Dani started out of a
light doze, knocking her head against the window she leaned against. She’d just been watching the cars go by the
motel and hadn’t meant to fall asleep.
Adam cried out again, scurrying back into the corner,
wide eyes staring at some apparition in front of him that only he could see.
“It’s ok,” Dani said, hopping off the air conditioning
unit and moving towards him, cautiously.
“Adam! It’s ok. You’re all right.” She sat down next to him and put her arms
around him, pulling his head down against her shoulder. “It’s ok,” she said gently. “You’re all right, you’re here with me. It’s all right, nobody’s going to hurt
you.” She could feel him trembling, his
chest rising and falling with every hurried, shaky breath. “It’s all right, we’re all right.”
The memories haunted her dreams, but Adam saw them during
the day. Though it hurt her to see him
like this, terrified of horrors that weren’t there, this was better than when
the visions made him violent. When he
got like that he’d go after anything or anyone who wasn’t her. He’d attacked the maid in their last motel,
it had been all Dani could do to keep him from killing her. They’d have been in major trouble if she’d
called the police but she didn’t. Dani
guessed she didn’t want to have to tell them that she’s been saved from the
crazy boy by a werewolf. She wasn’t sure
what had happened to him in hell, at first she’d thought centuries of fighting
for your life would make anyone good at it, but it was more than that. Even back in the real world he was stronger
than a human should be, and once he got going he was like a beserker, or a
shark in a feeding frenzy.
A knock on the door pulled her out of her thoughts. She sighed and gently pulled away from
Adam. “Hang on a second,” she said. “I’ll be right back. It’s ok.”
Once she extricated herself, she ran her fingers through
her hair as she walked to the door and looked through the peep hole. She sighed with relief and opened it.
“Hey Raul,” she said.
“Good to see you.”
“Been a long time Lorna,” he said. “I honestly thought I was never going to hear
from you again. You just disappeared.”
“I told you, Old Man Lee had it in for me,” she
explained, stepping outside and closing the door behind her. “He didn’t come after you did he?”
“No, he vanished a little while after you did. Are you in trouble with someone else?”
“No.” Dani shook her head. “No, I’m not in that kind of business
anymore.”
“Then why do you need these?” He lifted his jacket open, revealing a
plastic bag holding some orange bottles.
“Oh, you got them,” Dani said. “I wasn’t sure you’d be able too.”
“Yeah, now I know you’re not using them yourself so if
you’re not in trouble what are they for?” he demanded.
Dani looked back at the door then at Raul again.
Raul raised an eyebrow and nodded at the door. “You’re boyfriend”
“No,” she admitted. “While I was gone I ran into some
family I didn’t know I had.”
“Addict family.”
Dani shook her head.
“He’s not an addict. He doesn’t
know I asked for it, but…He’s been in a bad situation, some people hurt him, a
lot.” She looked at Raul,
pleadingly. “I just need them so he can
sleep. I promise. Please?”
Raul half smiled at her, then pulled the bag out of his
pocket and handed it to her.
“Thank you so much,” she said, quickly hiding it. “I owe you.”
“For old times,” he said, shrugging.
“Thanks. So,” she
started, feeling she should say something else. “How’ve you been?”
“Good,” he said.
“I’ve got a new part time real job, at the grocery store.”
“Good for you.” They shared an awkward chuckle.
“I’ve missed you Lorna,” he said after a moment.
“I’ve missed you too, all of you,” she said.
“How long are you
in town for?”
“I don’t know,” she answered. “Probably not very long.”
“Yeah,” he nodded, “well, it was good seeing you.”
“You too. And
thank you again.”
“Don’t mention it.” He reached out and touched her arm. “Do you need anything else? At all?”
“No, I’m ok.” Dani
said. “But thanks.”
“Be careful Lorna,” he said. “Good luck.”
She smiled and opened the door again. “You too.
Take care of yourself.”
Dani closed the door and pulled open the plastic sack,
taking out one of the bottles she shook a few of the sedative pills into her
hand.
“Ok Adam,” she said, kneeling next to him. He barely glanced up at her through his arms
as he continued to cower against the wall.
“I got some stuff that will help you.
Look at me.” She took his chin
with one hand and lifting one of the pills to his lips and gently pushing it
under his tongue. “All right,” she whispered.
“Just a few of these and all the monsters go away.” His eyes started to
droop as the tablet dissolved. “There we go,” she rubbed her hand up and down
his forearm. “There, that’s better,
isn’t it? Here swallow this one for me.
There you go. See, it’s all right, just rest now. I’ve got you.”
.
. .
Dani glanced over her shoulder, as she waited in front of
the door while they waited for her knock to be answered. The dark street was
empty, as it should be this late at night, she wasn’t sure why she was so on
edge. She tightened her grip on Adam’s hand as the door swung open and he shied
against her.
“Ms. Webster,” the man said, “you brought your friend
this time.”
“You asked me to,” she answered.
He studied them briefly, then nodded, standing back from
the doorway. “Come in.”
They
followed the man into his home office and he motioned for them to be seated in
a pair of chairs in front of the desk.
“I see what you mean,” the man said, studying Adam intently. “He was normal at one time?”
“Yes,” Dani answered.
The man approached Adam, who stiffened, muscles coiling
in wary preparation.
“It’s ok, Adam,” Dani said, “he’s going to help us.”
The man reached out a hand toward Adam, and Dani held her
breath, but just as the grey started to creep into Adam’s eyes, the man had his
hand on his forehead. Adam’s eyes rolled
back in his head, and he went limp, as the telepath began to shift through his
memories. “You did not exaggerate his situation,” he said, not turning to look
at Dani. “Fascinating.”
He removed his hand and Adam slumped back in the chair, seemingly
sleeping.
“Can you help him?” she asked.
The telepath sighed, moving to sit across from Dani on
the other side of the desk. “Wiping a
specific memory isn’t difficult,” he answered.
“Taking years worth of time is something else. You never did specify how
long his captivity lasted. Months? Years?”
Dani licked her lips, hesitating. “About 600 years.”
The telepath’s eyes widened, but otherwise he did not
react. “I have never attempted something on that scale before, nor have I heard
tell of anyone else doing so. I suppose
you would want his memories of beforehand intact?”
“If you can.”
“If I can’t, no one else will be able to.” He ran a thumb
along his jaw line, continuing to study Adam.
“That’s why we came here,” Dani said. “I’m aware that you’re
the best there is. But can you do it?”
The telepath turned his gaze to her, and after a moment,
he nodded. “It won’t be cheap.”
“I’ll pay whatever you want,” she said. “He can’t live like this.”
“I’m not referring to money.”
“Somehow I didn’t think you were,” Dani said, feeling her
stomach tighten. She knew what she was
asking was difficult, that it might not work, and that regardless, the telepath
would expect a huge payment. Not knowing what that would be was had worried her
for days, what if she couldn’t find what he wanted? “I’ll pay whatever you want,” she repeated.
The telepath grinned and Dani’s blood chilled at this sight. “I’m so glad to hear you say that, my
dear. You’re one of the only people that
can give me what I want.”
He stood, stepping to the bookcase behind his desk,
pulling out a worn, leather bound volume of Greek poems. He leafed through it for a moment until he
found the page he wanted. He laid the
book on the desk, turning it to face Dani. He tapped on a line of prose, and
Dani leaned over to read. She looked up at him from the book, and then back
down. The page he had opened was about
the witch, Medea, and the ingredients to an immortality potion.
“Since the beginning of time, men have tried to cheat
death. The ancients knew how, but we
haven’t recognized it because it sounds fantastic.” He sat down again, eye Dani
hungrily. “Luckily, you and I know, the
fantastic is not impossible.”
Dani studied the
book for a breath longer, the rest of the poem fading out of her vision except
for one line. And the blood of a werewolf. She didn’t know what she had been expecting,
but it certainly wasn’t this. She
swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. His request
was shocking, but on the other hand, it was completely in her power. She looked up, meeting the telepaths gaze and
nodded. “Ok,” she said. “It’s a deal.”
“Good,” he said, covering his surprise at her quick
agreement. “Well, no time like the present.”
.
. .
They relocated to
a back bedroom in the house, sparsely furnished with two twin beds.
“You’re doing your part first, right?” Dani asked.
“I’m a reasonable man,” the telepath answered, “I don’t
expect you to give up your lifeblood for nothing. I’m going to do the best I can for your
friend.”
Adam sat down on one of the beds, again eyeing the
telepath suspiciously. “Dani..?” he
started, hesitantly.
“It’s ok,” she said, sitting down next to him. She wasn’t sure how much of what was
happening he understood, but he could sense how nervous she and the telepath
were. “It’s going to be ok, I’ll be here the whole time.” She hoped it sounded convincing. If this didn’t work, and there was a good
chance it wouldn’t, she didn’t know they would do. She gave his arm a gentle squeeze and stood
back, nodding at the telepath.
The telepath placed a hand on each of Adam’s temples,
both their eyes fluttering closed.
Dani held her breath, watching as the telepath’s eyes
darted back and forth under the lids, listening to the hammering of all three
of their hearts. The telepath stood over
Adam for over an hour, at which point he was sweating and shaking so badly Dani
was afraid he would pass out. Finally, he stepped back from the bed, looking exhausted
but seeming pleased with himself.
“It’s done,” he panted, looking over at Dani. “That may be the best work I’ve ever done.”
“You’re sure it worked?” she asked.
“Positive,” he said.
“It was strenuous, he’ll need a few hours at least to recover, but when
he wakes, his mind should be whole again.” He ran a hand through his hair, straightening
it. “Now, I believe it’s your turn.”
Dani set her jaw and nodded. “A deal’s a deal.”
The telepath smiled, opening the drawer of a night stand
and pulled out a tangle of plastic tubes.
“Make yourself comfortable.”
Dani didn’t move, but offered him both of her forearms. “I
probably should have asked before how much blood you’re intending to take.” She
hadn’t because it didn’t matter.
“I’ll make an effort not to completely drain you,” he
answered. “When you’re business is based
entirely on word of mouth, it doesn’t pay to kill off your customers. However, it is such a rarity to deal with
your kind.”
.
. .
Adam stirred, wincing against the pounding in his
head. He ran a hand across his face,
gingerly raising himself onto his elbows.
He froze, suddenly struck by a sense of wrongness. He didn’t recognize this room, it wasn’t…Actually
he couldn’t remember where he was supposed to be at all. He hurriedly glanced around the room, finding
Dani sprawled across a bed against the opposite wall, unconscious. He sprang up, stumbling across the room to
her, finding blood dripping down both her arm.
“Dani,” he called, shaking her gently. “Dani wake up.”
She didn’t move, barely seemed to be breathing. Adam
reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone.
“911, what is your emergency?”
. . .
Dean sat beside the hospital bed, chin resting on his
clenched fists, watching the drip drip of the blood in the IV tubing, the green
lines of the heart monitor racing across the screen. Her heart was still working too hard to get
the little blood she had around her body. He ran a hand across his face and
sighed. God she looked like such a
little girl like this. “Look Dani,” he
said. He might have thought she was just
asleep if she wasn’t so pale. But she
was, and that just make her look dead.
Dean swallowed and started again.
“Girl, you’ve got to pull through for me, you hear me?” He reached out and took her forearm. “I don’t care what anyone ever told you. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my time, but
you are not one of them. Hell, you’re
one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. And I’m not ready to give you up yet.”
She stirred and smiled weakly up at him. “Even though I punched you in the face and
ran off without a word?”
He breathed a sigh of relief, trying to collect himself. “You’re not really part of this family until
you’ve yelled a bunch of things you don’t mean and stormed out of a hotel room.”
.
. .
“Dani,”
Adam said. “Can I talk to you about
something?”
“Yeah.” She set aside the book she was reading. “What’s up?”
“You said that, the time I’m missing,” he started, “I was
being held by some people, or we both were.”
“Yes,” she answered.
“And I also told you not to worry about it. We got away and that’s all that matters now.”
Adam moved in front of her and made her look him in the
eye. “Where were we?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she repeated.
“Really? Because,
I remember saying yes to Michael, and going to that cemetery and…it’s sketchy
after that. And then I’ve got flashes of
being with you, and I remember being scared out of my mind but I don’t remember
why.”
“You don’t need to know everything,” Dani said quietly.
“Dani, we were in Hell, weren’t we?”
Dani looked away and pressed her fist against her
lips. Then she nodded. “Yes.
You were there a lot longer than me.
It was bad but we looked out for each other as best we could.” She turned to look at him again. “But I don’t want you to worry about what
happened down there, ok? It doesn’t
matter; it’s over.”
Adam let out a breath, looking a little bewildered. “I was down there the whole five years.”
“Yeah.”
“And you paid that telepath, with your blood, so that I
wouldn’t remember any of it?”
Dani nodded again.
“Yes.”
“Why would you do that?
He almost killed you.”
Dani bit her lip, and when she answered her voice
cracked. “Because I couldn’t stand to
see you like that. Terrible things
happened to you down there, and it messed you up bad. And I just couldn’t stand you having to live
like that.”
“But you remember.”
When she didn’t respond he pressed further. “Why didn’t you get him to wipe your memory
too?”
“I wasn’t thinking about me,” she answered. “Besides I don’t think he would have done both
of us. It’s fine, like I said, I wasn’t
down there anywhere near as long as you were.”
“But it’s not fine,” Adam insisted. “Bad things happened to you too and you
remember all of them. I’ve heard you
scream yourself awake some nights. I
don’t remember any of the things we went through, but you do. You almost got
yourself killed so that I could forget, and now I can’t do anything to help
you.”
“You don’t need to remember,” Dani said, moving closer to
him and putting her hand on his shoulder.
“Ok? I don’t want you to feel
guilty that you don’t, you had a lot more to forget. A lot more. I’ll
get better. You wouldn’t have. I knew it
was dangerous when I made that deal, but I’d do it all again in a
heartbeat. Because what he did saved you
and that helps me.”
Adam blinked at the tears forming in his eyes and pulled
her into a tight hug. “Thank you.”
.
. .
Tom ran up to the little farm house, jerked the door open
and then slammed it shut again almost before he was all the way inside. He locked it and hurried into the living
room. “We’ve got to go,” he said, wide
eyed and breathing hard.
“Why?” Richard asked.
“What happened?”
“There’s hunters.
Eric said he saw them.”
Richard scoffed.
“We can deal with hunters.
“No,” Tom insisted.
“We have to go. They’re…”
“I’m not leaving town just because some two bit hunters
showed up. We can finish up, then we’ll
leave in another day or two.”
“No,” Tom said again, his voice squeaking at the end. “Not just any hunters. Eric said it’s the Winchesters.”
“The Winchesters.”
Richard felt his pulse speed up.
“Where is Eric?”
“He bolted. He
said he was getting out of here.”
“Ok.” Richard nodded quickly. “Ok, we’ll go, grab your
stuff.”
They both started at the sound of the door crashing
in.
Richard groaned and rolled his head forward, opening his
eyes. He was tied to a dining room
chair, back to back with Tom. In front
of him stood a blond boy, mid-twenties, holding a gun, and a pretty little
brunette; his girlfriend probably.
“Huh,” Richard barked out a laugh. “I thought you said the Winchesters were
after us.” He looked over his shoulder
at Tom, who didn’t look much less scared than he had earlier. “Come one, you afraid of these kids?”
Tom just shrank back as the girl approached them.
“Coward,” Richard spat. “You and Eric both, just panic
over anything. You turned these two
ghost busters into the Winchester brothers.”
“Now,” the girl chastised him. “Don’t be mean to your friend. He wasn’t completely wrong.”
“He got close,” the boy said, leaning in close to Richard
and angling the gun at him. “We may not
be the Winchester brothers.” He
grinned. “But we are the Winchester
bastards.”
