Sam I Am- Part 5
Now that Sam knew about Crowley-Samuel was much more open about hunting with him. He gave Sam more information about Crowley’s current project for them-hunting Alphas.
Sam was amazed to discover that monsters apparently had their own leaders-the first of their kind. According to the myths, these Alphas were created by the Mother herself. Their creation seemed to parallel human creation. It seemed fitting in a twisted way in Sam’s eyes; therefore there couldn’t be claims of who came first. No who came first, reflecting the famous chick or the egg dilemma. As long as there had been man’s foot print on the earth, there had been a similar foot print done by a monster.
Samuel tasked Sam with the Alpha research, partly to bring him up to date on what they had found about Alphas and it never hurt to have fresh eyes taking a look at the data. He found it fascinating because as far as he could tell-the alphas themselves were stuff made of legend and no hunter in known hunting history had ever come up against one, at least not knowingly.
Which brought up the question-how did Crowley and Samuel know about them?-or on second thought- how did Crowley know about them? Sam was almost certain that Crowley was the one who told Samuel about the Alphas and where to start looking for them.
Who was Crowley then? Sam thought to himself. Crowley couldn’t be a hunter because according to the stories, no hunter had ever come across Alphas. Crowley had to at least confirm their existence in order to be certain that they could be found. As far as Sam knew, any hunter would make it public that there actually were Alphas and not keep it a secret so what was Crowley up to? And better yet-what did he want from Sam and the Campbells?
It was all a mystery to Sam and a part of him didn’t want to solve it because he had a feeling that by solving the mystery-he would discover that things weren’t what they were. He couldn’t do it-the Campbells, especially Samuel, were his family and he had to trust them. That is what family was all about-trust. They had done so much for Sam already-he felt that he had to trust Samuel and the rest of the Campbells. If they said that Crowley was okay, then he was.
But there was something really fishy about Crowley that bothered Sam to his core. He couldn’t dismiss the feeling that there was more to Crowley. But before he could research Crowley and discover the truth about him, Sam discovered a possible lead for the whereabouts of the Vampire Alpha. He had found out that there was going to be a big gathering of vampire lovers and Goths in Eerie, Indiana in a month’s time. There was nothing so special about idiot morons who loved to pretend that they were vampires and Goths but really they were only human.
The thing that caught Sam’s eye was an associate website he had found on the homepage of this gathering. What was so peculiar about this website was that very little of the writing wasn’t in English, rather it was in Latin. There were secret messages for vampires to come to the town’s old cemetery where their leader would await them at midnight of the second day of the gathering.
There was no mention of an Alpha vampire anywhere but Sam was pretty certain that this ‘leader’ was the Alpha himself because why else would they go to such lengths to keep this a secret?
Sam immediately went to Samuel with his newfound information about the Vampire Alpha. Samuel looked very pleased at hearing that Sam was successful at getting the information and was surprised that it didn’t take long for Sam to find it. He put Sam in charge of arranging the hunt details alongside Gwen, since she was the compound’s head researcher and went over all the details of their hunts.
It took a couple of days of more research about the mythology and the area in which the gathering was going to take place before Sam and Gwen presented their hunting plan to the others.
As Sam walked into the room where he and Gwen would brief the other hunters, including new hunters who were recruited just for this hunt by Crowley, about the upcoming Vampire Alpha hunt, he was surprised to see Crowley chatting with Samuel at the far corner of the room. He pretended not to notice them as they both turned to look at him walk in.
Something was off with Crowley and Samuel but before Sam could wonder about what they were up to, the rest of the hunters had arrived and Samuel motioned to Sam and Gwen to start the presentation.
Sam let Gwen start off the presentation, “Sam and I have come up with a hunting plan for hunting down the Alpha Vamp. We know that it is going to be in Eerie, Indiana during the time of the ‘Vamp/Goth Lovers’ gathering. Sam, here, managed to get into the secret real Vamp site with the details and since he was the one who worked out all the ends and outs of the hunt, I’ll let him tell you about it.”
Gwen smiled at Sam and gestured to him to continue. “As Gwen said, this is going to take place in Eerie, Indiana in about nine days. The vampires who are coming to meet the Alpha will be doing so at the town cemetery at midnight on the second night. We all will be going and be dividing into teams. The teams will corner the cemetery from different angles in order to trap the Alpha Vamp. The teams are Mark and Ron, Gwen and Johnny, Mick and Sean, Christian and myself. Now each team-“
Samuel called out, “No. I want you to be with me, Sam. Let Christian partner one of the other teams.”
Sam was taken back by this because in the brief he and Gwen had run by Samuel earlier-he had not mentioned anything about wanting to participate in the hunt. In the time that Sam had known him-Samuel was contented with staying in the background and letting the younger hunters do the actual hunting.
Sam threw a look at Crowley. Samuel’s decision to come along on the hunt had to have come from the discussion that Sam had witnessed earlier. What had they been talking about?.
As the thought run through Sam’s mind, he noticed Crowley looking at him. Despite his earlier promise to himself that he would back down from Crowley and just trust Samuel and the others because they were family and they trusted Crowley, Sam had an uneasy feeling. He didn’t like whatever it was that Samuel and Crowley were planning.
He knew that he couldn’t do anything about it just yet but he would be on his guard. He didn’t like the feeling that he was being controlled and made to “perform” certain tricks.
Sam was brought back to reality by Gwen touching his arm to get his attention. He realized that she had been asking him to continue to explain the plan. Sam coughed to clear his throat in an attempt to distract everyone from his lapse in attention, “Okay, then.” He glanced back at Samuel, “Samuel and I will be Team Alpha and we will be the ones to actually approach the Vampire Alpha and capture him.”
At Samuel’s nod of approval, Sam continued to reassign Christian to Mick and Sean’s team and to inform the other teams of their roles in the upcoming hunt.
~~~~~~~
A day later, the hunters left the Campbell compound in order to drive to Eerie, Indiana and the Goth/Vampire gathering. Crowley came by to see them off which Sam found very interesting.
Immediately after Crowley arrived at the compound, he and Samuel went into Samuel’s office and were there for about half an hour. Whatever they spoke about was secret because they made no mention of it after they came out of the office and Crowley said his goodbyes to the rest of them.
Sam also noticed that Crowley was paying extra attention to him as if to gage how he was doing with everything. Sam felt like he was a bug under a microscope and he really didn’t like the feeling.
After they had finished packing the cars, Samuel immediately announced that he would be sharing with Sam. Sam wasn’t surprised by this especially if whatever Samuel and Crowley had to talk about had to do with him. Samuel got into the car on the driver’s side, “If you don’t mind-I’ll be taking the first driving shift,” he said to Sam, Gwen, and Mark, “Sam-why don’t you sit shotgun beside me.”
Knowing that Samuel was probably going to talk to him as per Crowley’s orders, Sam stiffened a little and nodded, “Fine.”
As Samuel drove, Sam sat quietly staring at the passing scenery. It had been a few hours since the start of the drive and they had barely left the state on their way to Eerie. It was a good thing that they had decided to set out about a week early. It was too bad that they couldn’t just take a plane there but with their supplies and weapons, they wouldn’t make it passed the airport security guards.
“Sam,” broke through Sam’s thoughts and he blinked and focused on Samuel who had been the one to call his name. As he focused on Samuel, Sam noticed that Mark had fallen asleep (which according to Christian-was one of Mark’s flaws as a hunter-the inability to stay awake in a moving vehicle) and Gwen was quietly sitting next to him and rereading their research notes about the upcoming hunt.
“Yeah,” Sam answered Samuel. He didn’t really want to talk to Samuel because the man had been playing him for so long. He didn’t know what to think. All he knew was that the man was the patriarch of the family and he had Sam’s life in his control. For a long time, Sam had accepted it but now knowing about Crowley made a difference. If Samuel hadn’t been forthcoming about Crowley then what else did Samuel lie about-had he lied about Dean? Could his dreams involving Dean been brought about by Samuel’s influence?
Thinking about his dreams in that connection just felt wrong to Sam. No, Samuel didn’t have the power to change my dreams Sam decided. Samuel and the family had really done a lot for Sam and he couldn’t just turn his back on them.
Again, Samuel’s voice broke into Sam’s thoughts. “…good job. I know that you will excel at this hunt.”
Sam smiled a half smile, “Thanks. I want to be the best I can be.”
Samuel nodded in approval, “I’m proud of you Sam. You the best grandson a man could ask for.”
Sam stared out of the window and just nodded. It was weird how numb he felt at those words-when in the past, he knew that he would be filled with a lovely glow just hearing them. He would excel at this hunt and be the best hunter that he could be. After all was it the family business-to hunt things and to save people?
He and Samuel did not speak for the rest of the journey to their mid-way stop on their way to Eerie. In fact, on one of their rest stops to get more gas for the rest of the journey, Sam let Mark take his place next to Samuel with the excuse that he wanted to go over the research details again with Gwen. As he did so, Sam noticed that Samuel was watching him closely but he didn’t say a word about Sam’s excuse or the reason why Sam had wanted to switch seats with Mark.
When they had reached their motel where they would stay the night before continuing the journey to Eerie, Sam immediately got out of the car to arrange their rooms for the night (he had booked them ahead of time because having six-eight hunters together put a damper on the spontaneity of just showing up to a motel and getting rooms for everyone).
Through the organized chaos of sorting out the rooms, Sam had made certain that he wouldn’t end up with either Samuel or Christian as roommates-preferring to bunk with one of the new guys, Mick. It had solved the problem of what to do if either Christian or Samuel approached him about Crowley. His resolve to trust them depended on it-he couldn’t afford it to be shaken by observing something else that was contradictory to what he had been shown by them in the past.
~~~~~~~~
Eventually, the convoy of hunters arrived in Eerie, Indiana. Due to Sam’s and Gwen’s careful planning, the hunters had enough time to canvas the town and to do some on location research namely seeing how far the cemetery was from where the main event-the Vampire/Goth gathering-was to be held.
Surprisingly, Samuel let Sam take control for the pre-hunt stuff. Sam savored the new responsibility and took it as a sign that Samuel was opening up to him and trusting him more. It made Sam feel guilty just a little bit for doubting Samuel in the first place. He vowed to do better and he took the responsibility of supervising the hunt seriously.
Sam had the hunters split into teams. Each team was responsible for canvassing a different area. Sam noticed that while the main event wasn’t for another day or two, already there were people dressed as vampires or Goths. Oddly enough, Sam was amazed to see that there were children among the event attendees (most likely one or both of the parents were into to the vampire/goth scene and considered the event as a nice family outing).
As for actual real vampires who were coming to town for different reasons-they were very cleverly hidden because for the first two days since their arrival in town, none of the hunters could find any real vampire. Or they hadn’t begun to arrive yet but Sam seriously doubted that because the Alpha was involved and if it were him-he sure would want to be in town as early as possible in order to get some good seats or whatever.
He and Gwen took all the information from the teams and tried to find a plausible location for where the vampires were staying. There was no indication to their whereabouts and if Sam hadn’t found the site that clearly stated that there was going to be a meeting with the Alpha Vamp, the hunters wouldn’t have known that there was any real supernatural activity going on. The night before the vampire meeting, they finally got lucky-or unlucky since Mark, while on a sweep of the area, managed to run into a vampire who started to attack him. Christian who was Mark’s teammate at the time, managed to decapitate the vampire and bring Mark back to the motel.
As everyone rushed to get first aid supplies to treat Mark, Sam looked down at Mark lying in the bed and realized that he had grown fangs while he was still unconscious-he had been turned.
Sam only felt the slight twinge of regret that they had lost Mark because now surely they would need to kill him. What a way for a hunter to die-after being turned into one of the things he hunted.
Sam felt responsible for Mark’s plight and felt that it was up to him to kill him and put him out of his misery. As Sam picked up the machete lying on the table next to him and took a few steps towards Mark who still lay unconscious, he was stopped by Samuel grabbing a hold of his arm.
“Wait, Sam!” He said as he gestured to Christian and Gwen to enter the room. Each of them had their hands full-Christian carried a glass filled with what looked to be thick blood and Gwen carried a metal bucket.
“What is this?” Sam asked. He had known that Samuel had brought different herbs and materials with him and had asked to be allowed to not sweep the town with the rest of the hunters. He had been cooped up in his motel room for the past day and a half and this was the first time that Sam had actually seen him outside of it.
“It’s a cure for vampire bite/transfusion of vampire blood. It turns the victim back to being human as long as they haven’t given in to their own bloodlust.” Samuel replied as he motioned to Christian and Gwen to tend to Mark and give him the cure. “Sam, come outside with me. I want to talk to you-I know that you have a lot of questions. Let Christian and Gwen do their job.”
As soon as the door closed behind them, Samuel turned to Sam, “I know that you’re angry that I never mentioned anything about this to you-but it is a secret family cure and I was afraid that you would go all gung-ho on me if you knew that we had a cure for a vampire bite/vampire blood transfusion. That you would order everyone to danger themselves in that way. I didn’t want that so I didn’t tell you.”
Sam nodded in agreement. It really didn’t matter that they had a cure. All he cared about was getting the Alpha and finishing the hunt. He had been prepared for some causalities on their side and now that they had a cure? Well, it was all the better in his mind. No he wouldn’t be reckless with his fellow hunters’ lives but if the job needed to be done-it needed to be done no matter the cost.
~~~~~~~
Finally, the night of the vampire meeting came and the hunter teams took their places in the delicate and intricate hunt. Samuel and Sam took up their positions in the cemetery, crouching behind some grave stones that were nearest to the vampire meeting place. They didn’t have to wait long because a second past midnight, vampires started literally popping up in the cemetery and started to move towards the huge mausoleum where in its shadows the Alpha was to meet them.
Sam’s plan was to wait until they could get a visual on the Alpha and then put forward the most suitable plan of capturing him alive (Sam and Gwen had prepared a few scenarios for their handling of the Alpha). As soon as all the vampires had gathered, a white light lit the sky and when it faded-there stood, in front of the mausoleum door, the Vampire Alpha. He was dark-skinned and had an old and ancient look about him.
The Alpha held up his hands asking his followers to be quiet and started talking in a deep, bewitching voice, “My children, we gather here today because of the repercussions that came after having Lucifer wander our earth as well as the repercussions following his capture in the cage again…”
Sam tuned out the Alpha’s voice as he nodded to Samuel and spoke softly in to the microphone on his jacket lapel; “Go!” he ordered as he and Samuel crept nearer and nearer to the vampires still in captivated by their Alpha’s speech to them.
The hunters, armed with machetes, bows and arrows tipped with dead man’s blood shot and cut through the vampires as if they were animals. The first vampires went down without a fight but then others caught on to what was happening and started fighting back.
Sam lost sight of Samuel as he zeroed in on the Alpha’s location. Instead of fighting alongside his children, the Vampire Alpha had chosen the coward’s way of fighting in Sam’s opinion-he had fled. Unfortunately for him-Sam was hot on his trail. Unfortunately for the humans who had gathered for the Vampire/Goth Lovers fest in town-the Alpha was headed straight for them.
As he chased the Alpha through the crowd, Sam noticed that the Alpha was headed straight towards a young family in the crowd-the parents were dressed in Goth while their little girl of about five or six wore ordinary clothes. The Alpha plowed into the parents while grabbing a hold of the girl and just kept on running. He finally ran into a dark alleyway where Sam caught up with him. As Sam neared him, the Alpha gently lifted the crying little girl in his arms and tilted her head to reveal her neck. He kept his gaze on Sam’s as he bent his own head to bite at the young neck, drawing blood. The girl sobbed and struggled to get out of his grip with little success. He sucked on the bite like he was sucking a lollipop-and the girl went limp.
Sam neared the two of them, with his bow and arrow at the ready, keeping his gaze looked on the Alpha’s ancient ones.
The Alpha’s deep and bewitching voice broke the tense quiet of the alleyway, “Ah, to what to I deserve the honor of having the Great Sam Winchester hunt little old me down?”
Sam tightened his hold on the bow in order to hide his shock that the Alpha knew who he was-he knew his real name and not the alias (Maxwell Johnson) that Samuel and Crowley had given him to use on hunts. “Put her down and this will all end as peacefully as it can.”
The Alpha chuckled quietly, “Sammy, my boy. Now why should I do that? When I have a lovely treat in my hands.” He sucked the little girl’s neck once again.
Sam shook his head, “Fine. Be like that. Bite her. Do whatever you want with her. I’m only here to make sure that you’re alive when I capture you.”
This time, the Alpha let out a loud rambling laugh, “Crowley and his minions have truly succeeded with you, Young Winchester. You’ve been changed to fit his agenda and not your own. I almost feel sorry for you- now you really don’t live up to your reputation. It’s more your brother’s style then yours although they’ve upped it times a million.”
At hearing the Alpha’s admission about Crowley, Sam lowered the bow. “What?” He managed to choke out past his tightening chest.
Taking another suck of the girl’s neck, delighting both in the taste of her blood as well as Sam’s horror finding out that he had been royally duped, the Alpha continued to tell Sam, “Crowley knew that if he could get a super-charged hunter on his side-he could tip the scale in his favor. And who better than the angst-ridden and conveniently located in hell youngest Winchester? Who had already been chosen by Lucifer? You, my friend, have the ultimate seal of approval for all demonic kind.”
Sam frowned and stood his ground, “No. You’re the one who’s lying. Crowley and Samuel only want what is best for me.”
The Alpha caught Sam’s eyes and smirked, “My, my-it seems thou doth protest much young sir.” He looked down at the limp little girl in his arms. “Why don’t we put your belief to the test shall we now?”
He looked at Sam once more before biting into his own wrist and drawing blood. With his other hand, the Alpha drew the girl closer and nudged her mouth open, to feed her the blood. “That’s my girl. Don’t drink too fast-we wouldn’t want you to get sick now do we?” He grinned up at Sam who had come nearer to the two of them, bow and arrow still at the ready.
The words the Alpha next spoke sent a chill down Sam’s spine, “I know about your grandfather’s Vampire cure. Let’s see if he will use it to cure this little one of this so-called disease. Now I’m not a betting man, but there is always a time to try new things I suppose-so Sam, here’s the deal-if your grandfather does save this little girl, I will personally send you a message where I will be within two weeks and you can come and capture me. I will come reasonably quietly with little fuss. But if your grandfather doesn’t, then you stop hunting me down and get your grandfather and Crowley to stop bothering my children. And don’t worry about how I will know if he does it or not-I’m connected to all my children. It sounds like a good deal doesn’t it, Sam? A win-win situation for you?”
The Alpha waited for Sam to think it over. It didn’t take long for Sam to jerk his head slightly in agreement. He had to believe that Samuel would save the girl. With that, the Alpha threw the girl at Sam who caught her and he literally disappeared into thin air. Not a second later, Samuel and Christian came rushing into the alleyway.
“Sam!” They both shouted as they caught sight of him hugging a bundle to his chest, his weapons lying on the ground next to him.
Samuel glanced around the darkened alley, searching for the Alpha. “Where is he, Sam?”
“Sam!” Christian bent down to touch Sam who just sat there frozen. At Christian’s touch, Sam came alive again and started to beg Samuel, “Please save her!”
In that instant, the little girl stirred to life in Sam’s arms. She immediately opened her mouth and her new fangs came out. She was hungry.
Christian made Sam let go of her and lay her on the ground. Christian pulled Sam away from her and Sam pushed him away, trying to reach out to the girl. He pleaded with Samuel, “Please use the cure on her, please! I know that you won’t just let an innocent girl become this monster. I know that you’re not like that!” For some reason, in the back of his mind, he knew that he shouldn’t mention the deal that the Alpha Vampire struck with him. If he uttered a word of it, Samuel would immediately give the girl the cure and Sam wanted to see what Samuel would do in this situation.
The little vampire girl licked her lips in preparation for her meal and edged closer to Sam and Christian.
Meanwhile, Samuel hadn’t yet uttered a word or given a response to Sam’s plea. He nodded to Christian who grabbed a hold of Sam-tighter this time. Finally Samuel spoke quietly, "Sam, I can’t give her the cure. It is only for using on hunters who are critical in our war. I’m sorry, son." With another nod to Christian, who started to forcibly remove Sam from the alley, Samuel turned to the girl whilst removing the machete that hung at his belt.
Sam struggled with all his might to get out of Christian’s hold but somehow the new truths he had learned tonight made him weaker than he had ever been and finally he just meekly followed Christian. At the girl’s final scream before death, Sam only flinched. He looked up as Samuel came out of the alley with his bloody machete.
The Alpha was speaking the truth run in Sam’s head over and over. He declined the others’ offer to return to the motel and said that he wanted to just be by himself. Both Samuel and Christian looked at him worriedly but they let him go-after making sure that he did have his weapons and could defend himself if need be.
~~~~~~~
After walking aimlessly for a while, Sam ended up in a darkened playground. He couldn’t believe that Samuel hadn’t saved the girl with the cure-he had been so sure that he would-that now Sam didn’t know what to think. Everything he had been taught since waking up in the Compound had been a lie. He knew this for certain now. What was he going to do? He had no family and nowhere to turn besides the Campbells especially after Samuel had made it clear that they were the only family left that would accept him.
As he sat on the bench, leaning forward with his head in his hands, he felt a gentle wind blow past him. It was odd because it had not been a windy night. Not even a second later, he felt something in his jacket pocket. He took a piece of paper out. On the piece of paper was written: If you want to find out more about your true self, call Bobby. Underneath there was a phone number given.
This confused Sam because as far as he knew, no one but the Campbells and Crowley know who he really is. But he remembered what had happened in the alleyway and what the Alpha had told him. Maybe this Bobby could help him. It was worth a shot. At the very least-he would be able to tell Sam more about who Sam really was. His sense of purpose renewed, Sam got up and headed back to the motel and the rest of the hunters. Now all he had to do was to come up with a plan to contact Bobby.
Part 6