First of all, you're welcome for the picture up top. Second of all, it begs the question, since we're doing what the writers never would and giving Dean a beard for our books, do we pick our own photo for the casting thing at the beginning of the next book or just pick something from the season? Like a photo from an episode like we normally do? Does any of that make sense? Probably not, but you get it...Hopefully.
Anyway...
Time Is On My Side
Dean poured holy water on the demon, making him scream in pain. "Stop!"
"You ready to talk?" Dean asked, voice demanding.
"I don't know. I don't know anything." The demon insisted.
"Oh, you hear that, Sam? He doesn't know anything." Dean said, an amused look on his face.
"Yeah, I heard." A small smirk made its way onto Sam's face.
"Well, then we'll just have to take your word for it, huh?" I asked, dragging the pure black knife across the back of his shoulder seeing as I stood behind the demon. The Sorceress had given it to me. It hurt demons. That's all I knew about it really.
"I'm telling you the truth." The demon panted.
"Oh, you are?" Dean asked. "My God, then I owe you an apology. Allow me to make it up to you." He grabbed the demon's jaw, pouring holy water down his throat.
Sizzling filled the air as the demon screamed in pain.
"I'm gonna ask you one last time. Who holds my contract?" Dean demanded.
The demon looked up, eyes black and smiling. He chuckled. "Your mother. Yeah, she, uh, showed it to me right before I bent her over."
Dean leaned forward, eye level with the demon now. "I want a name." He said, deadly calm. "Or else--"
"Or what?" The demon asked. "Hmm? You gonna squirt your holy water in both ends. Please. Brother, that's like a flea bite compared to what's coming to me if I tell you jack."
"Kill him." Sorceress whispered in my mind. "Kill him and let me in."
Dean straightened up.
"Do what you want. The only thing I'm scared of is the demon holding your ticket." He continued.
"Kill him." She whispered again as Dean have Sam a look.
Sam began reading the exorcism.
The demon groaned.
"How does that feel? Does that feel good?" Dean asked, circling him.
"Go ahead." The demon said. "Send me back to hell. Because when you get there, I'll be waiting for you. With a few pals who are dying for a nice little meet and greet with Dean Winchester."
"The human is already gone, kill him." Sorceress appeared at my side then, dragging a finger along my arm. "I feel the anger within you, use it."
"Should I?" Sam asked.
"Send him someplace he can't hurt anyone else." Dean told him.
Sam began the exorcism again.
"Stop, Sam." I said.
He did.
I walked around the demon, kneeling down to meet his eyes since he was tied up. I placed the blade under his chin. "Last chance."
"I'm not telling you a damn thing, hot stuff."
"Fine." I stood, shoving the knife through his jaw. When I pulled it back, blood poured over my hand and the knife.
___
After helping Dean bury the body, we headed back inside. And by help, I mean I stood there and watched as he looked hot. I complimented him multiple times so I did do something that was helpful. Just not the manual labor part. I kept his spirits up.
Sam was just finishing a phone call when we walked back into the living room of the abandoned house we were staying at. "You bury the body?" He asked.
"Yeah." Dean said. "Poor schmuck. It's like these demons ride them hard just for kicks."
"If what the shadow woman said was true and Saige didn't just stab a man in the head." Sam mumbled.
"Hey." Dean warned, grabbing a beer bottle. "Don't start that shit." He moved across the room to the old couch and sitting down next to Evie. I sat down on his lap, brushing my fingers over the back of his neck. "Uh. What's the phone call about?"
"Remember that thing in the paper yesterday?" Sam asked.
"Stripper suffocates dude with thighs?" Dean asked.
"That was in the paper?" I asked.
"Yeah." Dean nodded, winking at me. "If I gotta die, that's how I wanna go."
"Too bad, buddy. Not happening." I patted his shoulder.
"The other thing." Sam corrected.
"Right. The guy that walks into the ER and kneels over dead, his stomach ripped out?" Dean asked.
Sam leaned against the mantel. "His liver, actually. Anyways, I found something interesting."
"Not as interesting as strippers murdering people with their thighs, I bet." Millie spoke up from across the room.
"What?" Dean asked.
"The dead body? Covered in bloody fingerprints. Not the victims." Sam stated.
"Okay, great. My man Dave Caruso'll be stoked to hear it." Dean remarked.
"Those fingerprints match a guy who died in 1981."
"Really?" Dean asked. "So what are we talking? Uh, walking dead? Walking, killing dead?"
"Maybe."
"Zombies do like the other 'other white meat.'" Dean said. "Hmm. Speaking of, what do you care about zombies?"
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"Well, you've been on soul saving detail for months now, we're three weeks out, and all of a sudden you're interested in some hot zombie action?"
"What if the stripper was a zombie?" Millie asked suddenly.
"Is that seriously what you're thinking about?" I asked.
"No, just popped into my head. I was thinking about where we're going next."
"Hey, man, you're the one who's been gung ho to hunt." Sam told his brother. "I just thought I'd be doing you a favor."
"No, no, no. I didn't say I didn't wanna do it, okay? Obviously, I wanna hunt some zombies." Dean said.
"Okay, fine. Whatever."
I smiled. "What about our plans, Dean-O?" I asked quietly, leaning in to kiss him. The now week-old stubble covering his jaw tickling my skin.
Dean let out a low sound against my lips. "You just love to torture me, don't you?"
"A little."
"Get a room." Sam and Millie said in unison.
___
"Yep. The rest of the body was intact. The liver was the only organ missing." The coroner told us as we stood in the morgue.
"Now, where the liver was ripped out, did you happen to see any teeth marks?" Dean asked, looking very nice in his suit and tie.
"Can I see your badges?"
"Of course, sure." Sam said as we pulled out badges out.
"Fine, so you're cops and morons."
"Excuse me?" Dean asked. "No, no, we're very smart."
I smiled a little. God, he is adorable sometimes.
"The liver was not ripped out." The coroner stated, leading us through the room. He pulled the body from the freezer, pulling the sheet back to reveal the cut. "It was removed. Surgically. By someone who knew their way around the scalpel. Didn't you read my report?"
"Of course we did." Dean spit out quickly. "Oh, it was, uh, riveting. It's a real page turner. Just delightful."
"You done?"
"I think so." Dean said, smiling.
"Please, go away."
"Okay."
I took Dean's hand as we walked out into the hall. Sam smiled to himself.
"What?" Dean asked.
"Nothing." Sam shook his head. "So that kind of punches a hole in our zombie theory, huh, that scalpel thing?"
"Zombie with skills? Dr. Quinn, medicine zombie." Dean suggested, laughing a little.
"Maybe we're on the wrong track, Dean, looking for hacked up corpses."
"What should we be looking for?" I asked.
"Survivors." Sam stated. "This isn't zombie lunch. This is organ theft."
"You look awfully excited about organ theft." I pointed out.
"Damn, I was hoping to kill some zombies." Dean sighed. "You jinxed it, Si."
"Me? What'd I do?" I asked.
"You said that I couldn't have sex and kill zombies in the same day."
I smiled, thinking back to this morning in the car. "Well, you had a choice."
___
"I told the cops all of this yesterday." The man who lay in the hospital bed told us. "I don't wanna talk about it anymore."
"Just a couple of questions, sir." Sam said.
"Hey, man, I just got my kidney stolen. I'm tired."
"We'll be out of here quick." Dean assured him. "Don't you wanna get the guy?"
"Will it get me back my kidney?"
"Sir, what's the last thing you remember?" Sam asked.
"Feeding my meter." The man told us. "I'm jumped from behind and then I wake up strapped to a table. And then the worst pain you can imagine, only worse. And then I black out again, thank God. And then I wake up screaming in some no-tell motel in a bathtub full of ice."
"Do you remember anything about the surgery?" Dean asked. "What the guy looked like, any details about the room?"
"Now, let me think about that." The man said. "Yeah. One thing is coming back to me. You know what I remember? Getting my kidney cut out of my body!"
"You know, that is kind of a hard thing to forget." I whispered.
___
Sam was scrolling through article on his computer as we sat at the table in our motel room. "So I got a theory."
"Yeah?" Dean asked, lifting his burger up.
"Yeah, I talked to Mr. Giggles' doctor. Turns out his incisions were sewn up with silk." Sam stated.
"Wow, interesting." I peeled the tomato from my burger before lifting it up as Evie grabbed onto Dean's leg to pull herself up to stand.
"That's weird." Dean remarked.
"Yeah, nowadays it is." Sam nodded. "But silk used to be the suture of choice back in early 19th century." He flipped the laptop around for us to see the screen. "It was really problematic. Patients would get massive infections. The death rate was insane."
"Good times." Dean said as Evie tugged on the blue and white flannel he wore, babbling.
"So doctors had to do whatever they could to keep infections from spreading." Sam continued as Dean lifted her up to sit on his knee. "One way was maggots."
"Dude, we're eating." Dean said.
"I don't think he cares." I grabbed a french fry, breaking off a small piece to give to Evie.
"Whoa, hey." Dean caught my wrist. "Can she even have that?"
I gave him a look. "It's a fry, Dean. Calm down. She's almost nine months old and the fry is the size of my pinkie."
Evie babbled, reaching up to grab our hands.
"Fine." Dean released my hand.
"It actually kind of worked because maggots eat bad tissue and leave good tissue." Sam continued as if we wanted to hear about this. "Get this, when they found our guy, his body cavity was stuffed full of maggots."
"Dude, we're eating." Dean repeated as Evie's eyes went wide.
"I think she likes fries." I said as she leaned forward, trying to reach them on the table.
"Alright, so let me get this straight. So people are getting ganked." Dean stated. "A little Antiques Roadshow surgery, some, uh, organ theft. Why is this all sounding familiar?"
"Because your life is fucked up." Millie said.
"Because we hunt all kinds of organ stealing monsters?" I suggested as I handed Evie another fry.
"No and no. Because you've heard it before." Sam corrected. "When you were a kid. From dad." He handed John's journal over. "Doc Benton. Real life doctor, lived in New Hampshire, brilliant. And obsessed with alchemy, especially how to live forever. So in 1816, Doc abandons his practice--"
"Right, yeah, nobody hears from him for 20 years." Dean filled in. "And all of a sudden people start showing up dead."
"Dead or missing an organ, or a hand, or some other kind of part." Sam nodded.
"May I suggest we cover the child's ears so I can say something?" Millie asked.
"No." Dean and I answered in unison.
"Because whatever he was doing was working." Dean continued about the doctor. "He kept on ticking. Parts would wear out, he'd replace them."
"Again, I ask, can we cover the child's ears?" Millie asked.
"No."
Evie babbled, trying to grab the fries.
"I thought Dad hunted him down and took his heart out." Dean said.
"Yeah, I guess the doc must've plugged in a new one." Sam shrugged.
"How?" I asked.
"Alright, where's he doing the deed?" Dean asked, picking up his burger again and handing Evie a fry, making her giggle like she got her hands on something she wasn't supposed to have.
"Please." Millie said.
"No." I told her.
"According to this, Benton's picking about where he sets up his lab." Sam grabbed the journal. "He likes dense forest with access to a river or stream or some kind of fresh water."
"Why?" Dean asked through a mouth full of food.
"I try so hard to teach you some manners." I muttered.
"Because that's where he likes to dump the bile, and intestines and fecal matter." Sam answered, laughing.
"I hate you so much right now." I told him. "I just wanted to eat in peace."
"Lost your appetite yet?" Sam asked Dean.
Dean looked down at the burger, then at Sam, then at the burger. "Oh, baby, I can't stay mad at you." He took another bite.
Evie grabbed his wrist, shaking it and babbling.
"I think she wants your food." I said.
Dean handed her a French fry.
___
Sam pointed to the small circle he'd drawn on the map. "So these are all old hunting cabins. They've been abandoned for years."
"The hell we waiting for?" Dean asked as we all sat on the floor by the beds. His phone rang.
"Is that your mistress or baby mama?" Millie asked.
Dean glared at her, standing and grabbing his phone. "Bobby?" He paused. "I'm listening....Is that like a Cleveland Steamer? And?" Another pause. "And he thinks it's Bela?" Another pause. "She's used that before. It's a sloppy move, getting in contact with one of your old friends...Thanks, Bobby, we're on our way. Okay." He hung up, grabbing his jacket. "Come on, we're going after Bela."
"Okay." I stood, lifting Evie up with me.
"What? Whoa, whoa, hold on a--" Sam began.
"Get your stuff, the clock's ticking." Dean stated.
"Look, I think we should stay here and finish the case." Sam said.
Millie and I shared a look as Dean shrugged on his jacket.
"You insane?" Dean asked.
"There's no way she has the Colt." Sam stated. "That was months ago. She probably sold it the second she got it."
"Well, then I'll kill her. Win-win." Dean said.
"Dean--"
"Sam, we're going." Dean cut him off.
"No."
"Why the hell not?"
"Dean, this here, now. This is what's gonna save you."
"What? Chasing some Frankenstein?" Dean asked, laughing a little.
"Chasing immortality." Sam said. "Look, Benton can't die. We find out how he did it, we can do it to you."
"What are you talking about?" Dean asked.
"You have to die before you go to hell. So if you can never die--"
"Wait, wait, wait. Wait a second." Dean said. "Did you know that this was Doc Benton from the jump?"
"No." Sam answered hesitantly. "Look, I was hoping--"
"So the zombie thing, it was lying to me?"
"I didn't want to say anything until I was sure. I'm trying to find an answer."
"No, what you're trying to do is chase Slicey McHackey here. To kill him? No, you wanna buy him a freaking beer." Dean said. "You wanna study him."
"I was trying to help." Sam said.
"You're not helping." Dean snapped.
"Okay, let's calm down." I interjected.
"You forget that if I welch on this deal, you die." Dean continued. "Guess what, living forever is welching."
"Fine! Whatever the magic pill is, I'll take it too." Sam snapped.
"Oh, what is this, Sid and Nancy? No, it's just like Bobby's been saying. We kill the demon that holds the contract, this wipes clean." Dean said. "That's our best shot."
"Even if you had the Colt, Dean, who are you gonna shoot?" Sam asked. "We have no idea who holds the ticket."
"I'll shoot the Hellhounds then before they slash me up." Dean said. "Now, you coming or not?"
"I'm staying here." Sam mumbled.
"No, you're not." Dean said. "'Cause I'm not gonna let you wander out in the woods alone to track down some organ stealing freak."
"I'll have Millie."
"Bold of you to assume I'm staying with your stupid ass." Millie said.
Sam glared at her.
"What? I am, but still." She rolled her eyes.
"I'm not gonna let either of you." Dean corrected.
"You're not gonna let me?" Sam asked.
"No, I'm not gonna let you."
"How are you gonna stop me?" Sam asked. Dean blinked, taken aback. "Look, man, we're trying to do the same thing here."
"I know." Dean said, grabbing his bag. "But I'm going. So if you wanna stay, stay." He moved toward the door. "Si, come on." He stopped. "Unless you want to stay to...?"
I could hear it in his voice, the pleading for me to come with him.
"Yeah, I'm coming." I said, grabbing my bag as his shoulders sagged in relief.
He opened the door. "Sammy, be careful."
"You too." Sam told him.