09x17 - Cardinal Points in Quincunx - Part Four: Things are Better in the East

Jul 09, 2013 19:51

Episode number: 09x17 of Season 9 Fan Fiction (S9FF)
Title: Cardinal Points in Quincunx
Subtitle: Things Are Better In The East
Author: dracox-serdriel
Word count: 2,395
Rating: R
Warnings: violence, language, child endangerment


Bishop, California. Dean pulled the Impala up to a house at the far side of a col-de-sac. Dusk was falling.

"House number 4521. The Lundberg residence," Dean said. "Did Dodge say anything about how to kill these things?"

"She said they looked human, but she also said they seemed like shadow. So I saw we take everything: iron and salt rounds, silver bullets, holy water," Sam said as he checked his guns. "I already loaded two shot guns."

A scream broke the air. A second one soon followed.

"That was fast," Dean said.

Dean threw himself out of the Impala, shotgun barely concealed by his coat. Sam was just behind him.

The elder Winchester kicked in the door, and they ran straight for the living room. Two adults were crumpled up on the floor as two assailants advanced on them.

The creatures appeared human, except their eyes glowed bright, blinding cerulean, and instead of hair, they had a porcupine-like quills covering over their heads. Both creatures carried a spiked club covered with the same needle-like things Dean had seen earlier.

Bang! Sam's shotgun hit the shorter of the two, throwing it across the room. The other darted, quicker than anything Dean had ever witnessed, over to the younger Winchester and threw him into the air. There was a sickening pop and crack that resonated with Dean -

Bang! Dean landed a silver bullet into the thing's arm, and it screeched in pain and dropped its club. Sam was down, but he rolled over and grabbed the weapon. Both wounded creatures scrambled toward the glass sliding doors and broke through with an incredible leap.

Dean stowed his gun and checked on Sam.

"You okay? Sammy?"

"I'll be okay, check on them," he said.

Dean went over to the two people on the ground. "Hey, you okay?"

"What - what's going on?" the man asked.

"You were attacked. I'm Agent Roberts," Dean flashed his badge. "You are?"

"Jake Lundberg, this is my wife, Eva."

"Don't move, just tell me, can you feel any injuries?"

"It feels like my legs are broken in half," Eva said.

Dean glanced down. Both their knees were at odd angles. "Listen, I'm calling an ambulance for you two and my partner, okay. But I need you to tell me exactly what happened."

"We were going to go out to dinner, so I came down to get the kids," Eva said. "They were in here but not moving. I thought they were playing a game, you know? Making a joke? But after a while, they seemed like statues. Even when I poked them, they didn't move!"

"I came down to get them into the car," Jake said, "and as soon as I got into the room - I dunno, it was all so fast. The kids weren't here when I came down."

"They were," Eva said. "Our kids attacked us. I was here with them, and then they just - "

She screeched in pain, so Dean took their landline and called for an ambulance.

"Listen, the ambulance is on its way, okay? And ma'am, I'm going to look for your children. What are their names?"

"Izzy and Daniel," Jake said. "And they wouldn't do this. When you find them, please don't hurt them."

"Okay, okay," Dean replied as the blare of sirens started. "Just stay here and wait for the paramedics. Don't move until they've checked you out."

Sam had already gotten to his feet, so Dean grabbed his good arm and hurried him out to the Impala.

"Dean, what're you - " Sam began.

"You wanna wait till we're boxed in by ambulances and police cars?" Dean asked.

Sam didn't argue as Dean pulled away and down the street. "Any idea of where these things were headed?" Sam asked. "Maybe we can set my shoulder?"

"Call Cas," Dean replied. "He can zap here, heal you, zap home again."

"Yeah, okay," Sam replied. "It's more than just a dislocation anyway."

In a few minutes, Castiel appeared and touched Sam's shoulder. The bones mended.

"Dodge told me this would happen," the angel said. "She said she warned you as well."

"Told you what?"

"That her vision included a dislocated shoulder," Sam replied. "Mine, specifically."

"Cas, you need to go home," Dean said. "Keep an eye on Kevin and Dodge. And try to find out what kind of monsters use this," Dean said as he passed off the weapon Sam managed to swipe.

"Dean, you might need my assistance - "

"Yeah, we need to figure out what we're fighting. They took salt rounds, iron, and silver. Nothing."

"Dean - "

"Cas, I'm serious. Go now."

The flutter of wings sounded, and Cas was gone along with the club.

"Wow," Sam commented.

"Wow what?"

"Well, I'd never talk to Amelia or Jess that way."

"That way? The hell does that mean?"

"Nothing," Sam hedged. "Never mind, forget I said anything."

Isabelle Lundberg had buckshot embedded in her skin; the sadistic bastards who shot her filled their rounds with salt, probably to make the wound burn as much as possible.

"You okay?" she asked her brother. "Danny?"

Daniel Lundberg wasn't doing much better. The bullet went through his arm and into his chest, where it embedded itself into his rib.

"I'll be fine," he said. "I can barely feel it. Look."

He held up his arm, and already the blood had stopped. His flesh regrew.

"They were right," he said. "We're invincible."

Cas wasn't certain why he felt so frustrated as the research yielded no results. He expected it to be difficult with little more than a weapon to go on, yet his anger was close to the surface. Little things made it bubble up and break through.

"Here's something: a porcupine-spiked mace," Dodge suggested, pointing out an illustration. "It's the closest thing so far."

"Any indication of where it's from?" Cas asked.

"Oceanic regions," she replied.

"Okay, that narrows it down."

"You sound unhappy," Dodge said.

"It's true," Kevin said. "I didn't want to say anything."

"I don't know why," Cas admitted.

"Relationship issues?" Kevin suggested.

Cas became even more confused. "I don't see why that would happen," he said. "But Dean was short with me. Shouldn't I be mad with him? And not at this?"

Dodge nodded. "Yeah, but he's out there in danger," she said. "So even if you're mad at him, you're holding it in, letting it out in odd bursts. No stranger to that myself."

"Do you do that?" Cas asked Kevin.

"Dude, I'm nineteen and not nearly that self-aware," Kevin replied.

"I'm eons old and have little knowledge of self-awareness in the human sphere," Cas said. "Don't feel too badly."

Dodge buckled forward, as if she couldn't breath. Her eyes opened wide, so wide that their whites seemed too bright. Her body shook violently, and she grabbed the table to keep herself from falling to the floor. By the time it passed, tears of pain covered her cheeks.

"Whoa, Sam said I shake when I get Revelations, but - "

"Yours are not like this," Cas replied. "You are a Prophet, every molecule of your being is made to handle Revelation."

"That sounds really creepy," Kevin said.

"This one was worse, much worse," Dodge began. "And I don't understand it."

"Was it going backwards like the others?" Cas asked.

"No, but we need to call Sam and Dean, tell them to get to the Cornwall High School gym."

"Dodge, slow down," Sam said. "Dean's driving us there right now. So, can you tell us anything else? Besides the burning people alive thing?"

"Can't the god-squad doll out any freaking details?" Dean asked.

"Okay, okay, thanks. We're on it," he said as he hung up.

"Come on Sammy, tell me we know something."

"She said that she got this weird feeling like these two were failures," Sam replied.

"These two? Does she mean the parents or the kids?"

"Both, I think," Sam replied. "And she couldn't be any clearer than that."

"Awesome. So we're going to prevent a human barbecue and our only lead is these two failed," Dean said. "Visions suck. I mean, they sucked for Chuck, now they suck for this chick - "

"Her name is Dodge," Sam cut in.

"I thought her name was a state. Dakota," Dean said.

"Technically my name is Samuel, but I'd punch you in the face if you called me that."

"Whatever. My point is, why do they suck? I mean, Heaven could just send a message to us: Something's killing people in California."

"Right, like you'd go for that."

"Yeah," Dean said.

"Dean, you would never go for being Heaven's bitches, and you know it," Sam said. "You'd ask the angel who told us to go fix it themselves."

"Okay, that's true. But can't they just give her dreams? Something more specific? I mean, Benny was dead and his messages made more sense than this shit."

"Yeah, but Benny knows you," Sam replied. "Angels understand about zero percent of humanity."

Dean parked the Impala. "We're here."

"I don't see anyone on fire," Sam commented mildly. "But Dodge says it happened inside, so - "

They managed to get into the gym without incident; no one was around. Footsteps echoed hugely.

"Hey, you!" Dean yelled at the blond-haired man. "You!"

The young man turned around, and shock was evident on his face.

"Nicholas O'Donnell?" Dean asked.

"They're going to kill me!" Nicholas yelled.

"Who?"

More footsteps echoed even before Dean could finish asking.

"Those're the kids from the house - " Sam began.

"Nick, get over here!" Dean barked as he drew his gun and pointed it at the two figures running straight for them.

Nick obeyed and hid behind the massively large figure of Sam Winchester. "I swear, I didn't know - "

"Shut it," Sam barked, drawing his own gun.

"Stop!" Dean yelled. He was shocked to see two very human people: Izzy and Danny Lundberg.

"Dean, those're the ones from the house," Sam repeated.

"Yeah, but look at them now," Dean replied. He turned to them, "Izzy and Danny Lundberg?"

They both nodded. Realization dawned on Sam as he saw the last of the quills recede into Izzy's head. He stepped forward, putting up his gun.

"Listen to me," Sam said. "You were given some kind of deadline, right? You had to do something by around this time, and you haven't done it yet. Am I right?"

"What's it to you?" Daniel asked.

"Oh, nothing," Dean replied. "Just that you're about to be burnt alive."

Izzy gasped.

"Don't listen to me," Daniel said. "They're lying."

"They're not," Nicholas spoke this time. "That's what they do to anyone who fails to kill in forty-eight hours of being turned."

"Who're you?" Izzy asked.

"My name's Nicholas," he said. He showed them his left arm, which had a long, clean cut across it. "I was like you."

Dean stepped forward. "I'm going to make this real simple. If you attack us now, we will shoot you dead. You can stay here and wait for whoever it is that turned you to come back and burn you alive, or you can come with us, and we can try to save your lives."

Izzy and Daniel turned to each other, afraid. Suddenly, Daniel bolted straight for Sam, who stuck his arm out and knocked the kid on his ass.

"Looks like your super-speed is gone," he said. "Along with your super-strength and a hellova lot of other stuff. Now will you listen to us?"

Cas said into his phone, "Yes, I'll tell her. No doubt she will be pleased."

Dodge was asleep, and the angel had no intention of waking her.

"Kevin just identified them," the angel said into his phone.

"Whoa, thanks for buying the lead," Dean said. "What are they?"

"They're called Eer-moonan," Cas replied. "They're like werewolves or vampires, except they are virile hunters, skilled with various culling techniques. They turn humans with a ceremonial spear, which gives the victims forty-eight hours to commit themselves to the pack."

"Uh, okay, what happens after forty-eight hours?" Dean asked.

"They revert to their human form, permanently."

"Sounds good to me."

"Except the pack hunts down its lost members and kills them by fire as a form of sacrifice."

"You said permanently, right? So once these kids are done, they're done?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"Any notes on how to kill'em?"

"Decapitation," Cas replied. "But they are stealthy, fast, and hunt in a pack. Eer-moonan aren't just monsters, they are skilled warriors that live communally. Any one of them will lay down their life to protect the pack."

"So, how many we talking?"

"Well," Cas said, no longer holding back his annoyance. "You said there were ten children missing, so I would count all of them - "

"Actually, we found one, he's human, so nine - "

"Very well," Cas said curtly. "Then there are nine new Eer-moonan and at least one other that started recruiting, probably more. So wild guess? Twelve."

"Cas what's - "

"I'm hanging up now."

"Cas, wait - "

The dial tone sounded in Dean's ear.

Almost immediately, Sam received a text.

"Uh, Cas says that the pack will be looking for its lost recruits, so we should be prepared for an attack," Sam read out loud. Then he asked said Dean, "What did you say?"

"Nothing. Angel PMS, I dunno."

Sam's phone pinged again: another text message. "And they are susceptible to wood from any type of Australian Wattle Tree," he read out loud. "Cas says he'll find us some."

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked. "About the attack?"

"He means, you geniuses got yourselves in over your heads, and now these things are gonna try come light you on fire," Dean replied. "And we're gonna try'n stop it."

"They told us we'd be powerful, we'd get away," Izzy said. "They never mentioned anything about killing anybody - "

"Trust me, out of everyone else on the planet, we get it," Sam said. "But we're gonna have to do something and fast."

Nicholas said, "Sorry for holding you up back in Mammoth Lakes. I didn't know the FBI did this kinda thing."

"Right, well, guess what, Nicky, you and these two fine specimens are gonna be the bait."

"Dean - "

"Sam, we've got ten freaks at least looking for these guys. So we need a plan - "

Sam nodded, "Yeah, we do."

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Part Five: Back Where it All Begins



Primary Post: 09x17 Cardinal Points in Quincunx
Primary Post: Season 9 Fan Fiction (S9FF)

weapon: iron, relationship: samodge, character: sam winchester, type: fic, weapon: shotgun, location: the bunker, universe: supernatural, season: nine, theme: revelation is a bitch, theme: brotherly estrangement, character: kevin tran, theme: being a prophet sucks, character: castiel, character: dakota "dodge" gage, weapon: silver, theme: murder most foul, number: 09x17, relationship: destiel, style: episode, year: 2014, rating: r, theme: monster mash, character: dean winchester, weapon: handgun, weapon: salt, theme: human sacrifice for profit, species: eer-moonan, theme: a normal life

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