Psych 101 - Chapter 1
“Another deserted building. Awesome.” Dean hates abandoned buildings. There’s too many dark corners and rusted machines for their hunt to hide behind.
“It’s Detroit Dean. Half the city is deserted factories.” Dean doesn’t acknowledge Sam’s comment, just keeps watching the building through his binoculars.
It’s been a week since Sam raised the Devil from Hell and things between them are rocky at best. They reached an unspoken, uneasy truce at best after Sam tearfully apologized and tried to explain himself. Dean didn’t want to hear it and refused to let Sam explain. He doesn’t want to hear whatever fucked up reason his brother has for what he did. All he wants to do is forget about it and move on.
Dean’s had years of practice living in denial, he’s gotten really good at it. No reason he can’t live there now.
They’d been driving around aimlessly, trying to figure out what their next move was, what the Devil’s next move was, what the Angel’s next move was…just trying to figure out what jump-starting the Apocalypse meant.
Bobby sent them into Detroit after getting a call from another hunter needing help handling the sudden arrival of a large pack of demons. They’d arrived yesterday only to find the hunter dead in his motel room, throat slit and already cold. They’d burned his body and followed his notes to the building they’re currently staking out.
It’s in a particularly derelict part of the city, full of boarded-up public housing and broken down factories, including the one Sam and Dean are camped out in across from the street from the demon’s hang out.
They’ve been there for nearly the entire night, moving from floor to floor, side to side, trying to see inside the factory from every angle, get a sense of just how many demons are hiding out there and what they’re doing.
So far they’ve only been able to confirm five demons but there must be more. There has to be. It seems unlikely that an experienced hunter would call for back up over five demons. It makes Dean jittery.
The silence sits heavy between them broken by the building’s creaking as hour after hour passes and nothing happens.
Dean’s about to call it a night and come back tomorrow when a car pulls up in front of the building and three demons get out, dragging someone with them. He’s fighting, screaming through the gag in his mouth, dragging his feet and struggling at the arms yanking him forward into the building.
“Dean…” Sam’s voice is as urgent as Dean feels.
“Yeah.” They’re running out of the building, holy water and the demon killing knife and whatever exorcisms they have memorized their only weapons.
Dean knows they should wait, slow down and make some kind of plan but they just watched a guy get dragged into a building full of demons after sitting for hours and neither of them feels like waiting.
They sneak around the building, hoping the back door isn’t guarded. The door creaks loudly, rusted hinges giving way after a hard push revealing a long dark corridor. Dean leads the way, knife out and ready, Sam close behind him.
The corridor is a ideal choke point, dark and narrow with empty offices along the way, perfect hiding places for an ambush and Dean’s reminded all over again how he hates deserted buildings.
They slip through the hallway, feet silent on the worn linoleum floor, stepping over puddles and avoiding forgotten office equipment. There’s another doorway at the end of the corridor, the door itself hands off the hinges, wired viewing window cracked and paint chipping off, a faint glow coming from the room beyond.
Dean bursts through the doorway, Sam right behind him, ready for anything.
Anything but what they find.
The room is large, probably once the center of the factory’s operation, old broken down machinery pushed against the walls, left to rot when the factory was shut down.
Candles litter the ground casting an eerie glow, revealing one of the most horrifying sights Dean’s ever seen.
There are bodies hanging upside down from the rafters, throats slit and bodies drained, fingers scrapping the ground as they sway ever so slowly. A bucket sits under each body, collecting.
There must be gallons of blood.
“Jesus…” Dean’s never seen anything like this.
“Guess again boy.” A high girlish voice bounces off the walls, echoing through the room making it impossible to figure out where it’s coming from.
Dean glances around, sees Sam doing the same, trying to pinpoint the voice.
They hear the thud of boot heels first, then someone weaving through the dead bodies, coming towards them. It’s a woman, and for a terrifying moment Dean thinks its Ruby come back to life.
“Hi’ya boys.” Dean’s stomach drops. It’s not Ruby but Dean has a feeling he knows who it is.
“Awww Dean, don’t look so sad. It’s a happy day.” Her voice is sarcastic, cooing at him and Dean knows exactly who it is.
“Meg.” He can’t decide if he’s more annoyed or pissed.
“Miss me boys?” She’s smiling, looking genuinely happy and somehow, no matter the vessel, Dean wants to punch that smile off her face. The girl she’s wearing couldn’t be more different than the last one, long dark hair and olive skin, face softer and younger. The dark brown eyes and wardrobe are the only similarities.
“What’re you doing here Meg?” Dean can’t help smirking at how annoyed Sam sounds. But there’s a slight rasp to Sam’s voice, a quiver that catches Dean’s attention.
“Waiting for you.” Meg’s looking right at Sam as more demons emerge from the shadows. They position themselves, boxing Sam and Dean in.
“Well we’re here now. If you’re gonna kill us…” Despite Sam’s defiant tone Dean can still hear the quiver in Sam’s voice.
Meg cuts Sam off, her voice teasing and not for the first time Dean really wants to kill her. “Oh, we’re not going to kill you Sam. We have express orders not to.”
And then she’s looking at Dean. There’s a joyful, mocking smile on her face. “But you Dean. You we can kill. Yeah!” She claps her hands gleefully. “But first…”
Meg walks over to where two more demons have entered the room, leading the civilian Sam and Dean saw being dragged from the car the one they rushed into the building to save is brought in, led by two demons. The gag is gone but he’s not screaming or fighting, as if he’s given up.
Dean has no idea how they’re going to save this guy or get out themselves. They’re badly outnumbered, surrounded; the five demons they originally thought were inside is closer to ten and they still only have the one knife between them.
The man obeys Meg’s order to kneel, held down by the demons flanking him. Meg smiles down at him, runs her hand over his head. Closing his eyes the man leans into the touch. When he opens them again his eyes are demon black and he’s staring right at Sam.
Somewhere between when the man was dragged from the car and now a demon has possessed him and Dean knows they’re not getting the innocent man out alive.
Meg turns to look at Sam, holding Sam’s gaze as she suddenly grabs a fistful of the demon’s hair and slides a knife across his throat. Another demon steps up with a silver bowl, collecting the warm sticky blood gushing from the man’s neck.
The scent of fresh blood is overwhelming and Dean can’t help gagging just a little. But Sam, Sam sounds like someone just knocked the breath out of him, letting out a little whine before taking a deep inhale.
Meg’s holding the bowl of blood, offering it up as she takes slow steps towards them. “It’s for you Sam. It’s all for you. Think of it as a gift. A thank you.”
And Dean suddenly understands what’s happening here. These aren’t just innocent people and that’s not human blood. Every one of those dead bodies was possessed by a demon and each bucket is full to the brim with demon blood just waiting for his brother to drink.
Sam’s staring at the bowl, staring at the warm fresh demon blood. He’s pale and sweating, breathing deep, jaw clenched and Dean knows his brother is lost in the pull of the blood.
“Sammy…you know you want it.” Her voice is almost playful before she turns serious. “You have to be strong. You have to be ready. Come on.”
Sam stumbles forward, eyes never leaving the bowl of blood but Dean’s not going to let his brother take even one sip of blood.
“Sam. Sam!” Dean steps in front of Sam, putting himself between Sam and the blood. Sam walks right into him and Dean grabs fistfuls of Sam’s shirt, shaking him, trying to get him to focus on Dean and not on Meg and the blood.
“Dean…” Sam’s voice is weak, desperate. “Dean. Get me out of here.”
“Yeah.” Giving Sam another hard shake Dean pulls out his best smirk, aiming it at Meg. “We’ll pass sweetheart. Sam’s not hungry.”
Meg scoffs. “Don’t lie to yourself Dean. He’s desperate for it, arn’tcha Sam.”
Sam is desperate for it, pushing against Dean, trying to get to the blood but there’s no way Dean is letting Sam give in. He pushes Sam back, forces him to turn away, pushing him towards the hallway they entered through. There’s only one demon between them and the doorway and Dean pushes Sam right into him. They won’t kill him, probably won’t even hurt him and Dean needs to the distraction to get close enough and bury the knife into the demon’s heart.
He pushes Sam into the hallway, keeps pushing as Sam stumbles and fights to keep moving forward, get away from the blood that’s calling him.
In the hallway the demons can only attack one as a time, the natural chokepoint now working in their favor. The first demon comes running at him and Dean drops low, ducks the demon’s punch, coming up fast, stabbing the knife straight up, into his neck.
The next demon is huge, bulky and muscled and manages to get two solid hits to Dean’s head before he’s able to embed the knife into the demon’s heart.
Dean keeps pushing Sam forward and fighting the demons coming up behind them. The hallway suddenly seems incredibly long but they keep moving forward. They’re almost at the exit, almost out, a trail of dead demons behind them, the early morning in front of them when Sam stops.
Standing in the doorway, blocking their only exit are two demons, meat-suites taking up the entire doorway. They’re trapped, two demons in front of them and three behind there’s nowhere to go. Sam’s in no condition to fight and Dean can’t take on five demons by himself with just one little knife.
Meg’s voice carries down the hallway, mocking them, laughing at Dean and calling Sam back to her, back to the blood.
They’re well and truly fucked and they both know it.
“Dean…” Sam looks ill, skin ashen and sweaty, lips chapped, a slight tremor running through his body. “Please don’t be mad.”
Sam glances at the demons behind them, eyes finding Meg and the bowl of blood she’s still holding before he forces himself to stand up straight, pulling himself to his full height, face transforming, a look of deadly determination on his face. Sam braces himself, raises his hand, fingers spread wide.
Dean watches as wisps of black smoke begins slowly spilling out of the demons mouth and eyes, ears and nose. They fight back, one of them managing to resist Sam’s efforts for just a minute till Sam pushes harder.
A noise behind them has Dean spinning around, meeting the two demons rushing to stop Sam. Dean takes the first down easily before getting thrown into the wall by the second. He’s up and on his feet as soon as he hits the ground, running at the demon who’s going after Sam. Dean plunges the knife into his back just as his hand lands on Sam’s shoulder.
It’s enough to break Sam’s concentration and Dean barely catches him as his legs give out. Sam looks terrible, bloody noise, face white, hair lank and drenched in sweat.
Meg’s still standing, furious, the bowl of blood lying at her feet, the blood pooled on the floor. The demon that fought Sam’s powers is slipping back into its meat suite and Dean knows they’ve got to get out of there. Now.
“Come on Sam.” Dean has to practically carry Sam out of there, too weak to hold his own weight.
They burst out of the building, blinded but the sun, gulping in the fresh air. Sam stumbles, nearly falls but Dean just keeps pulling him, tightening his grip around Sam’s waist.
When they reach the Impala parked three blocks away Dean throws Sam into the passenger seat before getting behind the wheel and slamming on the gas, getting them out of Detroit as fast as his girl will carry them.
XXXX
Dean pulls into a gas station five hours later. They need to fill up and he need to get out of the car, catch his breath. Sam’s curled up in the passenger seat, shaking and sweating, breath shallow and rough. He hasn’t moved or spoken since Dean put him there.
After filling the Impala up and getting some water for Sam Dean goes out to the field next to the gas station. They’ve got a while before they reach Bobby’s and Dean just needs a minute.
It’s almost a surprise to find he’s mad. He’s mad at Sam. It seems like he’s been angry with Sam for a long time always pushing it down till it exploded outward in a tacky honeymoon suite and for the first time ever Dean truly turned his back on his brother.
After Ruby and Lucifer, after getting Sam back Dean just wanted to forget, forget Sam’s betrayal, forget Sam’s actions; forget what they had said to each other. Just forget it all and keep moving forward, beat back the Apocalypse and send Lucifer back to Hell.
But Dean can’t forget and he can’t keep burying his anger. Watching Sam use his powers today scares him and enrages him. Even if it had saved their lives.
He’s just so angry at Sam, wants to throttle him, beat the demon power out of him and just…find a way to get his baby brother back.
Back at the car Sam’s still curled up as much as his overgrown body will let him. He looks so broken and all Dean wants to do is make him better, fix his brother.
Sensing Dean staring Sam turns his head, face still pale, eyes red and puffy, blood dried and flaking under his nose. It’s the blood that reminds Dean of everything he’s trying to repress and all the anger he felt in the field comes flooding back. A part of him wants to leave, start walking and just…keep going.
“Dean?” But he can’t. The Devil’s running loose on Earth, the Angels are flying around doing who-knows what, the Apocalypse needs stopping and Sam needs saving. Dean’s not going anywhere. He forces himself to swallow the anger back down.
He lets out a deep cleansing breath. “Everything’s fine Sam. Try and get some rest.”
They are so screwed.
Chapter 2