We Start and End with Family - Chapter 9
Title: We Start and End with Family
Summary: Two years after losing his brother, Dean has settled down and started a new family, but he’s never forgotten the family he left behind and his past has not forgotten him.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Violence, ritual abuse and nudity with children present, but not involved. Distorted uses of biblical quotes/Christian doctrine/ceremony.
Spoilers: Through early Season 6
Word Count: 3,080 for this chapter
Author’s Note: Diverges from canon about two minutes before the end of ‘Swan Song’ (no Sam spying on Dean and Lisa).
Written for spn_reversebang. The beautiful art featured along with this story was illustrated by puguita, whose art prompt and bountiful creativity inspired the story. All her illustrations can be found together at the art master post.
A million worlds of thanks to the truly awesome agent_jl36 and ebony_quill for their scene edits and the tremendously kind durtydeefla82 for taking the time to do a read through and edits for the whole shebang on extremely short notice.
The story master post can be found here.
~~~
Continued from Chapter 8
Visually no one except Dean would have noticed, but there was a twitch at the corner of Sam’s lips. The atrophied muscles tugged up ever so slightly as he stretched out on the shabby cushions of Bobby’s couch. Dean’s daughter snuggled beside him. She giggled with pure joy as she batted at his bangs.
Her brilliant blue eyes shone up at him with a kind of trusting innocence that Sam didn’t even realize existed. All he’d come to see in the world was the brutality and evil. Yet there wasn’t a hint of anything but good in the tiny life beside him.
That alone was enough to blow his mind. Then there was the fact that she was his niece. After all the ugliness they’d faced, after everything they had suffered, his brother had brought this life into the world.
The slight trace of a smile vanished when he looked down at Ben. The kid was lying on his stomach on the floor with his head held in his hands and his legs kicking back and forth impatiently in the air. Instead of the pure hope of Mary’s eyes, Ben wore a mask of worry that had been the norm for Dean when they were growing up.
Despite his stubborn attempts to stay awake, Ben’s heavy eyelids started to droop. His legs almost hit the floor before the boy woke up enough to catch them.
Bobby cleared his throat. “What happened to you being in bed?”
“Uncle Sam said I could stay up,” Ben mumbled. “Besides, I’m not sleepy.”
At Bobby’s questioning glance Sam shrugged. He wasn’t sure if Ben calling him uncle or him telling Ben he didn’t have to go to bed was the subject of the stare. Either way it didn’t require an explanation.
He didn’t want the kid calling him anything other than Sam, but Dean had decided that the boy was his son and Ben was as stubborn as Dean. As far as sleep, it wasn’t like he and Dean had a bedtime growing up and the kid's parents were missing. He wasn't going to sleep soundly tonight no matter where he was laying.
“If you’re staying up, at least get yourself in a chair,” Bobby replied.
Standing up, Bobby motioned for Ben to take his seat. Sam repositioned himself and Mary on the couch as Bobby settled down beside them. When Bobby tickled Mary her grin grew all the wider.
It wasn’t long before Ben was curled up in the chair with his head slumped to the side. Once the boy was out, Bobby looked to Sam. “Your brother, he’s done real good with both these kids.”
“I guess it all worked out for the best.”
Sam tried to hand Mary back to Bobby, but Bobby just crossed his arms over his chest. “She likes you. And Sam, Dean has worked his ass off to be right for this family of his, but he hasn’t been right. Not since....”
If Bobby finished his sentence Sam didn’t hear it. In a flurry of movement Sam set aside Mary and jumped from the couch with his gun raised. He slowly lowered the weapon when the dark figure that had appeared behind Ben stepped far enough into the light for Sam to see the long trench coat.
Castiel’s brow furrowed as he strode towards them. The angel took in the room and looked over each of them. Apparently dissatisfied, he tilted his head and locked eyes with Sam. “Where is Dean?”
At Castiel’s words Ben startled awake and leapt from the chair. Bobby motioned for the boy to come to his side while exchanging a worried look with Sam. After a moment Bobby too was on his feet with Mary tucked against his flannel.
“Dean’s with you, ain’t he?” Bobby asked Castiel.
“If that was so, why would I ask for his whereabouts? He called. I was...occupied.”
A sick feeling settled into Sam’s gut as he played back Dean’s behavior in his mind. There had been something eerily familiar about it. Sam had passed it off as Dean under stress but in truth he had known that look. It was the same look Dean had given him before taking off to try to say yes to Michael.
Sam narrowed his eyes on Castiel. “You two really haven’t talked?”
“No.” Castiel replied sharply. “I think I made that clear with...”
“Damn it!” Bobby growled. “That boy’s gonna be the death of me yet.”
Ben stepped away from Bobby and tentatively approached the angel. “Are you Cas?”
“I am the angel Castiel.”
A mix of relief and worry flooded over Ben’s face. “Dean went to St Peter’s Church.” When he spoke the words spilled quickly from his mouth. “You gotta hurry and go save him.”
When the irritation hit Sam he wasn’t sure if it was directed towards Ben or Dean, but he couldn’t keep the disbelief from his tone. “You knew?”
“I promised I wouldn’t tell.” Ben and Dean might as well be the same person. The kid had fully adopted Dean’s shamelessness when it came to defending family, even when they were wrong. “But I think he’s going to do something bad. He was talking funny.”
“He’s unlikely to survive,” Castiel agreed. “This was a legitimate church corrupted by Azazel’s extended possession of their priest. Their practices are archaic and they are attempting to free Michael from Lucifer’s cage.”
“Any other good news?” Bobby stared at Castiel for a moment before a realization settled over his face. “You’re here because you think they can actually do it.”
“Azazel’s command of the church is far enough past that they fail in an understanding of the timeline. They do, however possess enough insight to be a legitimate threat. We must go now.”
“Sam? You still with us, kid?”
His fists were curled painfully tight when Sam looked back up to Bobby. Azazel, Michael, they were all things Dean wasn’t supposed to have to worry about anymore. They were the things Sam had tried to send his brother away from, the reason he had stayed away all this time.
“You stay with them, Bobby.” Sam motioned to Ben and Mary before his expression hardened. “I’m gonna take care of this. They’re not forcing Michael on Dean again.”
“Nor will they try,” Castiel agreed. “They have no interest in Dean’s body, only in his blood sacrifice.”
~~~
The church’s basement was filled with lively conversation and kids running around after each other. If one more person smiled at him, Dean was going to start snapping necks. As far as he could tell everyone here was either seriously high or permanently brain damaged.
Dean kept a couple of steps behind Father Reed. His hands were unbound, but blood trickled from his nose and oozed slowly from a cut over his brow. There were a lot of points that he and the priest didn’t agree on. While Dean had clamped his mouth shut for a lot of the priest’s crap, he could only take so much of the sick bastard’s verbal replay of what Yellow Eyes had done to his family. The last few weeks had already torn that wound wide open. He wasn’t going to kneel idly by while the ghost of the demon poked it with a stick.
He bit his lip and clenched his fists while random people reached out to touch him as he walked by. The only thing that stopped him from slugging every one of them was the fact that half of them were kids, a lot of the others were girls and he was too distracted trying to again find Lisa.
Father Reed had taken him into private for their little conversation. The priest wanted him to look willing for the congregation. Until Lisa was out of here, Dean didn’t have a choice in complying.
“Hurry up, Cas,” Dean muttered beneath his breath.
The priest shot him a look and Dean just kept his eyes fixed ahead until he saw a baby, just a little older than Mary, crawling beneath one of the buffet tables. He leaned to watch it before turning to look for the accompanying parent. The kid was crawling over people’s feet and no one seemed to notice.
“What the hell is wrong with you people?” Dean spoke the words just loud enough for the priest’s ears.
Father Reed sent him a warning glare that Dean only returned in kind. Dean cringed as the baby hauled across the aisle and nearly got stepped on before heading beneath another table. She plopped down on her droopy diaper and tried to stuff a fallen cookie into her mouth.
“Seriously,” Dean said, louder this time. “Hey, will someone get that kid already.” A couple of the girls who had touched him, but neither who looked old enough to be the mothers, went to retrieve the baby. “Thank you,” Dean grumbled.
When Father Reed cleared his throat, Dean shot a challenging glare to the priest who shook his head disapprovingly. He might be playing along for show, but Dean had already told the son of a bitch where he could shove his disapproval.
Near the front of the room Dean finally found Lisa, propped up in a chair and sitting at the head of one of the plastic tablecloth covered tables. He let himself breath until the sickly glow of the basement’s florescent lighting caught the glint of tears she was fighting.
“Take your place,” Father Reed ordered.
After another glance to Lisa, Dean followed the priest up a couple of steps onto a low stage and knelt down at his side. The room grew hushed before Father Reed began the Lord’s Prayer. Dean shifted uncomfortably beside the man as he watched the room full of followers chant along.
This would be a hell of a lot easier if he and Lisa were the only ones he had to worry about getting hurt. While he could take out Father Reed, the room was crammed full of people. The majority might just be screwed up civilians, but even he couldn’t take out an entire congregation of whackos unarmed and he couldn’t do it with a clean conscience unless he was sure it was life or death for Lisa.
Dean looked up at Father Reed after he released the crowd to begin their feast of aluminum foil wrapped main dishes and homemade cookies. “This the part where you fattened me up with potluck casseroles?”
“You are not partaking in our food.”
“Stingy bastard.”
Father Reed motioned for Dean to stand. “While they feast you will be cleansed. Shed your clothing.”
Dean looked out over the families circling the buffet tables and claiming their chairs. “Thanks, but I already got my sponge bath for the week.”
With his expression growing colder, the priest stepped close enough that his shoulder pressed against Dean’s. “It’s your spirit that is filthy.”
“Then how about I say my Hail Marys and we call it even?” Determination set over Dean’s face as he met Father Reed’s eyes. “I’m not stripping down in front of a bunch of kids.”
“They’ve all come to bear witness.”
“To my naked ass?”
“Unto the truth,” Father Reed corrected. “You swore allegiance to heaven?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Then obey.” The priest’s eyes went to Lisa and Dean stiffened. “Obey of your own free will or the will of heaven will be imposed onto you.”
Rage flared in Dean’s eyes as he gave a surrendering nod to the priest. While everyone sat down with their plates of food, he peeled off his t-shirt. He pretended not to hear Lisa’s quiet gasp at the sight of his discolored abdomen. While the adults might as well have been watching paint dry, a bunch of kids were staring at him wide eyed while he unzipped his pants. Looking away didn’t help. He could still feel theirs and Lisa’s eyes on him.
“Through this cleansing of your soul you will repent your subversion of Michael and perversion of the Lord’s plans.”
“Perversion?” After kicking off his boots and letting his jeans pool on the floor, Dean cocked a brow at the priest. “You really wanna play who’s the biggest pervert right now?”
“Nothing is hidden in the eyes of the Lord.” As the room broke into an ‘amen’ the priest again leaned into Dean. “You will present me with respect or it will be your wife that receives your next beating.”
Looking past the priest, Dean caught Lisa’s terrified eyes. She was trying so hard to bite her tongue that he knew it wasn't herself that she was afraid for. His hands clenched around the elastic of his boxers as he wondered what threats the priest had whispered into her ear. He averted his eyes, pushed the boxers down and stepped away from the clothing.
Father Reed had already gone on to continue his preaching while some kids from the front chairs came and collected Dean’s clothes. “And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” Like he didn’t have enough sins of his own without the priest heaping more on him. “Through these acts we, along with him, will be made pure of past deceit.”
Dean straightened his awkward stance as three men came forward with long rattan canes in hand. When Father Reed spoke again it was only loud enough for Dean’s ears. “Hands behind your head.”
Taking in a deep breath, Dean reluctantly widened his stance. It wasn’t like he was actually hiding the goods as it was. With his feet shoulder width apart, he laced his hands behind his head and stared blankly ahead.
“Please don’t do this.”
It took Dean’s distracted mind a moment to realize that the words were coming from Lisa. She again fell silent as Father Reed’s eyes narrowed on her. If the bastard sent one more threatening look towards his wife heaven’s entire army wouldn’t be enough to stop Dean from killing the man here and now.
“Lisa...” Dean just shook his head silently pleading for her to keep quiet. More than anything he just didn’t want her to see or hear this. “Turn around.” The tears began to fall down her face as she shook her head.
“All will witness and all will obey,” Father Reed interrupted. “Begin.”
The men took up position around him. An initial grunt of surprise was knocked from Dean as the first slice of the cane lashed against the back of his thighs. Another stroke cut into his bruised side before the next landed across his shoulders.
Father Reed’s words of eternal love to the congregation at least took away the background silence. It wasn’t enough to overpower the swooshing of the canes or the sharp cracks against tender flesh. At the least it helped to disguise the muffled sounds he couldn’t bite back.
As the canes searched out every untouched patch of skin, Dean gritted his teeth and settled in. He put his focus into just keeping his feet beneath him. The stinging slices split skin and brought rivulets of blood slowly welling to the surface of the cuts.
Dean didn’t see the blood. He felt the hot liquid running down, but his eyes had closed. In his mind it wasn’t humans that surrounded him and it was the farthest thing from a church that he stood in. And for once it was easier to be there because this was the closest thing to a day off in hell.
It was Lisa calling his name that pulled him back to shivering cold of the church’s basement. He wasn’t sure at what point he had hit the ground, but the blows had stopped. His beaten muscles trembled in exhaustion and a mixture of cold sweat, tears and blood stung his eyes. It could be worse. It could still be his brother in hell.
“On your feet.”
At first Dean assumed that the words were meant for the people enjoying their chocolate chip cookies while he bled out, but when he found the energy to lift his head he saw Father Reed staring down at him expectantly. This guy really was one nut job of a son of a bitch if he thought Dean could stand right now.
It wasn’t the impatience in the priest’s eyes that got him to his knees. Past Father Reed Lisa looked ready to get out of her chair and come towards him. Dean reached a hand up to sloppily wipe his eyes clear and waved for Lisa to stay back. Once he was part way up, two of the men who had taken him to the ground helped him the rest of the way to his feet and led him to edge of stage. It took him a moment to realize he was staring down into the clear water of a baptismal pool.
A steadying arm around his waist replaced the hands holding his arms. He would’ve been grateful for the support if it wasn’t the priest from hell with his arm wrapped around Dean’s aching bare torso. Dean’s hands gripped the cool metal railings of the pool as he walked shakily down the steps. The water lapping at the gashes on his lower legs pulled a hiss from him. He knew what water felt like on a cut and this wasn’t just water.
“Salt water,” Father Reed explained at Dean's accusatory look. “The Lord guides us that every oblation of meat offering shall be seasoned with salt and the priest shall cast salt upon them, upon you - the offering unto the Lord.”
“You sound like the freakin’ apostle of Julia Child...son of a bitch!” Dean gasped as the priest guided him further down into the stinging water. “Don’t you think Michael’s gonna be pissed about you pickling his vessel?”
The words were only weak gasps and he knew it was more than he should say but as the water stained pink with his blood he was too close to shock to sensor himself. He barely registered Father Reed standing beside him.
“Do you repent to us and to the Lord your sins and accept Michael as the one and true savior of mankind?”
“Michael?” Dean blinked in confusion before a more relevant thought came to his mind. “This is what you were going to do to my daughter?”
“She has only original sin to repent for. It will be easier for her.”
“Will?”
For the second time, Father Reed smiled. It was a smile that raised bile in the back of Dean’s throat and was the last thing Dean saw before he was forced backwards beneath the water’s surface.
Continue to Chapter 10
Summary: Two years after losing his brother, Dean has settled down and started a new family, but he’s never forgotten the family he left behind and his past has not forgotten him.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Violence, ritual abuse and nudity with children present, but not involved. Distorted uses of biblical quotes/Christian doctrine/ceremony.
Spoilers: Through early Season 6
Word Count: 3,080 for this chapter
Author’s Note: Diverges from canon about two minutes before the end of ‘Swan Song’ (no Sam spying on Dean and Lisa).
Written for spn_reversebang. The beautiful art featured along with this story was illustrated by puguita, whose art prompt and bountiful creativity inspired the story. All her illustrations can be found together at the art master post.
A million worlds of thanks to the truly awesome agent_jl36 and ebony_quill for their scene edits and the tremendously kind durtydeefla82 for taking the time to do a read through and edits for the whole shebang on extremely short notice.
The story master post can be found here.
~~~
Continued from Chapter 8
Visually no one except Dean would have noticed, but there was a twitch at the corner of Sam’s lips. The atrophied muscles tugged up ever so slightly as he stretched out on the shabby cushions of Bobby’s couch. Dean’s daughter snuggled beside him. She giggled with pure joy as she batted at his bangs.
Her brilliant blue eyes shone up at him with a kind of trusting innocence that Sam didn’t even realize existed. All he’d come to see in the world was the brutality and evil. Yet there wasn’t a hint of anything but good in the tiny life beside him.
That alone was enough to blow his mind. Then there was the fact that she was his niece. After all the ugliness they’d faced, after everything they had suffered, his brother had brought this life into the world.
The slight trace of a smile vanished when he looked down at Ben. The kid was lying on his stomach on the floor with his head held in his hands and his legs kicking back and forth impatiently in the air. Instead of the pure hope of Mary’s eyes, Ben wore a mask of worry that had been the norm for Dean when they were growing up.
Despite his stubborn attempts to stay awake, Ben’s heavy eyelids started to droop. His legs almost hit the floor before the boy woke up enough to catch them.
Bobby cleared his throat. “What happened to you being in bed?”
“Uncle Sam said I could stay up,” Ben mumbled. “Besides, I’m not sleepy.”
At Bobby’s questioning glance Sam shrugged. He wasn’t sure if Ben calling him uncle or him telling Ben he didn’t have to go to bed was the subject of the stare. Either way it didn’t require an explanation.
He didn’t want the kid calling him anything other than Sam, but Dean had decided that the boy was his son and Ben was as stubborn as Dean. As far as sleep, it wasn’t like he and Dean had a bedtime growing up and the kid's parents were missing. He wasn't going to sleep soundly tonight no matter where he was laying.
“If you’re staying up, at least get yourself in a chair,” Bobby replied.
Standing up, Bobby motioned for Ben to take his seat. Sam repositioned himself and Mary on the couch as Bobby settled down beside them. When Bobby tickled Mary her grin grew all the wider.
It wasn’t long before Ben was curled up in the chair with his head slumped to the side. Once the boy was out, Bobby looked to Sam. “Your brother, he’s done real good with both these kids.”
“I guess it all worked out for the best.”
Sam tried to hand Mary back to Bobby, but Bobby just crossed his arms over his chest. “She likes you. And Sam, Dean has worked his ass off to be right for this family of his, but he hasn’t been right. Not since....”
If Bobby finished his sentence Sam didn’t hear it. In a flurry of movement Sam set aside Mary and jumped from the couch with his gun raised. He slowly lowered the weapon when the dark figure that had appeared behind Ben stepped far enough into the light for Sam to see the long trench coat.
Castiel’s brow furrowed as he strode towards them. The angel took in the room and looked over each of them. Apparently dissatisfied, he tilted his head and locked eyes with Sam. “Where is Dean?”
At Castiel’s words Ben startled awake and leapt from the chair. Bobby motioned for the boy to come to his side while exchanging a worried look with Sam. After a moment Bobby too was on his feet with Mary tucked against his flannel.
“Dean’s with you, ain’t he?” Bobby asked Castiel.
“If that was so, why would I ask for his whereabouts? He called. I was...occupied.”
A sick feeling settled into Sam’s gut as he played back Dean’s behavior in his mind. There had been something eerily familiar about it. Sam had passed it off as Dean under stress but in truth he had known that look. It was the same look Dean had given him before taking off to try to say yes to Michael.
Sam narrowed his eyes on Castiel. “You two really haven’t talked?”
“No.” Castiel replied sharply. “I think I made that clear with...”
“Damn it!” Bobby growled. “That boy’s gonna be the death of me yet.”
Ben stepped away from Bobby and tentatively approached the angel. “Are you Cas?”
“I am the angel Castiel.”
A mix of relief and worry flooded over Ben’s face. “Dean went to St Peter’s Church.” When he spoke the words spilled quickly from his mouth. “You gotta hurry and go save him.”
When the irritation hit Sam he wasn’t sure if it was directed towards Ben or Dean, but he couldn’t keep the disbelief from his tone. “You knew?”
“I promised I wouldn’t tell.” Ben and Dean might as well be the same person. The kid had fully adopted Dean’s shamelessness when it came to defending family, even when they were wrong. “But I think he’s going to do something bad. He was talking funny.”
“He’s unlikely to survive,” Castiel agreed. “This was a legitimate church corrupted by Azazel’s extended possession of their priest. Their practices are archaic and they are attempting to free Michael from Lucifer’s cage.”
“Any other good news?” Bobby stared at Castiel for a moment before a realization settled over his face. “You’re here because you think they can actually do it.”
“Azazel’s command of the church is far enough past that they fail in an understanding of the timeline. They do, however possess enough insight to be a legitimate threat. We must go now.”
“Sam? You still with us, kid?”
His fists were curled painfully tight when Sam looked back up to Bobby. Azazel, Michael, they were all things Dean wasn’t supposed to have to worry about anymore. They were the things Sam had tried to send his brother away from, the reason he had stayed away all this time.
“You stay with them, Bobby.” Sam motioned to Ben and Mary before his expression hardened. “I’m gonna take care of this. They’re not forcing Michael on Dean again.”
“Nor will they try,” Castiel agreed. “They have no interest in Dean’s body, only in his blood sacrifice.”
~~~
The church’s basement was filled with lively conversation and kids running around after each other. If one more person smiled at him, Dean was going to start snapping necks. As far as he could tell everyone here was either seriously high or permanently brain damaged.
Dean kept a couple of steps behind Father Reed. His hands were unbound, but blood trickled from his nose and oozed slowly from a cut over his brow. There were a lot of points that he and the priest didn’t agree on. While Dean had clamped his mouth shut for a lot of the priest’s crap, he could only take so much of the sick bastard’s verbal replay of what Yellow Eyes had done to his family. The last few weeks had already torn that wound wide open. He wasn’t going to kneel idly by while the ghost of the demon poked it with a stick.
He bit his lip and clenched his fists while random people reached out to touch him as he walked by. The only thing that stopped him from slugging every one of them was the fact that half of them were kids, a lot of the others were girls and he was too distracted trying to again find Lisa.
Father Reed had taken him into private for their little conversation. The priest wanted him to look willing for the congregation. Until Lisa was out of here, Dean didn’t have a choice in complying.
“Hurry up, Cas,” Dean muttered beneath his breath.
The priest shot him a look and Dean just kept his eyes fixed ahead until he saw a baby, just a little older than Mary, crawling beneath one of the buffet tables. He leaned to watch it before turning to look for the accompanying parent. The kid was crawling over people’s feet and no one seemed to notice.
“What the hell is wrong with you people?” Dean spoke the words just loud enough for the priest’s ears.
Father Reed sent him a warning glare that Dean only returned in kind. Dean cringed as the baby hauled across the aisle and nearly got stepped on before heading beneath another table. She plopped down on her droopy diaper and tried to stuff a fallen cookie into her mouth.
“Seriously,” Dean said, louder this time. “Hey, will someone get that kid already.” A couple of the girls who had touched him, but neither who looked old enough to be the mothers, went to retrieve the baby. “Thank you,” Dean grumbled.
When Father Reed cleared his throat, Dean shot a challenging glare to the priest who shook his head disapprovingly. He might be playing along for show, but Dean had already told the son of a bitch where he could shove his disapproval.
Near the front of the room Dean finally found Lisa, propped up in a chair and sitting at the head of one of the plastic tablecloth covered tables. He let himself breath until the sickly glow of the basement’s florescent lighting caught the glint of tears she was fighting.
“Take your place,” Father Reed ordered.
After another glance to Lisa, Dean followed the priest up a couple of steps onto a low stage and knelt down at his side. The room grew hushed before Father Reed began the Lord’s Prayer. Dean shifted uncomfortably beside the man as he watched the room full of followers chant along.
This would be a hell of a lot easier if he and Lisa were the only ones he had to worry about getting hurt. While he could take out Father Reed, the room was crammed full of people. The majority might just be screwed up civilians, but even he couldn’t take out an entire congregation of whackos unarmed and he couldn’t do it with a clean conscience unless he was sure it was life or death for Lisa.
Dean looked up at Father Reed after he released the crowd to begin their feast of aluminum foil wrapped main dishes and homemade cookies. “This the part where you fattened me up with potluck casseroles?”
“You are not partaking in our food.”
“Stingy bastard.”
Father Reed motioned for Dean to stand. “While they feast you will be cleansed. Shed your clothing.”
Dean looked out over the families circling the buffet tables and claiming their chairs. “Thanks, but I already got my sponge bath for the week.”
With his expression growing colder, the priest stepped close enough that his shoulder pressed against Dean’s. “It’s your spirit that is filthy.”
“Then how about I say my Hail Marys and we call it even?” Determination set over Dean’s face as he met Father Reed’s eyes. “I’m not stripping down in front of a bunch of kids.”
“They’ve all come to bear witness.”
“To my naked ass?”
“Unto the truth,” Father Reed corrected. “You swore allegiance to heaven?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Then obey.” The priest’s eyes went to Lisa and Dean stiffened. “Obey of your own free will or the will of heaven will be imposed onto you.”
Rage flared in Dean’s eyes as he gave a surrendering nod to the priest. While everyone sat down with their plates of food, he peeled off his t-shirt. He pretended not to hear Lisa’s quiet gasp at the sight of his discolored abdomen. While the adults might as well have been watching paint dry, a bunch of kids were staring at him wide eyed while he unzipped his pants. Looking away didn’t help. He could still feel theirs and Lisa’s eyes on him.
“Through this cleansing of your soul you will repent your subversion of Michael and perversion of the Lord’s plans.”
“Perversion?” After kicking off his boots and letting his jeans pool on the floor, Dean cocked a brow at the priest. “You really wanna play who’s the biggest pervert right now?”
“Nothing is hidden in the eyes of the Lord.” As the room broke into an ‘amen’ the priest again leaned into Dean. “You will present me with respect or it will be your wife that receives your next beating.”
Looking past the priest, Dean caught Lisa’s terrified eyes. She was trying so hard to bite her tongue that he knew it wasn't herself that she was afraid for. His hands clenched around the elastic of his boxers as he wondered what threats the priest had whispered into her ear. He averted his eyes, pushed the boxers down and stepped away from the clothing.
Father Reed had already gone on to continue his preaching while some kids from the front chairs came and collected Dean’s clothes. “And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” Like he didn’t have enough sins of his own without the priest heaping more on him. “Through these acts we, along with him, will be made pure of past deceit.”
Dean straightened his awkward stance as three men came forward with long rattan canes in hand. When Father Reed spoke again it was only loud enough for Dean’s ears. “Hands behind your head.”
Taking in a deep breath, Dean reluctantly widened his stance. It wasn’t like he was actually hiding the goods as it was. With his feet shoulder width apart, he laced his hands behind his head and stared blankly ahead.
“Please don’t do this.”
It took Dean’s distracted mind a moment to realize that the words were coming from Lisa. She again fell silent as Father Reed’s eyes narrowed on her. If the bastard sent one more threatening look towards his wife heaven’s entire army wouldn’t be enough to stop Dean from killing the man here and now.
“Lisa...” Dean just shook his head silently pleading for her to keep quiet. More than anything he just didn’t want her to see or hear this. “Turn around.” The tears began to fall down her face as she shook her head.
“All will witness and all will obey,” Father Reed interrupted. “Begin.”
The men took up position around him. An initial grunt of surprise was knocked from Dean as the first slice of the cane lashed against the back of his thighs. Another stroke cut into his bruised side before the next landed across his shoulders.
Father Reed’s words of eternal love to the congregation at least took away the background silence. It wasn’t enough to overpower the swooshing of the canes or the sharp cracks against tender flesh. At the least it helped to disguise the muffled sounds he couldn’t bite back.
As the canes searched out every untouched patch of skin, Dean gritted his teeth and settled in. He put his focus into just keeping his feet beneath him. The stinging slices split skin and brought rivulets of blood slowly welling to the surface of the cuts.
Dean didn’t see the blood. He felt the hot liquid running down, but his eyes had closed. In his mind it wasn’t humans that surrounded him and it was the farthest thing from a church that he stood in. And for once it was easier to be there because this was the closest thing to a day off in hell.
It was Lisa calling his name that pulled him back to shivering cold of the church’s basement. He wasn’t sure at what point he had hit the ground, but the blows had stopped. His beaten muscles trembled in exhaustion and a mixture of cold sweat, tears and blood stung his eyes. It could be worse. It could still be his brother in hell.
“On your feet.”
At first Dean assumed that the words were meant for the people enjoying their chocolate chip cookies while he bled out, but when he found the energy to lift his head he saw Father Reed staring down at him expectantly. This guy really was one nut job of a son of a bitch if he thought Dean could stand right now.
It wasn’t the impatience in the priest’s eyes that got him to his knees. Past Father Reed Lisa looked ready to get out of her chair and come towards him. Dean reached a hand up to sloppily wipe his eyes clear and waved for Lisa to stay back. Once he was part way up, two of the men who had taken him to the ground helped him the rest of the way to his feet and led him to edge of stage. It took him a moment to realize he was staring down into the clear water of a baptismal pool.
A steadying arm around his waist replaced the hands holding his arms. He would’ve been grateful for the support if it wasn’t the priest from hell with his arm wrapped around Dean’s aching bare torso. Dean’s hands gripped the cool metal railings of the pool as he walked shakily down the steps. The water lapping at the gashes on his lower legs pulled a hiss from him. He knew what water felt like on a cut and this wasn’t just water.
“Salt water,” Father Reed explained at Dean's accusatory look. “The Lord guides us that every oblation of meat offering shall be seasoned with salt and the priest shall cast salt upon them, upon you - the offering unto the Lord.”
“You sound like the freakin’ apostle of Julia Child...son of a bitch!” Dean gasped as the priest guided him further down into the stinging water. “Don’t you think Michael’s gonna be pissed about you pickling his vessel?”
The words were only weak gasps and he knew it was more than he should say but as the water stained pink with his blood he was too close to shock to sensor himself. He barely registered Father Reed standing beside him.
“Do you repent to us and to the Lord your sins and accept Michael as the one and true savior of mankind?”
“Michael?” Dean blinked in confusion before a more relevant thought came to his mind. “This is what you were going to do to my daughter?”
“She has only original sin to repent for. It will be easier for her.”
“Will?”
For the second time, Father Reed smiled. It was a smile that raised bile in the back of Dean’s throat and was the last thing Dean saw before he was forced backwards beneath the water’s surface.
Continue to Chapter 10