Disclaimer: I do not own any right to Supernatural, or any of the characters appearing in this story. The original concept is due to Eric Kripke and the rights to it are owned by The CW Network. This is written just for fun and I do not make any profit out of it.
A.N.: The collection is inspired by the Febuwhump2024 challenge. I am starting late and I am not sure how far along I will get with this, that's why is marked complete. I know this is also not in order, but this one stuck with me and since we are past the 9 I decided to share it anyway. I might still go back to previous days in the challenge.
Short shallow story, extremely late because of the flu.
Warnings a bit of whump
HOSTAGE SITUATION
"Okay, just calm down." Sam moved slowly keeping his arms open in the most non-threatening way. Dean was in the cage. Well not The Cage, just a cage. A metal kennel cage, in a long line of cages filled with people. He was trapped like a rabid dog, and Sam was sure that Dean had fought like a rabid dog when the demons attacked the kennel. His battered suit and torn sleeve told the story.
FEW HOURS EARLIER
"Did anyone report anything weird, don't know, smells, cold spots?"
"I save you the time, son. A Hell Hound is already in the kennel and a salt spreader just finished its round, if you know what I mean."
Sam was genuinely impressed to find out that the sheriff was a seasoned hunter. He rang Dean to tell him there was no need to talk to animal control but his brother didn't answer. He looked at the falling snow he decided he could wait at the sheriff office until Dean could pick him up. It would be nice just to spend the night in a warm pub, rather than hunting for once. Maybe it was a good chance also to learn some tricks from the sheriff. As he turned around he realized there was quite some turmoil around the office. He stopped a junior officer asking what was going on. "A pack of dogs roaming outside the Kennel, sir."
He saw the sheriff running to the car and went with him.
From the car, they called immediately the kennel.
"Howdy, Sheriff."
"Who the hell are you? Where's Sylvie?"
"Oh don't worry, we are all getting kinda cozy here."
"What do you want?"
"The artifact."
"What artifact?"
"The one Fangor was sniffing out, we know you have it."
Sam looked at the sheriff who shook his head, he had no idea what the guy was talking about.
"Okay, just give me a few minutes and we can discuss it in person."
"Sure we have plenty of pass time here."
There was a pain-filled scream in the background as the conversation was suddenly interrupted. Its pitch was chilling familiar to Sam.
NOW
All the animal cages had been filled with people, the kennel volunteers, the vet, two animal control agents, and Dean. What distinguished Dean's cage was the fact that someone had done a botched-up job at connecting it to a secondary power line through a switch. The sulfuric smell gave away the kidnappers as demons. It was mitigated only by the large rosemary plant by the window next to the door.
"What's so special about him?" Sam asked pointing at the wiring. Since the first time Dean had died, he was on edge every time his brother had to deal with electricity. A couple of dead bodies at the corner of the room stabbed through the chest, gave away the answer.
"None of your business. Just leave the water and get out." That was the best answer he could hope for, it meant that the demons had not recognized them, at least not yet. The demon drummed his fingers on the switch that could electrify Dean's cage. "Don't come back without the artifact."
Sam risked a glance at his brother and saw his own fear reflected in Dean's eyes.
"You said you would free at least one of the hostages." He held his breath staring at the demon tapping his fingers on the switch. He dreaded his request would trigger more torture.
The demon's eyes ran over the line of cages. They went back to Dean. Fingers are still drumming lightly on the switch.
The demon sighed. He gestured toward the last cage in the line. A skinny and really pale looking girl, Sylvie by the Sheriff's description, was released. Sam stayed in the room covering for her escape as she ran for her life toward the exit of the kennel.
When she was near the door a low growl stopped her mid-track. The growl had come out of thin air, from an empty spot next to the door.
"Fangor, stay!" The demon commanded, and the growl stopped. Sylvie looked hesitantly toward Sam, both unable to see the hellhound under the rosemary window. He nodded, just as hesitantly, hoping the demons would not play any trick.
"About the artifact…" Dean shook his head briefly. The demon pressed the switch and Dean's movements disappeared in a cry of agony.
"You want the hostages, find it!"
Sam took a step back, showing he was willing to retreat, shell-shocked from his brother's screams.
"Okay, okay. Just don't do anything else rushed. We just need a bit more time than expected, you'll have it. You'll have the artifact."
"You bring me the artifact, you get the hostages. You fail and I will start to fry them one by one, starting with him."
Sam retreated out of the kennel, paying attention to where he thought the Hell hound was. He gave a last look at Dean.
FEW HOURS EARLIER
"What kind of artifact are we talking about?" Sam asked, he was not keen to satisfy the request of the demon. But he really did want to put his hands on that to bargain for the hostages.
"I have no idea." The sheriff was just as worried and frustrated.
"Maybe if there's a pattern among the victims…"
"This is a far cry, son." Sam thought they hunted on less. If the Hell Hound was looking for the artifact, it only made sense that its victims related to it one way or another.
"Do you have any better idea?"
"I'll have my deputy bring over the files."
Instead of waiting, Sam took his smartphone and started hacking into the digital archive of the police.
NOW
"So?" The sheriff questioned Sam as soon as he exited the kennel.
"The hostages are all alive, but still no clue about the artifact. Any chance we can cut electricity?"
"No, they have some power storage for the solar panels, with that they can be independent for a couple of days. Why?"
"They electrified my brother's cages and they might be doing the same with the others."
Sylvie ran toward Sam when she saw him.
"Thank you a lot. You are Sam, aren't you?"
He looked quizzically at her, he hadn't given his real name to anyone in town, not even the sheriff yet.
"Dean, the man in the wired cage said to give this to you."
"How did you know?"
"We talked before we got in the cages. He said you would be the one with the nice hair coming to help."
Sam unfolded the piece of paper. It was a simple two-line message: 'Holy ground. No artifact.' Sam rolled his eyes, how could he be so dumb as to miss it? The sheriff was by his side immediately.
"They sent us on a wild goose chase. We need to dig into the history of the kennel."
The sheriff looked at the piece of paper in disbelief.
"Do you trust this?"
Sam didn't even bother to answer.
"If you can help, my older sister is still in there," Sylvie begged him
"I got it." It took Sam a good couple of hours of research to reconstruct the demon interest in the place. But in the end, he did it. The ground used to be a cemetery and the Ecael's son lay there. The son was also Ecael's first victim, the killing that drove him crazy. After that he had removed his scarred soul, not to feel the pain and experimented on it until all traces of emotion had disappeared. When he put his soul back he became a demon. He went on killing firstborns. Even after almost a thousand years every winter solstice his soul escapes him to go mourn his son. If the body was summoned to the same place and offered the life of five firstborns, the demon would be linked to the creature summoning it.
The sheriff read through the short paragraph of lore on the demon.
"This sounds nasty. What do we know about the hostages?"
"Well Dean is a firstborn and Sylvie mentioned an older sister. That makes already two out of five, and explain why the demon let Sylvie go."
"He didn't need her." The sheriff concluded. "AJ was at school with me, he is an only child. He is one of the animal control agents."
Sam kept counting, there were five more hostages. He was ready to bet at this point that at least two of them were firstborns, to be on the safe side he asked the sheriff to put someone to check it.
For once the lore seemed to be pretty detailed on how to cast the summoning spell and what not to do. The ingredients were supposed to be burned together over a shrub of rosemary that captured the last rays of the solstice sun, before the moon rose in the sky. The sunset was only half an hour away.
"I can stop it, but I need to go back inside." Sam said confidently.
"If you are wrong, you are dead."
INSIDE THE KENNEL
The phone rang and the demon put it on loudspeaker to answer it.
"We have the artifact!"
"What?" He could not have understood correctly.
"We have the artifact, my partner will bring it to you, but you need to start releasing the hostages."
There was silence on the other side of the line. The demon panicked. He needed the hostages to feed Ecael and as a deterrent for the police.
"Something wrong with your plan?" Dean teased him. He didn't have the time to listen to the human. He needed time to think.
"Are you sure it's the right one?"
"I found it at the last house attacked by your hellhound." It sounded too coincidental that there was a magic object right there. It had to be a trap, but if it wasn't the police would have stormed the place.
"I need to examine it, to make sure it is not a fake before I release the hostages."
"Agreed. The FBI agent that brought the water earlier will come in and bring it to you."
"Alone and unarmed."
"Of course, son."
Sam entered the room, his hands up in the air.
"Where is the artifact?"
"I have it in my pocket, can I take it?"
The demon agreed.
Sam took it out very slowly.
"I am going to pass it to you, so you can see it."
Sam took out a small fabric wrap.
"Here it is. I'll pass it to you." But instead of throwing it in the demon's direction, he launched it into Dean's hands that were now extending through the cage bars.
"What do you think you are doing?" The demon ran to the electricity switch connected to Dean's cage to activate it.
Dean was unfolding his lock pick set, he knew he would not be able to get out before the demon got to the switch, but he had to try.
Sam had no time to worry about it. He profited from the confusion to set the rosemary shrub on fire.
The hellhound sitting by the window immediately growled and clawed at his legs.
"What have you done? You know what that was?" The demon screamed but Sam was fighting for his life.
"Fangor stay!" The other two demons had rushed upstairs to check on the commotion.
Sam was barely breathing but he had a faint smile to his lips.
Dean was working on the lock as fast as he could.
The sheriff's men entered at that moment. Shotguns loaded with rock salt, they kept shooting the three demons over and over. Dean started chanting the exorcism.
Dean jumped out of the cage to reach Sam. Nothing that couldn't be fixed with some stitches and a bit of rest.
"Don't try that again."