Post by Silwyna on May 30, 2009 13:20:50 GMT 1
Many, many thanks to Yor!
Chapter 10
Matt had found an old abandoned house where they could perform the ritual. Dean had been reluctant at first to agree on the place. He didn’t trust Matt enough to follow him into an empty, dilapidated house. They were running out of time though – that’s how Dean felt anyway. He didn’t know in what kind of situation Sam and his father were. If they were alive, hurt, still in the hotel or somewhere in the tunnels, either trying to find a way out or trapped by the Redcaps. He didn’t know how much time they had left, if any. He just knew he felt a sense of urgency.
That’s why he had eventually agreed. They had drawn a magic circle on the wooden floor in what must have been the former living room and Matt started reciting the spell.
„Ad unde venerunt, fertote nunc. Evanescant verba, abite potentiae. Ad unde venerunt …” Matt sat inside the circle, quietly speaking the spell’s words.
His voice sounded almost mesmerizing and Dean had to force himself to not listen too closely. Instead he concentrated on his surroundings, listening for any signs that someone might disturb them. No one came.
A few minutes after they started the ritual, a wind suddenly blew through the room, blowing out the candles. It was followed by some kind of energy wave that threw both Matt and Dean to the ground.
Groaning, Dean picked himself up from the floor as soon as the wind had died down. “Did it work?”
Matt nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think it has.”
“You think?” Dean cocked an eyebrow.
“We’ll know for sure when we go into the tunnels.”
“We? Look…”
“You think I’m letting you go alone? I’m a part of this now, Dean, whether you like it or not.” Matt said determinedly.
Dean didn’t like it. He hated taking strangers with him on a hunt, no matter what the circumstances. This wasn’t a normal hunt though and should the spell for whatever reason not be working, then he could use some backup – and Matt was all the backup he had available at the moment. “Fine. You ever used a gun?”
They came fast, one after the other, angry screams accompanying their attacks from the moment they noticed their prey were free.
John and Sam stood back to back, rapidly firing their weapons at the dwarves. Every bullet was a hit, but it didn’t stop the miniature aggressors. They just kept coming, throwing themselves at their victims and striking the humans with their pikes.
Chris was the first to go down. He put up a hell of a fight, but it didn’t take long until the dwarves had him and dragged him to one of the cages. Stan followed soon after.
“Keep shooting, Sam!” John shouted.
John was the first to run out of ammunition. The moment his gun stopped firing, the dwarves were on him, pushing him away from Sam and throwing him to the ground.
“Dad!” Sam called for his father. He retreated until his back hit the wall, all the while firing at the dwarves – until he himself ran out of ammunition as well. He grabbed a torch from the wall and used it to fend of the dwarves, causing some serious burns on them – some even caught fire when the flames touched their clothes.
“Burn in hell, you bastards!” He screamed.
Sam was able to hold the dwarves at bay for a few moments, but knew from the moment his gun had emptied he wouldn’t hold them off much longer. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father being surrounded; John had managed to get up again, but Sam doubted he’d be able to hold up much longer. One dwarf was clinging to his back, his teeth biting into his neck; another was hanging on his legs. Several others kept pummeling their pikes at John as he was busy getting rid of the two clinging to him.
Sam tried fighting his way to his father, when a red-hot pain spread through his leg. As he cried out in pain, his leg gave in and he stumbled to the ground. Three dwarves immediately threw themselves at him, their pikes hitting him all over his body. He curled up into a fetal position, trying desperately to protect his body. Sam thought for sure this was going to be his death.
Then it all just stopped.
In an instant, the dwarves dropped dead on the floor; only to burst into flames the next moment.
An eerie silence fell over the chamber.
Breathing heavily, Sam sat up and stared at the ashes covering the ground. He was relieved to find his father in the same position - surprised, but alive. Sam leaned his back against the wall and watched his father who intently scanned the room for any remaining danger. When he turned to Sam, their eyes met.
“You okay, son?”
“Yeah.” Sam nodded. “You think this was Dean?”
John shrugged. “I don’t know how, but he’d be my best bet, yes.”
Sam had to smile at the thought. Only his brother could pull something like this off in the nick of time. Groaning, he pulled himself to a standing position. “Can we go home now?”
“Okay, um, I think … it’s gotta be this way.” Dean said; pointing at the tunnel on the left leading away from the small chamber they were in. They had entered the tunnels about half an hour ago. Dean had no idea if they were going in the right direction. If it weren’t for his compass, he wouldn’t even know whether they were walking east or west. He wasn’t going to give up though.
“No, it’s the other one.” Matt objected.
“How’d you know?” Dean wanted to know.
“I just do.” Matt said quietly.
“Oh yeah? Sorry, dude, but that’s not good enough. The hotel should be east from here, so we have to …”
“I can feel it, Dean.” Matt interrupted him. “Look, you know I’m different. I … I can’t explain it, but … there’s something. Your brother …”
“What about him?” Dean asked, glaring suspiciously at the other man.
“I can feel him. There’s something special about him.” He added with a small smile.
“What do you mean?” Dean asked warily.
“He’s a psychic, isn’t he?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Dean said irritated, his hand automatically going for his gun.
“Has he been acting strange lately? Since coming into town, I mean? Was he nervous about something? Maybe seeing things that weren’t there?”
Dean stayed silent, his anger increasing. He didn’t like people knowing too much about his family. Nothing good ever came out of it. Demons knew about Sam. Demons knew things like Matt. Maybe he’d been wrong to trust him.
Matt held up his hands in a placating way. “Look, I’ve run into other psychics before. They pick up things – from me. I wish I knew how to stop it, but in all these years, I’ve never been able to prevent this. With Sam … I don’t know, it’s different somehow, stronger. I didn’t notice it at first and then I just tried to ignore it. But now … I think he’s the reason I never felt anything.”
“Felt anything?” Dean asked with a raised brow. None of this made any sense and at the same time it made him sick to the stomach because deep down he did understand.
Matt hesitated a moment before he continued. “Somehow, I can feel your brother’s presence. We’re getting closer. That’s all I can say.”
Dean bit his lip, thinking about what to do. He hated all this supernatural freak stuff concerning his brother, but if it could really lead them to him? It all made sense in a weird, crazy way – and if it was true, it also meant that Sam was still alive. “Fine. But if you’re wrong …”
“I’m not. Come on.”
Sam leaned heavily on his father as they made their way through the tunnels, Stan and Chris walking right behind them.
Sam was ready to crash. His leg was burning; his body was covered with cuts and bruises. The headache was worse than ever before and the broken ribs were making breathing more and more difficult. The only thing keeping him upright was the knowledge that his father wasn’t fairing much better. The dwarves had hit him as much.
“I can’t believe no one knew about these tunnels. They’re huge!” Stan said astonished.
“The dwarves probably used some kind of magic to keep it a secret.” John replied dryly.
“Magic?” Stan raised a brow in skepticism.
“I just saw a whole bunch of midgets go up in flames …” Chris smirked. “I think magic isn’t that far fetched.”
“You’re gonna tell Alice about this?” Stan grinned.
“Hell no!”
The two men kept talking, but Sam blocked their conversation out. He kept seeing things; he assumed it would stop now that the dwarves were dead. He had been sure his strange visions were connected to them. Yet, he still saw the bones on the floor, smelled the scent of blood and decay – and at the same time saw no signs that his father noticed any of this. They had walked by several dead people hanging on crosses, just like Ben had and Roberta. None of the others ever saw them.
Sam wanted to feel sorry for all these victims that never had been found, but all he felt was a growing devastation that these visions or whatever they were just wouldn’t go away. With every little thing he saw, his headache was growing to the point where he didn’t think he could stand it much longer. The further they walked from the chamber the worse it got.
He pressed his palm against his forehead, willing the pain to go away.
“How you’re holding up, Sam?” John asked worried.
His quiet voice sounded like thunder in Sam’s ears.
“Sam?”
“Let’s just get out of here.” Sam said weakly. He wasn’t sure, but he thought his words sounded strangely slurred.
His father’s grip on him tightened.
“We will.”
He saw a pool of blood right in front of them; he wanted to warn his father, but couldn’t find the words in time. They walked right through it. Ahead of them, a group of dwarves were dragging a body over the ground; his father never reacted. He saw them vanish around a corner and when they rounded the same corner, it was clear. He thought he’d trip over bones several times, but never did.
He had reached a point where he couldn’t tell reality from vision and the pain kept increasing.
John glanced worriedly at his son; Sam was barely walking on his own anymore, staring incoherently ahead. Every now and then he would startle as if seeing something, but there was nothing there, just the darkness. To light the way, they had only the torches they had taken with them from the chamber.
He needed to get his son out of here, let him rest and if necessary, have him checked out by a doctor. John hated hospitals, but something was wrong with Sam and he wasn’t sure just rest would take care of it. He would feel better if he knew how much longer they had to walk around in these tunnels – or if they even walked the right way.
“Sam? Dad?”
A wave of relief rushed through John as he heard his oldest son’s voice. This was perfect timing, once again.
“Dean!” He called out. He felt Sam straighten up next to him. “Your brother found us.” He grinned.
“Dad!”
A moment later, Dean’s form appeared out of the darkness.
“I’ll be damned.” Stan muttered behind them. “I knew the kid was special.”
Chris huffed in response.
John saw Dean and another man quickly coming closer; he wanted to call out to his son, but in that moment, Sam cried out and slumped down to the ground. It happened so fast John had no chance to hold him.
“Sam, what’s wrong?”
Sam’s eyes were torn open and he stared ahead, panic in his expression. He pressed his hands on his head, screaming in pain.
“Sam!”
Dean came running down the tunnel and was at their sides within seconds.
“Sam, what’s wrong?” He asked urgently. “Dad, what happened?”
“I don’t know, I …” John shook his head, hating how helpless he felt.
Sam kept screaming in pain.
“Oh God, I … I’m sorry.” The man who had come with Dean stumbled terrified.
John’s head snapped up and he glared at him. The man stared in horror at Sam, his eyes filled with guilt. Fury welled up in John.
“What have you done to him?” He bellowed, jumping up and reaching for his gun. He didn’t care that it wasn’t loaded. He didn’t need bullets to kill someone with it.
“Dad, what …?” Startled, Dean looked up, his hands never leaving his brother.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t think …” Matt stuttered.
Dean’s eyes went to Matt and he remembered what he had told him earlier.
“I’ve run into other psychics before. They pick up things – from me. I wish I knew how to stop it, but in all these years, I’ve never been able to prevent this. With Sam … I don’t know, it’s different somehow, stronger.”
“What’s happening to him?” Dean demanded to know.
“I’m sorry, Dean, I had no idea it would be this bad.” Matt looked pleadingly at him. “It never happened this quickly. I … I have to leave.”
Before either Dean or John could do anything, Matt turned around and with an almost inhuman speed disappeared into the darkness.
“Dean …” Sam’s pain-filled voice immediately brought his family’s attention back to him.
“Sammy, don’t worry, we …” Dean never finished his sentence as Sam’s body suddenly arched up before he finally collapsed into unconsciousness.
TBC
Chapter 10
Matt had found an old abandoned house where they could perform the ritual. Dean had been reluctant at first to agree on the place. He didn’t trust Matt enough to follow him into an empty, dilapidated house. They were running out of time though – that’s how Dean felt anyway. He didn’t know in what kind of situation Sam and his father were. If they were alive, hurt, still in the hotel or somewhere in the tunnels, either trying to find a way out or trapped by the Redcaps. He didn’t know how much time they had left, if any. He just knew he felt a sense of urgency.
That’s why he had eventually agreed. They had drawn a magic circle on the wooden floor in what must have been the former living room and Matt started reciting the spell.
„Ad unde venerunt, fertote nunc. Evanescant verba, abite potentiae. Ad unde venerunt …” Matt sat inside the circle, quietly speaking the spell’s words.
His voice sounded almost mesmerizing and Dean had to force himself to not listen too closely. Instead he concentrated on his surroundings, listening for any signs that someone might disturb them. No one came.
A few minutes after they started the ritual, a wind suddenly blew through the room, blowing out the candles. It was followed by some kind of energy wave that threw both Matt and Dean to the ground.
Groaning, Dean picked himself up from the floor as soon as the wind had died down. “Did it work?”
Matt nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think it has.”
“You think?” Dean cocked an eyebrow.
“We’ll know for sure when we go into the tunnels.”
“We? Look…”
“You think I’m letting you go alone? I’m a part of this now, Dean, whether you like it or not.” Matt said determinedly.
Dean didn’t like it. He hated taking strangers with him on a hunt, no matter what the circumstances. This wasn’t a normal hunt though and should the spell for whatever reason not be working, then he could use some backup – and Matt was all the backup he had available at the moment. “Fine. You ever used a gun?”
---SPN---
They came fast, one after the other, angry screams accompanying their attacks from the moment they noticed their prey were free.
John and Sam stood back to back, rapidly firing their weapons at the dwarves. Every bullet was a hit, but it didn’t stop the miniature aggressors. They just kept coming, throwing themselves at their victims and striking the humans with their pikes.
Chris was the first to go down. He put up a hell of a fight, but it didn’t take long until the dwarves had him and dragged him to one of the cages. Stan followed soon after.
“Keep shooting, Sam!” John shouted.
John was the first to run out of ammunition. The moment his gun stopped firing, the dwarves were on him, pushing him away from Sam and throwing him to the ground.
“Dad!” Sam called for his father. He retreated until his back hit the wall, all the while firing at the dwarves – until he himself ran out of ammunition as well. He grabbed a torch from the wall and used it to fend of the dwarves, causing some serious burns on them – some even caught fire when the flames touched their clothes.
“Burn in hell, you bastards!” He screamed.
Sam was able to hold the dwarves at bay for a few moments, but knew from the moment his gun had emptied he wouldn’t hold them off much longer. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father being surrounded; John had managed to get up again, but Sam doubted he’d be able to hold up much longer. One dwarf was clinging to his back, his teeth biting into his neck; another was hanging on his legs. Several others kept pummeling their pikes at John as he was busy getting rid of the two clinging to him.
Sam tried fighting his way to his father, when a red-hot pain spread through his leg. As he cried out in pain, his leg gave in and he stumbled to the ground. Three dwarves immediately threw themselves at him, their pikes hitting him all over his body. He curled up into a fetal position, trying desperately to protect his body. Sam thought for sure this was going to be his death.
Then it all just stopped.
In an instant, the dwarves dropped dead on the floor; only to burst into flames the next moment.
An eerie silence fell over the chamber.
Breathing heavily, Sam sat up and stared at the ashes covering the ground. He was relieved to find his father in the same position - surprised, but alive. Sam leaned his back against the wall and watched his father who intently scanned the room for any remaining danger. When he turned to Sam, their eyes met.
“You okay, son?”
“Yeah.” Sam nodded. “You think this was Dean?”
John shrugged. “I don’t know how, but he’d be my best bet, yes.”
Sam had to smile at the thought. Only his brother could pull something like this off in the nick of time. Groaning, he pulled himself to a standing position. “Can we go home now?”
---SPN---
“Okay, um, I think … it’s gotta be this way.” Dean said; pointing at the tunnel on the left leading away from the small chamber they were in. They had entered the tunnels about half an hour ago. Dean had no idea if they were going in the right direction. If it weren’t for his compass, he wouldn’t even know whether they were walking east or west. He wasn’t going to give up though.
“No, it’s the other one.” Matt objected.
“How’d you know?” Dean wanted to know.
“I just do.” Matt said quietly.
“Oh yeah? Sorry, dude, but that’s not good enough. The hotel should be east from here, so we have to …”
“I can feel it, Dean.” Matt interrupted him. “Look, you know I’m different. I … I can’t explain it, but … there’s something. Your brother …”
“What about him?” Dean asked, glaring suspiciously at the other man.
“I can feel him. There’s something special about him.” He added with a small smile.
“What do you mean?” Dean asked warily.
“He’s a psychic, isn’t he?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Dean said irritated, his hand automatically going for his gun.
“Has he been acting strange lately? Since coming into town, I mean? Was he nervous about something? Maybe seeing things that weren’t there?”
Dean stayed silent, his anger increasing. He didn’t like people knowing too much about his family. Nothing good ever came out of it. Demons knew about Sam. Demons knew things like Matt. Maybe he’d been wrong to trust him.
Matt held up his hands in a placating way. “Look, I’ve run into other psychics before. They pick up things – from me. I wish I knew how to stop it, but in all these years, I’ve never been able to prevent this. With Sam … I don’t know, it’s different somehow, stronger. I didn’t notice it at first and then I just tried to ignore it. But now … I think he’s the reason I never felt anything.”
“Felt anything?” Dean asked with a raised brow. None of this made any sense and at the same time it made him sick to the stomach because deep down he did understand.
Matt hesitated a moment before he continued. “Somehow, I can feel your brother’s presence. We’re getting closer. That’s all I can say.”
Dean bit his lip, thinking about what to do. He hated all this supernatural freak stuff concerning his brother, but if it could really lead them to him? It all made sense in a weird, crazy way – and if it was true, it also meant that Sam was still alive. “Fine. But if you’re wrong …”
“I’m not. Come on.”
---SPN---
Sam leaned heavily on his father as they made their way through the tunnels, Stan and Chris walking right behind them.
Sam was ready to crash. His leg was burning; his body was covered with cuts and bruises. The headache was worse than ever before and the broken ribs were making breathing more and more difficult. The only thing keeping him upright was the knowledge that his father wasn’t fairing much better. The dwarves had hit him as much.
“I can’t believe no one knew about these tunnels. They’re huge!” Stan said astonished.
“The dwarves probably used some kind of magic to keep it a secret.” John replied dryly.
“Magic?” Stan raised a brow in skepticism.
“I just saw a whole bunch of midgets go up in flames …” Chris smirked. “I think magic isn’t that far fetched.”
“You’re gonna tell Alice about this?” Stan grinned.
“Hell no!”
The two men kept talking, but Sam blocked their conversation out. He kept seeing things; he assumed it would stop now that the dwarves were dead. He had been sure his strange visions were connected to them. Yet, he still saw the bones on the floor, smelled the scent of blood and decay – and at the same time saw no signs that his father noticed any of this. They had walked by several dead people hanging on crosses, just like Ben had and Roberta. None of the others ever saw them.
Sam wanted to feel sorry for all these victims that never had been found, but all he felt was a growing devastation that these visions or whatever they were just wouldn’t go away. With every little thing he saw, his headache was growing to the point where he didn’t think he could stand it much longer. The further they walked from the chamber the worse it got.
He pressed his palm against his forehead, willing the pain to go away.
“How you’re holding up, Sam?” John asked worried.
His quiet voice sounded like thunder in Sam’s ears.
“Sam?”
“Let’s just get out of here.” Sam said weakly. He wasn’t sure, but he thought his words sounded strangely slurred.
His father’s grip on him tightened.
“We will.”
He saw a pool of blood right in front of them; he wanted to warn his father, but couldn’t find the words in time. They walked right through it. Ahead of them, a group of dwarves were dragging a body over the ground; his father never reacted. He saw them vanish around a corner and when they rounded the same corner, it was clear. He thought he’d trip over bones several times, but never did.
He had reached a point where he couldn’t tell reality from vision and the pain kept increasing.
John glanced worriedly at his son; Sam was barely walking on his own anymore, staring incoherently ahead. Every now and then he would startle as if seeing something, but there was nothing there, just the darkness. To light the way, they had only the torches they had taken with them from the chamber.
He needed to get his son out of here, let him rest and if necessary, have him checked out by a doctor. John hated hospitals, but something was wrong with Sam and he wasn’t sure just rest would take care of it. He would feel better if he knew how much longer they had to walk around in these tunnels – or if they even walked the right way.
“Sam? Dad?”
A wave of relief rushed through John as he heard his oldest son’s voice. This was perfect timing, once again.
“Dean!” He called out. He felt Sam straighten up next to him. “Your brother found us.” He grinned.
“Dad!”
A moment later, Dean’s form appeared out of the darkness.
“I’ll be damned.” Stan muttered behind them. “I knew the kid was special.”
Chris huffed in response.
John saw Dean and another man quickly coming closer; he wanted to call out to his son, but in that moment, Sam cried out and slumped down to the ground. It happened so fast John had no chance to hold him.
“Sam, what’s wrong?”
Sam’s eyes were torn open and he stared ahead, panic in his expression. He pressed his hands on his head, screaming in pain.
“Sam!”
Dean came running down the tunnel and was at their sides within seconds.
“Sam, what’s wrong?” He asked urgently. “Dad, what happened?”
“I don’t know, I …” John shook his head, hating how helpless he felt.
Sam kept screaming in pain.
“Oh God, I … I’m sorry.” The man who had come with Dean stumbled terrified.
John’s head snapped up and he glared at him. The man stared in horror at Sam, his eyes filled with guilt. Fury welled up in John.
“What have you done to him?” He bellowed, jumping up and reaching for his gun. He didn’t care that it wasn’t loaded. He didn’t need bullets to kill someone with it.
“Dad, what …?” Startled, Dean looked up, his hands never leaving his brother.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t think …” Matt stuttered.
Dean’s eyes went to Matt and he remembered what he had told him earlier.
“I’ve run into other psychics before. They pick up things – from me. I wish I knew how to stop it, but in all these years, I’ve never been able to prevent this. With Sam … I don’t know, it’s different somehow, stronger.”
“What’s happening to him?” Dean demanded to know.
“I’m sorry, Dean, I had no idea it would be this bad.” Matt looked pleadingly at him. “It never happened this quickly. I … I have to leave.”
Before either Dean or John could do anything, Matt turned around and with an almost inhuman speed disappeared into the darkness.
“Dean …” Sam’s pain-filled voice immediately brought his family’s attention back to him.
“Sammy, don’t worry, we …” Dean never finished his sentence as Sam’s body suddenly arched up before he finally collapsed into unconsciousness.
TBC