SPN/DA Fic: Incandesce 6 of ?
Title: Incandesce part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5 - part 6 - part 7 - part 8 - ?
sequel to: With a Bang and The Aftershocks and Not a Whimper and The Ripple Effects
Author: Mink
Rating: SPN/DA Crossover - R - Gen - AU in the year 2020
Spoilers: General (for all aired episodes)
Disclaimers: SPN & DA characters are owned by their various creators.
Summary: Sam POV & Alec POV. The Winchesters slowly find out that they've been brought to Seattle for a reason.
Sam watched the feed on the closed circuit cameras while the sun set an ugly orange outside the dusty windows.
The barred cages set up on the lower level of the warehouse were solid and more than enough to keep an X5 under lock and key. He wasn’t quite as sure about the enclosures ability to contain his brother but he didn’t voice his doubts out loud. The people that brought him to this place were under the illusion that they had full control over the situation and Sam had no desire to let them believe anything but that.
“Having fun, Sam?”
Max’s foot steps were slow and measured as she entered the room behind him. Her scent stirred an unwelcome warmth of desire, his muscles involuntarily drawing tense with her proximity. It took a moment to shake it off, the sensation and echoes of what she’d done to his son back at that motel cellar flashing vividly in her mind and seeping unwanted into his own.
Her hands, her mouth, her heat… he rubbed at his forehead wishing some of the pain behind his eyes would ease off. He was having trouble recalling everything before the warehouse and it scared him that his mind was wandering when everything depended on his ability to keep focus.
“Inducing Alec was a stupid idea,” Sam cleared his throat. “You’re playing with forces that you won’t be able to control.”
He placed his hands on the table to steady himself, feeling the sear of his anger flood behind his eyes until he knew the molten gold had returned to veil their true color. He idly considered that maybe the gleam of yellow was what should be on his face all the time. The dormant side. The real one. “He could hurt himself,” he said. “He could hurt a lot of people.”
“Why do you think we went through all this trouble to make sure his daddy was here to help us?” she said. “You won’t let anything happen to Alec.”
Sam watched the fuzzy image on the screens being monitored from three different angles. It looked as if the record function had frozen in place but he knew that Alec wasn’t moving because he’d fallen to sleep. Dean hadn’t moved from Alec’s side and he also hadn’t stopped staring up into the only camera that wasn’t concealed. All six sides of the cubicle cells were layered in carved traps and painted circles. Even a blindfold marked with symbols had been used to keep Alec’s energies reigned in. But while there were enough wards in there to keep a transgenic simmering below a boil, there weren’t any extra precautions set in place to put Dean at any disadvantage.
Sam nudged the zoom until all he could see was his brother’s tired gaze.
“Creepy, isn’t it?” Max clicked a fingernail on the monitor. “It’s like he’s looking right at us.”
If Sam had really wanted to he could have left this party the moment the van arrived at the water front. Maybe not without some serious damage but he had no doubt it was possible for him to walk away from this demon and its entourage mostly intact. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make the same claim for his family. They were vulnerable and they weren’t going anywhere unless the thing living in Max’s skin decided otherwise.
“Does that brother of yours ever take a break?” she sighed. “He’s gonna wear himself out.”
“You should be more worried about him,” Sam said. “He might surprise you.”
“That’s cute,” she leaned on the back of his chair. “I enjoy the way you make him more important than he really is.”
Sam studied her for a moment, remarking that her pattern of speech was a poor imitation of the human being it had hijacked for its use. The clothing it wore might have been owned by Max, but the garments were placed carelessly, ill fitted and strangely functional on a woman that had been a natural for the style of the city’s streets.
“When are you going to feed them?” Sam asked. “I want it done before morning.”
“More orders, Sammy?” her smiled faded but didn’t vanish completely. “What exactly are you gonna do if I just put my foot down?”
Watching the churn of black that clouded her eyes, Sam turned his attention back onto the security cameras. This demon hadn’t given him its name and it was interesting to guess if this was an old family friend or something new from the hell’s gate that had opened all those months ago. Choosing an X5 body to inhabit was smart. They were durable, strong and literally created by Manticore to be perfect vessels. Speaking of vessels…
“So when do I finally get to talk with Logan?”
“When I say so.“
“I want to talk to him now,” Sam liked how she glanced around uncertainly as everything in the room began to vibrate with his agitation. “If he isn’t too busy.”
“Relax,” Max said. “Remember who we’ve got locked in our basement.”
“Don’t underestimate me either,” Sam said carefully. “Alec isn’t the only one that can lose control.”
The tall windows that reached the height of the warehouse ceilings began to crack into spider web fractures and the security monitors started flicker in and out.
“Okay, okay,” the thing calling itself Max said quickly. “We can play it your way if you want.”
“Where’s Logan?”
“Down by the south entrance,” she said. “I’ve set up most of our equipment there.”
With a yawn, Sam nodded and headed towards the door. He was stopped when cold fingers laced into his and dug painfully into his palm.
“I just want you to know,” she said. “I’m very glad you’re here.”
He stared back evenly into her eyes. She gave him another smile but this time it reminded Sam of the young woman he had helped escape incineration at the mouth of the hell’s gate. Her pleasure contracted the black of her eyes until they were pooled back into her pupils.
“It’s important that you know how imperative it is to have you with us, Sam.”
“I’m not with you,” Sam tried to remove his hand from hers. “Not even close.”
“But you’re here right now,” she shrugged. “And that’s all that matters.”
Sam waited patiently for the monster flickering in Max’s eyes to release her grip.
“I want you to feed them,” he said. “Food and water.”
“Fine.”
“Bring them some coffee too,” Sam added. “Dean will be hurtin’ for some by now.”
“Does this dump look like a hotel to you?”
“You can skip the mints on the pillows.”
He left her standing alone, relief overcoming him when he reached the dark of the hallway. Thankful for the working emergency lights, he quickly followed the dull red beacons to each intersection of the abandoned corridors. Sam walked faster, knowing that when he found Logan he would find out exactly what was going on here. And as soon as he found out he would decide whether or not Logan would be allowed to continue whatever kind of tactic this might be. The war was filled with more rogue strategies than any one hunter could possibly know, and Sam could only assume that Eyes Only had stumbled over something that could tip the score.
Sam just wasn’t entirely sure for which side yet.
“What the hell do you want?”
Alec twitched awake at the feel of Dean’s anger and automatically tried to sit up. Failing to do anything but twist his aching wrists rubbed raw on the metal, he made a soft sound of pained frustration. The blindfold was still there but his other senses had dilated wide to compensate. The smell of his uncle’s adrenaline was as strong as smoke from a fire, accelerating Dean’s heart rate and respiratory functions.
It was what a body did when it was gearing up for a fight.
If Alec had had the strength to sneak into his uncle’s head he bet he knew who he’d see through Dean’s eyes.
“I asked you a question, lady,” Dean growled. “Where‘s Sam?”
“Busy.”
Despite the circumstances, Alec felt a surge of hope at the presence of Max. Dim memories of her ravenous touch on his skin moved him closer to waking, her scent mixing with Dean’s rage in the closed up musty space. But Max had told Alec not to worry. As she locked their bodies together and brought Alec relief, she’d whispered to him that she could take the pain away. She knew how to make it all go away forever. She said she could keep Alec sane…
“I brought you some rations,” Max said. “Sam thinks its important that you get something to eat.”
“Nice of him to think of us.” Dean said.
“I thought so,” Max said. “Alec here could last a week without a drop of water but you’re much more delicate aren’t you, Dean?”
Alec winced at the shriek of the cell door as it scraped across the floor. Dean wouldn’t win a fight with Max. He wouldn’t stand a chance. The heady scent of her dulled his caution, his body responding with a swift surge of agony as blood surged sweetly through every vein with a ferocity that left him even weaker than he already was. But under it all he could smell something else. Max had brought something with her besides food. Alec could smell it burning, smoldering like a tip of metal left to glow hot in the embers.
“D-Dean,” Alec rasped. “Watch it… she…she…”
“Take it easy,” Dean’s hand briefly rubbed through Alec‘s hair. “It’ll be okay.”
“Yeah, shush up Alec,” she said. “Your uncle and I need to have a little talk.”
“Sorry, sweetheart,” Dean said. “I’m not in a real chatty mood.”
Alec heard Max make a strange hiss, a noise that sounded like it should have come from the throat of an animal and not a human being.
“What did you do?” she demanded. “What is this?”
“I just noticed all these pretty circles you’ve got drawn all over the place,” Dean said. “I made a few more by the door," he summoned up enough audacity to laugh a little. "So you might get more than a slight tingling sensation if you try to get any closer.”
Alec turned his head as if he could see what Dean was referring too. The cells had been warded to keep him weak? That made sense. But knowing his prison had been fortified with magic to control half-breeds didn’t do much to ease his worry. And besides, his uncle knew as well as he did that some homemade protection Dean scratched onto the floor wasn't going to keep anything out for very long. It was a last ditch effort and Max knew it too.
“Just give me five minutes, Dean,” Max said softly. “Let me in and then you can have some of this water. You must be a little thirsty after all this time-”
“I’m not drinking that shit.”
There was a pause.
“Okay,” she reasoned. “What do you say you give me five minutes and junior here gets to lose the blindfold.”
Alec tensed, silently praying that Dean wouldn’t agree even though he wanted the blindfold gone so badly he had considered humiliating himself by begging. But to his horror his uncle must have heard a part of his prayer because suddenly Dean was ready to deal.
“You take the blindfold off and you turn some lights on in here.”
“You got it.”
“You got one minute,” he said. “Better make it good.”
“D-Dean, don’t,” Alec stammered. “Don’t let her near you.”
“Just sit tight, Alec.”
His heart thudded in his chest as he listened to Dean scrape his handcuffs across the floor to break the lines and make the wards useless.
“That’s better,” Max said as she came closer. “I did a lot to make sure I got this pretty skin and it’d be a shame to get it turned inside out.”
“You got 40 seconds left.”
Flexing his fists behind his back, Alec listened carefully to the heavy tread of her boots.
“That‘s plenty of time,” Max said. “More than I need.”
Alec waited for his uncle to respond in kind but when Dean finally spoke his voice was oddly subdued. “That’s-That’s close enough.”
“I brought you a present, Dean.”
Alec froze when Dean’s breathing started to hitch and wheeze. Struggling to turn towards the noise, Alec fought with his restraints, knowing that whatever was happening just a few feet on the other side of the bars was beyond his control. To his dazed relief Dean started to breathe again, but it was only in gasping stops and starts, his efforts to draw in a full lungful of air hindered by Max’s hand.
“Dean?” Alec pleaded. “Get offa him! Stop it!”
The burning scent Alec had detected before began to mix with the sickening sweet smell of scorching flesh. In his panic his fettered senses abruptly expanded, startling him with fragmented images through Max’s eyes. The images kept coming, disjointed and vivid as they revealed the cramped cells covered in layer upon layers of wards and symbols. He could see the bare light bulb that lit the far off staircase that caught the fleeting scuttle of a rat shuffling off into the shadows….With another unexpected flash of garish red light, Alec abruptly realized he was able to see Max’s bare hands glowing like branding irons. And those hands were pressing down on Dean’s skin, again and again… Alec broke out in a cold sweat as the ripples of power drifted over and through him, making him sick to his stomach and building a pressure in his skull that kept growing and growing until he thought it might explode.
“That’s it, Dean,” she said absently as she placed a hand on his chest. “You’re doing great.”
“S-Stop it!” Alec breathed. “Leave him alone, please… please…”
“Now,” Max said. “Now it’s time to talk.”
Alec didn’t like how his uncle was now strangely silent.
“How about we start with your new job, Dean?” Max suggested. “It’s simple really.”
Dean wheezed and coughed.
“All you have to do is what already comes naturally.”
Alec blinked when his blindfold came loose, whipping across the room although Max hadn’t moved from her crouch over his uncle.
“And all you have to do,” Max lifted Dean by the chin. “Is make sure Sammy understands the new rules. You have to remind him who calls the shots around here.”
Focusing his blurry vision, Alec watched his uncle nod uncertainly, his eyes locked on the black gaze of the demon. Alec searched Dean’s body for the horrible burns that must have been left on his skin but he saw nothing but a noxious smoke rising from his clothing.
“Good boy,” Max nodded. “I think you were born for this, Dean.”
“What are you talking about?“ Alec asked. “B-Born for what?”
She stood slowly, tossing a couple of water bottles onto the floor.
“What else?” she grinned. “A good little watch dog.”
tbc
sequel to: With a Bang and The Aftershocks and Not a Whimper and The Ripple Effects
Author: Mink
Rating: SPN/DA Crossover - R - Gen - AU in the year 2020
Spoilers: General (for all aired episodes)
Disclaimers: SPN & DA characters are owned by their various creators.
Summary: Sam POV & Alec POV. The Winchesters slowly find out that they've been brought to Seattle for a reason.
Sam watched the feed on the closed circuit cameras while the sun set an ugly orange outside the dusty windows.
The barred cages set up on the lower level of the warehouse were solid and more than enough to keep an X5 under lock and key. He wasn’t quite as sure about the enclosures ability to contain his brother but he didn’t voice his doubts out loud. The people that brought him to this place were under the illusion that they had full control over the situation and Sam had no desire to let them believe anything but that.
“Having fun, Sam?”
Max’s foot steps were slow and measured as she entered the room behind him. Her scent stirred an unwelcome warmth of desire, his muscles involuntarily drawing tense with her proximity. It took a moment to shake it off, the sensation and echoes of what she’d done to his son back at that motel cellar flashing vividly in her mind and seeping unwanted into his own.
Her hands, her mouth, her heat… he rubbed at his forehead wishing some of the pain behind his eyes would ease off. He was having trouble recalling everything before the warehouse and it scared him that his mind was wandering when everything depended on his ability to keep focus.
“Inducing Alec was a stupid idea,” Sam cleared his throat. “You’re playing with forces that you won’t be able to control.”
He placed his hands on the table to steady himself, feeling the sear of his anger flood behind his eyes until he knew the molten gold had returned to veil their true color. He idly considered that maybe the gleam of yellow was what should be on his face all the time. The dormant side. The real one. “He could hurt himself,” he said. “He could hurt a lot of people.”
“Why do you think we went through all this trouble to make sure his daddy was here to help us?” she said. “You won’t let anything happen to Alec.”
Sam watched the fuzzy image on the screens being monitored from three different angles. It looked as if the record function had frozen in place but he knew that Alec wasn’t moving because he’d fallen to sleep. Dean hadn’t moved from Alec’s side and he also hadn’t stopped staring up into the only camera that wasn’t concealed. All six sides of the cubicle cells were layered in carved traps and painted circles. Even a blindfold marked with symbols had been used to keep Alec’s energies reigned in. But while there were enough wards in there to keep a transgenic simmering below a boil, there weren’t any extra precautions set in place to put Dean at any disadvantage.
Sam nudged the zoom until all he could see was his brother’s tired gaze.
“Creepy, isn’t it?” Max clicked a fingernail on the monitor. “It’s like he’s looking right at us.”
If Sam had really wanted to he could have left this party the moment the van arrived at the water front. Maybe not without some serious damage but he had no doubt it was possible for him to walk away from this demon and its entourage mostly intact. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make the same claim for his family. They were vulnerable and they weren’t going anywhere unless the thing living in Max’s skin decided otherwise.
“Does that brother of yours ever take a break?” she sighed. “He’s gonna wear himself out.”
“You should be more worried about him,” Sam said. “He might surprise you.”
“That’s cute,” she leaned on the back of his chair. “I enjoy the way you make him more important than he really is.”
Sam studied her for a moment, remarking that her pattern of speech was a poor imitation of the human being it had hijacked for its use. The clothing it wore might have been owned by Max, but the garments were placed carelessly, ill fitted and strangely functional on a woman that had been a natural for the style of the city’s streets.
“When are you going to feed them?” Sam asked. “I want it done before morning.”
“More orders, Sammy?” her smiled faded but didn’t vanish completely. “What exactly are you gonna do if I just put my foot down?”
Watching the churn of black that clouded her eyes, Sam turned his attention back onto the security cameras. This demon hadn’t given him its name and it was interesting to guess if this was an old family friend or something new from the hell’s gate that had opened all those months ago. Choosing an X5 body to inhabit was smart. They were durable, strong and literally created by Manticore to be perfect vessels. Speaking of vessels…
“So when do I finally get to talk with Logan?”
“When I say so.“
“I want to talk to him now,” Sam liked how she glanced around uncertainly as everything in the room began to vibrate with his agitation. “If he isn’t too busy.”
“Relax,” Max said. “Remember who we’ve got locked in our basement.”
“Don’t underestimate me either,” Sam said carefully. “Alec isn’t the only one that can lose control.”
The tall windows that reached the height of the warehouse ceilings began to crack into spider web fractures and the security monitors started flicker in and out.
“Okay, okay,” the thing calling itself Max said quickly. “We can play it your way if you want.”
“Where’s Logan?”
“Down by the south entrance,” she said. “I’ve set up most of our equipment there.”
With a yawn, Sam nodded and headed towards the door. He was stopped when cold fingers laced into his and dug painfully into his palm.
“I just want you to know,” she said. “I’m very glad you’re here.”
He stared back evenly into her eyes. She gave him another smile but this time it reminded Sam of the young woman he had helped escape incineration at the mouth of the hell’s gate. Her pleasure contracted the black of her eyes until they were pooled back into her pupils.
“It’s important that you know how imperative it is to have you with us, Sam.”
“I’m not with you,” Sam tried to remove his hand from hers. “Not even close.”
“But you’re here right now,” she shrugged. “And that’s all that matters.”
Sam waited patiently for the monster flickering in Max’s eyes to release her grip.
“I want you to feed them,” he said. “Food and water.”
“Fine.”
“Bring them some coffee too,” Sam added. “Dean will be hurtin’ for some by now.”
“Does this dump look like a hotel to you?”
“You can skip the mints on the pillows.”
He left her standing alone, relief overcoming him when he reached the dark of the hallway. Thankful for the working emergency lights, he quickly followed the dull red beacons to each intersection of the abandoned corridors. Sam walked faster, knowing that when he found Logan he would find out exactly what was going on here. And as soon as he found out he would decide whether or not Logan would be allowed to continue whatever kind of tactic this might be. The war was filled with more rogue strategies than any one hunter could possibly know, and Sam could only assume that Eyes Only had stumbled over something that could tip the score.
Sam just wasn’t entirely sure for which side yet.
“What the hell do you want?”
Alec twitched awake at the feel of Dean’s anger and automatically tried to sit up. Failing to do anything but twist his aching wrists rubbed raw on the metal, he made a soft sound of pained frustration. The blindfold was still there but his other senses had dilated wide to compensate. The smell of his uncle’s adrenaline was as strong as smoke from a fire, accelerating Dean’s heart rate and respiratory functions.
It was what a body did when it was gearing up for a fight.
If Alec had had the strength to sneak into his uncle’s head he bet he knew who he’d see through Dean’s eyes.
“I asked you a question, lady,” Dean growled. “Where‘s Sam?”
“Busy.”
Despite the circumstances, Alec felt a surge of hope at the presence of Max. Dim memories of her ravenous touch on his skin moved him closer to waking, her scent mixing with Dean’s rage in the closed up musty space. But Max had told Alec not to worry. As she locked their bodies together and brought Alec relief, she’d whispered to him that she could take the pain away. She knew how to make it all go away forever. She said she could keep Alec sane…
“I brought you some rations,” Max said. “Sam thinks its important that you get something to eat.”
“Nice of him to think of us.” Dean said.
“I thought so,” Max said. “Alec here could last a week without a drop of water but you’re much more delicate aren’t you, Dean?”
Alec winced at the shriek of the cell door as it scraped across the floor. Dean wouldn’t win a fight with Max. He wouldn’t stand a chance. The heady scent of her dulled his caution, his body responding with a swift surge of agony as blood surged sweetly through every vein with a ferocity that left him even weaker than he already was. But under it all he could smell something else. Max had brought something with her besides food. Alec could smell it burning, smoldering like a tip of metal left to glow hot in the embers.
“D-Dean,” Alec rasped. “Watch it… she…she…”
“Take it easy,” Dean’s hand briefly rubbed through Alec‘s hair. “It’ll be okay.”
“Yeah, shush up Alec,” she said. “Your uncle and I need to have a little talk.”
“Sorry, sweetheart,” Dean said. “I’m not in a real chatty mood.”
Alec heard Max make a strange hiss, a noise that sounded like it should have come from the throat of an animal and not a human being.
“What did you do?” she demanded. “What is this?”
“I just noticed all these pretty circles you’ve got drawn all over the place,” Dean said. “I made a few more by the door," he summoned up enough audacity to laugh a little. "So you might get more than a slight tingling sensation if you try to get any closer.”
Alec turned his head as if he could see what Dean was referring too. The cells had been warded to keep him weak? That made sense. But knowing his prison had been fortified with magic to control half-breeds didn’t do much to ease his worry. And besides, his uncle knew as well as he did that some homemade protection Dean scratched onto the floor wasn't going to keep anything out for very long. It was a last ditch effort and Max knew it too.
“Just give me five minutes, Dean,” Max said softly. “Let me in and then you can have some of this water. You must be a little thirsty after all this time-”
“I’m not drinking that shit.”
There was a pause.
“Okay,” she reasoned. “What do you say you give me five minutes and junior here gets to lose the blindfold.”
Alec tensed, silently praying that Dean wouldn’t agree even though he wanted the blindfold gone so badly he had considered humiliating himself by begging. But to his horror his uncle must have heard a part of his prayer because suddenly Dean was ready to deal.
“You take the blindfold off and you turn some lights on in here.”
“You got it.”
“You got one minute,” he said. “Better make it good.”
“D-Dean, don’t,” Alec stammered. “Don’t let her near you.”
“Just sit tight, Alec.”
His heart thudded in his chest as he listened to Dean scrape his handcuffs across the floor to break the lines and make the wards useless.
“That’s better,” Max said as she came closer. “I did a lot to make sure I got this pretty skin and it’d be a shame to get it turned inside out.”
“You got 40 seconds left.”
Flexing his fists behind his back, Alec listened carefully to the heavy tread of her boots.
“That‘s plenty of time,” Max said. “More than I need.”
Alec waited for his uncle to respond in kind but when Dean finally spoke his voice was oddly subdued. “That’s-That’s close enough.”
“I brought you a present, Dean.”
Alec froze when Dean’s breathing started to hitch and wheeze. Struggling to turn towards the noise, Alec fought with his restraints, knowing that whatever was happening just a few feet on the other side of the bars was beyond his control. To his dazed relief Dean started to breathe again, but it was only in gasping stops and starts, his efforts to draw in a full lungful of air hindered by Max’s hand.
“Dean?” Alec pleaded. “Get offa him! Stop it!”
The burning scent Alec had detected before began to mix with the sickening sweet smell of scorching flesh. In his panic his fettered senses abruptly expanded, startling him with fragmented images through Max’s eyes. The images kept coming, disjointed and vivid as they revealed the cramped cells covered in layer upon layers of wards and symbols. He could see the bare light bulb that lit the far off staircase that caught the fleeting scuttle of a rat shuffling off into the shadows….With another unexpected flash of garish red light, Alec abruptly realized he was able to see Max’s bare hands glowing like branding irons. And those hands were pressing down on Dean’s skin, again and again… Alec broke out in a cold sweat as the ripples of power drifted over and through him, making him sick to his stomach and building a pressure in his skull that kept growing and growing until he thought it might explode.
“That’s it, Dean,” she said absently as she placed a hand on his chest. “You’re doing great.”
“S-Stop it!” Alec breathed. “Leave him alone, please… please…”
“Now,” Max said. “Now it’s time to talk.”
Alec didn’t like how his uncle was now strangely silent.
“How about we start with your new job, Dean?” Max suggested. “It’s simple really.”
Dean wheezed and coughed.
“All you have to do is what already comes naturally.”
Alec blinked when his blindfold came loose, whipping across the room although Max hadn’t moved from her crouch over his uncle.
“And all you have to do,” Max lifted Dean by the chin. “Is make sure Sammy understands the new rules. You have to remind him who calls the shots around here.”
Focusing his blurry vision, Alec watched his uncle nod uncertainly, his eyes locked on the black gaze of the demon. Alec searched Dean’s body for the horrible burns that must have been left on his skin but he saw nothing but a noxious smoke rising from his clothing.
“Good boy,” Max nodded. “I think you were born for this, Dean.”
“What are you talking about?“ Alec asked. “B-Born for what?”
She stood slowly, tossing a couple of water bottles onto the floor.
“What else?” she grinned. “A good little watch dog.”
tbc