Contradictions

Chapter Five

Present, in the Woods:

"Sam, slow down a second," Bobby Singer called in a more hushed voice as he and Sam tracked through a much heavier section of woods outside of the town.

Slowing down was not something that Sam Winchester wanted to do. He understood the time already lost and hated losing anymore in his search for Dean. Of course, the hunter in him also understood what Gabe SilverHeart and Bobby had told him about charging in, so with great reluctance Sam stopped to look back.

It was night. Not the best time to be trying to move through the woods, Sam knew, but would have to remember to ask Bobby just where the hell he got the fancy night vision goggles and stuff he'd brought with him from Sioux Falls.

By the time Sam had driven back to the new coordinates, he'd been happy to see Bobby's old blue car parked off the road with the older man waiting for him.

Sam showed a grim-faced Bobby the files he'd been given and while Bobby looked the map over he told him about Ames not being a real certified medical doctor but basically a geneticist with his own weird plans to play God and create a mixed species; of which he actually might have been successful at least once.

They set off through the woods and despite that one time when Bobby had to rein Sam back in for charging in too fast and to give him new bullets, they'd made good time in following the map once they'd found the proper path.

"Look, according to this map we should be getting close to whatever entrance there is," Bobby said. "There might be guards or some kind of defense system since if this guy has gone to all the trouble he has all these years to keep this thing, this cave, his secrets hidden then I can't see him not having any type of defense for her… it… whatever the hell this thing is," he went on seriously.

"I really don't think he'd have much in the way of defense other than some way to maybe block the entrance to prevent escape from her victims," Sam replied, explaining at Bobby's raised eyebrow. "Ames wouldn't actually care if a hiker or someone stumbled onto her lair. Hell, that would just be extra food or sport for her."

Bobby silently had to admit that reasoning made a lot of sense. He didn't care for it because that just meant the danger was even more intense and he worried not only for Dean but for Sam.

"Do I need to ask if you'll let me go in first once we find this place?" he asked, glancing around when he thought he'd heard something but after a second or two of the noise not repeating he shrugged it off.

"No," Sam refused, sighing. "Bobby, I know what you're worried about. Yes, I admit every ounce of me wants to charge in there with guns blazing or whatever the hell we have that might kill this thing. I want that," he admitted, glancing at his weapon before looking up again. "I also know Dean's life is at stake and I can't do that."

The gruff, grizzled hunter stayed silent as they moved closer to where the entrance of a cave should be located while keeping a close eye on the younger Winchester.

Sam had never been as hotheaded as his older brother, and as Bobby knew even now between the two of them that it was usually Sam that took things slower and was more cautious. Usually being the operative word, and this was not a usual type of hunt for the boy because, as Bobby also knew, if anything would cause Sam to lose his standard calm or his patience it would be any type of threat to Dean and that was what they faced now.

"Hey, Bobby? Do you know why my dad didn't come back here like he wrote in the journal?" Sam asked, taking a more careful step as the ground here seemed softer and also had started to slope down slightly. "I do remember him dropping us off with you but clearly either he didn't come back or he didn't figure it out about this thing."

Bobby had been thinking about the timeline ever since Sam had called him the first time to tell him what was happening and that he needed help. It had only taken him about forty minutes or so before he placed that time in his memory because he recalled John bringing the boys and the nightmares both of them had still been having even after their father left them for about two weeks with him to go hunt another case.

"He mentioned to me going back but then he got a tip on a case in Montana that took him over there while he left you and Dean with me. By the time he got back, what happened here either slipped his mind or didn't seem as important to John," he replied, not missing the words Sam muttered and guessed the bad blood between father and younger son was still there. "Sam, you know how John was."

"Yeah. I know that only too well," Sam said bitterly, freezing with his next step when this time both he and Bobby heard what sounded like a woman shrieking from off in the distance. "Bobby?"

"Well, lore says the lake is haunted so it could be something from there or there could be a woman in trouble somewhere else since sound does travel," Bobby replied after another moment, looking around and not seeing anything on the heat sensor he'd also brought from his storage room.

"How far can sound carry from underground?" Sam suddenly asked, noticing what looked like a few broken branches that were on the ground. Kneeling down, he looked closer and noticed what was definitely several large boot prints in the soft dirt. "Someone or a couple people came this way recently and by the depth of these prints, I'd say at least two of them were carrying something heavy," he glanced up at Bobby. "They came this way."

"Y'know, your daddy used to complain that you never picked up a lick of his training," Bobby remarked, motioning to the prints. "You have a good eye, Sam."

Sam stood up to see if he could locate any more tracks but glanced back at Bobby with a dry, little smirk. "Thanks. But Dad was right," he told him, turning to continue but picking up his speed carefully. "I didn't learn what I know from him. I learned it from Dean."

Bobby grinned as he watched the younger Winchester walk away, shaking his head and knowing that no matter what or how those boys might fight or bicker at times, he didn't think there'd ever be a time when they wouldn't do anything or fight anyone for the other.

He hurried to catch up to Sam, grumbling about the sloping ground, but guessed if there was a good place for a cave entrance then they should be coming up on it soon.

"Sam, once we find this cave and find this thing, if you have to shoot it, aim for the head or the heart," Bobby quickly told him while silently hoping even shooting this thing with what he had the bullets coated with would work.

"There is no 'if I have to shoot it', Bobby," Sam shot back sourly, stopping when he saw something up ahead in the night vision that made him frown. "I will shoot this thing and then I will cut its head off. Shit," he swore viciously. "No guards or defense like I thought but this is how he keeps her victims inside."

Bobby joined him and scowled. "Balls!" he swore, taking in the large stone that covered what appeared to be a cave but then he saw something behind the boulder. "Sam, there's a goddamn cell door behind this thing."

A cold feeling in his gut was screaming at Sam that they needed inside this cave and they needed inside ASAP. Since he doubted Ames came out here every time with those goons, Sam knew there had to be a way that the old man could maneuver that stone by himself. A quick look around the area showed him indentations in the soft dirt, as well as a large, heavy steel rod.

"Help me with this thing," he told Bobby after he grabbed the rod and saw that the other hunter had found a sturdy log to use so they could use the soft dirt and muscle to lever the boulder far enough away from the opening to expose the heavy grate gate that had been installed so a lock from the outside could be used. "I hate this bastard more and more," Sam muttered sourly, reaching into his inner jacket for the small pack of lock picks he'd learned to always keep on him.

Bobby stood by as if to make sure no one or nothing might be coming up on them, glancing around with both his night vision and the heat sensor. He heard a sudden sound that told him that Sam had quickly picked the lock and had given the item a hard toss into the woods. He was about to make a comment when the next sound that was heard froze both men where they stood.

The sound was a distant echo, but being so close to the mouth of the cave there was no doubt that it came from somewhere inside. There was also no doubt what it had been; an agonizing and horrified scream of a man in severe pain.

Sam's head had snapped up and around as soon as he heard the scream. There was ice in his veins, his heart slammed into his throat because he'd heard a sound similar to that once: the night they'd tracked that Rawhide down and Dean had been electrocuted. He'd heard his brother scream in pain that night too so he knew that sound.

He knew it, and hearing it now, but with so much more pain, so much more fear attached to it went right to Sam's heart and any inner reminder to not charge in, to go slow was no longer in the cards.

"Dean!" Sam shouted, jerking open the cell-like door, and before Bobby could even think to make a grab, the hunter was bolting into the cave with his weapon held ready against whatever they came across.

"Goddamn stubborn idjit Winchesters!" Bobby muttered, running after Sam while silently hoping this wasn't a trap or that the scream didn't mean what he feared it might or what Sam might find. "Sam, come back here! You can't face this thing by yourself! Sam!"

Inside the cave, back in the alcove area, Dean Winchester had no idea help was close. Right then all he was dimly aware of was being able to hear his own voice scream in pain as the half human/half reptilian woman that he'd been given to for whatever purpose sank her teeth, including her fangs, into the side of his throat after he'd managed to fight against the paralyzing drugs he'd been given multiple doses of.

Dean had recently been wishing for death over being the creature's sex slave or her food source but now as he felt her teeth dig in, felt a burning which told him she was secreting more venom into his bloodstream to once again numb his reactions, he also could almost feel her sucking his blood.

The hunter could still feel his fingers digging into the covers, he felt one arm slowly tensing, but still understood that wasn't enough to fight; especially not given her reaction to his last attempt, but again Dean was still certain a fast death might be better than what else she had planned.

"You will give in to me. You will obey like you were told to or I'll punish you again," Loralei said, sitting up with blood dripping from her mouth onto his face while she used her hands, now almost fully like claws, to grip his shoulders while she once again began to climb on top of him with plans to slip his cock up inside her.

"F-fuck… off," Dean heard his own voice, tight and barely above a strained whisper grind out between gritted teeth.

Shock. Surprise. Rage. Those were the three emotions the hybrid girl experienced when this man, this perfect mate that she'd seen years ago in the woods when he'd been a boy, not only tried to fight her but managed to curse her.

"You're the first of so many who have managed to not only fight my venom but father's drugs," she told him, claws grabbing him by the throat again. "I will punish you horribly for this."

Grabbing heavy ropes, she began to tie his arms and hands behind him while also tying his ankles. "I was going to wait until later to show you my special cocoon but now, now my human you will suffer its unique fluid and what it does to humans who disobey me!"

Dean wasn't sure what any of that meant but figured it wasn't good. He was about to attempt to use what little strength he might have been recovering to attempt to fight when he heard a sound that he wasn't sure relieved or terrified him.

"Dean!"

He jerked his eyes toward the still distant sound of his brother's voice and then just as quickly back to Loralei and knew in a heartbeat that she recalled who that voice must belong to.

"Your brother?" she asked with a coy smile, catching a handful of his hair to pull his head back so their eyes met. "The little one I wanted you to bring for me back then?"

Dean's heart was pounding faster now while watching her slide those blue reptilian eyes over his body before moving back to the alcove door, towards the main chamber where Sam's voice could be heard getting louder.

"Hmm. I will punish you. I will put you in the cocoon to keep you kept tight and safe, so the drugs in its fluids will seep into your skin and force you to obey me," Loralei remarked, her tongue slithering out to lick over the blood dripping from the deep gashes she's made on his chest from her claws. "And while it slowly absorbs you, I will go lure your brother in further to my lair. He won't be expecting what he'll find and I'm faster and stronger than any human, but I won't kill him quickly." She recognized hate in his eyes but this time her laugh was slightly more maniacal. "To fully teach you a lesson on disobeying, I will force you to watch while I play with him like I would mice as a child. Then… then I will feed on him like I did those mice."

"Dean!"

This time when Sam's voice shouted for him, Dean swallowed the burning lump in his throat. He jerked his head away from her grasp to look toward the alcove opening. "S-Sammy! Get… Get out!" he shouted as best as he could, screaming as claws raked across his bare stomach while she used her other hand to grab his throat to use as she dragged him from the bed, across the larger than it looked alcove to where something sat back in a darkened corner.

"He won't hear you. You're too weak," Loralei smirked, twisting the restrained hunter around so she was pressed against his back, easily holding him with one slender arm wrapped around his chest from behind while she forced his head to look. "Father made this cocoon for my toys when I don't feed from them and kill them or eat them right away," she told him, kissing his neck where she'd bitten. "He's a very smart man. He's more than just a geneticist. He's also a biologist who understands how to make or mix things that can harm but also supply nutrients so my toys stay strong."

Dean was willing his body to resist or to be able to do anything in order to keep her from trapping him in whatever the hell that thing was as she went to ambush Sam but with how he was tied and a new dose of her venom in his blood he was starting to feel weak, almost fully numb again.

"Father fills it fresh each time. He filled this one with human nutrients but also drugs to boost the ones he gave you already," she went on softly, biting his shoulder but feeling his body try to struggle as she lifted him easily with one arm to place his bare feet into what looked to be an almost plasmic covering. "The fluid feels warm, thick, doesn't it? Kneel!" Loralei ordered briskly, forcing her helpless captive to his knees and then to his back while slowly the cocoon began to form around him and fill with whatever warm, green looking liquid was in it.

"If you don't try to struggle too much, it might not completely close and suck you in by the time I've caught the little rat coming to try to save you," she added, stepping back with a cold, cruel smile. "If it does, well, I have had more than one toy die from suffocation if it went over his face and the fluid got into his mouth and lungs. You don't want that, do you? You'll want to see what I plan for your brother."

Dean fought terror, fought fury, fought his own helplessness as he was forced to watch Loralei stroll out of the alcove while hearing Sam's voice now loud enough that he could tell his brother was in the main chamber without any idea of the danger he was in.

He attempted to try to twist his wrists or his ankles to see if he either had movement or could get the ropes free but quickly realized his mistake when the odd feeling, slimy like plasma began crawling over his body at a much faster rate until he realized it was forming what might look like a cocoon around his body.

That was bad enough, but then he began to feel the warm, green fluid inside start to creep up his body, as it did, he could feel his skin burning and an odd sense of dizziness start to take hold.

Dean accepted what his fate was going to be, but that did not mean he planned to let it be Sam's fate too. Taking as deep a breath as he could right then, while seeing where either the cocoon and the fluid were, he decided to at least attempt to warn his brother.

"S-Sammy! Get outta here!"

The tunnel from the cave opening to the main chamber was a lot longer, more curving than Sam was expecting or cared for as he ran down it as quickly as he could while hearing Bobby's footsteps behind him.

Sam understood he'd acted rashly but he figured he'd take the older man's lecture once they had Dean back and safe from this thing.

There'd been once while coming down the tunnel that Sam had thought he'd heard Dean's weak voice shouting for him to get out, but that was not something Sam planned to do until he either had Dean or had his brother's body.

Stepping from the tunnel into the cave's main chamber brought Sam up short as he hadn't been expecting it to be as large as it was. He figured it had to go for several miles and looked to have at least one offshoot tunnel as well.

Now caution was more in control. Sam had half expected to see Dean or the creature that roamed this cave in the chamber but it seemed to be empty except for several chains on the floor, a cage on wheels set against a wall. But it was the piles of bones and what looked like it could have once been shedded skin that then caught his eye before something else did.

Kneeling down, Sam touched a piece of torn plaid fabric before reaching over for a piece of shredded denim and felt his blood start to boil with fury because he recognized the plaid fabric as a piece of his brother's plaid shirt that he'd been wearing.

He leaned forward to gather a few more pieces of cloth when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. "Give him back," he said quietly, tightly but without moving except to slowly shift his 9mm Taurus into a better grip.

"He belongs to me for so long as he still has blood in his body," Loralei replied from somewhere in the darkness. She could easily see her prey where he knelt on the floor picking up pieces of fabric. "You're the little one he sought to protect from me. You are not so little now, but you will provide me with much food as well as punishment for my pet," she continued, licking her lips as she imagined what she could do with this one as she knew she could easily outpower him as she was faster and stronger than any human.

Sam knew Bobby was close but both men knew they needed this thing drawn out of the dark if they stood a chance of finding Dean in her lair. "No, I'm not as little as I was that time," he agreed, hearing movement from a darkened alcove while he slowly prepared himself. "I'm not going to be a meal for you and I will be taking my brother back, bitch."

"S-Sammy! Get outta here!"

Loralei's teeth bared at both Sam's insult and that her toy even now was refusing her, claws forming on her hands to now look fully more reptile like. "He's mine! You will not take him! But maybe you can watch as he suffocates in my little cocoon!"

Using her speed and strength to her advantage and because she knew he didn't know exactly where she was, the hybrid creature lumped out of the darkened alcove with her fangs and claws ready to attack what she viewed as a threat to what she was given to play with. "Die!"

"Sam!"

TBC