hit around the stomach area. When you are shot in the stomach it is a slow death so a witch killing bullet is also a slow death. The ingredients in the bullet is poison to witches and that poison immediately begun to spread around Patrick's body. I managed to slow down the poison until Rowena could come up with a counter spell a cure that could save him."
"And did you?" Dean looks at Rowena with hope in his eyes. "Did you save him?"
"It wasn't easy." Rowena admits with a sigh. "Spent nearly two days searching for the stuff that will counter what is in those bullets." Dean looked supervised at that. "Aye Dean." Rowena nods. "You were out for a while. Castiel predicated you had a concussion and thought it would be for the best if you slept it off. Anyway as I was saying at one point we nearly lost Patrick but we managed to bring him back through compressions. Eventually I did find what we were looking for and I created a antidote but through that time Patrick was using his own magic in his body to fight off the poison and..." Rowena grimaced and her face looked pained.
"What?" Dean turns to everyone. "What is wrong with him?"
Before anyone could answer Dean suddenly gets up and runs into the other room. He throws open the door to the bedroom and goes in.
The hunter suddenly froze in his tracks. His eyes widen with horror.
Across the room in the bed was the Irish witch.
The He-witch has aged...literally.
Patrick's face looked ghostly pale. He had dark rings under his eyes and some of his hair has turned grey. Dean also noticed there are several wrinkles on the witch's face and he has lost weight on his body. He had a breathing mask over his face to help him breathe. The once cocky, confident witch has been replaced with this weak, fragile man Dean feared if he touched him he could accidentally break him.
You already broke him. A voice sneered in Dean's head. You gave Chuck what He wanted. You got Patrick out of the way.
"We need to take care of the witch." Chuck's voice echoed in his head. "Patrick needs to die Dean you need to kill him. The Dean I know will do anything to get his brother...anything he will not let anything or anyone get in his way. Right?"
Dean bit his lip. He did all this because of his selfish need to have Sam back. Chuck dug into that part of him and brought it to the surface. The need to have Sam back consumed Dean's thoughts and made him do something he now regrets.
The hunter made a pained sound as he slowly approached the bed.
"Patrick?"
The He-witch's eyes slowly flutter open. He blinks several times and looks where the voice came from. He then froze as his eyes go on the hunter. His face morphs into horror and fear showed in his eyes.
"Patrick...Patrick I am so sorry."
Patrick flinched as Dean reached out to touch his arm. The He-witch tried to move back but he couldn't with all the wires hooked on to him.
His reaction hit Dean hard. The hunter straightened up. Hurt and guilt showed on his face.
"Patrick that wasn't me back there it was Chuck He caused this..."
No! Chuck got the ball rolling but the rest was all you. You made those decisions.
Dean pushes those thoughts to the back of his mind.
"Patrick I..."
Patrick mumbled something behind the mask.
"What was that?" Dean asked.
Patrick reaches up and rips the mask from his face.
"Get out!" Patrick spoke his voice hoarse. Dean continued to stand there. Patrick's fear soon turned into anger. "I SAID...GET OUT!"
That sent Patrick into a coughing fit.
Rowena and Castiel came running into the room.
"Get him out of here!" Rowena ordered the angel.
She then puts the mask back on Patrick's face and tries to get him to calm down. Meanwhile Castiel grabs Dean by the arm and escorts him out of the room.
Dean looks back over his shoulder. Rowena is sat on the bed trying to get the other witch to breathe. Patrick's eyes then meet Dean's. The look in Patrick's eyes made Dean's blood go cold. There was fear, anger and hatred in them. The sight of it horrified Dean.
Once Castiel closed the door he gave the hunter an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry about that."
"No." Dean shakes his head. "You have nothing to be sorry for." Dean turns away. "This is my fault."
"Dean." Cas replied. "I was there when you spoke to Chuck. I was hiding. I saw what He did to you. He..."
"Showed me who I truly am." Dean looks back at the angel. "I did this Cas I did this to him."
"Dean don't say that."
Dean wasn't listening to him now.
"I need to get out of here."
"Dean."
Dean was already at the door. He opens it and steps outside.
He then slams the door shut behind him.
As this is an AU I added more to the witch killing bullets. This writer just loves the angst and drama ha ha lol. Patrick's years he has taken in his games has drained out of him not all the years like Lia but enough to reduce him to this weakened state. It has aged him. The antidote is slowly working that will take time. Patrick was angry here and I know in the past he is usually the cool, calm collected one of the group and in the previous chapter he knew something was wrong with Dean but Dean bringing Lia into it made Patrick angry and also Patrick was close to death's door he could have died and that has truly shook him being an immortal witch death seemed almost impossible to him so him having these current emotions would make sense. Oh Dean is going to be on one of his guilt trips :(
Next chapter coming soon.