Puppet Food Part 2
Title: Puppet Food (5 - 8)
Summary: Bruised, tired and mentally exhausted from their previous hunt, the boys decide to take a break before they look for the next one. Unfortunately for them, their next hunt finds them first. Contains mature material.
Characters/Pairings: Gen, Dean, Sam, Sam/OMC, OMCs
Author:
chocca2
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: *sigh* No, I Still don’t own them, I don’t own much, in fact there have been questions surrounding the ownership of my mind. However, saying that, any characters you don’t recognize have been derived from my head.
Warnings: Violence, graphic descriptions, Strong language, slight noncon (if you squint), Dark fic
Author’s Note: This was originally posted it on Fanfiction.net. Now, this is just one of the many ideas in this crazy head of mine, it’s a ‘Vamp fic’ with a twist. Without giving too much away, there will be Sam and Dean Angst, but mostly Sammy and more protective Dean. Basically Sam's on the menu. They like to play with their food first….
It’s a bit of a slow start but will pick up quickly. It's another a long story (around 45,800 words in total) so I have arranged/grouped the chapters together make it a bit more manageable to read. It's complete so I'll post the rest in a few days. Reviews are very welcome!
(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6)
Im sweating, And breathing
And staring and thinking
And sinking Deeper.
It’s almost like I’m swimming.
The sun is burning hot again
On the hunter And the fisherman,
And he’s trying to remember when,
But it makes him dizzy.
Seems like I’ve been here before.
Seems so familiar.
Seems like Im slipping Into a dream within a dream.
Must be the way you whisper.
Tool - Sweat
Dean lightly kicked the door to their room open, he struggled in with the bag and two cups of coffee in his hands, using the back of his foot, he kicked it closed. The older hunter surveyed the room, taking note that not only was his younger brother still asleep, but something in the room felt different.
After placing his purchases on the table, Dean walked over to his sleeping brother’s side to get a closer look. Sam was draped across his bed with his long arms and legs dangling over each end. Sam wore only his jeans, which Dean found unusual, as he knew his brother enough to know that Sam would always wear something more comfortable to sleep in.
He remembered how he had left Sam at the bar drinking, this allowed Dean’s concern to fade, he considered the possibility that perhaps his younger brother also got ‘lucky’ or maybe just had too much to drink, yeah that was probably why he was still asleep.
The older hunter nodded and smiled at the conclusion he had come to.
"Oh Sammy."
Dean knew his younger brother was never a big drinker and when he did drink, he usual never drank much. It was only on those certain occasions when Sam would let himself go, sinking deeper into the bottle, that Dean would find his little brother like this, not only suffering inside, but also suffering the physical consequences, that’s when he would wake up.
Being the great brother he was, Dean sighed and allowed Sam to sleep in before he told him about the hunt. It just so happened that the little dead town they were staying in had some disappearances and from reading the recent papers earlier that morning he concluded that it appeared to be a vampire hunt.
The older hunter smiled and began to un-tie his boot laces before removing them and throwing them to one side. He would get a shower first, things were looking up, he had had ‘great’ night and now stumbled upon a hunt which he initially though was too soon for them, but reconsidered it as this was just what they needed to get over their last one.
‘Yep.’ He thought as he dragged himself into the bathroom, ‘That was what Winchesters did best.’
---------------
All other senses were present before sight. His nose picked up the pungent aroma of blood, it was thick in the air, the sweet metallic and sickening smell stung his nose as he drew a breath. The familiar, horrible taste of blood in his mouth caused him to gag involuntarily.
The next sense that returned to him was hearing. He could hear the faint, but distinctive sound of breathing. His own breathing was rapid and unsteady, but there was another, more dominant one that over powered all other sounds. It was deep, rhythmic, and seemed to include a lengthier deep inhaling than any exhaling. The deep inhaling was followed by what sounded like a pleasurable sigh. It was at that point the younger Winchester knew he was not in the room alone.
Excluding sight, the last sense to return to the young hunter was touch. This was the sense that troubled him the most, it was the one that made him feel the most uncomfortable. His body felt paralysed. Sam didn’t know if it was with fear, but it was strong and he could not move most of body. The younger Winchester brought in his lips and pressed them together as he used all his energy to move, all he managed was a slight twitch of his fingers. He felt the tacky viscosity of blood between his fingers as the liquid began to dry, he felt his stomach flip once more at the sensation.
Sam’s breathing stopped as he held it in, the hairs on the back of his neck stood sharp, a cold moist hand made its way up from his chest to his neck. The motion was lingered and supple. The younger hunter whimpered at his helplessness, his body was stiff yet hung limp, he was close to passing out again when he remembered he needed to breathe. The intense fear of not knowing what would happen to him should he loose consciousness taunted him. Sam wanted to scream as the same hand tangled itself in his hair, the grip was strong and rough. A tear rolled down the young hunter’s cheek as he felt a warm breath near his lapel.
--------
"Sam?" The older hunter took another bite of his doughnut.
"Shit!" He huffed as the jam dripped onto his lap. He used his finger to retrieve the spillage and place it into his mouth.
"Sam, wake up! We’ve got work to do." Dean shot a glance at his brother on the bed before returning to his coffee and half eaten doughnut.
"Come on Dude!" Dean got up from the chair and sat on his own bed, facing his brother’s sleeping form.
Panic ghosted its way into the older hunter as he watched and waited for a response.
Perhaps he had been wrong he thought while he placed a hand on Sam’s forehead. With a sharp gasp, the sleeping brother grabbed onto the inspecting arm.
Sam’s eyes were filled with terror and shock, as oxygen returned to his lungs he choked and wheezed his way into a steady rhythm. It was only when the younger hunter gained some control of his panicked state, that he released the grip on the arm. He blinked and looked at the marks he had left, only then realising whose it was.
"Dean?" He rasped, it had come out as a whimper, but had been acknowledged by the other hunter.
"Hey, you okay?" Dean’s panicked expression faded to one of apprehension. He didn’t want to distress his brother anymore than he already appeared to be.
Sam couldn’t reply, he simply flopped back onto the bed and continued to catch his breath. He swallowed and nodded. Dean nodded in reply and got up, he moved quickly into the bathroom to return with a glass of water that he held towards his little brother.
"Here, drink this." He gripped onto the glass and with his other hand helped bring Sam’s head up.
"Slowly!" He added. The cooling water touched his lips and he welcomed it into his mouth. After gulping down another mouthful he paused to catch his breath unsure if the water would make its way back up.
"Did you have a vision or Nightmare?" The older hunter questioned. He knew from experience that the reaction he had witnessed was usually one of the two.
The younger Winchester almost flinched in response, it wasn’t the fact that Dean had inquired about it, nor was it the question for that matter, but it was the response to the question that concerned him the most.
The truth was, he wasn’t sure. It felt too real to be a nightmare, those he had had many of and could easily tell the difference. Well, he thought he could. It wasn’t really a vision, not a vision he had ever before, the doubt made Sam more uneasy. He didn’t want to imagine that what he had woken from was a memory of something that had perhaps happened to him.
Sam felt the blood drain from his head, he thought about his most recent memory of last night. All he could remember was the bar, the bar tender and watching Dean Leave. He blinked again and stared into his brother’s eyes in despair. The memory of his very last recollection hit him hard as he remembered walking from bar late at night, he also recalled the fear, followed by the unexplained presence.
Sam closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I …err…Dean, I don’t know… I don’t know what happened to me last night!"
xxxxxxxxx
Sam swallowed the bile rising in his throat, the words he had spoken still ringing loud in his own head.
‘What the hell happened to me last night? How did I get back?’ His frantic and panicked eyes surveyed the surroundings, and fell upon his bare chest.
Sam’s face scrunched in confusion, he felt his heart begin to race against his ribs.
‘Where are my clothes?’ It was then that he realized not only had his shirt been removed, but the rough and ‘free’ feeling in his Jeans confirmed that his boxers were also no longer on his body.
‘Oh God.’ He wondered if he would make it to the bathroom, without throwing up all over his brother. Again.
He was pretty sure that, as good a big brother Dean was, he wouldn’t take another one of these ‘incidents’ so well. With that in mind, he sucked in a breath and closed his eyes to the moving walls.
"Dean…" Dean had been observing his younger brother with caution, taking in the gradual build of panic and the sporadic thinking, hoping that he could tell what was going on in Sam’s head.
He considered all the possibilities that could have happened to him when suddenly he felt the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. That’s when he thought about all the things that could have gone wrong while he was…well while he was getting some ‘ass’ his brother could have needed him and he wasn’t there.
The realization hit him hard. Sam was the only family he had left and nothing would stand in the way of that. Dean cleared his throat. He was suddenly grateful that his brother had made it back to the motel safe, by the sounds of things, slightly confused and hung over, but safe and in one piece.
He hid the relief with a grin. "So Sammy, exactly how much did you have to drink last night?" He stood and made his way to the small table on the other end of the room.
The reply hadn’t been what he had expected. Dean watched in amusement as Sam’s tall frame hopped, half tripped and half fell into the bathroom and onto his knees, he crawled the rest of the way and rested his head on the bowl before the heaves and retching began.
"That many huh?" He leaned on the door, with a sympathetic, yet disgusted smile on his face.
He knew how much his younger brother hated throwing up, but this was self inflicted and Sam was always the first to relish in Dean’s hangover symptoms. The younger Winchester sunk his head deeper into the toilet bowl while his body was overcome with another wave of violent heaves.
"I gotta give it to ya for making it to the bathroom, this time, Sammy. See, this way is much better than using me as your barf bag, well less messy, anyway." Dean made another disgusted face at the memory.
------
Sam had been in the bathroom for over fifteen minutes now, every few minutes Dean made sure he went in there to check that he was still alive, after the first couple of minutes of Dean’s taunting, he had been told not so kindly by his younger sibling to leave him alone, which he did.
Dean stood up from the table and walked over toward the small bathroom, the door had remained open, so he could keep an eye on Sam. He glanced at his watch and decided it was time to pick his brother up off of the floor. Shaking his head, he walked into the room and stood over Sam’s hunched body.
"How you doing Sammy? Come on, lets get you off the floor huh?" Dean spoke softly as he wet a small towel with cold water and handed it to his brother.
Sam replied with a groan, he blinked a couple a times, but everything in the room still appeared fuzzy so he closed his eyes and gave into the strong arms that assisted him to the bed.
-----------
"Hey." Sam brought his hand to his head. "Ohh..man what time is it?" His voice was hoarse.
"Time to wake up, again… It’s about two in afternoon, you feeling better?"
"Dean ..I …last night, it’s just a blur ..I can’t."
The older hunter chuckled, "Oh yeah, we’ve all been there, believe me! Sometimes it’s a good thing you don’t remember. See, there was this one time in Texas, I tried some of this special brew...oh man… I woke up next to…" Dean trailed off his story when he noticed Sam wasn’t even looking at him anymore.
The expression on Sam’s face, forced him into big brother mode almost immediately. Sam was obviously distressed about something.
"Hey" Dean spoke softly, in more serious tone. "You really don’t remember anything?" Dean watched as Sam went to speak before lowering his head defeated.
"I don’t …bits I guess, I err..."
Dean nodded and stood handing his younger brother some water.
"Okay, so what’s the very last thing you remember?"
"Walking….back to the motel, it was late and there was …" Sam shook his head and dug his palm into his head.
Dean swallowed the guilt, already regretting leaving Sam at the bar without the car.
‘Damn it, that was a bad move. There’s a group of vamps out there and Sam was out at night, alone...Shit!’ Dean thought hotly. He straightened in his seat, and patiently waited for his brother to continue.
"I remember saying bye to you, and then bar tender guy, err.. Tristan, yeah I remember talking with him, it was late and I left just before closing. No wait maybe it was already closed…anyway…that’s when…" Sam stopped and shut his eyes.
Dean sat nervously, rubbing his jeans, as his head was swimming with thoughts, he tied together that their new hunt could be connected to Sam’s loss of memory. He hoped to god he was wrong and that Sam had maybe just had too much to drink, but the feeling in his stomach told him otherwise and he nervously bit his lip.
"Dean…something was out there, last night, I could feel it…God Dean what if.." Sam’s voice trembled, causing Dean to move closer and sit on the bed opposite Sam’s.
"Okay, look we just need to piece things together, then things will make a little more sense." Dean tried to appear convincing.
"What is it that we’re hunting?" Sam questioned, catching Dean’s falter.
"Huh, what are you talking about?" Dean replied, caught off-guard.
"There’s something here, isn’t there? It’s a case, isn’t it? You just couldn’t resist, could you?" Sam replied.
"Case? There’s no case Sammy, we’re taking a break, remember?" Dean quickly responded.
"You’re lying." Sam replied.
"Am not!" Dean objected.
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Yes you are, you’re lying Dean, you’re doing that thing you do when you lie." Sam said.
"What thing? I don’t do a thing when I lie." Dean replied fiddling with the belt loops of his jeans and looking around distractedly.
"That thing! That thing right there! It’s that thing you do when you lie! You’re lying Dean."
"Am not!"
"Then why are you playing with your pants like that?" Sam asked.
"Cause they’re nice pants?" Dean offered, his cheeks blushing.
"Like hell, Dean, tell me what you aren’t telling me." Sam said, his face was straight and unimpressed. Sam wasn’t backing down.
"Okay, fine. It is a case. I was gonna tell you, really I was. I was just gonna wait till you were a little less hung over." Dean attempted.
Sam snorted in disapproval.
"What happened to ‘let’s take a break,’ Dean?" Sam asked.
"Well, it started out as a break, but it just so happens that this little town had other plans. You see, I read this morning’s paper and it seems like we have ourselves a vamp problem, a couple of missing persons reports...you know the usual." Dean replied almost hopefully.
Sam let out a breath of relief the tense expression falling from his face.
Dean was relieved at the reaction he gained from Sam.
"What? You mean you’re happy about the hunt?" Dean questioned, once again hopeful.
"No man, I thought...well you were going to say that I...I mean that someone was murd...I could have hurt someone again, god Dean, this whole thing with me not remembering, it’s not like we haven’t been through this before." Sam’s head was bowed and his voice was barely above a whisper.
Dean shook his head that was just like his brother. "Sam, look, that hunt brought up a lot of things that err... that we’d rather forget, but you don’t have anything to feel bad for, you can’t keep doing this to yourself, dude. " Dean waited for a response and when he got none he continued.
"This is different Sam. Look, I know you don’t remember what happened, but it’s not what you think, okay? If anything, I’m worried that this hunt could have something to do with your memory loss, you’re not possessed, Sam. You got that?"
"Don’t…Can we… look, I’m glad about this hunt, I’m fine, I think it’s what we need, what I need." Sam tried his best to get it together. He deliberately avoided eye contact.
There was a pause before any of them spoke again.
"Right, let’s go back to the bar, see if we can figure out what happened to you last night, perhaps that guy, err...Tristan? Maybe he can shed some light on the whole thing. Maybe even help us out a bit, I mean he’s a bar tender, he’s gotta hear a lot of stories, you wanna bet that he knows more about the local legends and missing folks than anyone else in this town? He’s gotta hear stuff from his customers, stuff that nobody else would believe. I mean really, people see something weird or experience something too strange to comprehend, they go get drunk as a way to deal with it and believe me, drunk people will say anything. I bet Tristan has a lot of stories to tell, how about we go and hear some of those tales?" Dean shrugged with a small smile.
Sam nodded and stood before he slowly walked over to his bag.
"Okay. You get cleaned up and I’ll dig up so more info." Dean finished and sat down with the laptop.
xxxxxxxxx
The youngest hunter shut his eyes and let the warm water wash over his body. He stood with his hands spread, bracing himself against the tiled wall of the shower. Almost a whole minute had passed, one whole minute that he hadn’t thought about the night before. A whole minute that he hadn’t thought about his missing clothing, the tender spot on his head that he’d only just noticed and the deep black hole that held his fragmented thoughts. However, that minute was over before he could relish it and the reality of everything had come rushing back with a speed that hit him hard, without warning.
Sam kept his eyes shut, ignoring the dizziness by leaning his head against the cold tile. When the water temperature dropped slightly, he decided to finish up. He wasn’t sure how long he had been in there, but was glad that Dean hadn’t been waiting for a ‘hot’ shower. His goose bumps told him that there was no hot water left.
Sam rubbed his hand over his face and slowly blinked the water out of his eyes. He blinked again, to try to clear his vision. Sam shook his head slightly and placed his hand over his eyes once more. The water just didn’t seem to clear away from his vision, it only caused it to become more blurred. In fact the water didn’t even feel the same, it felt a little too thick and too sticky.
Come to think of it, the all too familiar coppery smell he’d experienced earlier tainted the air. Sam’s breathing hitched. The young Winchester brought his hands up to eyes and gasped in horror at what he saw. The red liquid coated every inch of him, it was all over his body, in his hair, splashed over the walls, it even drenched the shower curtain.
In one swift movement, Sam leapt from the tub, catching his foot on the curtain. He landed onto the hard bathroom floor with a thump.
----
"Sammy?!"
"Arrgh." The youngest hunter groaned and rubbed his side.
His dazed eyes searched the room, looking for the blood that had caused him to lose control in the first place. He rubbed his head, unsure of what he had seen, because his now-clear vision revealed that there was no blood, just water and now he was sitting on the bathroom floor, drenched, bruised, and naked.
"Damn it Sam, I’m coming in!" It took a second to process the shouting behind the door before he quickly became aware of what had been said.
"What no!… Dean I’m fine, I….err …I just slipped, I’m good." Sam did his best to make his voice steady as he spoke.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, dude I’ll be out in a minute!" Sam shouted back, relieved when he heard the distant mumbling from his older brother.
-----
Sam stepped out of the small room before walking over to the bed. He was incredibly aware of the eyes that followed him there while he sat and busied himself with the task of getting his shoes on. Sam briefly glanced at his older brother sitting at the table and raised his hand in the air to ward of the question that was on the tip of Dean’s tongue.
"I’m fine Dean, I just…slipped." He spoke, trying to appear irritated and slightly embarrassed.
The true reason for his fall would remain with him until he could piece together what was going on. Dean shrugged his shoulders in defeat. He would accept that for now. They had work to do.
"You ready?"
"Yeah. I really gotta speak with Tristan man, he’s the last person that saw me last night and all this is driving me crazy…" Sam stopped himself and lowered his pitch, he could see his older brother nodding in acknowledgement, "I just want some answers."
Dean sat still for a moment, watching his brother collect himself before he stood. He understood Sam’s urge to get things cleared up, this was just one of the many things they had to worry about regarding what had happened the previous night.
"Let’s go find this guy Tristan. Oh by the way, while your were ‘slipping’ in the bathroom I found some more information about this town," The older hunter gestured to the door. "I’ll tell you on the way…"
He walked out of the room leading the way to the car parked outside.
Sam grabbed his jacket and stood in the doorway for a moment. He grabbed the handle and pulled the door half way shut. He paused and looked back into the empty room, the young hunter felt a cold chill that brushed over him for a spilt second and he drew in his bottom lip, biting it as he surveyed the room once more. Satisfied that the room was indeed empty, and that his nerves were obviously still on edge, he clicked the door shut before rushing into the Impala.
--------
"I’m really sorry guys, Tristan won’t be in till this evening." The young daytime bar tender offered a sympathetic smile toward the deflated younger hunter.
Dean watched Sam’s eyes dart around desperately, he could sense Sam’s anxiety building. The young lady sighed at the two men standing before her, she briefly turned away before walking off toward a board with pinned documents.
She casually stood with a hand on her hip and stared at one paper in particular for a few seconds before returning to the edge of the bar.
"Yeah, he did the late shift last night so he’s definitely not in till eight."
She offered another smile to the both of them.
Sam nodded, trying his best to remain calm. "I know, I was here last night, I really need to speak with him, it’s important! Is there any way to get in touch with him?"
She stared at Sam for a moment and looked back at the other bar tender.
"We err …We’re not allowed to give out the numbers of employees."
Sam blew out a long breath and turned away slightly so that his back was to her. Dean stepped forward and did the only thing he could think of. If there was a woman involved, and all else failed, flirt.
It wasn’t that he wanted to, well, not entirely, but if this was something that he could do to help his brother, he would gladly do it. Sam walked away from the two, he was happy that Dean was there to handle this one, because he wasn’t really coping so well with everything that had happened. Something was really off, his nerves were on edge, and he could feel himself starting to crack under the pressure.
Hearing the young lady giggle, he glanced at his brother and hoped that whatever Dean was doing, was enough to at least get them an address or number for Tristan. He decided to wait outside and quietly walked out of the door.
------
"You owe me Sammy." Dean walked out smiling and holding a folded piece of paper.
Sam offered a smirk to his grinning brother. "Please tell me that Tristan’s number is there as well?"
"Hey, what do you take me for Sammy?" Dean tried to appear bothered by Sam’s comment, he stared at him for a long moment
"Okay, so yeah I got her number, but I also got Tristan’s Cell number, she said he’s always got it on him and that he doesn’t live too far away, either." Dean finished.
"Thanks." Sam replied in a hushed tone.
"Uh huh, like I said, you owe me."
Sam rolled his eyes and smiled. "Whatever." He smiled and held out his hand toward the paper.
-----
The two hunters sat on the hood of the Impala with the sun beating down upon them. The youngest hunter held the phone against his ear as he waited for an answer. He stood as he heard the phone click over to the voice mail.
"He’s not picking up!" Sam looked at the phone before re-dialling the number and waiting for it to go yet again to the voice mail message.
The younger Winchester sighed impatiently.
"Hey, calm down. Leave a message, we can try again in bit." Dean watched Sam walk away with the phone against his ear.
Sam grasped the phone harder as he waited for the message to finish this time:
"Hey, It’s Tristan. I can’t take your call right now, leave me a message and I’ll get back to you."
Sam took a deep breath to calm himself. "Hi Tristan, it’s Sam here from last night, look dude, I really gotta talk to you, it’s important, so if you could call me back as soon as you get this, that’d be great!"
Dean walked over to Sam who stood staring at the phone in his hand as if simply watching it would make it ring. Upon hearing Dean draw closer, Sam distracted himself from his gaze and slid his cell into his pocket.
"We could check out that café in town, get some more info on this hunt?" Dean suggested.
Before Sam could answer, his ring tone sounded while the vibrating in his pocket confirmed that his phone was ringing.
--
"Tristan?" Sam asked hopefully.
"Hey. Sam?" Tristan asked.
"Yeah, hey man you remember me from last night in the bar right?"
"Of course. It was a late one huh, so what’s this all about, you wanted to talk me?... I’m working later tonight."
"Yeah about that, see err… I was kind of hoping to speak with you before then?" The phone was silent for a second.
"Sure Sam, I can meet you in about…. half an hour?"
"That’d be great, where do you live, I can come by…"
"Nah, it’s not problem dude, I can meet you at this café in town, it’s called ‘Cathy’s’ you can’t miss it. It’s smack bang in the middle of all the shops."
"Err Yeah sure, if that’s alright with you? I don’t want to be a bother."
"You’re not, don’t worry. I’ll see ya soon!"
----
Sam heard the dial tone and looked over to Dean.
"He’s going to meet us at the café in town."
Dean nodded silently, gathering his thoughts. He tilted his head toward the street in the direction of the shops.
"Let’s go. We were heading that way anyway."
----
It didn’t take them long to walk to the small café. It was positioned in-between the other shops just as Tristan had stated. The exterior was worn with chipped paint and it was old fashioned in design. The windows appeared to be slightly tinted as you couldn’t clearly make out the occupants from gazing from the outside.
Dean was the first to push the creaky door open, its loud, high-pitched bell announcing their entrance to the few occupants. The older hunter provided the inquisitive eyes with a classic Dean Winchester grin before glancing back at Sam.
The younger hunter didn’t return the gaze, his eyes scanned the faces in an attempt to see if Tristan may have turned up early. Sam noticed that the lighting in the café was very dim, in fact, you could hardly tell it was daytime at all. The thick smoke coming from the old residents sitting in far left hand corner of the room only made the dim setting more dull and depressing. He couldn’t imagine any one wanting to eat in a place like this. It began to make sense to him as to why the café was so empty.
"Hey Guys, over here!" Both men turned their attention to the right corner of the room where, at a small table placed near the wall, Tristan sat, sporting a cap and shades.
xxxxxxxx
Tristan pushed out one of the chairs with his foot, gesturing towards the taller Winchester to sit. With a courteous nod he greeted each of the brothers.
"Sam," Followed by a mischievous smirk, before drawing his attention to the older. "Ah. Dean?"
Dean silently responded with a nod while he took a seat. The older hunter took in his surroundings once more, his observant eyes focussing on the man before them. Meanwhile, Sam had restrained himself from attacking Tristan with the questions that were swirling around in his mind. After all, he’d only met the guy once and scaring him with questions now wouldn’t do them any good. He patiently waited for Tristan to make the first move. Tristan took his shades off and rubbed his eyes, he inhaled loudly and pulled his cap down further over his forehead.
"So Sam…" Tristan picked up the packet of cigarettes from the table and tipped it to slide one out. He placed the cigarette to his lips before continuing, "Good night huh?"
Sam placed his hand on the back of his neck, rubbing it as if to ease the tension. "Yeah, about last night…" He paused, making it clear that he was thinking about how to put what he wanted to ask.
Sam shifted in his chair uncomfortably, he couldn’t figure out why he was finding it so hard to talk. He had so many things he wanted to ask. Sam shot a quick glance at Dean before he attempted to continue. Neither of them could respond as Tristan swiftly took the stick out of his mouth and spoke.
"Hey, is that what this is about?...Nothing bad happened did it?"
"Well, that’s just it, um I can’t really remember much about what happened." Sam’s ghosted an embarrassed expression. "I was kind of hoping you could shed some light on that for me?"
Tristan gave a sympathetic smile that turned to a worried glare. "Sure man, you really don’t remember anything?" He scrunched his face in confusion. "It’s just that you didn’t seem that wasted to me, I mean yeah you had a few too many, but you were pretty with it when you left. Seriously man, I wouldn’t have let you go on your own if you were too drunk…."
"I know. It doesn’t really make sense to me either. Well, not much does actually. Do you know what time I left?" Sam tried to make his voice sound strong and solid.
"Well err…it was a little after closing so it must have been about midnight." Tristan studied the two hunters, noticing their urgency for some answers. "So what exactly happened to you? You get home… I mean back to the motel okay?"
This time it was Dean who scrunched his face in confusion, Tristan seemed to know a lot. He gave Sam a quick glare and turned to the man before them. Tristan had noticed Dean’s reaction, he took a look towards Sam before he offered an explanation."Sorry Dean, Sam and I talked a lot, it seems we have quite a bit in common."
Dean offered a polite grin and straightened himself in the chair. "Really? Talked a lot huh? About anything in particular?"
Sam sighed and stared at Dean. He cleared his throat and continued to try and get his brother’s attention.
"When I say a lot, I mean about stuff, you know, life in general, it was a pretty light chat dude, don’t worry about, he didn’t reveal any deep dark family secrets…" Tristan replied with a little chuckle that he quickly stopped upon noticing that his comment had not been found as funny as he thought.
"I don’t know what else I can tell you about yesterday, I’m taking you made it back though?" He asked again, this time directing it to Sam.
"Um yeah I did, I don’t really remember how, but I do remember being at the bar and talking to you. Did I talk to anyone else, or did you notice anything, any one unusual sneaking around?" Sam leaned forward as his last words were spoken more softly.
"Nah, I mean you were at the bar pretty much all night. You went to the john and that’s about it until you left." Tristan sighed causing Sam to move in closer in anticipation. "It’s just…I don’t know…some strange things have been happening here lately, like um…. people missing, weird noises at night and err…" Tristan paused and shook his head, thinking that he was starting to sound completely crazy.
"What do you mean? Please, go on…" Sam replied. He turned to Dean who also looked keen to hear this information.
"Some strange reports um…women, usually, young, missing for days, waking up with no memory of where they’ve been, they um… where usually abused…" Tristan fiddled with the napkin holder on the table as he recited the information to the two men before him. "I don’t think what happened to you has anything to do with all this, but it’s just strange, you know? I can’t explain it… Look man I’m sorry about letting you go out on your own last night. I wished I had asked my brother to give you a lift now…"
Dean cleared his throat. If he didn’t feel guilt about leaving Sam alone before, he definitely did now, the possible offer of a lift from a stranger was all Dean needed to hear to know that he’d made a terrible decision in leaving his brother at the bar and Sam had now possibly paid for it.
"Do you know any of the people that went missing, you think you could help us get in touch with one of them and maybe have a chat?"
----
Tristan supplied both hunters with contact information for a few of the victims. Sam had remained seemingly quiet after the reveal of the strange happenings. Tristan took one last long pull on the cigarette and held it in before turning his head to the side to blow out the grey smoke.
He licked his lips while he pressed the butt of the cigarette into the ash tray.
"Look guys, I’m sorry I couldn’t help you much…" He shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "If there’s anything else I can do, man you know where to get in touch with me, right? You still gonna be in town later? Maybe heading over to the bar?"
"Err.. I don’t know, maybe, we’ll see…Thanks Tristan, for everything." Sam held out his hand and it was accepted and taken firmly by Tristan’s grip.
"No worries, take care Sam. Later Dean." He lightly saluted as the two made their way out the door of the café.
------
The drive back to the motel had been a silent one. It wasn’t that they had nothing to talk about or say, but in fact it was the complete opposite. Both of the hunters had a lot on their minds and this was shown by them thinking, musing about it all, they processed what they had been told with the facts that they already knew and still things didn’t quite seem to make sense.
Dean shot regular short glances over at his younger brother, he knew that Sam hadn’t really got the answers that he desperately needed and that would eventually drive him crazy. That and the fact that once again these vampires, if that’s what they were dealing with hadn't really been following the usual signs and patterns.
There was something very strange going on in the town and Dean was definitely going to get to the bottom of it.
Sam brought his hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. After realising that he had been seen by his brother, he casually turned away, trying his best to make it as discreet as possible.
"What’s wrong?" Dean asked, his voice had come out a little harsher than he expected and retracted slightly by rephrasing in more subtle tone, "You okay?"
Sam's headache had been increasing with every beat of his heart, first making his vision blurred and following with making his hearing muffled. The younger hunter struggled to speak.
"Err..Headache...urgg...bad one. I gotta lay down I think." He slowly lowered his head and groaned through the increasing pain. Dean bit his lip and placed a quick, reassuring hand on Sam’s shoulder.
"We're nearly there Bro, hang tight, you can get some rest while I do more research." Sam kept his head low and nodded in response. He relaxed his shoulders and melted into the leather seat of the Impala.
-----
Sam awoke suddenly, panicked eyes trailing the room for immediate danger. As he took in his surroundings, he began to calm and eventually realised that he was back in their motel room on his bed. He couldn’t remember getting himself there, but could tell that his brother most likely had something to do with that.
‘Dean.’ He thought to himself as he once again scanned the room and tried to locate his older sibling.
The room was empty and the silence revealed that he was indeed alone. Sam took a deep breath to calm himself and looked at the bedside table, he released a sigh of relief and a smile when he saw a small, folded piece of paper.
He scrunched his eyes to read the quickly scribbled words: Relax. Gone to get some food. Back soon, need anything call me. Dean 21:30
Sam looked at his watch, saw that it was only 21:45, and sighed again over his panicked state. He was so on edge, and couldn’t help but laugh at his high level of anxiety. Clearly Dean had recognized it too if the first word on the note was anything to go by. Sam smiled, Dean was right, he just needed to relax little. Things were bad, but that was nothing new and getting worked up about it all wasn’t going to help anyone.
With that in mind, he slowly raised himself off the bed and walked towards the bathroom. The younger hunter pulled his hand over his face, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
He paused and froze suddenly. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck gradually began to rise. In one swift motion Sam turned to face the intruder that was standing in the far corner of the room.
"Who are you?" He cried out, his voice shaky and vulnerable. He had no weapon close enough and his cell was too far away to get too and so he just desperately hoped that Dean would return soon.
Sam stood stiff, waiting for the tall man in the shadow to reply. He studied his options and figured the best bet would be to make a dive for his bed, where Dean would have left the knife under the pillow.
‘Damn it, where are you Dean?’
The tall, shadowed man stepped closer to the panicked hunter. His movement was slow, yet confident.
"So, we meet again." The man’s voice was deep and strong, clearly not afraid of the situation.
"What do you want?" Sam shouted, this time using that as a distraction to move closer towards the bed.
"Oh…" The man sniggered and bit the bottom of his lip. "I want you." He replied calmly.
Sam flinched at the words, his heart raced, and he concluded that he could probably make a jump for the bed. Before his actions could be carried out however, he felt a strange sensation overcome him, no matter how much he tried, he could no longer move physically.
Frozen in place, now in front of the intruder who had swiftly approached him, Sam tried to at least cry out in distress. His lips parted and moved but no sounds came out.
"Shh…" The man placed his finger on Sam’s lips and caught the youngest Winchester as he collapsed into them.
Summary: Bruised, tired and mentally exhausted from their previous hunt, the boys decide to take a break before they look for the next one. Unfortunately for them, their next hunt finds them first. Contains mature material.
Characters/Pairings: Gen, Dean, Sam, Sam/OMC, OMCs
Author:
chocca2
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: *sigh* No, I Still don’t own them, I don’t own much, in fact there have been questions surrounding the ownership of my mind. However, saying that, any characters you don’t recognize have been derived from my head.
Warnings: Violence, graphic descriptions, Strong language, slight noncon (if you squint), Dark fic
Author’s Note: This was originally posted it on Fanfiction.net. Now, this is just one of the many ideas in this crazy head of mine, it’s a ‘Vamp fic’ with a twist. Without giving too much away, there will be Sam and Dean Angst, but mostly Sammy and more protective Dean. Basically Sam's on the menu. They like to play with their food first….
It’s a bit of a slow start but will pick up quickly. It's another a long story (around 45,800 words in total) so I have arranged/grouped the chapters together make it a bit more manageable to read. It's complete so I'll post the rest in a few days. Reviews are very welcome!
(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6)
Im sweating, And breathing
And staring and thinking
And sinking Deeper.
It’s almost like I’m swimming.
The sun is burning hot again
On the hunter And the fisherman,
And he’s trying to remember when,
But it makes him dizzy.
Seems like I’ve been here before.
Seems so familiar.
Seems like Im slipping Into a dream within a dream.
Must be the way you whisper.
Tool - Sweat
Dean lightly kicked the door to their room open, he struggled in with the bag and two cups of coffee in his hands, using the back of his foot, he kicked it closed. The older hunter surveyed the room, taking note that not only was his younger brother still asleep, but something in the room felt different.
After placing his purchases on the table, Dean walked over to his sleeping brother’s side to get a closer look. Sam was draped across his bed with his long arms and legs dangling over each end. Sam wore only his jeans, which Dean found unusual, as he knew his brother enough to know that Sam would always wear something more comfortable to sleep in.
He remembered how he had left Sam at the bar drinking, this allowed Dean’s concern to fade, he considered the possibility that perhaps his younger brother also got ‘lucky’ or maybe just had too much to drink, yeah that was probably why he was still asleep.
The older hunter nodded and smiled at the conclusion he had come to.
"Oh Sammy."
Dean knew his younger brother was never a big drinker and when he did drink, he usual never drank much. It was only on those certain occasions when Sam would let himself go, sinking deeper into the bottle, that Dean would find his little brother like this, not only suffering inside, but also suffering the physical consequences, that’s when he would wake up.
Being the great brother he was, Dean sighed and allowed Sam to sleep in before he told him about the hunt. It just so happened that the little dead town they were staying in had some disappearances and from reading the recent papers earlier that morning he concluded that it appeared to be a vampire hunt.
The older hunter smiled and began to un-tie his boot laces before removing them and throwing them to one side. He would get a shower first, things were looking up, he had had ‘great’ night and now stumbled upon a hunt which he initially though was too soon for them, but reconsidered it as this was just what they needed to get over their last one.
‘Yep.’ He thought as he dragged himself into the bathroom, ‘That was what Winchesters did best.’
---------------
All other senses were present before sight. His nose picked up the pungent aroma of blood, it was thick in the air, the sweet metallic and sickening smell stung his nose as he drew a breath. The familiar, horrible taste of blood in his mouth caused him to gag involuntarily.
The next sense that returned to him was hearing. He could hear the faint, but distinctive sound of breathing. His own breathing was rapid and unsteady, but there was another, more dominant one that over powered all other sounds. It was deep, rhythmic, and seemed to include a lengthier deep inhaling than any exhaling. The deep inhaling was followed by what sounded like a pleasurable sigh. It was at that point the younger Winchester knew he was not in the room alone.
Excluding sight, the last sense to return to the young hunter was touch. This was the sense that troubled him the most, it was the one that made him feel the most uncomfortable. His body felt paralysed. Sam didn’t know if it was with fear, but it was strong and he could not move most of body. The younger Winchester brought in his lips and pressed them together as he used all his energy to move, all he managed was a slight twitch of his fingers. He felt the tacky viscosity of blood between his fingers as the liquid began to dry, he felt his stomach flip once more at the sensation.
Sam’s breathing stopped as he held it in, the hairs on the back of his neck stood sharp, a cold moist hand made its way up from his chest to his neck. The motion was lingered and supple. The younger hunter whimpered at his helplessness, his body was stiff yet hung limp, he was close to passing out again when he remembered he needed to breathe. The intense fear of not knowing what would happen to him should he loose consciousness taunted him. Sam wanted to scream as the same hand tangled itself in his hair, the grip was strong and rough. A tear rolled down the young hunter’s cheek as he felt a warm breath near his lapel.
--------
"Sam?" The older hunter took another bite of his doughnut.
"Shit!" He huffed as the jam dripped onto his lap. He used his finger to retrieve the spillage and place it into his mouth.
"Sam, wake up! We’ve got work to do." Dean shot a glance at his brother on the bed before returning to his coffee and half eaten doughnut.
"Come on Dude!" Dean got up from the chair and sat on his own bed, facing his brother’s sleeping form.
Panic ghosted its way into the older hunter as he watched and waited for a response.
Perhaps he had been wrong he thought while he placed a hand on Sam’s forehead. With a sharp gasp, the sleeping brother grabbed onto the inspecting arm.
Sam’s eyes were filled with terror and shock, as oxygen returned to his lungs he choked and wheezed his way into a steady rhythm. It was only when the younger hunter gained some control of his panicked state, that he released the grip on the arm. He blinked and looked at the marks he had left, only then realising whose it was.
"Dean?" He rasped, it had come out as a whimper, but had been acknowledged by the other hunter.
"Hey, you okay?" Dean’s panicked expression faded to one of apprehension. He didn’t want to distress his brother anymore than he already appeared to be.
Sam couldn’t reply, he simply flopped back onto the bed and continued to catch his breath. He swallowed and nodded. Dean nodded in reply and got up, he moved quickly into the bathroom to return with a glass of water that he held towards his little brother.
"Here, drink this." He gripped onto the glass and with his other hand helped bring Sam’s head up.
"Slowly!" He added. The cooling water touched his lips and he welcomed it into his mouth. After gulping down another mouthful he paused to catch his breath unsure if the water would make its way back up.
"Did you have a vision or Nightmare?" The older hunter questioned. He knew from experience that the reaction he had witnessed was usually one of the two.
The younger Winchester almost flinched in response, it wasn’t the fact that Dean had inquired about it, nor was it the question for that matter, but it was the response to the question that concerned him the most.
The truth was, he wasn’t sure. It felt too real to be a nightmare, those he had had many of and could easily tell the difference. Well, he thought he could. It wasn’t really a vision, not a vision he had ever before, the doubt made Sam more uneasy. He didn’t want to imagine that what he had woken from was a memory of something that had perhaps happened to him.
Sam felt the blood drain from his head, he thought about his most recent memory of last night. All he could remember was the bar, the bar tender and watching Dean Leave. He blinked again and stared into his brother’s eyes in despair. The memory of his very last recollection hit him hard as he remembered walking from bar late at night, he also recalled the fear, followed by the unexplained presence.
Sam closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I …err…Dean, I don’t know… I don’t know what happened to me last night!"
xxxxxxxxx
Sam swallowed the bile rising in his throat, the words he had spoken still ringing loud in his own head.
‘What the hell happened to me last night? How did I get back?’ His frantic and panicked eyes surveyed the surroundings, and fell upon his bare chest.
Sam’s face scrunched in confusion, he felt his heart begin to race against his ribs.
‘Where are my clothes?’ It was then that he realized not only had his shirt been removed, but the rough and ‘free’ feeling in his Jeans confirmed that his boxers were also no longer on his body.
‘Oh God.’ He wondered if he would make it to the bathroom, without throwing up all over his brother. Again.
He was pretty sure that, as good a big brother Dean was, he wouldn’t take another one of these ‘incidents’ so well. With that in mind, he sucked in a breath and closed his eyes to the moving walls.
"Dean…" Dean had been observing his younger brother with caution, taking in the gradual build of panic and the sporadic thinking, hoping that he could tell what was going on in Sam’s head.
He considered all the possibilities that could have happened to him when suddenly he felt the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. That’s when he thought about all the things that could have gone wrong while he was…well while he was getting some ‘ass’ his brother could have needed him and he wasn’t there.
The realization hit him hard. Sam was the only family he had left and nothing would stand in the way of that. Dean cleared his throat. He was suddenly grateful that his brother had made it back to the motel safe, by the sounds of things, slightly confused and hung over, but safe and in one piece.
He hid the relief with a grin. "So Sammy, exactly how much did you have to drink last night?" He stood and made his way to the small table on the other end of the room.
The reply hadn’t been what he had expected. Dean watched in amusement as Sam’s tall frame hopped, half tripped and half fell into the bathroom and onto his knees, he crawled the rest of the way and rested his head on the bowl before the heaves and retching began.
"That many huh?" He leaned on the door, with a sympathetic, yet disgusted smile on his face.
He knew how much his younger brother hated throwing up, but this was self inflicted and Sam was always the first to relish in Dean’s hangover symptoms. The younger Winchester sunk his head deeper into the toilet bowl while his body was overcome with another wave of violent heaves.
"I gotta give it to ya for making it to the bathroom, this time, Sammy. See, this way is much better than using me as your barf bag, well less messy, anyway." Dean made another disgusted face at the memory.
------
Sam had been in the bathroom for over fifteen minutes now, every few minutes Dean made sure he went in there to check that he was still alive, after the first couple of minutes of Dean’s taunting, he had been told not so kindly by his younger sibling to leave him alone, which he did.
Dean stood up from the table and walked over toward the small bathroom, the door had remained open, so he could keep an eye on Sam. He glanced at his watch and decided it was time to pick his brother up off of the floor. Shaking his head, he walked into the room and stood over Sam’s hunched body.
"How you doing Sammy? Come on, lets get you off the floor huh?" Dean spoke softly as he wet a small towel with cold water and handed it to his brother.
Sam replied with a groan, he blinked a couple a times, but everything in the room still appeared fuzzy so he closed his eyes and gave into the strong arms that assisted him to the bed.
-----------
"Hey." Sam brought his hand to his head. "Ohh..man what time is it?" His voice was hoarse.
"Time to wake up, again… It’s about two in afternoon, you feeling better?"
"Dean ..I …last night, it’s just a blur ..I can’t."
The older hunter chuckled, "Oh yeah, we’ve all been there, believe me! Sometimes it’s a good thing you don’t remember. See, there was this one time in Texas, I tried some of this special brew...oh man… I woke up next to…" Dean trailed off his story when he noticed Sam wasn’t even looking at him anymore.
The expression on Sam’s face, forced him into big brother mode almost immediately. Sam was obviously distressed about something.
"Hey" Dean spoke softly, in more serious tone. "You really don’t remember anything?" Dean watched as Sam went to speak before lowering his head defeated.
"I don’t …bits I guess, I err..."
Dean nodded and stood handing his younger brother some water.
"Okay, so what’s the very last thing you remember?"
"Walking….back to the motel, it was late and there was …" Sam shook his head and dug his palm into his head.
Dean swallowed the guilt, already regretting leaving Sam at the bar without the car.
‘Damn it, that was a bad move. There’s a group of vamps out there and Sam was out at night, alone...Shit!’ Dean thought hotly. He straightened in his seat, and patiently waited for his brother to continue.
"I remember saying bye to you, and then bar tender guy, err.. Tristan, yeah I remember talking with him, it was late and I left just before closing. No wait maybe it was already closed…anyway…that’s when…" Sam stopped and shut his eyes.
Dean sat nervously, rubbing his jeans, as his head was swimming with thoughts, he tied together that their new hunt could be connected to Sam’s loss of memory. He hoped to god he was wrong and that Sam had maybe just had too much to drink, but the feeling in his stomach told him otherwise and he nervously bit his lip.
"Dean…something was out there, last night, I could feel it…God Dean what if.." Sam’s voice trembled, causing Dean to move closer and sit on the bed opposite Sam’s.
"Okay, look we just need to piece things together, then things will make a little more sense." Dean tried to appear convincing.
"What is it that we’re hunting?" Sam questioned, catching Dean’s falter.
"Huh, what are you talking about?" Dean replied, caught off-guard.
"There’s something here, isn’t there? It’s a case, isn’t it? You just couldn’t resist, could you?" Sam replied.
"Case? There’s no case Sammy, we’re taking a break, remember?" Dean quickly responded.
"You’re lying." Sam replied.
"Am not!" Dean objected.
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Yes you are, you’re lying Dean, you’re doing that thing you do when you lie." Sam said.
"What thing? I don’t do a thing when I lie." Dean replied fiddling with the belt loops of his jeans and looking around distractedly.
"That thing! That thing right there! It’s that thing you do when you lie! You’re lying Dean."
"Am not!"
"Then why are you playing with your pants like that?" Sam asked.
"Cause they’re nice pants?" Dean offered, his cheeks blushing.
"Like hell, Dean, tell me what you aren’t telling me." Sam said, his face was straight and unimpressed. Sam wasn’t backing down.
"Okay, fine. It is a case. I was gonna tell you, really I was. I was just gonna wait till you were a little less hung over." Dean attempted.
Sam snorted in disapproval.
"What happened to ‘let’s take a break,’ Dean?" Sam asked.
"Well, it started out as a break, but it just so happens that this little town had other plans. You see, I read this morning’s paper and it seems like we have ourselves a vamp problem, a couple of missing persons reports...you know the usual." Dean replied almost hopefully.
Sam let out a breath of relief the tense expression falling from his face.
Dean was relieved at the reaction he gained from Sam.
"What? You mean you’re happy about the hunt?" Dean questioned, once again hopeful.
"No man, I thought...well you were going to say that I...I mean that someone was murd...I could have hurt someone again, god Dean, this whole thing with me not remembering, it’s not like we haven’t been through this before." Sam’s head was bowed and his voice was barely above a whisper.
Dean shook his head that was just like his brother. "Sam, look, that hunt brought up a lot of things that err... that we’d rather forget, but you don’t have anything to feel bad for, you can’t keep doing this to yourself, dude. " Dean waited for a response and when he got none he continued.
"This is different Sam. Look, I know you don’t remember what happened, but it’s not what you think, okay? If anything, I’m worried that this hunt could have something to do with your memory loss, you’re not possessed, Sam. You got that?"
"Don’t…Can we… look, I’m glad about this hunt, I’m fine, I think it’s what we need, what I need." Sam tried his best to get it together. He deliberately avoided eye contact.
There was a pause before any of them spoke again.
"Right, let’s go back to the bar, see if we can figure out what happened to you last night, perhaps that guy, err...Tristan? Maybe he can shed some light on the whole thing. Maybe even help us out a bit, I mean he’s a bar tender, he’s gotta hear a lot of stories, you wanna bet that he knows more about the local legends and missing folks than anyone else in this town? He’s gotta hear stuff from his customers, stuff that nobody else would believe. I mean really, people see something weird or experience something too strange to comprehend, they go get drunk as a way to deal with it and believe me, drunk people will say anything. I bet Tristan has a lot of stories to tell, how about we go and hear some of those tales?" Dean shrugged with a small smile.
Sam nodded and stood before he slowly walked over to his bag.
"Okay. You get cleaned up and I’ll dig up so more info." Dean finished and sat down with the laptop.
xxxxxxxxx
The youngest hunter shut his eyes and let the warm water wash over his body. He stood with his hands spread, bracing himself against the tiled wall of the shower. Almost a whole minute had passed, one whole minute that he hadn’t thought about the night before. A whole minute that he hadn’t thought about his missing clothing, the tender spot on his head that he’d only just noticed and the deep black hole that held his fragmented thoughts. However, that minute was over before he could relish it and the reality of everything had come rushing back with a speed that hit him hard, without warning.
Sam kept his eyes shut, ignoring the dizziness by leaning his head against the cold tile. When the water temperature dropped slightly, he decided to finish up. He wasn’t sure how long he had been in there, but was glad that Dean hadn’t been waiting for a ‘hot’ shower. His goose bumps told him that there was no hot water left.
Sam rubbed his hand over his face and slowly blinked the water out of his eyes. He blinked again, to try to clear his vision. Sam shook his head slightly and placed his hand over his eyes once more. The water just didn’t seem to clear away from his vision, it only caused it to become more blurred. In fact the water didn’t even feel the same, it felt a little too thick and too sticky.
Come to think of it, the all too familiar coppery smell he’d experienced earlier tainted the air. Sam’s breathing hitched. The young Winchester brought his hands up to eyes and gasped in horror at what he saw. The red liquid coated every inch of him, it was all over his body, in his hair, splashed over the walls, it even drenched the shower curtain.
In one swift movement, Sam leapt from the tub, catching his foot on the curtain. He landed onto the hard bathroom floor with a thump.
----
"Sammy?!"
"Arrgh." The youngest hunter groaned and rubbed his side.
His dazed eyes searched the room, looking for the blood that had caused him to lose control in the first place. He rubbed his head, unsure of what he had seen, because his now-clear vision revealed that there was no blood, just water and now he was sitting on the bathroom floor, drenched, bruised, and naked.
"Damn it Sam, I’m coming in!" It took a second to process the shouting behind the door before he quickly became aware of what had been said.
"What no!… Dean I’m fine, I….err …I just slipped, I’m good." Sam did his best to make his voice steady as he spoke.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, dude I’ll be out in a minute!" Sam shouted back, relieved when he heard the distant mumbling from his older brother.
-----
Sam stepped out of the small room before walking over to the bed. He was incredibly aware of the eyes that followed him there while he sat and busied himself with the task of getting his shoes on. Sam briefly glanced at his older brother sitting at the table and raised his hand in the air to ward of the question that was on the tip of Dean’s tongue.
"I’m fine Dean, I just…slipped." He spoke, trying to appear irritated and slightly embarrassed.
The true reason for his fall would remain with him until he could piece together what was going on. Dean shrugged his shoulders in defeat. He would accept that for now. They had work to do.
"You ready?"
"Yeah. I really gotta speak with Tristan man, he’s the last person that saw me last night and all this is driving me crazy…" Sam stopped himself and lowered his pitch, he could see his older brother nodding in acknowledgement, "I just want some answers."
Dean sat still for a moment, watching his brother collect himself before he stood. He understood Sam’s urge to get things cleared up, this was just one of the many things they had to worry about regarding what had happened the previous night.
"Let’s go find this guy Tristan. Oh by the way, while your were ‘slipping’ in the bathroom I found some more information about this town," The older hunter gestured to the door. "I’ll tell you on the way…"
He walked out of the room leading the way to the car parked outside.
Sam grabbed his jacket and stood in the doorway for a moment. He grabbed the handle and pulled the door half way shut. He paused and looked back into the empty room, the young hunter felt a cold chill that brushed over him for a spilt second and he drew in his bottom lip, biting it as he surveyed the room once more. Satisfied that the room was indeed empty, and that his nerves were obviously still on edge, he clicked the door shut before rushing into the Impala.
--------
"I’m really sorry guys, Tristan won’t be in till this evening." The young daytime bar tender offered a sympathetic smile toward the deflated younger hunter.
Dean watched Sam’s eyes dart around desperately, he could sense Sam’s anxiety building. The young lady sighed at the two men standing before her, she briefly turned away before walking off toward a board with pinned documents.
She casually stood with a hand on her hip and stared at one paper in particular for a few seconds before returning to the edge of the bar.
"Yeah, he did the late shift last night so he’s definitely not in till eight."
She offered another smile to the both of them.
Sam nodded, trying his best to remain calm. "I know, I was here last night, I really need to speak with him, it’s important! Is there any way to get in touch with him?"
She stared at Sam for a moment and looked back at the other bar tender.
"We err …We’re not allowed to give out the numbers of employees."
Sam blew out a long breath and turned away slightly so that his back was to her. Dean stepped forward and did the only thing he could think of. If there was a woman involved, and all else failed, flirt.
It wasn’t that he wanted to, well, not entirely, but if this was something that he could do to help his brother, he would gladly do it. Sam walked away from the two, he was happy that Dean was there to handle this one, because he wasn’t really coping so well with everything that had happened. Something was really off, his nerves were on edge, and he could feel himself starting to crack under the pressure.
Hearing the young lady giggle, he glanced at his brother and hoped that whatever Dean was doing, was enough to at least get them an address or number for Tristan. He decided to wait outside and quietly walked out of the door.
------
"You owe me Sammy." Dean walked out smiling and holding a folded piece of paper.
Sam offered a smirk to his grinning brother. "Please tell me that Tristan’s number is there as well?"
"Hey, what do you take me for Sammy?" Dean tried to appear bothered by Sam’s comment, he stared at him for a long moment
"Okay, so yeah I got her number, but I also got Tristan’s Cell number, she said he’s always got it on him and that he doesn’t live too far away, either." Dean finished.
"Thanks." Sam replied in a hushed tone.
"Uh huh, like I said, you owe me."
Sam rolled his eyes and smiled. "Whatever." He smiled and held out his hand toward the paper.
-----
The two hunters sat on the hood of the Impala with the sun beating down upon them. The youngest hunter held the phone against his ear as he waited for an answer. He stood as he heard the phone click over to the voice mail.
"He’s not picking up!" Sam looked at the phone before re-dialling the number and waiting for it to go yet again to the voice mail message.
The younger Winchester sighed impatiently.
"Hey, calm down. Leave a message, we can try again in bit." Dean watched Sam walk away with the phone against his ear.
Sam grasped the phone harder as he waited for the message to finish this time:
"Hey, It’s Tristan. I can’t take your call right now, leave me a message and I’ll get back to you."
Sam took a deep breath to calm himself. "Hi Tristan, it’s Sam here from last night, look dude, I really gotta talk to you, it’s important, so if you could call me back as soon as you get this, that’d be great!"
Dean walked over to Sam who stood staring at the phone in his hand as if simply watching it would make it ring. Upon hearing Dean draw closer, Sam distracted himself from his gaze and slid his cell into his pocket.
"We could check out that café in town, get some more info on this hunt?" Dean suggested.
Before Sam could answer, his ring tone sounded while the vibrating in his pocket confirmed that his phone was ringing.
--
"Tristan?" Sam asked hopefully.
"Hey. Sam?" Tristan asked.
"Yeah, hey man you remember me from last night in the bar right?"
"Of course. It was a late one huh, so what’s this all about, you wanted to talk me?... I’m working later tonight."
"Yeah about that, see err… I was kind of hoping to speak with you before then?" The phone was silent for a second.
"Sure Sam, I can meet you in about…. half an hour?"
"That’d be great, where do you live, I can come by…"
"Nah, it’s not problem dude, I can meet you at this café in town, it’s called ‘Cathy’s’ you can’t miss it. It’s smack bang in the middle of all the shops."
"Err Yeah sure, if that’s alright with you? I don’t want to be a bother."
"You’re not, don’t worry. I’ll see ya soon!"
----
Sam heard the dial tone and looked over to Dean.
"He’s going to meet us at the café in town."
Dean nodded silently, gathering his thoughts. He tilted his head toward the street in the direction of the shops.
"Let’s go. We were heading that way anyway."
----
It didn’t take them long to walk to the small café. It was positioned in-between the other shops just as Tristan had stated. The exterior was worn with chipped paint and it was old fashioned in design. The windows appeared to be slightly tinted as you couldn’t clearly make out the occupants from gazing from the outside.
Dean was the first to push the creaky door open, its loud, high-pitched bell announcing their entrance to the few occupants. The older hunter provided the inquisitive eyes with a classic Dean Winchester grin before glancing back at Sam.
The younger hunter didn’t return the gaze, his eyes scanned the faces in an attempt to see if Tristan may have turned up early. Sam noticed that the lighting in the café was very dim, in fact, you could hardly tell it was daytime at all. The thick smoke coming from the old residents sitting in far left hand corner of the room only made the dim setting more dull and depressing. He couldn’t imagine any one wanting to eat in a place like this. It began to make sense to him as to why the café was so empty.
"Hey Guys, over here!" Both men turned their attention to the right corner of the room where, at a small table placed near the wall, Tristan sat, sporting a cap and shades.
xxxxxxxx
Tristan pushed out one of the chairs with his foot, gesturing towards the taller Winchester to sit. With a courteous nod he greeted each of the brothers.
"Sam," Followed by a mischievous smirk, before drawing his attention to the older. "Ah. Dean?"
Dean silently responded with a nod while he took a seat. The older hunter took in his surroundings once more, his observant eyes focussing on the man before them. Meanwhile, Sam had restrained himself from attacking Tristan with the questions that were swirling around in his mind. After all, he’d only met the guy once and scaring him with questions now wouldn’t do them any good. He patiently waited for Tristan to make the first move. Tristan took his shades off and rubbed his eyes, he inhaled loudly and pulled his cap down further over his forehead.
"So Sam…" Tristan picked up the packet of cigarettes from the table and tipped it to slide one out. He placed the cigarette to his lips before continuing, "Good night huh?"
Sam placed his hand on the back of his neck, rubbing it as if to ease the tension. "Yeah, about last night…" He paused, making it clear that he was thinking about how to put what he wanted to ask.
Sam shifted in his chair uncomfortably, he couldn’t figure out why he was finding it so hard to talk. He had so many things he wanted to ask. Sam shot a quick glance at Dean before he attempted to continue. Neither of them could respond as Tristan swiftly took the stick out of his mouth and spoke.
"Hey, is that what this is about?...Nothing bad happened did it?"
"Well, that’s just it, um I can’t really remember much about what happened." Sam’s ghosted an embarrassed expression. "I was kind of hoping you could shed some light on that for me?"
Tristan gave a sympathetic smile that turned to a worried glare. "Sure man, you really don’t remember anything?" He scrunched his face in confusion. "It’s just that you didn’t seem that wasted to me, I mean yeah you had a few too many, but you were pretty with it when you left. Seriously man, I wouldn’t have let you go on your own if you were too drunk…."
"I know. It doesn’t really make sense to me either. Well, not much does actually. Do you know what time I left?" Sam tried to make his voice sound strong and solid.
"Well err…it was a little after closing so it must have been about midnight." Tristan studied the two hunters, noticing their urgency for some answers. "So what exactly happened to you? You get home… I mean back to the motel okay?"
This time it was Dean who scrunched his face in confusion, Tristan seemed to know a lot. He gave Sam a quick glare and turned to the man before them. Tristan had noticed Dean’s reaction, he took a look towards Sam before he offered an explanation."Sorry Dean, Sam and I talked a lot, it seems we have quite a bit in common."
Dean offered a polite grin and straightened himself in the chair. "Really? Talked a lot huh? About anything in particular?"
Sam sighed and stared at Dean. He cleared his throat and continued to try and get his brother’s attention.
"When I say a lot, I mean about stuff, you know, life in general, it was a pretty light chat dude, don’t worry about, he didn’t reveal any deep dark family secrets…" Tristan replied with a little chuckle that he quickly stopped upon noticing that his comment had not been found as funny as he thought.
"I don’t know what else I can tell you about yesterday, I’m taking you made it back though?" He asked again, this time directing it to Sam.
"Um yeah I did, I don’t really remember how, but I do remember being at the bar and talking to you. Did I talk to anyone else, or did you notice anything, any one unusual sneaking around?" Sam leaned forward as his last words were spoken more softly.
"Nah, I mean you were at the bar pretty much all night. You went to the john and that’s about it until you left." Tristan sighed causing Sam to move in closer in anticipation. "It’s just…I don’t know…some strange things have been happening here lately, like um…. people missing, weird noises at night and err…" Tristan paused and shook his head, thinking that he was starting to sound completely crazy.
"What do you mean? Please, go on…" Sam replied. He turned to Dean who also looked keen to hear this information.
"Some strange reports um…women, usually, young, missing for days, waking up with no memory of where they’ve been, they um… where usually abused…" Tristan fiddled with the napkin holder on the table as he recited the information to the two men before him. "I don’t think what happened to you has anything to do with all this, but it’s just strange, you know? I can’t explain it… Look man I’m sorry about letting you go out on your own last night. I wished I had asked my brother to give you a lift now…"
Dean cleared his throat. If he didn’t feel guilt about leaving Sam alone before, he definitely did now, the possible offer of a lift from a stranger was all Dean needed to hear to know that he’d made a terrible decision in leaving his brother at the bar and Sam had now possibly paid for it.
"Do you know any of the people that went missing, you think you could help us get in touch with one of them and maybe have a chat?"
----
Tristan supplied both hunters with contact information for a few of the victims. Sam had remained seemingly quiet after the reveal of the strange happenings. Tristan took one last long pull on the cigarette and held it in before turning his head to the side to blow out the grey smoke.
He licked his lips while he pressed the butt of the cigarette into the ash tray.
"Look guys, I’m sorry I couldn’t help you much…" He shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "If there’s anything else I can do, man you know where to get in touch with me, right? You still gonna be in town later? Maybe heading over to the bar?"
"Err.. I don’t know, maybe, we’ll see…Thanks Tristan, for everything." Sam held out his hand and it was accepted and taken firmly by Tristan’s grip.
"No worries, take care Sam. Later Dean." He lightly saluted as the two made their way out the door of the café.
------
The drive back to the motel had been a silent one. It wasn’t that they had nothing to talk about or say, but in fact it was the complete opposite. Both of the hunters had a lot on their minds and this was shown by them thinking, musing about it all, they processed what they had been told with the facts that they already knew and still things didn’t quite seem to make sense.
Dean shot regular short glances over at his younger brother, he knew that Sam hadn’t really got the answers that he desperately needed and that would eventually drive him crazy. That and the fact that once again these vampires, if that’s what they were dealing with hadn't really been following the usual signs and patterns.
There was something very strange going on in the town and Dean was definitely going to get to the bottom of it.
Sam brought his hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. After realising that he had been seen by his brother, he casually turned away, trying his best to make it as discreet as possible.
"What’s wrong?" Dean asked, his voice had come out a little harsher than he expected and retracted slightly by rephrasing in more subtle tone, "You okay?"
Sam's headache had been increasing with every beat of his heart, first making his vision blurred and following with making his hearing muffled. The younger hunter struggled to speak.
"Err..Headache...urgg...bad one. I gotta lay down I think." He slowly lowered his head and groaned through the increasing pain. Dean bit his lip and placed a quick, reassuring hand on Sam’s shoulder.
"We're nearly there Bro, hang tight, you can get some rest while I do more research." Sam kept his head low and nodded in response. He relaxed his shoulders and melted into the leather seat of the Impala.
-----
Sam awoke suddenly, panicked eyes trailing the room for immediate danger. As he took in his surroundings, he began to calm and eventually realised that he was back in their motel room on his bed. He couldn’t remember getting himself there, but could tell that his brother most likely had something to do with that.
‘Dean.’ He thought to himself as he once again scanned the room and tried to locate his older sibling.
The room was empty and the silence revealed that he was indeed alone. Sam took a deep breath to calm himself and looked at the bedside table, he released a sigh of relief and a smile when he saw a small, folded piece of paper.
He scrunched his eyes to read the quickly scribbled words: Relax. Gone to get some food. Back soon, need anything call me. Dean 21:30
Sam looked at his watch, saw that it was only 21:45, and sighed again over his panicked state. He was so on edge, and couldn’t help but laugh at his high level of anxiety. Clearly Dean had recognized it too if the first word on the note was anything to go by. Sam smiled, Dean was right, he just needed to relax little. Things were bad, but that was nothing new and getting worked up about it all wasn’t going to help anyone.
With that in mind, he slowly raised himself off the bed and walked towards the bathroom. The younger hunter pulled his hand over his face, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
He paused and froze suddenly. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck gradually began to rise. In one swift motion Sam turned to face the intruder that was standing in the far corner of the room.
"Who are you?" He cried out, his voice shaky and vulnerable. He had no weapon close enough and his cell was too far away to get too and so he just desperately hoped that Dean would return soon.
Sam stood stiff, waiting for the tall man in the shadow to reply. He studied his options and figured the best bet would be to make a dive for his bed, where Dean would have left the knife under the pillow.
‘Damn it, where are you Dean?’
The tall, shadowed man stepped closer to the panicked hunter. His movement was slow, yet confident.
"So, we meet again." The man’s voice was deep and strong, clearly not afraid of the situation.
"What do you want?" Sam shouted, this time using that as a distraction to move closer towards the bed.
"Oh…" The man sniggered and bit the bottom of his lip. "I want you." He replied calmly.
Sam flinched at the words, his heart raced, and he concluded that he could probably make a jump for the bed. Before his actions could be carried out however, he felt a strange sensation overcome him, no matter how much he tried, he could no longer move physically.
Frozen in place, now in front of the intruder who had swiftly approached him, Sam tried to at least cry out in distress. His lips parted and moved but no sounds came out.
"Shh…" The man placed his finger on Sam’s lips and caught the youngest Winchester as he collapsed into them.