[AU] dark gonna catch me here

[gavemea_45]

Not two seconds after the door closed, Dean started demanding answers. Sam explained pretty much everything, although he glossed over the part where Wynonna'd threatened to shoot him, and for the most part Dean took it pretty well.

Until he made the suggestion of bringing Wynonna - and Peacemaker - to a crossroads and forcing the demon there to give up Dean's contract.

By the time the fight's over, Sam's certain of two things. First, that Dean's not willing to listen to reason because he doesn't want to risk Sam. And second, that he's not going to let his brother go to hell.

He makes sure Dean thinks he's asleep first, and waits until he hears his brother start snoring... then waits another half hour to make sure. Once he's certain Dean's not faking, Sam sneaks out and borrows the Impala.

There's a crossroads three miles north, an isolated one with an abandoned gas station nearby that he can use to get to the bar.

It'll do.

Comments

[gavemea_45]

"Yeah, I did," Sam confirms. Dean makes a wry sound. "I grilled him after he and your sister woke me up. Once we got back, anyway. So I'm thinkin' you can assume I know pretty much everything you told him, ain't that right, Sammy?"

"You do now," he mutters.

[pacificator]

"Well, there's one thing you don't know."

(You can do it, Earp. You don't need me.

OK? You can break the curse, find the last of the Seven.

Believe that.)

She looks down at her fingers, tapping on her glass, then back up at the brothers. "I have a lead on the last of the Seven. But Dolls is gone. I don't know where. I'm on my own."

[gavemea_45]

Sam startles and focuses on her, suddenly intent.

"Gone?" Dean asks. "Like, what kind of gone we talking here - he left, or he was taken?"

[pacificator]

"Your guess is as good as mine."

She twirls the glass on the bar, then looks up at them. "He went to get us takeout for dinner. And then he called and said... there'd been a change of plans."

Her shoulders straighten and her chin drops as she quotes him. "And he had to go away for a while."

[gavemea_45]

"Did he sound like anything was wrong? Give a signal that he was under duress of any kind?" Sam asks.

[pacificator]

"He was real fucking cryptic, even for him," she says, with a shrug and a shake of her head. "He said he'd owe me dinner when he was back. And then nothing. But he's been – "

She exhales, an explosive sigh that drops her shoulders. "He's been acting weird. I think he might be sick."

[gavemea_45]

"Huh," is Dean's opinion. "Could be he had to go to the hospital or something and didn't want to be fussed over."

Sam gives his brother an exasperated look and focuses back on the problem at hand. "You're not thinking of going up against this guy alone."

[pacificator]

"He's killing women." Her voice is flat, leaving no room for argument. "Three victims so far. I can't wait around for Dolls to get back."

[gavemea_45]

"Sam's right." There's no sign of humor in Dean's voice, not now. "Nobody said you had to wait. We'll come with you."

[pacificator]

"Better not yet," she says. "The law's out on the way to the homestead right now. I don't want to have to try to explain you and a bunch of ex-zombies."

[gavemea_45]

"Then after," Sam says. "Once it's clear, you come back and get us, before you go after him."

[pacificator]

She looks from one brother to the other, then down at her glass. "Yeah, okay."

Wynonna lifts the tumbler and tips the rest of her bourbon down her throat. "Works for me."

[gavemea_45]

"So what do we need to know about this guy?" Dean holds up the bottle, asking if she wants another.

[pacificator]

She holds out her glass, silently accepting. "He's a sick piece of shit," she tells them. "The women were all operated on. Every organ removed, and then put back in again, wrong. And the incisions were cauterized as they were made."

When Dean's poured her a share again, she pulls her glass back. "I was at the morgue today, examining one, but I got pulled away. When I came back, someone had opened her mouth and left a card there. The Jack of Spades."

[gavemea_45]

Sam frowns. "Every organ? Nothing missing?"

Dean stares at him. "Dude."

[pacificator]

"According to the creepy coroner, yes. It was like someone decided to play a game of 'Operation' on a living breathing body."

She pauses, then goes on. "Also, she kind of looked like me. The dead girl."

[gavemea_45]

"I thought it might be like the old Doc Benton case," he says to Dean, before turning back to Wynonna. "Okay, that's creepy."

[pacificator]

"Yeah, no kidding."

She doesn't know who Doc Benton is, but Waverly might. Which reminds her – "I don't have any other leads yet. But Waverly might know what the card means."

[gavemea_45]

Sam nods. "Did the women have anything else in common? Other than, uh, their appearance?"

[pacificator]

"Not that their files mentioned. But same M.O., each time."

She leans back against the wall and booth corner, drawing up one foot to set the sole of her boot against the seat and loop her arms around her knee. "I mean, normally I like being someone's type, but this is maybe a little intense."

[gavemea_45]

"Uh, yeah." Dean gives her a careful look. "I'd say a lot. Not a little. Look, we'll help find him, take him out."

[pacificator]

"Fine by me."

Hopefully it's not someone else she knows, like Hettie and Mama. "At least this one's not a cannibal. Small favors."

[gavemea_45]

“No shit. I hate those fucking wendigos.” Dean grimaces at the thought, and Sam nods fervent agreement.

[pacificator]

"These ones didn't go full wendigo," she tells them. "They were running a diner in town."

She tips her head back against the wall and rolls it to the side to look at them. "I guess every time an heir came of age, Mama Olive wouldn't be able to control herself anymore."

[gavemea_45]

“So a pre-wendigo,” Sam muses. “Either the revenant effect prevented full transformation, maybe, or delayed it.”

Dean rolls his eyes, but there’s something fond about the way he shoves at Sam with his shoulder. “That brain of yours never stops, huh, college boy?”