Chapter 16
Alannah's head dipped downward slightly when Dean said her name. Even the vibrations of his voice pronouncing the simple syllables inflicted a sharper and more potent sting. A cloud of tension engulfed the small space as Sam acknowledged his brother. Then Dean spoke with sarcasm seeping from his tone as he beckoned to the two.
"Oh don't mind me, keep trying to seduce my brother like always," He stopped for emphasis, "Or better yet do it right in front of my face this time just for an extra punch."
Alannah inhaled sharply, "Dean you know that wasn't me."
Before countering her comment, Dean realized how weak she sounded. A few months earlier her words had been strong and infused with emotion, but now an emptiness swallowed them.
He scornfully chuckled, "It might not have been you in the head, but it doesn't make any of what happened right."
She sighed, "I know that, you won't let me forget. I'm so tired of this bickering Dean, I already acknowledged that nothing between us will be the same again," she paused sensing that overly repetitive slice of anguish, "I've been trying to move on from this, can you?"
This must have sent Dean into some sort of rage because his eyes turned dark, "Move on from this?! Is that what bullshit you're trying to sell everybody? Sure, letting a demon posses you two WEEKS before your wedding and letting your fiancé find you sucking on his brother's face is so forgivable."
"I wasn't asking you to forgive me, I was just-"
"Oh there's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'll ever accept an apology from you."
Alannah began to tear up and Sam abruptly stood up and defended her.
"Hey," he brought his brother off to the side and spoke in a stern whisper, "This has gone way too far, Dean. She has relentlessly begged for you to understand and mourned over this unbearable incident thousands of times. Why can't you take what she's saying and go on with your life? What she did is nothing compared to the crap Dad piled on us," Sam swallowed thickly, "You're heartlessness towards her has its margins, but you've crossed them miles ago."
The censorship of communication made itself evident in the motel room and Dean ran a hand through his hair. Guilt dripped into his heart like running bath water as he realized his harshness.
"I don't think you should come on the hunt, she can't handle you being there," Sam suggested, "I'll call you once we are done and text you if anything goes wrong."
With a swift nod, Dean recognized his brother's words.
Alannah had already left for the restroom to ready herself for the hunt, and when she walked out Dean had roared off in the Impala.
He put the jingling keys into the ignition as the purr of his beloved car reverberated. Usually this would make him flash a smile, and look to his right at his passenger. Although, there had not been anyone accompanying him for a long time. Endless hours of hearing Baby's droning sound with nobody to make fun of him was only one of the multitude of occurrences he missed.
He missed Sam. He missed the humorous car rides. He missed the feeling of having someone who loved him right by his side.
He missed her.
Out of all the moments and people ripped from him by his own will he desired to be with Alannah the most. Even if thousands of agonizing flashes swarmed in his head when he thought of her, he didn't care sometimes. Just hearing her voice tonight brought back a piece of his shattered soul. But it wasn't really a voice anymore, more of a hollowed whisperer eroded by a mistake and his adverse words. Cringing at the river of remorse overflowing within him, he absentmindedly swerved into the parking lot of a run down bar.
His eyes slammed shut, the disgrace that weighed on him was more than anyone could imagine.
"I can't do this again... I promised I would stop..." He chastised himself.
Over the last four months Dean had suffocated his sorrows with the disease of alcoholism; every night slowly getting closer to his end. He felt even though his expiration date was nearing that he could afford to drink himself close to death.
Before he could react, the twin doors to the pub swung open and he claimed the seat adjacent to the whiskey section.
The seductive bartender named 'Sherri' smirked at him.
"Well what can I get for you?" Her cherry red lipstick and pancaked makeup shimmered in the dim light.
Dean exhaled and thought for a second on his myriad of choices, "I'll take the strongest stuff you got, make it a double."
"Alrighty then, go big or go home right?" She clinked two shot glasses together and poured the silky brown liquid into them.
Sliding them towards the hunter, she propped her elbows into the extensive table; exposing her massive amounts of cleavage.
"So tell me why you want to get you want to get yourself drunk on a Monday night? You don't look like the unemployed type to me," She questioned then looked down at his left hand. A silver band circled itself around his ring-finger and Dean quickly stashed it away in his pocket, "Oh so there's a girl, huh?"
"Are you usually this intrusive?" He asked, trying to get away from the touchy subject.
"Only on Mondays sweetie," She batted her eyelashes as Dean downed the first shot in one large swig.
"Dang, you really can take your liquor," She observed.
"Well I've had plenty of practice in that area," He replied swishing the other cup of alcohol in his palm.
"And what other areas would there be?" Her fingers brushed up against his hand. A mixture of gray and blue eyes bore into his, and although unmistakable lust shone in them a blank void of despair also graced her expression.
His immediate reaction was to turn down her offer, but something inside of him craved revenge. It was a twisted thing and he knew it.
"Oh honey, I think you know exactly what 'other areas' there are."
Her lips curved into a mischievous smile, "I've got a room in the back we could go to, it's pretty small but we can manage."
He shook his head as she led him forward. Once they arrived a strong musky scent polluted the air, and Sherri pulled him onto the squeaky twin bed. She stood up elegantly and removed her tight V-neck top exposing her black lace bra.
Instantaneously, she ravenously straddled Dean without warning; whisking her hands down his back briskly. Their lips met and the hunter couldn't keep from cringing. Her mouth was sickeningly sweet, and her chapstick made them seem as if they oozed oil.
Dean extracted himself from her embrace and she looked at him with confused eyes.
"What's wrong?"
He had no answer for her, and the plethora of knots in his stomach gathering at the remembrance of her horrid kisses made him gag.
Wordlessly, Dean clutched into the miniature bin beside the door and vomited.
"Oh my God," she exclaimed, "are you alright?"
"I-" He was interrupted by the vibrations of his phone.
Sam had texted him saying, "Help."
"Sorry I have to leave," He stormed out of the bar, leaving Sherri topless and overall dumbfounded.
•••
Alannah awoke from unconsciousness tied to a plastic chair. Her vision was blurry and mind groggy. Then everything focused when she heard something shatter on the floor. Sam's cell phone.
That's when she recalled what had happened. Sam and Alannah had placed their car into one of the spaces, and as they advanced towards the building the girl realized she had left her pocket-knife in the vehicle. She left to retrieve it and in the process a man snuck up on Sam. He was extremely agile and actually knocked him after intense combat. Of course, Alannah saw none of this, and smuggled the petite dagger into the back of her jeans. Then the girl walked to where she had last seen the younger brother.
Almost instantly, the man clobbered her over the head with a gun and she collapsed.
Now the Crocotta had a blade pressed firmly to Sam's neck. Apparently he had sent a text to Dean for help and smashed his phone on the ground before the monster could cover his plea.
"You know what's going to happen Sam? Your brother is going to get here, and I'm going to slice his body until he passes out from shock. Then," It cleared it's throat, "I'll kill him and repeat the process with your girl over there. Now how does that sound?"
The Winchester was seething, his breaths coming in and out sharply. Even at the thought of losing both of them brought affliction to his heart.
Alannah was trying to weave her fingers to reach the switchblade. Straining herself to wrap her hand around it, she finally reacquired it until it slipped from her grip onto the concrete floor with a clang.
Immediately the beast whirled around and snatched the weapon. Soon it was her turn to receive the presages of torture. Though she wasn't fully opposed to death now. Her perfect existence had been ripped to pieces when Dean had called everything off. Now that she pondered on it, cutting the cord didn't seem so formidable.
"You thought you'd get out easy, huh sweetheart? A pig-stick like this isn't going to get you out of these ropes fast enough."
His rough calloused grasp scraped along her thigh. Biting down on her lip hard to keep from puking, she watched him graze his touch along her legs.
"Get off of me you filth," she sternly commanded, mustering up all the courage she attained.
Goosebumps of disgust arose along her physique and suddenly the motions were stopped and replaced with sharp frigid metal against her skin. Dean was here.
"Say a word and she's dead," the creature threatened Sam.
The pointed edge of the knife poked at her neck and was extremely uncomfortable. Although if she made any movements her life would end.
She struggled to stay still, the apprehension of what was to come ate away at her like a lion to a chunk of meat. Sam kept sending her glances of caution, making sure she was alright.
They all sat in a trepidation infused silence until the doors creaked open. Alannah winced and shrieked for a split second; the Crocotta had nicked her skin. The girl apprehended the trail of blood trickling down her chest and shifted slightly. Then she realized the captor disappeared.
Dean appeared at the entrance with wide eyes filled with anger and fear, "Are you two alright?"
"Dean look out!" Alannah yelled as the monster emerged behind him.
The older brother whipped around and tried to stab it in the back of its neck, that was its vulnerable spot. He missed into the air, but was instantly up on his feet. Lithely, the Crocotta lunged towards Dean and punched him in the gut. Stumbling backwards, he held the blade in front of himself.
More conflict ensued between the two until Dean passed Sam one of his daggers to cut himself out of the bonds.
It slammed Dean onto the hard ground with such an impact that the side of his temple split open.
Sam vigorously tried to save his brother and finally the line snapped.
Once he was out the Crocotta was doomed. Still battling Dean, Sam stealthily sped behind it and thrusted the weapon its' neck. The creature contorted in pain; writhing on the floor before ceasing all motion.
"I'll get Al out of the ropes," Dean said walking over to her.
When he called her "Al" something inside of the girl fluttered. That was her old nickname, and it hadn't been used in forever. The eldest Winchester had averted his viridian irises at hers when he pronounced that alternate name. He didn't even expect that to come out, it was an involuntary reaction.
The edged object sliced through the cords behind her back. Without delay, she expelled the breath of suspense being stored in her stressed lungs. Dean moved to the rough twine around her wrists. When he removed it his left hand skimmed hers. Then she obtained the sight of his engagement ring. Their sight met each other's and the one emotion derived was hope. Hope that maybe, someday they could make it. Although that might have only been Alannah's thoughts because Dean twisted around to Sam who asked what he had been doing before he rescued them.
"Went to a bar, saw some girls, the usual," What meager amount of confidence she had achieved slipped away from her in that second.
In an enraged tone she spoke with clipped words, "At least your moving on now."
He stared directly into her, originally this would have sent shivers of avidity down her spine. But now his facial appearance was chilling.
Getting ready for a screaming match, Alannah braced herself for what was to come.
"Come outside with me, I want to talk to you," Dean requested, "We'll be back in a minute, Sam."
The younger brother nodded and sent Dean a look of warning saying, "you better not hurt her anymore than you already have."
The two stepped into the damp parking lot, and Alannah fiddled with her hands nervously. She didn't know how much more of this she could take.
"Why would you even say that in front of me?" She questioned, her heart burned with calamity.
"Does it bother you? Because if it did that's what I was shooting for," He answered vehemently.
She decided it was her turn to get mad at him,"I'm done with this, I've had to put up with your crap for far too long now. Yes, I know what I did was unacceptable and that you'll never forgive me. I've heard the speech before. But that does not mean that I'm just a rag-doll you can throw around until it's stitches rip out. I'm done," She finished with a huff.
He was stunned. Never had Dean expected her to have such a fiery accent with him. Then he thought about what he should say next and something inside of him flipped. The sight of her scrounging every last crumb of audacity she attained made him ponder on why he needed to be so rash with her. Nothing could change the past.
Suddenly words came out of his mouth but they both couldn't believe what he was saying, was this even Dean?
"I forgive you."
Her expression was probably a surplus of things, but mostly addled.
"Wh-what?" She stuttered.
"I forgive you, Alannah. But I want you to know what you did, it hurt me so deeply sometimes just looking at you makes me angry," He continued, "Although now that I think back to it, I was so happy with everything I didn't want to notice what was wrong. Then when I saw you with Sam and...well my world caved in."
She could sense this was sucking every bit of pride he had away, "You don't have to say anything else, I get it."
"No, I need to," Dean insisted, "When you told me you had let a demon posses you to help me stay alive, all I could think about was if I had lost you. I said to myself, "how would I cope?" Then I just couldn't tell right from wrong, I belittled you and took away the one positive thing coming out of this whole ordeal and pulverized it. And I just wanted to let you know I'm sorry for what I have done to you."
Alannah was speechless. He was apologizing? Was this even happening? She wanted to pinch herself to make sure this wasn't some sort of sick dream.
"I forgive you too, and I know that our relationship is over, nothing will ever mend that hole. But I just want you to know that Sam and I miss you on the road. And if you want to tag along with us, it would be nice to have you and Baby back."
He nodded and a half-smile graced his lips, "I might come, I'll think about it," Then they heard Sam coming downstairs from the cell tower.
"Alright, you ready to get back on the road? Sam asked Alannah.
"Yeah, I'm good," She responded, "Bye Dean."
They strode to the automobile and climbed in, Alannah watched Dean and his slowly healing aspects.
He waved goodbye and viewed them driving away.
Then he scolded himself, "What the hell am I doing?"
The older Winchester ran to the Impala and revved up the engine, and followed them to the next destination.
•••
A/N: Hey guys!!! Oh my gosh I'm so sorry I haven't updated in forever but I've literally had tennis tournaments every weekend and practice everyday:/ Actually I'm driving to one today so that's why I get to update:D.
I hope the length of this chapter made up for the lost time, in pretty sure this is the longest one I've wrote lol.
BTW TYSM FOR OVER 700 VOTES AND 23K READS❤️❤️❤️ I LOVE YA'LL SO MUCH!
And for anyone who is confused, this chapter and the last one take place at the end of S3 and what Alannah did was she let a demon posses her to extend Dean's contract.
Alright I guess that's all I have!
Don't forget to vote and comment! I love all feedback:))
-Melody