Test reader: Nefernat
Beta and whip carrier: Weyrwolf
Authors note: Weyrwolf gave me a challenge to wake up my muse. Here's
the result
Warnings for WinCest (aka incest between the Winchesters)
Tony turned away from the scene. He'd been in the force for ten years
already and never had seen anything like this. His stomach rolled and
he walked into the hall to have a cigarette. "Fuck the regs," he
snapped at the cop guarding the door, who was about to point out it was
one of those fancy non-smoking buildings. "It's not like it matters!
They'll be scraping that off the walls for weeks."
The newbie turned pale, nodded and quickly looked the other way. Tony
lit the cigarette and walked down the hall. He needed to put some space
between himself and the crime scene ...fast. But by doing so, he plowed
right into Detective Jim Ellison, without noticing.
"Tony? What's up?" he held Tony at an arms length. "You look like
shit."
"God Jim, don't go in there. Look over the pictures. Trust me on this."
Tony shook his head, then spotted Blair Sandburg, Jim's partner
standing behind him. "And never mind you going in there. I still
remember how you reacted to those strangled kids last week."
Blair shivered and put up his hands. "That's good enough for me. I've
never seen you this shook up Tony. Maybe you should sit down."
Tony nodded and sat down in a lounge for visitors to the secured
building, who were waiting to be screened. He shook his head. "I don't
understand how this could happen in a building like this! And this is
the best section of Cascade..."
Blair and Jim exchanged looks of concern while they all ignored the 'no
smoking' signs. If Tony Franco was this upset, it had to be bad. Tony
had the reputation down at the precinct of being able to face anything.
Jim inclined his head down the hall, Blair nodded, "Look, Tony, you
know we have to see it but we appreciate the heads up."
Tony nodded. "I've seen enough."
Blair followed Jim down the hall to the taped off, secured crime scene.
Jim held up the tape while Blair ducked under it. At the door, Jim
looked at the cop on guard who was pale and sweaty. With his heightened
senses he could pick up the fast heart beat, and sounds of a rolling
stomach. "You're relieved."
The young cop bolted down the hall, presumably for the men's room,
since he had one hand covering his mouth. Blair put a hand on his
shoulder reassuringly. "Tone it down man. Take all those hyper-senses
down to a notch below normal. This is going to be bad, for sure."
"Stay here Sandburg," Jim grunted out in his military voice.
Blair frowned. It was hard enough to be friends with a Sentinel and
work with him on a daily basis. After all, having hyper active senses
that were off the scale were hard enough to deal with for Jim. But for
Blair it was part instinct to help Jim and part guess work as to what
might help the six foot plus wall of military toned muscle and
attitude. Sometimes Blair had to put his foot down and override his
friends' sense of protectiveness, while putting up with the unhappy
Detective. Other times he had to realize it wasn't worth the fight and
step back. "I'm concerned about you facing this if Tony can't deal."
"You forget my time in the jungle," Jim pointed out. Blair nodded and
took a step back to show his respect to his partner's wishes. It was
true, they spent so much time trying to protect the streets of Cascade;
Blair often forgot that Jim's senses went on-line in the Peruvian
jungles. He'd been there for months and assumed MIA when he was
recovered, half-crazed and dealing with a severe case of isolation. If
not for the tribe that found him and helped him with his senses, Jim
would have gone mad. Jim didn't often speak of what he'd gone through
and Blair tried not to push, despite a driving curiosity born of his
academic background in anthropology.
He was shaken when Jim appeared back at the door a minute later. His
arm was holding up most of his weight as he slumped against it, sweat
had beaded out on his face and he was pale. "Let's get the hell out of
here."
Blair was unceremoniously shoved away from the scene, as Jim padlocked
the door and pulled out his phone to call headquarters. Issuing rapid
orders, Simon Banks, the chief of their department was given the
lowdown. Blair was stunned to hear what little he could from his end.
"...massacre."
"...splattered."
"...nothing left."
"...sealed it."
"...pictures and maybe CDC."
He snapped the phone shut. Blair looked at his partner questioningly.
"Why the Center for Disease Control?"
Jim looked at him seriously. "Because I think that guy exploded to
death from the inside out, and unless I miss my guess, there wasn't any
true weapon in any sense of the word."
Blair frowned and grabbed Jim by the arm, stopping them as they reached
the elevator. "Jim, come on man there has to be a weapon!"
Jim rushed into the elevator and quickly shut the door, looking
instantly better once he had. "This was magic."
Blinking, Blair wondered if he'd stepped into the Twilight Zone.
"Magic? Hey man, I believe in magic, not you. You're Mister Black and
White. What the hell makes you think it was magic?"
Jim reached into the chest pocket of his jacket and pulled out his
trusty pad and pen. "Because of this," he began to scribble markings on
the pad then shoved it at Blair, "besides the gore, this was written in
the blood of the victim. And the only reason we know there's a victim
is because his feet were still in his shoes."
Blair leaned back and gripped the metal railing that encompassed the
small interior of the elevator gratefully, mentally thanking whoever
came up with the idea to install them in the first place. "Oh god."
Jim sighed. "Not this time." He reached into his other pocket and
pulled out the cell phone, to call in some serious help.
Dean shut the phone and with a sigh looked over at his brother who'd
had less than five hours of sleep. But there was no way to help it.
"Hey Sammy, wake up," Dean Winchester nudged his brother as he lay
sleeping in the front seat of their vintage car.
Sammy rubbed his eyes, and then eyed his brother with anger. "Why the
fuck did you wake me up?"
"I just got a call from an old friend of dad's. It looks like we've
got a demon in Cascade, and, by the sounds of it, he's pretty pissed.
He might have even brought in some serious help." Dean pressed down on
the gas pedal. The car roared into life as he guided it with practiced
ease into the flow of traffic, despite the horse power that the muscle
car wielded.
"Oh yeah? What sort of help?" Sam asked, suddenly wide awake and
wondering how long it would take them to drive to Seattle. He reached
instinctively back for the notebook, fishing it out of the back seat.
The book, left to them by their father, John Winchester, was the Cliff
notes version of the worst nightmares of the occult.
"Get out the Magical Creatures book and start rattling them off. I'll
know it when I hear it." Sam nodded. Dean was the knowledgeable one
here without dad around. Especially since he'd gone into the 'family
business' of hunting down demons and such when he went off to school
and tried to put it behind him, not that it worked. He still had
nightmares every night of his girlfriend Jessica pinned to the ceiling
by some unknown force, stabbed in the stomach, dripping blood and then
set on fire.
Dean began to describe what Jim had told him as Sam searched the book.
"A Sin-You maybe?"
"That Japanese thing that stabs you if you are found guilty by it?"
Dean asked.
"Yeah," Sam replied, impressed Dean knew that.
"Hmm, I don't think so, but it's a possibility. I would think the
victim might have to be Asian to bring that thing to life and Jim
didn't say anything about it." Dean turned down the music to hear
better.
"Wait, wait listen to this one....the wizard changed himself into a
deadly whirlwind to kill the prince... Oh damn. It says the wizard was
turned to ashes by a firebird. But still, Dean, it could be a wizard."
Sam looked hopefully at his big brother for approval. Even well into
their twenties this need for recognition is what drove the two of them
to excel.
"Oh come on, Sammy. I mean, we've seen some pretty weird shit in our
time, but a wizard?" Dean laughed. "I think we'd better get you some
coffee."
"Fine," Sam snapped and stuck his nose back into the book determined to
find something Dean might believe in. "Okay how about this: Hraesvelg?
It's described as being "the corpse eater."
Dean nodded. "Yeah. I bet a giant bird eating you could get damn messy.
And if a demon summoned it up..."
Sam paled. "Dean, we've never gone up against something like that."
"Keep reading little brother...keep reading," Dean said as he took a
deep inhale and put the pedal to the metal.
By morning they were pulling up to the diner in downtown Cascade where
they were to meet their contacts for the case. They had no sooner
walked in when Dean raised his hand in a wave and dragged Sam to the
back of the diner where a very tall, muscular man and a shorter,
hippie-looking man were beckoning to them.
"Dean? Shit you got big!" Jim laughed slapping the younger man on the
back; Dean's leather coat making it sound harder than it was.
"Jimbo!" Dean grinned back pulling Jim into a hug. "What's it been, ten
years?"
"Yeah, shit," Jim rubbed his hand over his thinly buzzed hair. "I think
I had hair back then."
"Hell, I think I had pimples back then," Dean laughed. "I don't think
you ever met my brother Sammy."
Jim smiled and heartily shook the younger man's hand. "Pleasure to meet
you, Sam. Your father told me a lot about you."
Dean's face frowned, a sign of the non-stop sibling rivalry between
them for their more-often-gone-than-not father's affection. "I don't
think I want to know," Sam said with a smirk.
A smaller man with curly hair tied back in a pony tail emerged from
behind Jim. "Hi, I'm Blair Sandburg. I figure I better introduce myself
before Jim let's me die of old age."
Jim rolled his eyes. "Easy there, Sandburg. It was only a minute." Jim
laughed. "We better offer some coffee. Blair gets a bit cranky if he
doesn't have a cup an hour."
Blair punched Jim in the arm as he slid in next to his partner on the
red vinyl seat. Sam sat across from him on the other side of the table.
As Blair and Dean shook hands, Jim ordered a carafe of coffee.
There was a moment of silence as the coffee arrived and they all waited
for the waitress to give them some privacy. Dean leaned forward. "Okay
we have some questions for you. Was the victim of Asian descent?"
Jim's forehead crinkled. "I could find out. Why?"
"It's one of our possibilities, a Hraesvelg is more likely under the
control of a ..." he looked at Blair. Obviously Jim knew they hunted
demons but did Blair? Jim gave a discreet nod and with a sigh, Sam
plunged on. He pulled out their father's book and showed him a picture.
"Oh hey, I read about this in some book I had once. It's from
Scandinavian and Norse mythology and there was something about creating
whirlwinds and eating the dead..." Blair looked pale. "Ugh."
Dean nodded. "Yeah, no shit. I'm glad we just got coffee."
"But the weird thing is that even though that's what the name
literally means the Norse legends never actually mention it doing
that."
Dean pointed in the faded pages of their father's book. "Dad seems
convinced."
Jim put his face in his palms. "I just knew when I saw that mess it was
....well, something for you guys and not us. It took some serious
string pulling to keep this one quiet until you could look at it."
Blair turned green. "Tell me we aren't going back there!"
"No, but I did manage to get these. They had to clean the room. The CDC
demanded it." Jim shoved a manila envelope at the Winchester brothers.
Dean took it, and with one last questioning glance at Jim and Blair,
slid closer to Sam to look at it, throwing an arm around his brother's
shoulders in the process. "Oh god," Sam turned into his brother's
shoulder for a moment, collected himself and looked back. Dean shook
his head, "Yeah. One nasty beast on the leash of one bad ass demon."
Sam looked at Dean with concern, "Any idea how we're going to beat this
thing?"
Dean yawned, despite the coffee. "At the moment all I care about is
finding a place to bunk down." He looked at Jim. "Can you recommend any
cheap motels?"
Jim shook his head. "I'm not having you run your credit card scams on
my turf. I've got the big boys breathing down on my neck with this
case. You can bunk at my place. We never use the downstairs bedroom
anyway."
Blair blushed, but looked pleased. Jim smiled back and took Blair's
hand in his. Dean leaned back and purposely kept his arm around his
brother. Sam was just catching on to Jim and Blair being a couple with
a smile of surprise while Jim's jaw almost hit the table. "Does John
know?"
"Yeah," Dean sighed. "We haven't seen much of him since we told him."
"No way," Blair was starting to catch on, "but you two are ..."
"Brothers? Yeah. It's kind of messed up, huh?" Sam asked looking
ashamed.
Dean hugged him tighter. "We can find a motel." He looked at Jim and
Blair with resolve. "Don't worry about it."
Jim and Blair exchanged a look and it was evident a silent
communication was going on between the two. "You know in ancient
cultures, it was quite common to have ..." Jim put a hand over Blair's
mouth.
"Please stay with us, or he'll drive me crazy with his lecture," Jim
smiled. It was sort of painted on but it was more kindness then they
were usually shown. "Besides, if John knows, that's all that
matters...I suppose."
Blair elbowed Jim. "We don't discriminate. Besides, I want to talk to
you about this creature and what you guys do. I mean, it sounds wild!"
Too tired to argue further, the brothers followed the pair back to a
loft at 852 Prospect, where they fell asleep as soon as their heads hit
the pillows.
The next morning Jim and Blair were at the precinct making more
introductions. "Simon, I'd like to introduce you to the fellows that
are helping us out on our case."
Simon Banks stood up. Dean's eyes went wide as he realized that Simon
Banks even made Jim look a bit small, never mind his even shorter
partner. Next to him he saw his brother try to stand a bit straighter.
Dean silently cursed Sam for being just a smidgeon taller.
"Hey Captain," Dean tried to give his best smile but it only made Simon
look at him suspiciously. He also gave Sam the same look then sat down,
clipped a cigar, lit it and leaned over his desk that separated them.
"Sit down and let me outline a few things." He pointed to Jim with his
cigar. "The only reason I'm letting you nut jobs in on this case is
because Jim vouched for you. You step one toe out of line and I'll have
you in lock up faster than you can say 'oh shit'. And that goes for
that hotrod you boys are driving around, too."
He opened up his top drawer and pulled out a thick file. "You boys have
a lot to answer for, but there are also several affidavits in here from
folks that claim you saved their lives from," he snorted in laughter,
"demons. I don't think that will hold up in -"
Dean and Sam were looking at each other and then back at Captain Banks.
"Ah shit," Banks sat back. He pointed with his cigar at Jim. "You mean
to tell me we've got some supernatural shit going on in town? Ain't we
got enough to deal with without this crap?"
Blair lit up with exuberance, "OH but just think of the -"
Jim cuffed him in the back of his head.
Simon laughed. "I see the honeymoon is over. Good thing, you guys were
making me sick to my stomach from all the sweetness." He shivered. Dean
and Sam snorted. Simon smirked. "Okay, I'm sure I don't want to know.
But as of this moment you've got 72 hours. After that, I never want to
see you two again...no offense."
Sensing a dismissal Jim and Blair stood up quickly and the Winchesters
followed them out. They didn't talk again until they were outside the
building. Out in the air once more, they turned to each other. "Okay, I
guess you're in charge for now, Dean. What's the plan?"
"I guess Sam and Blair can go do some research while you and I check in
with a contact of mine. It's time to see what players are in town." Jim
nodded. He reached over to squeeze Blair's hand and on the pretense of
whispering in his ear, kissed his cheek.
Sam chuckled as Dean mirrored his action. He shoved him away playfully,
but a huge smile was lighting up his face. After all, Dean wasn't one
for public anything. Sam was still getting over the fact he even told
Jim and Blair about their incestuous relationship.
Jim shoved Dean further away from Sam and looked a bit taken aback.
They walked toward Jim's truck as Dean was tossed the keys to the 1967
Chevy Impala. Jim laughed. "I love Blair but if that was my car I
don't think I'd let him drive it."
Dean laughed. "I didn't say it was easy."
Driving out of downtown, Dean settled back into the truck.
"Have you heard from my dad?"
"Actually, he called last night, checking to make sure you both made it
okay. It seems he heard about it from some guy he knew. I never did
understand your information network. Speaking of which, -"
"Dad called?" Dean sat up. "Did he say anything about Sam and me, I
mean? Not that I care, but Sam.... He's pretty upset about how dad took
the news and I didn't tell him the half of it."
Jim nodded as Dean pointed toward a mountain road to follow. "No, but
he made it clear that he still cares...about both of you."
Dean gulped and nodded, his composure indicating he'd already buried
it. Jim knew it well, he'd seen John do it often enough. "This cabin up
here," Dean pointed to the rustic cabin at the top of the ridge. Jim
nodded and pulled in.
They were met with a shotgun. Dean didn't even blink at the man on the
porch who was looking at them down the barrel of the Beretta. "It's
just me... Dean!"
"Ah shit!" The gun was lowered and Dean came up the porch with a grin.
Jerking a thumb back to Jim he said. "You ever heard of Jimbo?"
Jim flinched at the name but realized he was doomed until the boys left
town. He stretched out his hand. The man looked him over and said,
"James Ellison? Oh yeah, John called and said you might stop by. He
failed to mention his boys were in town though. Not that I blame him,
with what's going on in town. The name's Steven."
"Who's in town?" Dean asked half-afraid of the answer.
"Veszentidir," the man answered, looking around nervously and pulling
them both inside. It was dark inside, most of the curtains drawn shut
and Jim almost staggered as his hyper-senses picked up the musty scent
of a place closed up for far too long. Dean moved a pile of supermarket
trash tabloids aside and gestured to Jim to sit next to him. Jim
cranked up his hearing to listen for vermin but after a moment of
silence, turned it back down and sat with trepidation. Steven looked
outside between the curtains, set the gun on a rack and sat across from
them at a desk covered in clippings. He handed some to Dean. "They say
he comes and goes every couple of centuries to feed his beast. The last
account tells a horrible tale of gore," he pointed at picture of a pair
of boots. "Poor son of a bitch, never knew what hit him."
"So why does he attack? Is there any pattern to his victims? What's the
motive?" Stevens laughed at Jim's questions.
"Forgot you were a cop. Yeah there's a motive, and he's here to collect
souls. The biggest sin or the most interesting sins are supposed to
taste the best. That demon works for the devil himself. It's sort of
like he takes that thing for a walk and goes hunting."
Jim looked at Dean nervously. Incest was a pretty big sin on the meter,
add in a homosexual relationship and it was a wonder that Dean and Sam
didn't have a light up target painted on them. "How do we stop it?"
"I don't know. Maybe if you capture the demon first and then he loses
control of it..."
"It will turn on him and destroy him. Yeah, I read you," Dean's face
was furrowed in deep concentration.
"You act like this is old hat," Jim asked in surprise.
"It is," Dean shrugged. "We need a safe place to lure it to so I can
get rid of it."
"Isn't Sam with you?" Stevens asked.
"Yeah, but this is too dangerous. I'm going in alone." Dean nodded to
himself pulling out his cell phone.
"Like hell you are!" Stevens and Jim chorused.
Dean lowered the phone to glare at them both. "I promised dad I'd
protect Sammy, always." He stood up and walked out of the cabin.
Stevens sighed. "Just like his father..."
"stubborn as a mule." Jim finished. Marshalling his strength he stepped
out to the porch to try to talk some sense into the young man.
He only hoped Blair was having more success with Sam.
Sam bit his lip nervously as Blair read excitedly on about the horror
they were going to face. Blair didn't get it. To him it was very
two-dimensional. But Sam could see the writing on the wall; he had to
get the demon to come after him first before it went after Dean and
beat it on his own. It was the only way to protect him.
He tried to hide his body language behind a large tome. He couldn't
risk Blair seeing him and the truth. Sam did his best to sink his
nervousness behind a mask of academia. After all, he'd gone to college,
right? At least for a bit, before Dean had come to tell him that their
dad had gone missing and they needed to find him...before that night.
Sam closed his eyes remembering their first night together. They'd
started out fighting, then wrestling like they did when they were kids.
But then it changed. To this day Sam wasn't sure who kissed who or
....not that it mattered. That was a long time ago and while they both
had their share of girls here and there it never stopped what they had
together. Because in the long run, they couldn't tell anyone what they
were doing. It would always be them. It had made a bond between them
that transcended ordinary siblings into something that society frowned
at but they couldn't deny.
"Hey," Blair nudged Sam and he blinked as he came back to the moment.
"Wow, I'm sorry Sam. I never really thought about what this must be
like for you and Dean, day-in-day-out. It must be pretty rough, huh?"
Blair smiled sympathetically at him over the long library table that
was covered in books.
"Yeah..." Sam put the book he was holding down and rubbed at his eyes
with the heels of his hands. "God, some days I want nothing more than
to go running and screaming back to school. But I can't leave Dean
alone to fight these things. And we have to settle things with dad if
we ever see him again."
"I can't even imagine what you're going through. And here I sit going
on like I'm giving a lecture. I'm such an idiot! Look man, I'm really
sorry -"
"Hey Blair, look it's just...nice...to have someone to talk to who
knows... everything...you know?" Sam looked at Blair hoping he
understood.
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Blair nodded.
They both jumped as Sam's cell phone went off. He flipped it open
quickly and began to whisper. "Dean?"
"...not much. Let's meet up back at the loft and compare notes."
"...yeah," he looked at Blair and blushing vividly, said, "ditto,"
before hanging up.
Blair chuckled. "That's some blush you've got going there. It's a good
thing we're inside or you'd be attracting plane traffic."
Sam blushed further and ducked his head. "I don't know what's up with
him lately, he's just been so...so..."
"Affectionate?" Blair asked softly.
"Yeah," Sam laughed nervously. "He's not like this...ever."
"Maybe he realizes what you mean to him?" Blair punched Sam softly in
the arm and grabbed a bunch of books to put away. Sam watched him go
and wondered about what if Blair had the right of it.
After a few minutes of silent contemplation, he looked at his watch and
hurriedly put away his books too so they could get back to the loft.
The last thing he wanted was to make Dean worry. And that thought put a
smile on his face all the way back to Blair and Jim's.
Dean was pacing the floor nervously as he heard the Impala drive up. He
looked out the window. "Finally!"
Jim laughed. "I never thought I'd see you so worried about someone
else?"
Glaring, Dean snapped. "Sammy isn't just anyone."
"Have you told him?" Jim asked seriously, leaning back into the couch.
"Sammy knows he's special," Dean looked at Jim like he was an idiot for
thinking otherwise.
"It took me three years to tell Blair I loved him. I thought that guys
shouldn't need to do that. It really surprised me how happy it made
him. With the line of work we're in, I never should have waited so
long. I almost lost him a few times." Jim didn't wait for a reply and
went to the door and pulled Blair into a bruising hug as soon as the
door closed behind him and Sam.
Sam smiled as he walked over to Dean. "Hey, sorry I was late." He put
the keys into Dean's hand and then saw the look on his face. "You okay
man?"
Dean wiped his face with one hand and pulled Sam into a hug. "I missed
you." Pulling back he looked Sam over. "Are you okay? No, you know," he
waved his free hand about," trouble?"
"No and we need to talk -"
"Exactly -"
"You're not going," they both chorused.
"Uh oh," Blair looked at the two brothers who were clearly about to
have one hell of an argument.
"Would you look at that Blair ...a coupon for the Thai place down the
street! Why don't we go grab some take out?" Jim grabbed Blair's
shirt at the scruff of the neck and began to pull him toward the door.
"Hey, don't you think we should -" Blair started to pull the other
way.
Jim glared at him. "No, I don't." With a shove he pushed Blair out the
door and slammed it shut on the way out into the darkening night.
Dean wagged a finger in Sam's face. "If you think for one moment that
you're coming with me-"
"OH, now hold on Dean. You're the one who's staying behind this time,
not me!" Sam yelled, standing his ground and straightening to his full
height to glower down slightly at Dean.
"Fuck that noise!" Dean snapped. "I'm you're big brother and dad said
he wanted me to protect you!"
"Oh please! How long are you going to hold my age over my head! I've
fought all sorts of things at your side. Either I go it alone or -"
Dean crossed his arms over his chest, "Or what?"
"You are such an asshole!" Sam yelled in frustration. He threw his arms
up in the air. "You're so stubborn!"
"Takes one to know one," Dean retorted sticking out his tongue.
Sam jumped up and down in place. "See! See! Now that's exactly what I'm
talking about!"
"You're making no fucking sense!" Dean snapped.
"This whole thing, I've been reading about it all day and you just
aren't taking it seriously enough. That's why I have to do this.
Besides, I came on to you first, so it will go after me first." Sam
nodded at his reasoning and folded his arms over his chest.
"Do you ever listen to yourself Einstein? That has to be one of the
dumbest things you've ever said!" Dean shook his head, grateful that
Jim and Blair had beaten a hasty retreat so they didn't have to witness
it. Little did he know Jim could hear it.
"That bad?" Blair watched Jim wince at something else he heard while
they waited on their order.
"Yeah, I'm glad we're through that phase." Jim smiled at Blair.
Blair nodded grabbing the bags off the counter as they turned to leave
the small shop."Sam's in love with him."
Jim laughed as they headed back toward the loft. "Yeah, Dean's got it
pretty bad too. I tried to talk to him about it, but I think he's
refusing to see it."
"Well, it must be pretty hard to tell when its moved beyond brotherly
-"
"God, don't remind me. If Stephen ever made a move on me I'd knock his
block off." Jim shivered. Blair laughed at the thought of the two
Ellison brothers in a torrid love affair.
They walked in silence, but Blair could tell Jim was still listening
in, probably to make sure the loft stayed in one piece. "You know they
really don't look alike."
Jim stopped in his tracks. "John Winchester would never cheat on his
wife."
"Ever think maybe it was the other way around?" Blair raised an eyebrow
as they started to walk again.
Inhaling sharply Jim tried to think of a response when he heard an odd,
inhuman sound come from the loft. "Oh shit!" He took off running down
the street with Blair yelling after him, trying desperately to keep up.
He was about to climb the stairs when Jim distinctly heard Dean yell,
"SHIT, ELLISON, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, GRAB THE DUFFEL OUT OF THE CAR!"
Jim nearly plowed a confused Blair over in his haste to get to the car.
He dove into the side window, snatched the bag and ran
again to the loft. Blair just managed to get out of his way and then
tried to catch up again, still clutching onto their dinner.
By the time they burst into the loft, Jim already had his gun drawn. He
shot three rounds into the creature headed his way as Blair finally
released the dinner, his fingers numb from the shock of what his mind
was refusing to process. Then a voice of instinct made him grab the
duffel from where Jim dropped it and threw it at Dean and Sam. Blair
desperately tried not to take full notice of the blood they were
already covered in.
Ahead of him was a creature out of his nightmares. It was part giant
bird, the Hraesvelg and part unicorn the Sin-You, or at least it had a
horn growing out of its forehead and a mean looking set of teeth and a
horse tail. Dean was cursing about 'damn hybrids' while Jim continued
to unload clips into it.
In the meantime, Sam was wrestling some half-man,
half-creature....lizard like man to the ground and pouring holy water
on it. Struck by an idea, Blair ran for his medicine bag to get some
herbs reputed to have magical powers for banishing. He managed to dodge
the beast, thanks to his smaller size, only getting covered in some of
its blood. Reaching into the bag he grabbed the holy herbs given to him
by a medicine man on a dig. Blair immediately began to sprinkle them
around the room and chanted the ancient words taught to him while he
did it.
Dean was drawing on the floor furiously with some chalk with one hand
while pouring a gas can full of salt around the demon with the other.
Sammy appeared to be holding his own, but it was hard to tell with the
scent of burning flesh and steam rising off the demons' face. Jim,
however, had run out of ammunition. The creature was hurt but it just
looked mad, despite the blood running down its chest.
Across the room, the demon screamed in agony caught in the Solomon's
seal that Dean had drawn. Sammy leapt back off the demon into Dean's
arms as they watched the demon writhe in agony. It's flesh searing off
its body, blackening the 'skin'.
As Blair finished chanting and suddenly the creature was screaming
and molting, its feathers and flesh melting away with a sickening smell
. The room was now teaming with a steam laden with a putrid
order.
Blair ran to catch Jim just as he fell; knocked out momentarily by the
punishing blow the creature had delivered to his midsection with its
horn; the weight of the bigger man toppling him to his knees, the
jarring bringing Jim back to consciousness.
The sacred spiral circle did its work and they all huddled together to
watch in amazement as the creature began to spin around the room in
what appeared to be dimensional quicksand of sorts. They all held their
breath as they watched it die before their eyes. But in its last
moments it reached out with a talon, grabbed the demon and with a
sickening crunch, ate its master whole.
No one said one a word when Blair turned and puked into their dinner
bags. They'd all lost their appetites anyway.
Shakily, Blair cuddled into Jim's arms. "Holy shit," he repeated over
and over again. His eyes were wide and glazed. Jim kept shaking his
head, holding onto a clammy Blair with one arm while he checked his gun
with the other to make sure it had been working. He couldn't seem to
register that he had barely delivered more than a glancing blow to the
creature.
"We did it," Sam sighed.
Dean pulled his brother into his arms. "Yeah, we did -" Sam pitched
forward and Dean fell to the ground trying to stop him, but managed to
stop Sam from hitting the floor head first. "SAMMY!" Dean flipped Sam
over and rested his head in his lap. "No, Sammy," he clenched a hand
into Sam's hair while the other held him up as he was sprawled between
his legs. "Don't do this to me, Sammy!"
Blair and Jim made their way over, uncertain what to do. Blair ran both
hands through his hair looking at the scene. Jim shook his head,
looking at the amount of blood on Sam's chest. The younger man was pale
and his lips looked blue. "Chief, you got anything in that bag of
voodoo?"
"OH!" Blair yelled in startled comprehension. He dashed once more for
his bag, taking out several huge leaves. Jim helped him for a few
minutes make a poultice for Sam's chest incorporating his military
medical training. The cop part of him wanted to take Sam to the
hospital, but how the hell could they explain the source of the
injuries?
Dean rocked Sam, with silent tears streaming down his cheeks. When
Blair was done, he was covered in blood and looked at Jim nervously.
The older man, normally stoic in any situation, looked as shaken as he
felt.
The Sentinel cocked his head tuning into Sam's heartbeat. He smiled.
"He's a bit better."
Blair released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. They
turned to look at Dean who was still rocking Sam, but now the mantra
had changed to, "Stay with me, Sammy. I love you."
It took some time to get Dean to settle down enough to let Sammy go. He
insisted, however, on putting Sam to bed himself. But Jim made sure
that he wasn't jostled unduly, while Blair made up a fresh batch of
herbs for the poultice. Then they all took turns hitting the showers.
They alternated in cleaning the loft, while waiting for a change in
Sam's condition. Eventually Dean went to bed himself and Jim and Blair
took up a silent vigil waiting for Dean to come out with some word. Jim
called Simon and left a message, adding that they wouldn't be in the
next day. It was almost 3:30 in the morning before Dean staggered out
of the bedroom, which was once Blair's. They practically flew to his
side and dragged him over to the table to sit down, before he fell
down. Blair got coffee out for him and Jim wrapped his arms around Dean
to brace him. "He's going to pull through. I can hear his heartbeat
from here and its getting steadily stronger."
Dean's legs turned to rubber and he was grateful for the chair, which
he hadn't even noticed before. He'd been too out of it. "I don't know
how to thank you guys."
Jim nodded, slowly pulling away as Blair arrived at the table with a
coffee cup for Dean. Gratefully, he wrapped his fingers around it,
taking some comfort in the warmth it provided. They settled into a
comfortable silence, each too shell shocked by the night's events.
When daylight finally broke on the horizon, Dean padded off back to
check on Sam while Jim and Blair went up to their bed for a few hours
of rest.
It was mid-morning when Jim was awoken by his phone. He looked at the
number and was instantly awake. "John?"
"How are my boys, Jimbo?" John asked with concern.
Jim looked over at where Blair lay still peacefully asleep. Not wishing
to disturb him, he left the loft bedroom and walked downstairs to the
kitchen to talk privately. "You've got a lot to answer for old man. You
get your ass over here right now. Stop doing this to them. They're
going through too much as it is!" Jim snapped.
Despite his reservations on an incestuous relationship, whether Blair's
hypothesis proved correct or not, he now understood how it had
happened. The two boys were everything to each other. He had watched
them work together like a well-oiled machine under incredible
circumstances and a life-or-death situation as if it were commonplace.
That thought sickened Jim more than anything else, and to know his old
friend had abandoned his sons to this sort of life? It didn't make
sense.
"Jimbo, I -"
"No excuses John, not this time!" Jim slammed the phone down, wincing
as small pieces flew off of it. It made him nostalgic for the old days
when you really could slam down a phone. He turned to look out the
window to see daylight breaking over his city.
Arms came around his waist and automatically his arm went out to curl
around Blair's shoulders. "How could he leave them like this?"
Blair's piercing blue eyes looked seriously into his own. "If I'm
right, then maybe he can't bear to look at another man's child
anymore."
Jim sighed. "I never would have thought John Winchester to be
so...so...."
"Human?" Dean asked crossing into the room, wearing only a pair of
boxers and looking definitely worse for wear.
"Morning Dean," Blair greeted him, leaning back into Jim.
Jim gave a curt nod of acknowledgement before asking the question on
their minds."How's Sam?"
Dean shook his head and looked at Blair appreciatively, "You need to
teach me about those herbs. I hate to admit it, but we could really use
some of that."
"This isn't the first time you couldn't go to the hospital, is it?" Jim
asked.
"Nope," Dean sat down on the edge of the couch.
A knock came to the door and Dean watched as Jim and Blair exchanged
looks. No one was really dressed for it, Dean and Blair were both in
boxers and Jim was in only a pair of police department sweat pants. But
Jim quickly crossed the small amount of space between he and the door
to open it.
Dean gasped. "Dad?"
Jim dragged John Winchester into a hug before cuffing him upside the
back of the head. John gave his son a nervous smile then looked at Jim.
"You know, don't you? I should have known you'd figure it out. Too
smart for your own good, you bastard," John's face crumpled with years
of pain.
"Know what?" Dean pushed between the two men and stared at his father
furiously. "And where the hell have you been, dad? We could have used
your help last night. Sammy almost died!"
"Where is he?" John's voice was gravelly and hoarse with emotion.
"Resting," Blair said, his arms crossed and blocking the way toward the
downstairs bedroom. He didn't care what was going on, but he knew that
Sam needed his rest. And as his 'doctor' he was going to enforce that
rule.
John nodded and walked over to the nearest chair and slumped down into
it, exhaustion clear across his face.
"Dad, what's going on?" Dean snapped. He was too tired for niceties.
"There's been something I should have told you a long time ago Dean,
but I couldn't bear to do it." John began.
"Oh shit man, was I right?" Blair whispered to himself with concern.
Across from him, Jim nodded grimly. Blair tried to will some strength
to Dean.
"Dean, while I was away on a camping trip with some friends of mine
your mother was...she was...."
"Was what dad?" Dean asked, sinking into a chair himself, having a bad
feeling about what he was about to hear.
John sighed. "She'd been friendly with a lot of people. And while I was
away she was...raped."
Dean's voice was shaky when it came out. "Dad, what are you trying to
tell me?"
John looked at his son with tears rolling down his cheeks. "Sam is your
brother in every sense of the word, except blood."
Dean jerked back as if slapped. He stumbled to his feet and was shaking
his head vehemently. "You're making this up."
"What purpose would there be in that Dean?" John asked.
Jim and Blair stood as silent as statues, knowing they should leave and
unable to. But it was a good thing they hadn't, for in the next blink
of an eye, Dean launched himself at his father, punching and screaming,
"You son of a bitch!"
It took both Jim and Blair to drag Dean away from his father, who
hadn't even tried to fight back. They all stared at John whose face was
now cradled in his hands. His shoulders were shaking from the force of
his emotions. "I don't even know who it was. She wouldn't tell me.
But god how I loved her, so I stayed and we raised Sam as your
brother," John whispered in anguish. "Yet as Sam got older we just kept
growing apart, that bond was never quite the same as it was with you
and I."
Between Jim and Blair, Dean sagged with the weight of his father's
words. The pair had to brace him up. Dean's breath was ragged. "So when
I told you about us, why didn't you tell me then?"
"I was in shock. It was always there, but I'd repressed it to the point
that to my mind, it was incest. I had to deal with it all over again.
It was too much so I -"
"....Ran like you always do!" Dean screamed despite the tears on his
face. He stood up suddenly with renewed strength and shrugged off Jim
and Blair's assistance. "I'm going to check on Sammy. And as they say
here on the west coast: don't call us, we'll call you."
"Dean!" John shot to his feet to give chase but Jim held him back
easily.
"Not now, John. Let him be. Dean's been through it enough between last
night and this morning," Jim said in a quietly authoritative tone.
"No fucking shit," Blair murmured in agreement.
John slumped in Jim's grip. Lowering his head he nodded mutely, turned
on his heel and walked out the door. The slamming of it echoed eerily
in the suddenly silent loft.
Blair exhaled sharply. "Shit, we need to go back to work to have a
vacation from all this drama."
"No fucking shit," Jim agreed heartily, pulling Blair into his arms and
resting his chin on the younger man's head. He had wondered how Dean
could possibly deal with what he did on a daily basis. Would this be
the fatal blow? Had his own father done what countless demons, vampires
and ghosts been unable to? Jim held Blair tighter.
Dean slipped back into bed, carefully wrapping his arms around Sam.
Tears streamed unbidden down his cheeks. It was an odd sensation to the
normally reserved man. But it had all been too much. He closed his eyes
against the question that was running through his mind like a Japanese
bullet train. "Should I tell Sammy?"
For months, Dean knew his brother was suffering from the shame of their
incestuous relationship. It wasn't until he'd seen how comfortable Jim
and Blair were with each other and the looks of plaintive need that had
appeared on his little brother....no on Sam's face that he realized
what Sam wanted. So he'd begun a campaign of letting Sam openly know
how he cared. It was hard at first, but it was slowly getting easier.
Now this, "Fuck." Dean cursed aloud.
"Not tonight Dean. I've got a headache," Sammy groaned.
"Sammy!" Dean leaned over, gently kissing Sam in relief.
A tired, wane smile appeared to be tugging at Sam's face, before he
gave up the effort moaning in pain instead. "Did you get the number of
that truck?"
"Yeah, it was '1 Dickwad'," Dean smirked.
Sam laughed but it resulted in a coughing fit. "Easy there little..."
Dean trailed off unable to finish. Where once saying 'little brother'
was second nature, now it tasted bitter on his tongue. He looked away, even if they were still half-brothers.
"Dean?" Sam asked, knowing the signs of Dean keeping something from him
right away. "Tell me what's going on or expect a case of blue balls."
Dean smiled and looked back. "I thought you said you had a headache."
"Hey, a guy has to have something to look forward to, right?" Sam
teased.
Gulping, Dean looked away, and grabbing a drink off the nightstand,
pressed Sam into drinking it. But as soon as he put it down, Sam
pressed on. "Tell me, Dean. At least with whatever jungle juice Blair
put into that crap you just forced me to drink; I probably will be too
high to care in a minute."
"Oh I wouldn't be too sure on that," Dean bit the corner of his lip,
knowing he would have to tell. "Dad was here."
Sam tried to sit up. "He was?"
Dean pressed him back down, wrapping his arms around Sam to brace him.
"Sam, mom was raped."
Sam frowned. "She was? When?"
"Before you were born," Dean replied hoping Sam would put it together
so he wouldn't have to say it. His mind didn't want to even consider the possibility it might have been a demon.
A heavy pause filled the air. "We aren't really brothers are we?"
"No." Dean almost choked on the word. "Half."
Sam nodded. "That explains a lot."
Dean blinked. "Huh? You're not pissed off? Why aren't you screaming and
yelling?"
"I don't know. Somehow I've known. I've always known." His eyes met
Dean's with concern. "I mean I'll always think of you as my brother,
but," with an impish smile he reached down to cup Dean's groin, "this
kind of works out to our advantage, don't you think?"
Dean laughed with relief, pressing against the warm hand. "Okay, but if
anyone asks from here on in, you were adopted. We took you from the
alien spaceship-"
Sam cut him off with a kiss as the jungle leaves fell off his chest
revealing a smooth surface, and only a criss-cross of faded white lines
as a remembrance. But neither one noticed nor gave any thought to the
noises that began to emanate from their room.
In the kitchen Jim chuckled. Blair looked at him hopefully. "They okay
man?"
"More than okay, and about to engage in one of my favorite activities,"
Jim winked at Blair whose face suddenly lit up in dawning
comprehension.
"Oh, OH!! Wow, I guess my medicine worked!" Blair laughed.
Jim pressed Blair up against the counter. "Got any more of that doc?"
"You'll have to catch me to find out!" And with that Blair ducked under
his arm and took off lightning quick for the upstairs bedroom.
Jim smiled as he turned off the coffee maker and followed Blair at a
leisurely pace.
Everything was going to be alright, finally. Although looking at the
door, he wondered how John was dealing with all this.
Outside in a large black pickup truck, John felt the guilt of years
leave him. He still had to face Sam, but that would come in time.
Now, the time was right to get back to work. Checking to make sure his
gun was loaded and with one last look at the building where his sons
would be staying for a while yet, he pulled away and put the pedal to
the metal.
He was a man with a mission.
One for the Books by Keikokin [ - ]
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