Roman sat in the middle of the still deserted road, beside Zander, holding Dean's head in his lap, while the others kept a lookout for anyone or anything. He sighed shakily, as he starred at the man he loved and ran a hand gently through Dean's hair, silently begging him to wake up. He had calmed down a little since Zander pointed out that Dean was still alive, but was mindlinking again. He wouldn't be able to relax completely though, until he came back to them. It's been 10 minutes now, the longest he's ever mindlinked before and it was starting to worry him, what if something was wrong?
Meanwhile, Dean was back with an irate Vassago; he had found out about the massacre at the house and was beyond furious. He was angry that the Vamps didn't follow his instructions and do what he had planned. The Vamps didn't wait for Keeper, like they had been told to do, instead they ruined every-damn-thing by trying to be big shots and take Dean out themselves. Vassago had spent the last little while yelling at Keeper, before he told him to bring everyone back to the nest, so they could come up with a new plan. He was alone now with his precious Raven, he paced the room, as he tried to figure out his next move. He had hoped that they had more time before Dean came into his full powers, but judging by what Keeper had told him happened at the house, he knew Dean was close to coming into his full powers and that worried him. Suddenly Keeper returned to the room to let him know the family had returned and were waiting for him. Before Dean could find out what they were going to talk about, he was thrown back into his body. His eyes shot open, as he sucked in a deep breath, before he began coughing, he sat up and instantly was surrounded by his concerned loved ones. He took a few deep breaths to calm down; mindlinking took a lot out of him and for the first 10 minutes after coming back were painful, his whole body ached, Roman watched him closely, before he spoke.
"Dean baby, are you okay?"
"Yeah."
"What...what did you see?" Seth asked gently.
"Vassago called off the attack." Dean answered, as he stood with Roman's help.
"He what?" Paige said shocked. "Why?"
"The Vamps that attacked us screwed everything up! They were supposed to wait for Keeper, like I saw originally." Dean explained.
"So, you weren't wrong, brother?" Zander asked smiling.
"No."
"Why don't you sound relieved or..."
"I can't because it doesn't change the fact that Grant's dead!" Dean yelled angrily, cutting Paige off. "Don't you guys get it? He's still dead because of...me!"
"Dean!" Zander yelled firmly, everyone stopped and looked at him.
"What?"
"We are not the enemy! We've talked about this brother, you need to let go of the blame and put it back on Vassago or we've already lost!"
"Dammit, I know that, I don't need another lecture! What I do need is to kill that son-of-a-bitch Vassago and get my life back!" Dean yelled angrily.
"Dean, please calm..."
"Just leave me alone!" Dean yelled, cutting Roman off, pulling away from his touch. "Look, you guys get out of here and find shelter, I need space. I'll find you when I feel better." He added sighing, before he walked away.
After Dean was gone, no one spoke for a few seconds; no one knew what to say. Finally Zander told them it would be safer if they did what Dean said to do and find shelter. Roman didn't want to leave Dean's bike, but since they couldn't drive it they needed to find a way to get it to where they were going. After looking around Zander spotted a beat up pickup truck for sale in someone's driveway. He walked over to the house and was about to go to the front door, when an elderly, male voice spoke from the garage.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes, I'm actually here to inquire about your truck for sale." Zander said smiling.
"She ain't pretty, but she still runs like she was new." The man said proudly.
"I can tell she was well loved." Zander replied still smiling. "It sounds like you don't want to sell her?"
"I don't, but it's time for a fresh start and I need to sell her for me to do that."
"Well, I'd love to buy her and I promise to love her as much as you do. In fact it's actually for my family." Zander explained, as he pointed to the others.
"Well...alright, I'll sell her to you." The elderly man said smiling sadly, after a few seconds.
"Thank you sir, my name is Zander."
"Charles." The elderly man said, as he held out his hand.
"Pleasure." Zander replied, as they shook hands. "How much do you want for her?"
"I...I don't know really."
"Okay, well how about $500.00?"
"Sounds fair to me. Just let me go get the keys." Charles said sighing, before he went inside the house for a few seconds, he then returned to the driveway. "Here you go."
"Thank you and here's the $500.00 we agreed upon." Zander said, as he took the keys and gave the money to Charles. "Before we go I actually did have another question for you."
"Sure."
"You wouldn't know of any empty houses in the country would you? My family and I love the country and we were hoping to buy a house there."
"The country huh? Well, there's only two that I know of; one out on Sanders Road and one 10 miles East outside of town. Both though have been abandoned for years, so they'd need to be fixed up."
"Even better, we love to fix up old houses." Zander said smiling, as he shook Charles' hand again. "Thank you for everything, you've been a big help."
"You're welcome, good luck to you and your family."
Zander walked over to the truck and waited until Charles had gone inside, before he got into the truck and drove to where the others were waiting. He parked, got out and with Roman and Seth's help they loaded the bike onto the truck, while Paige put Dean's helmet into the car. Once it was loaded he told them about the house outside of town, so Roman, Paige and the girls got into the car, while Seth got into the truck with Zander. Once ready; with the car in the lead, they drove away to their new home, all of them though couldn't stop worrying about Dean.
**With Dean**:
After leaving the others Dean just walked around town; it was quiet and nearly deserted due to the late hour. He felt like an asshole for the way he attacked his family, but everything was piling up on his shoulders and he felt like he was losing his mind! Vassago had taken one member of his family from him already and he refused to let him take anymore; especially Roman! As he wandered around openly, he didn't fear being spotted by another Vamp, knowing they were all back at the nest. He found a park and walked around it, until he came to a bench, so he sat down. He sighed, as he thought about the battle ahead, he was the Chosen One dammit, he was supposed to be their leader...the only one who could end this, but he couldn't even control his damn powers; some savior he was! He became so angry with himself, suddenly he felt like he was burning up from the inside, out. He dropped to the ground on his knees, putting his forehead against the grass, as he wrapped his arms around himself and screamed out in pain. He needed to stop the pain, so he began taking deep breaths, concentrating on stopping the pain. He kept one hand wrapped around him, while the other one was on the ground, clenched into a fist holding onto a clump of grass and dirt. With his eyes closed he pictured his powers flowing through his body to his hands, at first nothing happened, until the pain began to lessen. A few seconds later it had disappeared completely, but the feeling of complete power remained.
He sat up on his knees, breathing heavily and shakily he reached a hand out grabbing onto the bench for support, as he used it to stand. He then sat on the bench, still breathing heavily and starred at his hands, unsure about what the hell had happened. He didn't want to get his hopes up, thinking he had finally, somehow gotten control of his powers, he needed to know for sure. So, he closed his eyes and took deep breaths, remembering what Zander had taught him and tried to mindlink with Vassago. Again nothing happened at first and he could feel himself getting frustrated, but he forced himself to stay focused. A half hour later, he suddenly heard faint voices, thinking there was someone in the park with him, he opened his eyes and looked around, but there was no one there. He brushed it off and closed his eyes trying once more, as he did he heard the voices again, this time they sounded a little louder. He quickly opened his eyes and looked around, but still found no one and like before the voices stopped as soon as he opened his eyes. Confused and getting a little pissed, he closed his eyes, this time though when he heard the voices he concentrated on them and they became loud enough he could understand them. He smiled, his eyes still closed, as he realized he was hearing Vassago talking, before he heard Keeper's voice and then the voices of other Vamps he knew. He kept his eyes closed, still smiling, as he tried to get a visual, but all he could get were the voices and his smile disappeared, as his head began to hurt as he forced the image to come. He knew he needed Zander's help, so he gave up and opened his eyes, sighing he ran his hands over his face, before he got up and began leaving the park. As he walked he took his phone out of his pocket and dialed Roman's number.
"Dean!" Roman said relieved, after he answered. "Where are you? Are you okay?"
"Easy baby boy, I'm fine...I feel like an asshole for what happened, but I'm okay. I'm so sorry Roman."
"It's alright baby, we understand and we all forgive you."
"I'm ready to come back, where are you?" Dean asked.
"10 miles East out of town, at an old farm." Roman answered. "Can you find us? I can come get you?"
"I can find it." Dean replied smiling.
"Okay, we'll see you soon. I love you, please be careful."
"I will and I love you too." Dean said, before they hung up.
After hanging up, he put his phone away, as he sighed, he wasn't strong enough yet after the fight at the house to use his powers to get to the farm. That meant he had to find a ride, so he walked out of the park and down the street looking for someone to take him. After a few minutes he finally found a young couple getting into their car, he walked up to them and before they could do or say anything he used his powers to control them; something he didn't like to do very often and he rarely used it. They got into the car and they drove him to the farm, he stopped the car halfway there though and he got out. He then released them, before he walked away, he walked the rest of the way and reached the house just as the sun began to rise. He stood hidden in the bushes nearby, starring at the house making sure it was safe, before he headed to the door. As he did he noticed the strange truck parked in the driveway beside Grant's car, he didn't know who it belonged to, so he was unsure what he'd find when he went inside. When he went into the house, it was quiet and he couldn't see any of his loved ones anywhere. He stood in the hallway listening, suddenly he heard a soft noise from behind him. He quickly turned around and grabbed the person, slamming their back into the wall.
"Dammit Ambrose, it's me!" Seth said quickly, stopping him before Dean could punch him in the face.
"Shit, sorry Seth! I...I didn't mean to hurt you." Dean said, as he let him go and backed away.
"You didn't, it's okay." Seth said smiling, reassuring him, before they hugged.
"Who's truck is that?"
"Zander bought it last night." Seth answered. "He got it so we could bring your bike with us."
"Oh." Dean replied. "So, where is everyone?"
"Rose and Violet are upstairs sleeping and everyone else is in the living room. Come on, I'll take you to them." Seth said, as he patted Dean on the back. "I'm glad you're safe and back with us."
"Thanks, I' am too." Dean replied smiling.
As they walked to the living room, Dean wasn't sure if Zander could help him figure out how to fully use his mindlink power, but at least there was a chance it could work and if there was a chance; even a tiny one, then he wasn't quitting! He wasn't ready to give up yet, not after he came so close to losing his family tonight. At least now they had time to figure out a plan and train some more since the attack had been called off and every Vamp was at the nest. Dean was going to make sure that he worked his ass off and did whatever he had to do to for them to finally kill Vassago and end this nightmare, so they all could have the happily ever after together that they deserved!
TBC...