Residuals (PG-13)
It's amazing what happens when one of us says to the other, "I need to blow something up today"....
This is a sequel to A Touch of Providence.
Summary: A summer trip to Colorado turns into a working vacation that uncovers more than a new-to-the-boys monster of the week.
Residuals
By Enola Jones and San Antonio Rose
June 10, 2002
It was supposed to be a simple vacation. Just Sam and Dean and Daphne and Tricia, getting a break from the heat and spending a couple of weeks relaxing together, seeing sights, that sort of thing.
But of course, nothing was ever that easy for the Winchesters.
They’d been in Vail, Colorado, for about a week when Ash called. Sam answered the phone. “Hey, Ash! How’s it going? How are you doing?”
“Hey, Samwise. I’m good-but we just had to send Papa Bear on a wild goose chase t’keep ’im from runnin’ into you up there.”
“Thanks, man. I wish he would just understand that we’re happy.”
“Me, too, compadre. But he wasn’t lookin’ for you.”
“What was he looking for?”
“’S a string of disappearances up your way, along Two Elk Creek. Hikers not makin’ it back. No bodies recovered yet.”
Sam groaned and rolled away from a semi-awake Tricia - they were both in shirts and shorts, having agreed not to do anything until they were married - and grabbed the hotel’s pen and paper. “Lay the details on me.”
That got Dean’s attention and he sat up, waking Daphne in the process. Two queens easily held the Winchester brothers and their fiancées.
Ash rattled off names and dates. “Ain’t no omens I can see, and the pattern don’t match a werewolf. But that don’t narrow the field much.”
“Thanks, Ash. We’ll see what we can do.”
“No problemo. Sorry to interrupt your vacation.”
“No worries. Call you later, buddy.” He hung up and ran a hand over his lower face, sighing.
“Ash got a hunt for us?” Dean asked.
“Yeah.”
“What’s it look like?”
“Research.” He tossed the pad across the gap between the beds.
Dean snorted and caught the pad, then held it where Daphne could read at the same time.
She looked up at him and said one word. “Wendigo?”
Sam was startled, but Dean just shook his head. “We’re too far west.”
“Were wolf?” Tricia asked, turning it into two words.
“Dates are too evenly spread through the month,” Sam replied. “And no remains have been recovered. With a werewolf, there’s usually a trail of bodies minus the hearts.”
“And only around the full moon,” Dean added.
Tricia sighed and tugged on a lock of her hair. “Room service? We can eat while you research.”
Daphne scrubbed at her eyes. “What time is it, anyway?”
“Uh....” Dean squinted at the clock. “... six AM.”
“Ugh. So much for suggesting we wait until morning.” She sagged against Dean’s shoulder.
Dean chuckled, wrapping an arm around her. “Time doesn’t matter when you’re a hunter. Sooner you get them, sooner the innocent can sleep.”
“Point taken.” She yawned. “Yeah, room service sounds like a good idea.”
Sam kissed Tricia and headed to the bathroom. She set up his computer and then called room service. Dean, meanwhile, started a pot of coffee so he and Daphne wouldn’t have to wait as long to get their caffeine. Sam and Tricia switched places in the bathroom and Sam sat down at the computer.
Dean had just handed Daphne her coffee when the meal arrived. Sam came over and joined the three of them. They ate freely, laughing and teasing. And by the end of the meal, Daphne was awake enough to set up Dean’s computer and take half of the remaining incidents while Tricia took the other half and the boys got their showers.
“No pattern yet,” Daphne reported as Dean emerged, drying his hair.
“Any connections between the victims?”
Nothing.
Dean hummed thoughtfully. Not likely human, then. No cycle to dates, so works by opportunity. Only hikers, not rangers or cops, so intelligent. Not want attention.
“Too quiet out there!” Sam called as the water shut off. “Signing?”
Dean laughed. “Yeah, sorry, Sammy.”
“No worries, just wondering!”
“Hurry up, will ya? Wanna see if you can get anything out of this.”
“Coming, coming!”
Dean kept flipping through the notes Daphne and Tricia had taken until Sam emerged from the bathroom. Tricia grinned at his curls that always showed up when his hair was wet. It turned into waves when dry.
“Not a word,” Sam growled as he sat down.
She just grinned bigger and sat on her hands.
Thank you, he signed, sitting down beside her and kissing her on the cheek.
Dean handed over the notes. So far I think intelligent, opportunist, not human and probably not witch.
Sam chewed on his thumbnail as he read. Dean still hadn’t been able to break the brat of that.
“Not a shapeshifter, either,” Dean added aloud so that Sam wouldn’t have to stop reading. “Too many victims, for one, and they haven’t been spotted since the disappearances.”
“Wendigo might be a good guess.”
“Yeah, it might, but like I said, we’re too far west. They’re mostly in Ojibwa territory-northern Minnesota, central Canada.”
“Mostly. Not completely.”
Dean ran a hand through his still-damp hair and sighed. “For once, I wish I had a copy of Dad’s journal. He’d probably know if there’ve been any Wendigo attacks this far from Minnesota.”
Again, the chewing on the nail. “Uncle Bobby might.”
“Might, but I betcha he ain’t up yet.” Dean sighed again. “Okay, so we won’t scratch Wendigo off the list yet. What else?”
“If they weren’t extinct, I’d say vampires,” Sam sighed.
Daphne frowned. “How do you know they’re extinct?”
Dad said, Dean signed, then froze.
“How did he know?” the others chorused.
Dean smiled. Add Vampire to list.
Daphne dutifully jotted down “Wendigo” and “Vampire” while asking, “What made you change your mind?”
Because I cannot answer how he knows.
She nodded. Fair enough.
Demon? Sam signed, then shook his head. No, no... demon would leave bodies.
And no omens, Dean agreed.
No omens. Short list.
Ghoul?
Add.
“We are looking for a predator, though, right?” Tricia asked. “Just one that’s smart enough not to leave a trail.”
A nod, and he went on thinking.
“Skinwalker would probably leave a trail, just like a werewolf,” Daphne mused.
Sam nodded.
“Could be a wraith or a djinn,” Tricia added.
Nodding, Sam added them.
Not cyclical, so not a god, Dean noted. Too secretive for rakshasa or trickster, or any other thing that likes to show off.
Tricia looked over at Daphne. Whole new world.
Daphne’s eyes widened in a Tell me about it! expression.
When they’d finally run through all the predatory monsters they knew of, Sam tapped the list thoughtfully. “So we’ve got a short list-but we don’t know how to kill some of these things, and the ones we do know about don’t have much in common. Vampires and ghouls, yeah, you behead, but the rest... we need a lot more information.”
Uncle Bobby?
Sam looked at the clock. It was nearly 8 local time, which meant it would be close to 9 in Sioux Falls. “Probably safe enough to call now.”
“Okay.”
Sam pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
“Singer.”
“Hey, Uncle Bobby. It’s Sam.”
“Hey, Sam. How’s everyone?”
“Fine, thanks. Ash just called us with a hunt he had to steer Dad away from, but we don’t have enough information yet to know what we’re dealing with. Wondered if we could get your take on our short list.”
“He steered John away because you’re there?”
“Yeah. It’s on the far side of Vail Mountain, Two Elk Creek. Makes us the closest hunters available.”
“Lay it on me.”
Sam quickly brought him up to speed.
“Huh,” Bobby said. “Email me the information and gimme a day to process. You go have fun and I’ll check in tonight.”
“Okay, will do. Thanks.”
Bobby hung up.
“Wants me to email him what we have,” Sam reported.
Do it, Dean answered.
Sam nodded and pulled up his email. “Also said we should go have fun and he’ll check in with us tonight.”
Dean grinned and winked at Daphne. Daphne raised an eyebrow.
“So what’s the plan for today?” Tricia asked, tucking her still-bare feet underneath her.
“Think maybe we oughta start making plans for a hike up Two Elk Creek,” Daphne returned.
Dean grinned. “Woman after my own heart.”
“Yeah,” Sam retorted. “Tell us something we didn’t know.”
Daphne laughed. “Dibs on next shower.” She got up, kissed Dean’s cheek, and disappeared into the bathroom.
“Hey!” Tricia yelled after her. “Save me some hot water!”
Daphne responded with a cheesy evil laugh.
“Twit!” Tricia barked out.
“Eedgit!” Daphne shot back, putting a deliberate Houstonian twang on Bobby’s favorite insult.
Dean and Sam looked at each other and burst out laughing.
After the girls had showered and all four of them had second breakfast-Dean’s term, justified with “Well, it’s too early for elevenses”-they headed for the Community Information Office to try to get tourist info on Two Elk Creek.
“I wouldn’t go there,” the man behind the desk warned even as he handed over the information.
Dean had been elected to play the clueless tourist this time, with the added twist that always got people to open up. “Oh? Why’s that?” Sam asked, translating his signs. Dean never took his eyes from the man’s mouth.
“It’s a dangerous area.” The man tried to turn more toward Sam so Dean couldn’t ‘read’ his lips. “Especially with a deaf man who can’t hear what’s comin’.”
Dean frowned in ‘confusion’.
Sam signed Okay to him and he relaxed. Then Sam turned to the man. “What do you mean, what’s comin’? What’s out there?”
The man shook his head. “Nobody knows. Doesn’t seem like a bear or anything, but... nobody comes back from Two Elk Creek. Been that way for about six months now.”
“Six months, huh? Anything change six months ago?”
“Not that I know of. ’Course, Vail’s a resort town, so it’s not like we can keep track of strangers, pick out someone who’s likely to turn out to be a serial killer.”
Sam smiled. “Anyone we can talk to? Because like you said.... He’s got his heart set on this, but I don’t want to take my deaf brother up there unprepared.’
The man sighed and shrugged. “You could try the Forest Service. They might know more.”
“Thanks.”
Dean signed Thank you, and they collected the girls and left.
Once they were safely in the Impala, though, Dean snorted. “As if the deaf don’t have other ways of knowing when they’re in danger.”
“We switching roles?” Sam asked as he backed the Impala out of its parking space.
“Let’s. You play it better than I do.”
“I dunno, dude. He bought it.”
“I’m just saying.”
Sam shrugged. “Me, too. But I don’t mind switching if you’d rather.”
“No, let’s do it.” You be deaf.
Sam nodded his agreement.
The rangers were understanding and as forthcoming as they could be under the circumstances, but they simply didn’t have much information to give. When they’d found campsites, the scene had been disturbed by wildlife, but there was no evidence of a large predator like a bear or mountain lion having attacked a human. The camps had all clearly been abandoned before the bears got to them.
Sam moved back, staring at the trail maps. And he barely managed not to react when the phone rang. But he braced himself soon enough that the “WHAT?!” that burst from the ranger moments later didn’t make him turn around.
Dean frowned. “What is it?”
The ranger ignored him, totally focused on the phone conversation. “Are you serious?! ... Yeah, call the sheriff’s office. Dead animals we can handle, but dead people... right. And be careful!”
“What is it?” Dean asked again.
The ranger sighed as she hung up, shooting a glance at Sam to make sure he wasn’t looking at her. Then she lowered her voice and said, “Looks like the coyotes found one of our missing persons.”
“Oh, no, I’m sorry.”
“We won’t know much until the coroner gets there, but... the weird thing is...” Her voice got even quieter. “There’s no blood.”
“That is weird,” he commiserated.
She sighed again. “Sorry. I’m not sure why I told you that. Just, please... don’t go out to Two Elk Creek until we know more. If there’s some weird kind of predator out there, or a serial killer or something... I’d hate to see you guys become its next victims.”
“Thank you, Ranger.” Dean tapped Sam’s shoulder. Let’s go.
Okay, Sam signed with a nod, then waved goodbye to the ranger before following.
“Heard it all?” Dean asked once they were in the car.
“Yeah.” Sam sighed. “No blood but remains enough for a coyote to uncover and for a ranger to identify as human. Unless it’s one of the most recent vics, I think we can rule out ghoul and Wendigo.”
“That leaves... what?”
Daphne looked at the list again. “Vampire, wraith, or djinn.”
“Wraith don’t drain blood,” Sam replied.
Daphne crossed it off the list with a flourish. “Down to two.”
“Vampire or djinn.”
“Need more info on both. Let’s go out for lunch and hit some attraction, then go have supper and then wait for Bobby’s call.”
Sounds good, Dean agreed.
“There!” Sam pointed. “That place looks good!”
Dean spotted the restaurant and pulled into its parking lot.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he teased as he turned the car off. “The Sammy Winchester Method Of Choosing. Point and say ‘that looks good’.”
The girls laughed-and so did Sam. Dean beamed and they got out of the car.
Their food was served and they were all eating when Dean suddenly waved at chest-height. When all eyes were on him, he drew his hands in close and ‘whispered,’ Sign to me, all of you. Tourist information people just walked in.
Just to be safe, Sam stopped talking as well.
Tricia frowned at him. Why you?
Habit, Sam signed with a wink... just as one of the rangers walked in. The brothers exchanged a look and quickly stuffed their mouths with food.
Daphne shook her head, getting it suddenly. You switched.
Dean acknowledged her with a shrug of the eyebrows.
They were out of luck. The tourist information people settled in for a nice lunch. The ranger, however, walked over to chat. “Well, well, fancy running into you boys. And girls?”
Daphne offered her hand. “Daphne Winchester. Sorry, my husband just happened to take a bite just as you walked over.”
Dean waved at her.
She laughed and took Daphne’s hand. “Gina Toller. Welcome to Vail.”
“Tricia,” Tricia offered next. “This one’s mine,” she added, pointing at Sam.
Sam, who had remembered to look at their mouths, blushed softly.
“The guys told us there’d been a body found near Two Elk Creek,” Daphne continued as Gina shook hands with Tricia. “Has there been any more news?”
“Well, I don’t like to talk shop at a meal, but....” She looked around. “Come to the station after you’re done. I’m assuming you’re in law enforcement or media, from your questions. Which is it?”
“Law enforcement-we’re all majoring in criminal justice down at Stephen F. Austin.”
Gina’s eyebrows lifted in visible surprise. “Even him?” she tilted her head toward Sam.
Tricia nodded. “Forensics.”
Gina smiled at him. “Can you read my lips?” At Sam’s nod, she said, slowly, “You’ll be a good one.”
Sam grinned. Thank you.
Daphne translated, and Gina’s smile grew. “Meet me at the shop after lunch.”
They all nodded. Daphne thanked her again, and she left.
Too close, Dean signed.
Sam sighed and nodded.
They took their time at lunch and went back to the ranger station. This time the girls went in with them.
“This is the body we found,” Gina said, handing Sam a folder. As a forensics student, he’d seen worse, she figured.
And he had, to be honest, though not in several years. The corpse had evidently attracted some scavengers once it had been uncovered, but there was one mark on its neck that was clearly not the work of a normal animal.
She was speaking to Tricia, who was translating for Sam. “We’ve IDed him as David Pryer, one of the first victims to vanish.”
Dean wrote down the name and showed it to Sam, who nodded and pointed to the neck wound. Dean’s eyebrows lifted. Sam then flipped through the other photographs to see if there were a clearer shot of that wound.
Yahtzee. The final one.
Sam traced the outline with his finger, being careful not to touch the photograph itself. It didn’t match any pattern they’d seen on a hunt before, but it did look slightly familiar.
Dean, draw this, he signed, handing it over.
Dean sketched the wound quickly while muttering, “That’s one hell of a hickey.”
Sam had to hold in even his smile. He wasn’t supposed to be able to hear his brother.
Daphne quirked an eyebrow. “What was that?”
“I said that’s one hell of a hickey.”
This time, Sam allowed himself a smile and a soft laugh.
“What do you mean?” Tricia asked, frowning slightly.
“I’ll explain later.”
“Have you found any further clues as to the cause of death?” Sam asked through Tricia.
“Just that he was exsanguinated.”
“Time of death?”
“Uh.” Gina studied her notes. “About a week after he vanished.”
Sam made a small thoughtful noise and looked through the photographs again.
Tricia watched his hands. “He wants copies of everything you have.”
Gina nodded and accepted the folder back from Sam.
While she made photocopies, Sam looked at Dean’s drawing and pointed out the deep puncture marks that ran along both edges of the wound, which otherwise looked very much like a human bite mark.
Bobby, Dean signed.
Sam nodded. We call from hotel.
Gina returned then.
Sam signed Thank you before accepting the photocopies from her.
She nodded and watched them leave.
As soon as they got back to the hotel, Sam got out the portable scanner Ash had gotten him for his birthday and scanned the photocopies to email to Bobby.
Five minutes after the email went through, Bobby called Sam’s phone-and Sam had to hold the phone away from his ear while Bobby cursed a blue streak.
“Djinn or vampire?” Sam asked.
“Vampire.” Bobby let out another string of profanity, but at a lower volume.
“Okay, so...now what?”
“Wait for me and Rufus to get there to back you up, idjit. But if you absolutely have to go out there tonight, there are two things you gotta know. I’m sure John told you to cut off the head.”
“Dad told us they were extinct.”
“Well, then, rule zero is that John ain’t always right. Rule 1 is that the only thing that kills a vampire is beheading. Rule 2 is that the only other thing that slows ’em down is dead man’s blood. It won’t kill ‘em, but it poisons ’em enough for you to overpower ’em.”
“Dead man’s blood?” Sam frowned, looking at Dean.
“Disgusting, I know. Try a mortuary.”
“Okay....”
“You can work on coatin’ bullets with it until we get there. And Sam? Do wait for us unless it’s life-or-death. I’m serious.”
“Okay.” He hung up. “We wait.”
“It’s a vampire, then?” Dean asked.
“Yeah.” He relayed what Bobby said.
Dean nodded. “Okay, then. Guess I’ll be making an after-hours call to a funeral home.”
“I’ll come, too,” Daphne said. “Guard.”
“Not this time, sweetheart.”
Dean.
Dean started to order her to stay at the hotel, but the look on her face changed his mind. I drop you at ranger station.
Close enough by. I wait.
Dean nodded his agreement.
It was a race to see who would get there first - Dean and Daphne or Bobby and Rufus. Sam and Tricia paced while they waited.
“Did Bobby say where they were coming from?” Tricia asked.
“Crap, I forgot to ask!”
“Es okay, querido. Just wondered how sure you were that they’d get here tonight.”
“Because he said to wait for them and not go tonight. That tells me they’re close.”
“I hope so. I know we need the backup, but I’d hate for anyone else to get hurt.”
“Me too. I-” Two knocks. A beat. Two knocks. Sam rushed to the door. “It’s Uncle Bobby!”
“Hey, Sam,” Bobby said as he and Rufus came in-followed by Dean and Daphne.
Sam sighed in relief. “Took long enough!”
Rufus raised an eyebrow at that. “You have any idea how fast this fool was drivin’?!”
“Dean,” the younger Winchester and fiancée said together.
“Hey!” Dean objected. “I went the speed limit. Bobby drove like he was from Montana.”
“I was talking to Dean,” Sam rolled his eyes.
Then say so, Dean and Daphne signed at the same time.
Sam’s retort made Tricia’s eyes widen and Rufus frown slightly. “Okay, I ain’t up to snuff on this hand-talking thing - but are you sure you’re old enough for that one, boy?”
“No,” Dean replied out loud, “but that’s never stopped him before.”
“I’m 19, you asses,” Sam laughed.
“Idjits,” Bobby muttered, which made everyone laugh.
Rufus clapped his hands once. “Okay. Where exactly are we looking for our fanged fiend?”
Sam spread a map on the table; he’d marked the last known locations of as many of the victims as possible. “My guess is that there’s a cave or a shack somewhere on this side of the mountain.”
“But the amount of the victims.....” Tricia said. “Could there be more than one?”
“More than one hideout or more than one vampire?”
Yes, she signed.
Bobby frowned. “Wouldn’t think there’s more’n one hideout, but there could be more’n one vamp in the nest. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if this nest started out with one vamp and he started turnin’ a few of the hikers just to have some company. They’ve been pretty damn rare since the ’60s-that’s why your daddy thought they were extinct.”
So this body showing up, Dean signed slowly. First draining?
Bobby shook his head. “Hard to tell, son.”
Dean chewed his lower lip. Okay. We rest tonight and go tomorrow.
Sam ran a hand through his hair. “Dean, I dunno if I can rest. What if someone else gets taken tonight?”
Well, coat bullets.
“We’re better off goin’ in daylight, Sam,” Rufus added. “Vampires can stand sunlight, but it does hurt ’em, so they generally sleep durin’ the day and become active at night.”
“So we’ll run reconnaissance in the day.”
“Early morning would work. If we can locate the nest before noon, they’re most likely to be deeply asleep in the early afternoon, so we should try to take ’em out then.”
Sam smiled. “Perfect.”
Dean handed him the jar of blood and two boxes of ammo. “Have fun.”
“Jerk.”
“Bitch.”
“Boys,” said Daphne.
Tricia just grinned.
As early as the sun rose in Colorado in the summer, first light wasn’t quite doable. Still, the current and future Winchesters met Bobby and Rufus at a nearby diner as early as they could manage. It was just after six and slowly getting warm. But Daphne and Tricia, being used to lows in the upper 70s, were chilled. Sam and Dean ended up lending the girls their jackets.
Armed and determined, the six headed up the mountain. Dean brought the handheld police scanner and kept it tuned to the Forest Service band just in case any more reports came in while they were out. But none did. They made it to the place where the body was found and saw other things - limbs sticking out of the snow. Both tree... and human.
“... the hell...” Dean whispered.
“I don’t like this,” Daphne whispered. “This just feels all kinds of wrong.”
Dean nodded. Stick close.
Sam shivered. “Dean... my skin’s crawling.” Ever since he was very little, the kid had been able to sense when things were off-kilter.
“You seen anything?” Dean asked, the emphasis indicating that the question was about the visions that had started up the summer before.
“Not so much, no. Not about this, anyway.”
“What’s it feel like, then?”
Sam swallowed hard. “Like we’re walking into a trap.”
Dean sighed. “Bobby? Rufus? What do we do?”
Rufus looked at Bobby. “Find out what we’re facin’.”
Bobby nodded. “Send the kids back into Vail?”
“Like hell,” four voices snarled.
Bobby held up his hands in surrender. “Just askin’.”
Tricia crouched beside one of the exposed human limbs. “Dean? Bloodless. And in rigor.”
Sam sucked in a deep breath. “Not been dead long, then.”
Dean rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Would explain why the rangers didn’t spot that yesterday. Our vamp knows he’s been spotted. Question is, if that’s the bait, who’s the trap for?”
“Rangers,” Daphne put in. “Or hunters.”
Sam shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. For rangers, yeah, but if it was set for hunters, the vampire would have to believe there were hunters within a day’s drive who were already aware that something was happening here.”
“Rangers, then,” Daphne nodded.
“Unless...” Tricia bit her lip. “You don’t think it knows about us, do you?”
“There’s really no way of-” Dean began, but was cut off by Sam’s uncharacteristic stumble and soft gasp. “Sammy?!”
Sam raised his head and Dean saw the blown pupils and glazed eyes and knew.
“Sammy, talk to me. What did you see?”
“Not one. Drained three hikers. Rest turned.”
“All the rest?”
All the rest.... Sam blinked and looked up at Dean, a flicker of pain around his eyes.
Dean swore. “That’s it. We’re gettin’ off this mountain.”
Sam nodded and got to his feet. Nest?
We get more firepower. We get more backup. We not enough to take out a damn army of vampires.
Rufus shook his head. “What?”
“He’s right,” Bobby said. “Six of us against... hell, thirty, forty vamps? Those odds are way too long.”
“No, no, what did he say?”
“That we need more firepower and more backup, idjit.”
“Hey, I can’t read that-” Rufus moved his hands, inadvertently calling himself a blue tomato-“like you can, Singer!”
The girls couldn’t look at each other for fear of bursting out in giggles despite the situation.
“You just insulted yourself, Uncle Rufus,” Sam said with a smile.
Rufus shoved his hands in his pockets in disgust. “Let’s just go.”
The six turned and headed back the way they came.
Sam slowly recovered enough to be able to walk under his own power.
Dean suddenly finger-spelled to his brother, You feel that?
Sam nodded, drawing his gun and motioning for the girls to stand behind him and Dean.
“What is it?” Rufus asked, drawing his gun as well.
“We’re bein’ watched.”
“The fangs?” Bobby asked.
“Maybe. I don’t-LOOK OUT!” And Dean was shoved down, out of the way of a surging woman with ghastly fangs.
Tricia shot the vampire first, and Sam pulled his machete and had its head off before Bobby and Rufus could even react. Another one was coming with the inhuman speed that characterized their race. Dean shot it and the one behind it while Rufus joined Sam in machete-wielding. The girls wielded the guns and slowed the vamps down to human speed - but not all of them. Seven or eight were still too fast, too strong.
And one of them managed to tackle Tricia.
She went down with a scream. She struggled under the woman’s weight and heard her hiss, “Pretty virgin blood... gonna taste good....”
“Get the hell off me!” Tricia growled, twisting to avoid the fangs. If she could just reach the gun....
Suddenly the vampire was bodily jerked off of Tricia and slammed into a second one. Sam looked down at her and asked, “Are you okay?”
Stunned, Tricia could only nod as he pulled her to her feet. Had she seen that right? Had Sam pulled that - that thing - off of her with his bare hands?
He nodded back and raised his machete as the vampire charged again. A single stroke-almost too fast to be seen-and the body toppled forward without a head.
Then he did it again. And again.
The other five couldn’t let themselves stare because they still had a fight on their hands... but the fight didn’t last long. The vamps who hadn’t died yet finally turned and ran. But there were fewer than half of them left.
“Do we follow them?” Sam asked as he fell back.
Still gasping for breath, Dean shook his head and signed, Go.
Nodding, Sam cleaned the machete in the snow and put it away.
“Holy Hannah,” Daphne breathed.
“Yeah,” Sam nodded. “They were nasty sons-of-bitches.”
“No-well, yeah, but-I mean... you.”
“Me?” Sam frowned. “What about me?”
“A man in love has the strength of thousands,” Dean quipped.
“Something like that,” Sam grinned.
But Rufus just shook his head. “Ain’t never seen a kid your size do that before, Sam. Hell, you ain’t even out of breath.”
“Wha....” Sam frowned at Dean “I don’t get... Dean?”
“You were fast, dude,” Dean said quietly. “I mean... vampire fast. And you pulled that chick offa Tricia like she didn’t weigh more than your backpack.”
Sam looked wide-eyed at him. Then at Tricia. Then Daphne. Then back at Dean. “... I...”
“There’s only one time I remember you throwin’ somebody like that,” Dean went on, still quiet but matter-of-fact. “And that’s when you threw us off the bed last summer, just before you upchucked all that blood.”
Sam’s eyes went huge. “... the demon blood....”
Dean nodded. “Think we just found another power it left behind.”
“Speed and strength?” Sam gasped. “Seriously? The visions weren’t enough?”
Dean shrugged. “Uncle Bobby?”
Rufus and the girls turned to Bobby as well.
“What the hell you lookin’ at me for?” Bobby returned. “Ain’t like there’s a manual for this kind of thing.”
Sam closed his eyes suddenly and whispered, “All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well....”
Bobby blinked. “What’s Julian of Norwich got to do with anything?”
“It’s a paraphrase,” Sam said, opening his eyes. “A reminder that I am not going to turn evil from this. That this - like all things - will work together for my good.”
“That last vision,” Dean nodded. “When the fever broke.”
Sam nodded, looking at Tricia and holding out his hand for her with a smile.
She didn’t take his hand. She hugged him tightly and let out a tiny sob of relief. His arms wrapped around her and she could almost feel the power in them.
She looked up at him. “You saved my life. Thank you.”
He kissed her tenderly. “Let’s get off this mountain.”
She nodded and clung to him as they followed Dean and Daphne down. Bobby and Rufus brought up the rear.
“So,” Dean asked once their car was in sight. “We comin’ back to burn what’s left of the nest or are we done?”
“You kids are done,” Bobby stated firmly. “You did a good job back there, all of you, but I don’t want you goin’ after the rest of ’em. Odds are they’re even meaner and stronger than that last batch.”
“What?” Dean and Sam yelped together, and Sam went on, “Aw, c’mon, Uncle Bobby-”
“I mean it, Sam. If you’d been even a few seconds slower, we would have lost Tricia. Do you really want to put her in danger again?”
“No,” Sam admitted.
“Even with as many as we took out, we’d still be outnumbered. You’ve done your part. Let us call in some other grumpy old coots who’ve been doin’ this longer’n you’ve been alive and who won’t mind this bein’ their last hunt if that’s how it turns out.”
Slowly, the young hunters nodded. They were clearly unhappy about it, but they had no choice.
“You did a good job,” Rufus repeated. “But Bob and I, we couldn’t live with lettin’ you get hurt goin’ up against this nest again.”
Without a word, the quartet got into the Impala and waited for the older men.
Bobby glanced over at Rufus. “You, too, huh?”
“Yeah, so?”
Bobby just chuckled and shook his head. “Elkins?”
“Couldn’t hurt to call ’im. Maybe get Winchester in on this, too.”
Bobby nodded. Then he paused. “What about Walker?”
“Loose cannon. Sure you want him around?”
“No. But he is a specialist.”
Rufus nodded slowly.
“Who else?”
“Ellen and Laura.”
“Travis.”
“Jim and Caleb.”
“Olivia, maybe a couple others from her area.”
“Isaac and Tamara.” Rufus did a quick tally. “If we bring in Walker, that gives us anywhere from 13 to 15, counting us. How many fangs you figure are left?”
“There’s about 40. Sammy killed seven, you killed three, I killed four, Dean killed two....”
Rufus muttered something about the Brave Little Tailor.
“Oh, shut it.”
“Fifteen gonna be enough, you think? We could call Creedy, Kubrick, Roy, and Walt, but I don’t trust them any more’n I trust Walker.”
“I think fifteen will be enough.”
Rufus nodded decisively. “Good. Then let’s get these college kids back to their vacation.”
Dean didn’t say a word. Not even with his hands. He was stewing. So were Daphne and Sam. But Tricia was doing a rather impressive impersonation of a barnacle, so tightly was she clinging to Sam’s side. Sam just tucked his arm around her.
“We know who we can call to take over for you,” Bobby said as he and Rufus slid into the car. “There’ll be about fifteen of us-including John.”
Sam broke into a grin. “It takes 15 to replace us 4!”
Rufus laughed. “That’s one way to look at it!”
That had all of them but Tricia smiling. Sam kissed her head.
“Let’s go, Dean,” Bobby said gently.
Dean obediently pulled away from the mountain.
The kids dropped Bobby and Rufus at the diner and went back to the hotel. None of them felt like talking much.
Sam seemed shaken. He barely touched Tricia, as if he were scared to hold her too tightly.
Finally she put a hand on his arm and looked him in the eye. “Sam. I trust you.”
“I don’t,” he whispered.
“We’ll find a way to live with this. I know you don’t want to hurt me, and I know you’d never do it on purpose.”
“What if I can’t control it? I can barely control the pain from the visions, what if I can’t control the strength at -” He froze.
“Sam?”
His eyes rolled up to gaze at the ceiling. The pupils blew wide open and the hazel turned to brownish-green glass.
“Sammy?” Dean prompted. “What do you see?”
“Death,” his voice rasped out. “Twelve go against the nest. Eleven return.”
Dean pulled out his cell and started to call Bobby. “Who dies?”
“I don’t... I don’t know her... I’ve never seen her... she h-has green hair.”
Dean nodded. “Okay. Anything else I need to tell Bobby?”
“... one will ask for the life of the survivors... grant it... sh-she is strong and wants peace... she-she-she just wants to be left alone....”
Dean frowned a little. “A vampire wants peace?”
A nod and Sam’s eyes began to clear. Tricia jumped up and grabbed the Tylenol as Dean called Bobby. Sam groaned and curled up on the bed.
Tricia sat down beside him. “What else can I get you?”
“Just... be here?”
She slid off her shoes and curled up against his side. He rested his cheek on her head.
“That’s what Sam said,” Dean insisted into the phone.
Daphne came over and laid a hand on his arm.
“How the hell should I know, Bobby? He just swears the one vamp is serious about wanting to be left alone.”
“Female,” Sam slurred.
“Female,” Dean repeated. He paused, listening. “No, he said it’s someone we don’t know, chick with green hair.”
Bobby’s gasp was audible.
“What?”
“I know her. Laura.”
“So call someone else.”
“She’s already on her way.”
Dean cursed quietly.
Sam let out a soft sob.
“Any chance at all you can get her to turn back?”
“Nope.”
Dean cursed again, more violently.
“We’ll warn her, though.”
“Bobby...”
“Dean, it’s all we can do.”
Dean sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “She’s not gonna believe you.”
“I know.”
“Just... be careful, okay, Bobby? I trust Sam, but...”
“I know. I’ll talk to you when it’s over.”
“Okay.” Dean hung up, and only Daphne’s quick reflexes stopped him from throwing the phone across the room.
In the silence, Sam’s weary voice sounded loud. “This is why I hate these things.”
“Not your fault, Sammy.”
“I know. I just hate being helpless.”
“Yeah. Me, too.”
The next morning, Bobby called just as the kids were finishing breakfast.
“How’d it go?” Dean asked.
“Killed three. Leader stopped it and we reached a deal - they don’t drink human blood, we leave them alone.”
“Can they do that? I mean, can they survive without human blood?”
“Elkins says they can. They can live on animal blood.”
“Huh.” Dean paused. “And Laura?”
His silence stretched for a moment, then he said softly, “Tell Sam that the vampires didn’t kill her.”
Dean frowned. “What happened?”
“She didn’t make it up the mountain. Halfway up, she fell.”
Dean sighed heavily. “Okay. I’ll tell him.”
“Dean - she felt no pain.”
“She’s still dead, Bobby.”
“I know.”
There was a pause before Dean managed to ask, “Anything else we can help with?”
“Finish your vacation.”
Dean huffed. “I think we just did.”
“Want us to help you home?”
“Nah, we’ve got it, thanks.”
“Dean...” Bobby began.
Dean shook his head, even though Bobby couldn’t see him. “Seriously, Bobby. We kinda need some space.”
“You’ll... You’ll call, yeah?”
Dean huffed a small laugh. “’Course.”
“If you don’t... we will.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ll call when we stop for the night.”
“Talk to you then. Love you, son.” And Bobby hung up.
It suddenly struck Dean how long it had been since John had closed a conversation that way-far longer than the boys had been on their own. Ditto the fact that Bobby had told them they’d done a good job the day before, which John... hell, had he ever said that to Dean on a hunt?
He smiled a little as he realized that Bobby was far more than an adopted uncle to them now. He was practically the father they’d always wished they had.
Sam noticed the smile and nudged him. What?
Know where Bobby sits at our wedding.
Where?
Seat for father of groom.
Sam’s eyes went huge and then he began that genuine, huge, delighted smile.
Dean couldn’t help himself. He grinned back and hugged Sam hard.
Sam pounded his back in the hug. Back to hotel. Need sleep.
You okay, dude?
Seems price to speed and strength.
Dean nodded thoughtfully. You need more food, too?
While Sam was thinking that over, his stomach growled loudly enough to attract the girls’ attention.
Tricia blinked, then flagged down a waitress. “Could we get a stack of pancakes to go, with a side of bacon and hash browns?”
“Of course, honey.” She went to put in the order.
Sam’s cheeks were kissed with pink. Dean just chuckled and shook his head.
Sam drew his hands close. Like Road Trip all over again.
Dean laughed. I was just thinking that!
Once the four got back to the hotel and Sam had scarfed down his second round of breakfast, Dean and Daphne took off for a last round of touristy shopping, leaving Tricia to tuck Sam back into bed.
Thank you.
You’re welcome. She paused, then slid her shoes off and curled up beside him.
She didn’t miss his stiffening.
What?
Don’t want to hurt you.
You haven’t yet, she noted.
Afraid to.
“Relax, querido,” she said aloud, cuddling closer. “You think Daphne would have left me here with you if she thought you would hurt me? Would Dean?”
His eyes widened. He shook his head.
She ran her fingers through his hair. “You’re not a monster, Sammy. And I will always love you.”
Tears filled his eyes. She didn’t move, just kept gently carding her fingers through his hair.
“You’ve been here from the start....”
She nodded.
“Why? Even now... you’re here.”
“Because I love you.”
“And I love you. That’s why I wanted to end it once I realized what I’m like now... so I wouldn’t hurt you. But you won’t go.”
“Love is not love / That alters when it alteration finds, / Or bends with the remover to remove,” she quoted quietly.
“Shakespeare,” Sam whispered, eyes wide. “Sonnet 114?”
She nodded. “Close-116.”
“Aaah, man was too prolific for my memory’s own good,” he teased.
She chuckled.
His hand tightened on her wrist, but not enough to hurt. “I still want to marry you.”
“Good. ’Cause I still want to marry you.”
“Who knows?” Sam grinned. “This could come in handy on the hunt.”
She grinned back. “It already has.” And she kissed him gently.
He dozed off in her arms with a smile on his face.
The pyre burned hard and fast, consuming the bright green hair that just would not seem to be wound in the shroud first.
Rufus couldn’t keep from feeling guilty that he’d called Laura to come help on the hunt. Granted, her death had been an accident, but still... he couldn’t help wishing Sam’s vision had come sooner, before he’d made that phone call.
Bobby curled a hand around his shoulder. “Wasn’t your fault.”
Rufus sighed. “I know. I just....” He left the thought unfinished, knowing that Bobby could fill in the blanks and not wanting to say any more in front of the other hunters than he had to.
Ellen - her forehead bandaged - walked up. “Need t’talk to you, Singer.”
Bobby gave Rufus’ shoulder a comforting squeeze and turned to Ellen. “Yeah, Ellen. What’s up?”
She nodded at Rufus. “The boys....”
“They’re fine. Should be halfway to Ruidoso by now.”
“I’m worried about them.”
Bobby frowned. “Why?”
“You know Sammy as well as I do. You know how intense he feels things.”
Both men nodded.
“And now....with his visions and with what you said he can do....”
“Ellen, he’s gonna be fine. Dean and the girls are with him.”
A slow nod as she accepted this. “I’m callin’ him later.” She sighed. “And you know this can’t be hid.”
“Maybe not forever. But we can give ’em space. And you know there’s no sense borrowin’ trouble.”
“No. No sense.”
Bobby gestured toward the bandage. “You doin’ all right?”
“Head hurts like a son-of-a-bitch. Could’a been worse than just a clock with a rock, though.”
“Damn straight,” Rufus nodded.
Ellen walked away, pulling out her phone as she did so. “Jo? Hey, baby, I’ll be heading home in the morning. How’re you doing? How’s Ash?”
Bobby turned back to Rufus and jerked his head in the direction of the truck.
Nodding, Rufus headed that way. “Think the boys’ll be okay?”
“Yeah. Gotta give ’em time to adjust, but... hell, they’re Winchesters.”
“You okay with it, Singer?”
Bobby sighed. “He’s still Sam.”
“Is he?”
“What the hell does that mean, Rufus?”
Rufus looked at him. “Playin’ devil’s advocate here. Put yourself in the role of a hunter who don’t know the boys. What’re they gonna see? And what’re we gonna do about it?”
Bobby’s jaw twitched for a moment. “We know who we can trust,” he finally said. “Anyone else? We keep clear of Cazadore.”
“You thinkin’ of who I’m thinkin’ of?”
“Probably. Oughta wait to compare notes, though,” Bobby added, glancing around the clearing. The other hunters weren’t within earshot, but they were still too close for comfort.
“Let’s head on, then. We need to get home.”
Bobby nodded. “Need to stop in town ’fore we head out?”
“Yeah.”
Bobby nodded again and got into the truck.
But just as Rufus opened the passenger door, he caught sight of Gordon Walker emerging from behind a tree that had been behind where Rufus was standing while talking with Bobby. Rufus’s eyes narrowed.
Bobby craned to see around Rufus and cursed quietly when he saw Walker.
“Wonder how much he heard.”
“Or what he’s gonna fill in the blanks.”
“We better warn the boys.”
“Yeah. And Frank, and maybe Bill Cooper.”
“No, no maybe. Cooper’s been their protector even from us a time or two.”
Bobby nodded once. “Let’s go.”
Rufus got in the truck, and they pulled out.
Walker’s eyes narrowed as he watched them drive away. So... the youngest Winchester was demon-touched.
Meaning - he was a creature to be killed.
And if those soft-hearted hunters wouldn’t do it - Walker would do it himself.
He needed more information, of course, and he needed to plan carefully. But he was nothing if not patient.
He didn’t care if it took years for the right time to come along. When it did, he would be ready. And Sam Winchester would die.
This is a sequel to A Touch of Providence.
Summary: A summer trip to Colorado turns into a working vacation that uncovers more than a new-to-the-boys monster of the week.
Residuals
By Enola Jones and San Antonio Rose
June 10, 2002
It was supposed to be a simple vacation. Just Sam and Dean and Daphne and Tricia, getting a break from the heat and spending a couple of weeks relaxing together, seeing sights, that sort of thing.
But of course, nothing was ever that easy for the Winchesters.
They’d been in Vail, Colorado, for about a week when Ash called. Sam answered the phone. “Hey, Ash! How’s it going? How are you doing?”
“Hey, Samwise. I’m good-but we just had to send Papa Bear on a wild goose chase t’keep ’im from runnin’ into you up there.”
“Thanks, man. I wish he would just understand that we’re happy.”
“Me, too, compadre. But he wasn’t lookin’ for you.”
“What was he looking for?”
“’S a string of disappearances up your way, along Two Elk Creek. Hikers not makin’ it back. No bodies recovered yet.”
Sam groaned and rolled away from a semi-awake Tricia - they were both in shirts and shorts, having agreed not to do anything until they were married - and grabbed the hotel’s pen and paper. “Lay the details on me.”
That got Dean’s attention and he sat up, waking Daphne in the process. Two queens easily held the Winchester brothers and their fiancées.
Ash rattled off names and dates. “Ain’t no omens I can see, and the pattern don’t match a werewolf. But that don’t narrow the field much.”
“Thanks, Ash. We’ll see what we can do.”
“No problemo. Sorry to interrupt your vacation.”
“No worries. Call you later, buddy.” He hung up and ran a hand over his lower face, sighing.
“Ash got a hunt for us?” Dean asked.
“Yeah.”
“What’s it look like?”
“Research.” He tossed the pad across the gap between the beds.
Dean snorted and caught the pad, then held it where Daphne could read at the same time.
She looked up at him and said one word. “Wendigo?”
Sam was startled, but Dean just shook his head. “We’re too far west.”
“Were wolf?” Tricia asked, turning it into two words.
“Dates are too evenly spread through the month,” Sam replied. “And no remains have been recovered. With a werewolf, there’s usually a trail of bodies minus the hearts.”
“And only around the full moon,” Dean added.
Tricia sighed and tugged on a lock of her hair. “Room service? We can eat while you research.”
Daphne scrubbed at her eyes. “What time is it, anyway?”
“Uh....” Dean squinted at the clock. “... six AM.”
“Ugh. So much for suggesting we wait until morning.” She sagged against Dean’s shoulder.
Dean chuckled, wrapping an arm around her. “Time doesn’t matter when you’re a hunter. Sooner you get them, sooner the innocent can sleep.”
“Point taken.” She yawned. “Yeah, room service sounds like a good idea.”
Sam kissed Tricia and headed to the bathroom. She set up his computer and then called room service. Dean, meanwhile, started a pot of coffee so he and Daphne wouldn’t have to wait as long to get their caffeine. Sam and Tricia switched places in the bathroom and Sam sat down at the computer.
Dean had just handed Daphne her coffee when the meal arrived. Sam came over and joined the three of them. They ate freely, laughing and teasing. And by the end of the meal, Daphne was awake enough to set up Dean’s computer and take half of the remaining incidents while Tricia took the other half and the boys got their showers.
“No pattern yet,” Daphne reported as Dean emerged, drying his hair.
“Any connections between the victims?”
Nothing.
Dean hummed thoughtfully. Not likely human, then. No cycle to dates, so works by opportunity. Only hikers, not rangers or cops, so intelligent. Not want attention.
“Too quiet out there!” Sam called as the water shut off. “Signing?”
Dean laughed. “Yeah, sorry, Sammy.”
“No worries, just wondering!”
“Hurry up, will ya? Wanna see if you can get anything out of this.”
“Coming, coming!”
Dean kept flipping through the notes Daphne and Tricia had taken until Sam emerged from the bathroom. Tricia grinned at his curls that always showed up when his hair was wet. It turned into waves when dry.
“Not a word,” Sam growled as he sat down.
She just grinned bigger and sat on her hands.
Thank you, he signed, sitting down beside her and kissing her on the cheek.
Dean handed over the notes. So far I think intelligent, opportunist, not human and probably not witch.
Sam chewed on his thumbnail as he read. Dean still hadn’t been able to break the brat of that.
“Not a shapeshifter, either,” Dean added aloud so that Sam wouldn’t have to stop reading. “Too many victims, for one, and they haven’t been spotted since the disappearances.”
“Wendigo might be a good guess.”
“Yeah, it might, but like I said, we’re too far west. They’re mostly in Ojibwa territory-northern Minnesota, central Canada.”
“Mostly. Not completely.”
Dean ran a hand through his still-damp hair and sighed. “For once, I wish I had a copy of Dad’s journal. He’d probably know if there’ve been any Wendigo attacks this far from Minnesota.”
Again, the chewing on the nail. “Uncle Bobby might.”
“Might, but I betcha he ain’t up yet.” Dean sighed again. “Okay, so we won’t scratch Wendigo off the list yet. What else?”
“If they weren’t extinct, I’d say vampires,” Sam sighed.
Daphne frowned. “How do you know they’re extinct?”
Dad said, Dean signed, then froze.
“How did he know?” the others chorused.
Dean smiled. Add Vampire to list.
Daphne dutifully jotted down “Wendigo” and “Vampire” while asking, “What made you change your mind?”
Because I cannot answer how he knows.
She nodded. Fair enough.
Demon? Sam signed, then shook his head. No, no... demon would leave bodies.
And no omens, Dean agreed.
No omens. Short list.
Ghoul?
Add.
“We are looking for a predator, though, right?” Tricia asked. “Just one that’s smart enough not to leave a trail.”
A nod, and he went on thinking.
“Skinwalker would probably leave a trail, just like a werewolf,” Daphne mused.
Sam nodded.
“Could be a wraith or a djinn,” Tricia added.
Nodding, Sam added them.
Not cyclical, so not a god, Dean noted. Too secretive for rakshasa or trickster, or any other thing that likes to show off.
Tricia looked over at Daphne. Whole new world.
Daphne’s eyes widened in a Tell me about it! expression.
When they’d finally run through all the predatory monsters they knew of, Sam tapped the list thoughtfully. “So we’ve got a short list-but we don’t know how to kill some of these things, and the ones we do know about don’t have much in common. Vampires and ghouls, yeah, you behead, but the rest... we need a lot more information.”
Uncle Bobby?
Sam looked at the clock. It was nearly 8 local time, which meant it would be close to 9 in Sioux Falls. “Probably safe enough to call now.”
“Okay.”
Sam pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
“Singer.”
“Hey, Uncle Bobby. It’s Sam.”
“Hey, Sam. How’s everyone?”
“Fine, thanks. Ash just called us with a hunt he had to steer Dad away from, but we don’t have enough information yet to know what we’re dealing with. Wondered if we could get your take on our short list.”
“He steered John away because you’re there?”
“Yeah. It’s on the far side of Vail Mountain, Two Elk Creek. Makes us the closest hunters available.”
“Lay it on me.”
Sam quickly brought him up to speed.
“Huh,” Bobby said. “Email me the information and gimme a day to process. You go have fun and I’ll check in tonight.”
“Okay, will do. Thanks.”
Bobby hung up.
“Wants me to email him what we have,” Sam reported.
Do it, Dean answered.
Sam nodded and pulled up his email. “Also said we should go have fun and he’ll check in with us tonight.”
Dean grinned and winked at Daphne. Daphne raised an eyebrow.
“So what’s the plan for today?” Tricia asked, tucking her still-bare feet underneath her.
“Think maybe we oughta start making plans for a hike up Two Elk Creek,” Daphne returned.
Dean grinned. “Woman after my own heart.”
“Yeah,” Sam retorted. “Tell us something we didn’t know.”
Daphne laughed. “Dibs on next shower.” She got up, kissed Dean’s cheek, and disappeared into the bathroom.
“Hey!” Tricia yelled after her. “Save me some hot water!”
Daphne responded with a cheesy evil laugh.
“Twit!” Tricia barked out.
“Eedgit!” Daphne shot back, putting a deliberate Houstonian twang on Bobby’s favorite insult.
Dean and Sam looked at each other and burst out laughing.
After the girls had showered and all four of them had second breakfast-Dean’s term, justified with “Well, it’s too early for elevenses”-they headed for the Community Information Office to try to get tourist info on Two Elk Creek.
“I wouldn’t go there,” the man behind the desk warned even as he handed over the information.
Dean had been elected to play the clueless tourist this time, with the added twist that always got people to open up. “Oh? Why’s that?” Sam asked, translating his signs. Dean never took his eyes from the man’s mouth.
“It’s a dangerous area.” The man tried to turn more toward Sam so Dean couldn’t ‘read’ his lips. “Especially with a deaf man who can’t hear what’s comin’.”
Dean frowned in ‘confusion’.
Sam signed Okay to him and he relaxed. Then Sam turned to the man. “What do you mean, what’s comin’? What’s out there?”
The man shook his head. “Nobody knows. Doesn’t seem like a bear or anything, but... nobody comes back from Two Elk Creek. Been that way for about six months now.”
“Six months, huh? Anything change six months ago?”
“Not that I know of. ’Course, Vail’s a resort town, so it’s not like we can keep track of strangers, pick out someone who’s likely to turn out to be a serial killer.”
Sam smiled. “Anyone we can talk to? Because like you said.... He’s got his heart set on this, but I don’t want to take my deaf brother up there unprepared.’
The man sighed and shrugged. “You could try the Forest Service. They might know more.”
“Thanks.”
Dean signed Thank you, and they collected the girls and left.
Once they were safely in the Impala, though, Dean snorted. “As if the deaf don’t have other ways of knowing when they’re in danger.”
“We switching roles?” Sam asked as he backed the Impala out of its parking space.
“Let’s. You play it better than I do.”
“I dunno, dude. He bought it.”
“I’m just saying.”
Sam shrugged. “Me, too. But I don’t mind switching if you’d rather.”
“No, let’s do it.” You be deaf.
Sam nodded his agreement.
The rangers were understanding and as forthcoming as they could be under the circumstances, but they simply didn’t have much information to give. When they’d found campsites, the scene had been disturbed by wildlife, but there was no evidence of a large predator like a bear or mountain lion having attacked a human. The camps had all clearly been abandoned before the bears got to them.
Sam moved back, staring at the trail maps. And he barely managed not to react when the phone rang. But he braced himself soon enough that the “WHAT?!” that burst from the ranger moments later didn’t make him turn around.
Dean frowned. “What is it?”
The ranger ignored him, totally focused on the phone conversation. “Are you serious?! ... Yeah, call the sheriff’s office. Dead animals we can handle, but dead people... right. And be careful!”
“What is it?” Dean asked again.
The ranger sighed as she hung up, shooting a glance at Sam to make sure he wasn’t looking at her. Then she lowered her voice and said, “Looks like the coyotes found one of our missing persons.”
“Oh, no, I’m sorry.”
“We won’t know much until the coroner gets there, but... the weird thing is...” Her voice got even quieter. “There’s no blood.”
“That is weird,” he commiserated.
She sighed again. “Sorry. I’m not sure why I told you that. Just, please... don’t go out to Two Elk Creek until we know more. If there’s some weird kind of predator out there, or a serial killer or something... I’d hate to see you guys become its next victims.”
“Thank you, Ranger.” Dean tapped Sam’s shoulder. Let’s go.
Okay, Sam signed with a nod, then waved goodbye to the ranger before following.
“Heard it all?” Dean asked once they were in the car.
“Yeah.” Sam sighed. “No blood but remains enough for a coyote to uncover and for a ranger to identify as human. Unless it’s one of the most recent vics, I think we can rule out ghoul and Wendigo.”
“That leaves... what?”
Daphne looked at the list again. “Vampire, wraith, or djinn.”
“Wraith don’t drain blood,” Sam replied.
Daphne crossed it off the list with a flourish. “Down to two.”
“Vampire or djinn.”
“Need more info on both. Let’s go out for lunch and hit some attraction, then go have supper and then wait for Bobby’s call.”
Sounds good, Dean agreed.
“There!” Sam pointed. “That place looks good!”
Dean spotted the restaurant and pulled into its parking lot.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he teased as he turned the car off. “The Sammy Winchester Method Of Choosing. Point and say ‘that looks good’.”
The girls laughed-and so did Sam. Dean beamed and they got out of the car.
Their food was served and they were all eating when Dean suddenly waved at chest-height. When all eyes were on him, he drew his hands in close and ‘whispered,’ Sign to me, all of you. Tourist information people just walked in.
Just to be safe, Sam stopped talking as well.
Tricia frowned at him. Why you?
Habit, Sam signed with a wink... just as one of the rangers walked in. The brothers exchanged a look and quickly stuffed their mouths with food.
Daphne shook her head, getting it suddenly. You switched.
Dean acknowledged her with a shrug of the eyebrows.
They were out of luck. The tourist information people settled in for a nice lunch. The ranger, however, walked over to chat. “Well, well, fancy running into you boys. And girls?”
Daphne offered her hand. “Daphne Winchester. Sorry, my husband just happened to take a bite just as you walked over.”
Dean waved at her.
She laughed and took Daphne’s hand. “Gina Toller. Welcome to Vail.”
“Tricia,” Tricia offered next. “This one’s mine,” she added, pointing at Sam.
Sam, who had remembered to look at their mouths, blushed softly.
“The guys told us there’d been a body found near Two Elk Creek,” Daphne continued as Gina shook hands with Tricia. “Has there been any more news?”
“Well, I don’t like to talk shop at a meal, but....” She looked around. “Come to the station after you’re done. I’m assuming you’re in law enforcement or media, from your questions. Which is it?”
“Law enforcement-we’re all majoring in criminal justice down at Stephen F. Austin.”
Gina’s eyebrows lifted in visible surprise. “Even him?” she tilted her head toward Sam.
Tricia nodded. “Forensics.”
Gina smiled at him. “Can you read my lips?” At Sam’s nod, she said, slowly, “You’ll be a good one.”
Sam grinned. Thank you.
Daphne translated, and Gina’s smile grew. “Meet me at the shop after lunch.”
They all nodded. Daphne thanked her again, and she left.
Too close, Dean signed.
Sam sighed and nodded.
They took their time at lunch and went back to the ranger station. This time the girls went in with them.
“This is the body we found,” Gina said, handing Sam a folder. As a forensics student, he’d seen worse, she figured.
And he had, to be honest, though not in several years. The corpse had evidently attracted some scavengers once it had been uncovered, but there was one mark on its neck that was clearly not the work of a normal animal.
She was speaking to Tricia, who was translating for Sam. “We’ve IDed him as David Pryer, one of the first victims to vanish.”
Dean wrote down the name and showed it to Sam, who nodded and pointed to the neck wound. Dean’s eyebrows lifted. Sam then flipped through the other photographs to see if there were a clearer shot of that wound.
Yahtzee. The final one.
Sam traced the outline with his finger, being careful not to touch the photograph itself. It didn’t match any pattern they’d seen on a hunt before, but it did look slightly familiar.
Dean, draw this, he signed, handing it over.
Dean sketched the wound quickly while muttering, “That’s one hell of a hickey.”
Sam had to hold in even his smile. He wasn’t supposed to be able to hear his brother.
Daphne quirked an eyebrow. “What was that?”
“I said that’s one hell of a hickey.”
This time, Sam allowed himself a smile and a soft laugh.
“What do you mean?” Tricia asked, frowning slightly.
“I’ll explain later.”
“Have you found any further clues as to the cause of death?” Sam asked through Tricia.
“Just that he was exsanguinated.”
“Time of death?”
“Uh.” Gina studied her notes. “About a week after he vanished.”
Sam made a small thoughtful noise and looked through the photographs again.
Tricia watched his hands. “He wants copies of everything you have.”
Gina nodded and accepted the folder back from Sam.
While she made photocopies, Sam looked at Dean’s drawing and pointed out the deep puncture marks that ran along both edges of the wound, which otherwise looked very much like a human bite mark.
Bobby, Dean signed.
Sam nodded. We call from hotel.
Gina returned then.
Sam signed Thank you before accepting the photocopies from her.
She nodded and watched them leave.
As soon as they got back to the hotel, Sam got out the portable scanner Ash had gotten him for his birthday and scanned the photocopies to email to Bobby.
Five minutes after the email went through, Bobby called Sam’s phone-and Sam had to hold the phone away from his ear while Bobby cursed a blue streak.
“Djinn or vampire?” Sam asked.
“Vampire.” Bobby let out another string of profanity, but at a lower volume.
“Okay, so...now what?”
“Wait for me and Rufus to get there to back you up, idjit. But if you absolutely have to go out there tonight, there are two things you gotta know. I’m sure John told you to cut off the head.”
“Dad told us they were extinct.”
“Well, then, rule zero is that John ain’t always right. Rule 1 is that the only thing that kills a vampire is beheading. Rule 2 is that the only other thing that slows ’em down is dead man’s blood. It won’t kill ‘em, but it poisons ’em enough for you to overpower ’em.”
“Dead man’s blood?” Sam frowned, looking at Dean.
“Disgusting, I know. Try a mortuary.”
“Okay....”
“You can work on coatin’ bullets with it until we get there. And Sam? Do wait for us unless it’s life-or-death. I’m serious.”
“Okay.” He hung up. “We wait.”
“It’s a vampire, then?” Dean asked.
“Yeah.” He relayed what Bobby said.
Dean nodded. “Okay, then. Guess I’ll be making an after-hours call to a funeral home.”
“I’ll come, too,” Daphne said. “Guard.”
“Not this time, sweetheart.”
Dean.
Dean started to order her to stay at the hotel, but the look on her face changed his mind. I drop you at ranger station.
Close enough by. I wait.
Dean nodded his agreement.
It was a race to see who would get there first - Dean and Daphne or Bobby and Rufus. Sam and Tricia paced while they waited.
“Did Bobby say where they were coming from?” Tricia asked.
“Crap, I forgot to ask!”
“Es okay, querido. Just wondered how sure you were that they’d get here tonight.”
“Because he said to wait for them and not go tonight. That tells me they’re close.”
“I hope so. I know we need the backup, but I’d hate for anyone else to get hurt.”
“Me too. I-” Two knocks. A beat. Two knocks. Sam rushed to the door. “It’s Uncle Bobby!”
“Hey, Sam,” Bobby said as he and Rufus came in-followed by Dean and Daphne.
Sam sighed in relief. “Took long enough!”
Rufus raised an eyebrow at that. “You have any idea how fast this fool was drivin’?!”
“Dean,” the younger Winchester and fiancée said together.
“Hey!” Dean objected. “I went the speed limit. Bobby drove like he was from Montana.”
“I was talking to Dean,” Sam rolled his eyes.
Then say so, Dean and Daphne signed at the same time.
Sam’s retort made Tricia’s eyes widen and Rufus frown slightly. “Okay, I ain’t up to snuff on this hand-talking thing - but are you sure you’re old enough for that one, boy?”
“No,” Dean replied out loud, “but that’s never stopped him before.”
“I’m 19, you asses,” Sam laughed.
“Idjits,” Bobby muttered, which made everyone laugh.
Rufus clapped his hands once. “Okay. Where exactly are we looking for our fanged fiend?”
Sam spread a map on the table; he’d marked the last known locations of as many of the victims as possible. “My guess is that there’s a cave or a shack somewhere on this side of the mountain.”
“But the amount of the victims.....” Tricia said. “Could there be more than one?”
“More than one hideout or more than one vampire?”
Yes, she signed.
Bobby frowned. “Wouldn’t think there’s more’n one hideout, but there could be more’n one vamp in the nest. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if this nest started out with one vamp and he started turnin’ a few of the hikers just to have some company. They’ve been pretty damn rare since the ’60s-that’s why your daddy thought they were extinct.”
So this body showing up, Dean signed slowly. First draining?
Bobby shook his head. “Hard to tell, son.”
Dean chewed his lower lip. Okay. We rest tonight and go tomorrow.
Sam ran a hand through his hair. “Dean, I dunno if I can rest. What if someone else gets taken tonight?”
Well, coat bullets.
“We’re better off goin’ in daylight, Sam,” Rufus added. “Vampires can stand sunlight, but it does hurt ’em, so they generally sleep durin’ the day and become active at night.”
“So we’ll run reconnaissance in the day.”
“Early morning would work. If we can locate the nest before noon, they’re most likely to be deeply asleep in the early afternoon, so we should try to take ’em out then.”
Sam smiled. “Perfect.”
Dean handed him the jar of blood and two boxes of ammo. “Have fun.”
“Jerk.”
“Bitch.”
“Boys,” said Daphne.
Tricia just grinned.
As early as the sun rose in Colorado in the summer, first light wasn’t quite doable. Still, the current and future Winchesters met Bobby and Rufus at a nearby diner as early as they could manage. It was just after six and slowly getting warm. But Daphne and Tricia, being used to lows in the upper 70s, were chilled. Sam and Dean ended up lending the girls their jackets.
Armed and determined, the six headed up the mountain. Dean brought the handheld police scanner and kept it tuned to the Forest Service band just in case any more reports came in while they were out. But none did. They made it to the place where the body was found and saw other things - limbs sticking out of the snow. Both tree... and human.
“... the hell...” Dean whispered.
“I don’t like this,” Daphne whispered. “This just feels all kinds of wrong.”
Dean nodded. Stick close.
Sam shivered. “Dean... my skin’s crawling.” Ever since he was very little, the kid had been able to sense when things were off-kilter.
“You seen anything?” Dean asked, the emphasis indicating that the question was about the visions that had started up the summer before.
“Not so much, no. Not about this, anyway.”
“What’s it feel like, then?”
Sam swallowed hard. “Like we’re walking into a trap.”
Dean sighed. “Bobby? Rufus? What do we do?”
Rufus looked at Bobby. “Find out what we’re facin’.”
Bobby nodded. “Send the kids back into Vail?”
“Like hell,” four voices snarled.
Bobby held up his hands in surrender. “Just askin’.”
Tricia crouched beside one of the exposed human limbs. “Dean? Bloodless. And in rigor.”
Sam sucked in a deep breath. “Not been dead long, then.”
Dean rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Would explain why the rangers didn’t spot that yesterday. Our vamp knows he’s been spotted. Question is, if that’s the bait, who’s the trap for?”
“Rangers,” Daphne put in. “Or hunters.”
Sam shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. For rangers, yeah, but if it was set for hunters, the vampire would have to believe there were hunters within a day’s drive who were already aware that something was happening here.”
“Rangers, then,” Daphne nodded.
“Unless...” Tricia bit her lip. “You don’t think it knows about us, do you?”
“There’s really no way of-” Dean began, but was cut off by Sam’s uncharacteristic stumble and soft gasp. “Sammy?!”
Sam raised his head and Dean saw the blown pupils and glazed eyes and knew.
“Sammy, talk to me. What did you see?”
“Not one. Drained three hikers. Rest turned.”
“All the rest?”
All the rest.... Sam blinked and looked up at Dean, a flicker of pain around his eyes.
Dean swore. “That’s it. We’re gettin’ off this mountain.”
Sam nodded and got to his feet. Nest?
We get more firepower. We get more backup. We not enough to take out a damn army of vampires.
Rufus shook his head. “What?”
“He’s right,” Bobby said. “Six of us against... hell, thirty, forty vamps? Those odds are way too long.”
“No, no, what did he say?”
“That we need more firepower and more backup, idjit.”
“Hey, I can’t read that-” Rufus moved his hands, inadvertently calling himself a blue tomato-“like you can, Singer!”
The girls couldn’t look at each other for fear of bursting out in giggles despite the situation.
“You just insulted yourself, Uncle Rufus,” Sam said with a smile.
Rufus shoved his hands in his pockets in disgust. “Let’s just go.”
The six turned and headed back the way they came.
Sam slowly recovered enough to be able to walk under his own power.
Dean suddenly finger-spelled to his brother, You feel that?
Sam nodded, drawing his gun and motioning for the girls to stand behind him and Dean.
“What is it?” Rufus asked, drawing his gun as well.
“We’re bein’ watched.”
“The fangs?” Bobby asked.
“Maybe. I don’t-LOOK OUT!” And Dean was shoved down, out of the way of a surging woman with ghastly fangs.
Tricia shot the vampire first, and Sam pulled his machete and had its head off before Bobby and Rufus could even react. Another one was coming with the inhuman speed that characterized their race. Dean shot it and the one behind it while Rufus joined Sam in machete-wielding. The girls wielded the guns and slowed the vamps down to human speed - but not all of them. Seven or eight were still too fast, too strong.
And one of them managed to tackle Tricia.
She went down with a scream. She struggled under the woman’s weight and heard her hiss, “Pretty virgin blood... gonna taste good....”
“Get the hell off me!” Tricia growled, twisting to avoid the fangs. If she could just reach the gun....
Suddenly the vampire was bodily jerked off of Tricia and slammed into a second one. Sam looked down at her and asked, “Are you okay?”
Stunned, Tricia could only nod as he pulled her to her feet. Had she seen that right? Had Sam pulled that - that thing - off of her with his bare hands?
He nodded back and raised his machete as the vampire charged again. A single stroke-almost too fast to be seen-and the body toppled forward without a head.
Then he did it again. And again.
The other five couldn’t let themselves stare because they still had a fight on their hands... but the fight didn’t last long. The vamps who hadn’t died yet finally turned and ran. But there were fewer than half of them left.
“Do we follow them?” Sam asked as he fell back.
Still gasping for breath, Dean shook his head and signed, Go.
Nodding, Sam cleaned the machete in the snow and put it away.
“Holy Hannah,” Daphne breathed.
“Yeah,” Sam nodded. “They were nasty sons-of-bitches.”
“No-well, yeah, but-I mean... you.”
“Me?” Sam frowned. “What about me?”
“A man in love has the strength of thousands,” Dean quipped.
“Something like that,” Sam grinned.
But Rufus just shook his head. “Ain’t never seen a kid your size do that before, Sam. Hell, you ain’t even out of breath.”
“Wha....” Sam frowned at Dean “I don’t get... Dean?”
“You were fast, dude,” Dean said quietly. “I mean... vampire fast. And you pulled that chick offa Tricia like she didn’t weigh more than your backpack.”
Sam looked wide-eyed at him. Then at Tricia. Then Daphne. Then back at Dean. “... I...”
“There’s only one time I remember you throwin’ somebody like that,” Dean went on, still quiet but matter-of-fact. “And that’s when you threw us off the bed last summer, just before you upchucked all that blood.”
Sam’s eyes went huge. “... the demon blood....”
Dean nodded. “Think we just found another power it left behind.”
“Speed and strength?” Sam gasped. “Seriously? The visions weren’t enough?”
Dean shrugged. “Uncle Bobby?”
Rufus and the girls turned to Bobby as well.
“What the hell you lookin’ at me for?” Bobby returned. “Ain’t like there’s a manual for this kind of thing.”
Sam closed his eyes suddenly and whispered, “All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well....”
Bobby blinked. “What’s Julian of Norwich got to do with anything?”
“It’s a paraphrase,” Sam said, opening his eyes. “A reminder that I am not going to turn evil from this. That this - like all things - will work together for my good.”
“That last vision,” Dean nodded. “When the fever broke.”
Sam nodded, looking at Tricia and holding out his hand for her with a smile.
She didn’t take his hand. She hugged him tightly and let out a tiny sob of relief. His arms wrapped around her and she could almost feel the power in them.
She looked up at him. “You saved my life. Thank you.”
He kissed her tenderly. “Let’s get off this mountain.”
She nodded and clung to him as they followed Dean and Daphne down. Bobby and Rufus brought up the rear.
“So,” Dean asked once their car was in sight. “We comin’ back to burn what’s left of the nest or are we done?”
“You kids are done,” Bobby stated firmly. “You did a good job back there, all of you, but I don’t want you goin’ after the rest of ’em. Odds are they’re even meaner and stronger than that last batch.”
“What?” Dean and Sam yelped together, and Sam went on, “Aw, c’mon, Uncle Bobby-”
“I mean it, Sam. If you’d been even a few seconds slower, we would have lost Tricia. Do you really want to put her in danger again?”
“No,” Sam admitted.
“Even with as many as we took out, we’d still be outnumbered. You’ve done your part. Let us call in some other grumpy old coots who’ve been doin’ this longer’n you’ve been alive and who won’t mind this bein’ their last hunt if that’s how it turns out.”
Slowly, the young hunters nodded. They were clearly unhappy about it, but they had no choice.
“You did a good job,” Rufus repeated. “But Bob and I, we couldn’t live with lettin’ you get hurt goin’ up against this nest again.”
Without a word, the quartet got into the Impala and waited for the older men.
Bobby glanced over at Rufus. “You, too, huh?”
“Yeah, so?”
Bobby just chuckled and shook his head. “Elkins?”
“Couldn’t hurt to call ’im. Maybe get Winchester in on this, too.”
Bobby nodded. Then he paused. “What about Walker?”
“Loose cannon. Sure you want him around?”
“No. But he is a specialist.”
Rufus nodded slowly.
“Who else?”
“Ellen and Laura.”
“Travis.”
“Jim and Caleb.”
“Olivia, maybe a couple others from her area.”
“Isaac and Tamara.” Rufus did a quick tally. “If we bring in Walker, that gives us anywhere from 13 to 15, counting us. How many fangs you figure are left?”
“There’s about 40. Sammy killed seven, you killed three, I killed four, Dean killed two....”
Rufus muttered something about the Brave Little Tailor.
“Oh, shut it.”
“Fifteen gonna be enough, you think? We could call Creedy, Kubrick, Roy, and Walt, but I don’t trust them any more’n I trust Walker.”
“I think fifteen will be enough.”
Rufus nodded decisively. “Good. Then let’s get these college kids back to their vacation.”
Dean didn’t say a word. Not even with his hands. He was stewing. So were Daphne and Sam. But Tricia was doing a rather impressive impersonation of a barnacle, so tightly was she clinging to Sam’s side. Sam just tucked his arm around her.
“We know who we can call to take over for you,” Bobby said as he and Rufus slid into the car. “There’ll be about fifteen of us-including John.”
Sam broke into a grin. “It takes 15 to replace us 4!”
Rufus laughed. “That’s one way to look at it!”
That had all of them but Tricia smiling. Sam kissed her head.
“Let’s go, Dean,” Bobby said gently.
Dean obediently pulled away from the mountain.
The kids dropped Bobby and Rufus at the diner and went back to the hotel. None of them felt like talking much.
Sam seemed shaken. He barely touched Tricia, as if he were scared to hold her too tightly.
Finally she put a hand on his arm and looked him in the eye. “Sam. I trust you.”
“I don’t,” he whispered.
“We’ll find a way to live with this. I know you don’t want to hurt me, and I know you’d never do it on purpose.”
“What if I can’t control it? I can barely control the pain from the visions, what if I can’t control the strength at -” He froze.
“Sam?”
His eyes rolled up to gaze at the ceiling. The pupils blew wide open and the hazel turned to brownish-green glass.
“Sammy?” Dean prompted. “What do you see?”
“Death,” his voice rasped out. “Twelve go against the nest. Eleven return.”
Dean pulled out his cell and started to call Bobby. “Who dies?”
“I don’t... I don’t know her... I’ve never seen her... she h-has green hair.”
Dean nodded. “Okay. Anything else I need to tell Bobby?”
“... one will ask for the life of the survivors... grant it... sh-she is strong and wants peace... she-she-she just wants to be left alone....”
Dean frowned a little. “A vampire wants peace?”
A nod and Sam’s eyes began to clear. Tricia jumped up and grabbed the Tylenol as Dean called Bobby. Sam groaned and curled up on the bed.
Tricia sat down beside him. “What else can I get you?”
“Just... be here?”
She slid off her shoes and curled up against his side. He rested his cheek on her head.
“That’s what Sam said,” Dean insisted into the phone.
Daphne came over and laid a hand on his arm.
“How the hell should I know, Bobby? He just swears the one vamp is serious about wanting to be left alone.”
“Female,” Sam slurred.
“Female,” Dean repeated. He paused, listening. “No, he said it’s someone we don’t know, chick with green hair.”
Bobby’s gasp was audible.
“What?”
“I know her. Laura.”
“So call someone else.”
“She’s already on her way.”
Dean cursed quietly.
Sam let out a soft sob.
“Any chance at all you can get her to turn back?”
“Nope.”
Dean cursed again, more violently.
“We’ll warn her, though.”
“Bobby...”
“Dean, it’s all we can do.”
Dean sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “She’s not gonna believe you.”
“I know.”
“Just... be careful, okay, Bobby? I trust Sam, but...”
“I know. I’ll talk to you when it’s over.”
“Okay.” Dean hung up, and only Daphne’s quick reflexes stopped him from throwing the phone across the room.
In the silence, Sam’s weary voice sounded loud. “This is why I hate these things.”
“Not your fault, Sammy.”
“I know. I just hate being helpless.”
“Yeah. Me, too.”
The next morning, Bobby called just as the kids were finishing breakfast.
“How’d it go?” Dean asked.
“Killed three. Leader stopped it and we reached a deal - they don’t drink human blood, we leave them alone.”
“Can they do that? I mean, can they survive without human blood?”
“Elkins says they can. They can live on animal blood.”
“Huh.” Dean paused. “And Laura?”
His silence stretched for a moment, then he said softly, “Tell Sam that the vampires didn’t kill her.”
Dean frowned. “What happened?”
“She didn’t make it up the mountain. Halfway up, she fell.”
Dean sighed heavily. “Okay. I’ll tell him.”
“Dean - she felt no pain.”
“She’s still dead, Bobby.”
“I know.”
There was a pause before Dean managed to ask, “Anything else we can help with?”
“Finish your vacation.”
Dean huffed. “I think we just did.”
“Want us to help you home?”
“Nah, we’ve got it, thanks.”
“Dean...” Bobby began.
Dean shook his head, even though Bobby couldn’t see him. “Seriously, Bobby. We kinda need some space.”
“You’ll... You’ll call, yeah?”
Dean huffed a small laugh. “’Course.”
“If you don’t... we will.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ll call when we stop for the night.”
“Talk to you then. Love you, son.” And Bobby hung up.
It suddenly struck Dean how long it had been since John had closed a conversation that way-far longer than the boys had been on their own. Ditto the fact that Bobby had told them they’d done a good job the day before, which John... hell, had he ever said that to Dean on a hunt?
He smiled a little as he realized that Bobby was far more than an adopted uncle to them now. He was practically the father they’d always wished they had.
Sam noticed the smile and nudged him. What?
Know where Bobby sits at our wedding.
Where?
Seat for father of groom.
Sam’s eyes went huge and then he began that genuine, huge, delighted smile.
Dean couldn’t help himself. He grinned back and hugged Sam hard.
Sam pounded his back in the hug. Back to hotel. Need sleep.
You okay, dude?
Seems price to speed and strength.
Dean nodded thoughtfully. You need more food, too?
While Sam was thinking that over, his stomach growled loudly enough to attract the girls’ attention.
Tricia blinked, then flagged down a waitress. “Could we get a stack of pancakes to go, with a side of bacon and hash browns?”
“Of course, honey.” She went to put in the order.
Sam’s cheeks were kissed with pink. Dean just chuckled and shook his head.
Sam drew his hands close. Like Road Trip all over again.
Dean laughed. I was just thinking that!
Once the four got back to the hotel and Sam had scarfed down his second round of breakfast, Dean and Daphne took off for a last round of touristy shopping, leaving Tricia to tuck Sam back into bed.
Thank you.
You’re welcome. She paused, then slid her shoes off and curled up beside him.
She didn’t miss his stiffening.
What?
Don’t want to hurt you.
You haven’t yet, she noted.
Afraid to.
“Relax, querido,” she said aloud, cuddling closer. “You think Daphne would have left me here with you if she thought you would hurt me? Would Dean?”
His eyes widened. He shook his head.
She ran her fingers through his hair. “You’re not a monster, Sammy. And I will always love you.”
Tears filled his eyes. She didn’t move, just kept gently carding her fingers through his hair.
“You’ve been here from the start....”
She nodded.
“Why? Even now... you’re here.”
“Because I love you.”
“And I love you. That’s why I wanted to end it once I realized what I’m like now... so I wouldn’t hurt you. But you won’t go.”
“Love is not love / That alters when it alteration finds, / Or bends with the remover to remove,” she quoted quietly.
“Shakespeare,” Sam whispered, eyes wide. “Sonnet 114?”
She nodded. “Close-116.”
“Aaah, man was too prolific for my memory’s own good,” he teased.
She chuckled.
His hand tightened on her wrist, but not enough to hurt. “I still want to marry you.”
“Good. ’Cause I still want to marry you.”
“Who knows?” Sam grinned. “This could come in handy on the hunt.”
She grinned back. “It already has.” And she kissed him gently.
He dozed off in her arms with a smile on his face.
The pyre burned hard and fast, consuming the bright green hair that just would not seem to be wound in the shroud first.
Rufus couldn’t keep from feeling guilty that he’d called Laura to come help on the hunt. Granted, her death had been an accident, but still... he couldn’t help wishing Sam’s vision had come sooner, before he’d made that phone call.
Bobby curled a hand around his shoulder. “Wasn’t your fault.”
Rufus sighed. “I know. I just....” He left the thought unfinished, knowing that Bobby could fill in the blanks and not wanting to say any more in front of the other hunters than he had to.
Ellen - her forehead bandaged - walked up. “Need t’talk to you, Singer.”
Bobby gave Rufus’ shoulder a comforting squeeze and turned to Ellen. “Yeah, Ellen. What’s up?”
She nodded at Rufus. “The boys....”
“They’re fine. Should be halfway to Ruidoso by now.”
“I’m worried about them.”
Bobby frowned. “Why?”
“You know Sammy as well as I do. You know how intense he feels things.”
Both men nodded.
“And now....with his visions and with what you said he can do....”
“Ellen, he’s gonna be fine. Dean and the girls are with him.”
A slow nod as she accepted this. “I’m callin’ him later.” She sighed. “And you know this can’t be hid.”
“Maybe not forever. But we can give ’em space. And you know there’s no sense borrowin’ trouble.”
“No. No sense.”
Bobby gestured toward the bandage. “You doin’ all right?”
“Head hurts like a son-of-a-bitch. Could’a been worse than just a clock with a rock, though.”
“Damn straight,” Rufus nodded.
Ellen walked away, pulling out her phone as she did so. “Jo? Hey, baby, I’ll be heading home in the morning. How’re you doing? How’s Ash?”
Bobby turned back to Rufus and jerked his head in the direction of the truck.
Nodding, Rufus headed that way. “Think the boys’ll be okay?”
“Yeah. Gotta give ’em time to adjust, but... hell, they’re Winchesters.”
“You okay with it, Singer?”
Bobby sighed. “He’s still Sam.”
“Is he?”
“What the hell does that mean, Rufus?”
Rufus looked at him. “Playin’ devil’s advocate here. Put yourself in the role of a hunter who don’t know the boys. What’re they gonna see? And what’re we gonna do about it?”
Bobby’s jaw twitched for a moment. “We know who we can trust,” he finally said. “Anyone else? We keep clear of Cazadore.”
“You thinkin’ of who I’m thinkin’ of?”
“Probably. Oughta wait to compare notes, though,” Bobby added, glancing around the clearing. The other hunters weren’t within earshot, but they were still too close for comfort.
“Let’s head on, then. We need to get home.”
Bobby nodded. “Need to stop in town ’fore we head out?”
“Yeah.”
Bobby nodded again and got into the truck.
But just as Rufus opened the passenger door, he caught sight of Gordon Walker emerging from behind a tree that had been behind where Rufus was standing while talking with Bobby. Rufus’s eyes narrowed.
Bobby craned to see around Rufus and cursed quietly when he saw Walker.
“Wonder how much he heard.”
“Or what he’s gonna fill in the blanks.”
“We better warn the boys.”
“Yeah. And Frank, and maybe Bill Cooper.”
“No, no maybe. Cooper’s been their protector even from us a time or two.”
Bobby nodded once. “Let’s go.”
Rufus got in the truck, and they pulled out.
Walker’s eyes narrowed as he watched them drive away. So... the youngest Winchester was demon-touched.
Meaning - he was a creature to be killed.
And if those soft-hearted hunters wouldn’t do it - Walker would do it himself.
He needed more information, of course, and he needed to plan carefully. But he was nothing if not patient.
He didn’t care if it took years for the right time to come along. When it did, he would be ready. And Sam Winchester would die.