Chapter Text
All the victims found were males and as Sam plainly put it, they were all ‘dicks’. They were well-known for being chauvinist pigs and ill-treating women, and he guessed it was only a matter of time till they pissed off the wrong person and got their just deserts. Not that Sam truly thought they deserved to be cut open and have their hearts ripped out, but they weren’t particularly ‘innocent’ either.
The way their bodies had been found clearly showed that they were being targeted by some supernatural force and that meant that he and his brother had to stop it. Not that his brother was thrilled about it either, but he agreed, they had to save those people.
After some research, Sam was sure some coven was involved in the killings. They were highly ritualized and followed an extremely specific pattern. Of course, the police was at a loss with the case and had no clue what was going on as most of the likely suspects had alibis, so the officers were beginning to lose all hopes at solving the case, but Sam and his brother knew better.
Sam read the police files for the tenth time and arrived at the same conclusion: apparently, one of these men had messed with a witch, or witches, and drawn their attention to ‘his kind’. And it seemed that the ‘ladies’ had made it their mission to rid the world of such men and, perhaps, offer them in sacrifice to whatever deity they worshipped.
They spent the rest of the day searching for evidence of supernatural rituals and activity and right when they thought it was a dead end, they heard about some old woods out of town where nobody ventured going…much less alone.
They drove there straightaway and as soon as they got out of the Impala, they saw different sets of footprints going inside and outside the woods. None of the brothers enjoyed walking into such places –it often meant putting themselves in the way of some nasty creature, or offering themselves as lunch– but they knew it had to be done. So, they both took a deep breath and began searching the area.
They scanned the place for hours and when they were about to give up and leave, they found a large stone with a slab on top. They approached it carefully, making sure there was no one around and examined it closely. They immediately realized it was an altar: there were a number of symbols engraved on all sides of the stone and something that resembled dried blood.
They continued looking around and saw that there were fresh footprints around the altar and several dried leaves and torn clothes scattered nearby.
“Hey, Dean, ever seen these symbols before?”
“Nope, geek boy, you?”
“No.”
They’d seen a number of symbols and dealt with witches more than once but they had no idea what those inscriptions meant. So, Sam took out his notepad and copied them.
They checked the surroundings one more time and seeing that there was nobody around and no more information to be gathered, they walked back to the Impala and left.
Sam busied himself researching the meaning of the symbols as soon as they got to their motel room, but he couldn’t find a thing. He thought about it and knew there were only two possibilities: a) it was just a bunch of stupid people who had no clue what they were doing and were just doing it for fun; or b) it was some serious stuff, therefore, well-hidden so that only few people could have access to it. Sam pondered both possibilities and deep down knew it was most probably the latter.
He was lost in his own thoughts when his brother asked “hey, did you check the moon phases?”
“Yeah, I did, but the killings took place during the full moon, new moon, crescent moon…looks like there’s no connection.”
“Lemme see the dates again.”
Dean looked at the exact dates of the killings and compared them against the lunar phase calendar he had beside him and, after a few seconds, he grinned triumphantly “check this out: all the bodies were found the day ‘after’ a moon phase started.”
Sam looked at the dates and the calendar and realized his brother was right, and also that according to the pattern the next killing was supposed to happen that very night. They didn’t know what they were dealing with yet and they didn’t like going blind against whatever, or whoever, it was that was murdering those men, but they knew they had to do something. Therefore, they got as much ammo and weapons as they could and headed back to the woods.
They arrived there a few minutes before midnight. New moon in the sky meaning a pitch black night and Dean cursed because that would only make things harder for them. They noticed that there were several cars parked near the woods and wondered what exactly was going on. Only one thing was clear: people were involved in whatever was happening, and that was ‘never’ a good thing.
“Man, you know, monsters I get, people are just crazy! I mean who in their sane mind would be out here in a cold, dark night?”
“Erm, witches?” Sam replied smirking.
“Yeah, whatever. Man, I just ‘hate’ witches!”
They both got hold of their guns and drew a duffel bag containing hex bags and anything that might come in handy before entering the woods. They knew they had to be careful and quiet since they didn’t want anyone to notice their presence so they put their flashlights away and headed straight to the altar.
After a thirty minute walk in the dark trying hard not to trip over tree roots or rocks, they finally got to the exact spot where some sort of ritual was being performed. They hid behind a tree and quietly put the bag on the ground, observing what was happening around the altar, where a man was being stripped off his clothes by a young woman who was already naked.
“That’s hot!” Dean whispered.
“Dean, focus!”
“Yeah, sorry…but she’s hot!” he replied smirking.
Sam pointed at the altar and frowned, urging his brother to keep his libido on check and focus on the task at hand.
The man didn’t seem to be disturbed at all. He seemed pretty content actually. He was lying on his back on the altar while the naked form of a young female straddled him and kissed him fiercely. “Yeah, that’s hot,” Sam admitted to himself, but then noticed the women in robes slowly circling the couple on the altar. They were dressed in black and chanting some kind of incantation. The brothers locked gazes knowing something nasty was going to happen any time soon so they began moving stealthily towards the altar.
The man lying on it seemed totally oblivious of everything around him. He was fully concentrated on the girl on top of him, who was staring at him and undulating her body in a highly erotic way. The man had a goofy look on his face almost as if he couldn’t believe this gorgeous girl was all hot and bothered because of him and Dean couldn’t help feeling sorry for the poor bastard, the guy was surely facing his last minutes on this earth and he had no freaking clue. The girl was hot, though.
Suddenly, the women in robes closed the circle around the altar holding hands and chanting louder while one of them, apparently their high priestess, drew a dagger from her sleeve and held it high in the air aiming for the man’s heart.
The brothers reacted immediately and Dean shot her hand, the woman dropping the dagger instantly while Sam headed towards the altar. The thundering blast of the weapon immediately drew the group’s attention to them both and they made a run for the man on the altar trying to set him free before the witches killed him.
The women gave a murderous look at the brothers while some of them tried to get hold of the dagger and finish their ritual. The sacrificial victim wasn’t reacting to all the noise and screaming around him and the brothers guessed he was drugged, which was good because they could just drop him off at the nearest ER and he wouldn’t remember a thing –therefore, no questions asked. However, that also meant the guy was too far gone to be of any help getting out of there and they would have to carry his naked ass all the way out of the woods…just ‘peachy’!
Dean kept shooting the witches as they threw themselves at him with blades in their hands. He had no idea where the knives had come from but he wasn’t that interested either. The only thing in his mind was saving the jerk on the altar and getting the hell out of there.
Sam fought his way towards the man and saw that the naked girl had managed to retrieve the dagger from under the priestess’ body, which was contorting in pain on the ground, and was reading herself to stab the man in the chest. Luckily, Sam had ridiculously long legs and in a few long strides, he was standing next to the girl and taking the dagger from her hands, thus preventing her from stabbing the man.
She was rather small but that didn’t seem to matter. She turned around and looked at him in the eye raging mad. Sam was a very large man, but the look in her eyes was really scary. Yet, he’d seen plenty in his life and wasn’t going to let himself be scared by a naked woman. Wow, that hadn’t come out right! And there was no way he’d ever let his brother know about it…that would give him ammo to mock him…pretty much forever!
So, he did the only thing that came to mind: punched her right on the face. He didn’t feel well about it: you don’t hit girls! However, considering that she looked pretty crazy and only God knew what she was about to do, it wasn’t such a bad idea at the time.
His blow made the girl lose her step and fall backwards on the altar. Sam held the dagger in his right hand and got ready for whatever she was planning on doing next. Except that her eyes turning an angry red and her nails growing longer and sharper till they became claws was something he’d never expected.
Sam had no clue what was going on and Dean was way too busy wasting the witches that were attacking him to be of any assistance at the moment so Sam took a deep breath and lunged towards the girl –or whatever she was.
They both ended up on the ground struggling for the dagger. The girl used her claws quite efficiently, tearing the front of his jacket and shirt to pieces and scratching his face before Sam finally managed to stab her in the heart. As soon as he drew the dagger in, she gave a terrifying shriek and shook out of control.
Sam got up and stepped away from her staring at her contorting body. Suddenly, all her movements ceased and he let go of the breath he’d been holding thinking it was over. And just as suddenly as her movements had ceased, she opened her eyes wide, got hold of Sam’s ankle digging her claws into it and breaking the skin in the process, and uttered a few words in a language Sam had never heard before, and then she remained very still, the red gone from eyes.
Sam was still breathing heavily when he heard his brother calling his name from the opposite side of the altar.
“Hey, Sammy, you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s just get out of here before someone shows up.”
“C’mon, dude, we’re in the middle of nowhere, I don’t think the police will show up any time soon.”
Sam nodded in agreement and they both carried the semi-conscious, naked man out of the woods. Dean cursed all the way, repeatedly stating he’d rather die than have to carry a naked guy ever again. Sam just laughed and mocked his brother endlessly.
Once they were out of the woods, they checked the guy and discovered there was nothing wrong with him, he was just…high. So, they threw him in the backseat of the Impala and drove straight to the nearest ER. They left him at the door and drove away as fast as they could knowing that he wouldn’t remember anything and that they had to leave town fast –there was a bunch of dead bodies in the woods and they didn’t want to run the risk of being connected to them. So, they headed back to the motel in order to pack and leave Somerton asap.
Sam was drowsy and stretching his body and Dean immediately noticed the black bags under his brother’s eyes. Dean’s eyes left the road and shifted towards Sam several times, worried for his brother. His jacket and shirt were shred to pieces and there was dried blood all over them. Sam had said several times that he was okay, that they were just a couple of scratches and that most of blood was the girl’s, but Dean wanted to get to their motel soon so that he could check his wounds and make sure his brother was fine.
“Hey, Sam, you okay?”
“Yeah, Dean, just tired. Told you earlier it was nothing, just scratches…it’s not ‘my’ blood, ok?”
“Ok, that’s our room. Let’s go inside so you can get some fresh clothes,” Dean said and then thought “and maybe I can take a look at those ‘scratches’ before we leave.”
Dean gave his brother the key to their room and asked him to go inside while he carried the duffel bag. Sam wasn’t surprised his brother was carrying the bag for him. He was being over-protective and Sam knew that when Dean acted like this, it was much easier to humor him.
So, he stepped inside their room, took off his jacked and shirt –well, what was left of them– and said “See, Dean? Just a couple of scratches…there’s nothing wrong with me…I’m just tired, ok?”
Dean quickly studied the wounds and realized his brother was right. His chest and right side of his face were covered in scratches and bruises but other than that, he seemed fine. And then, he noticed the blood in his ankle.
“What about that?” Dean asked pointing at the bloodied jeans and boot.
Sam looked down and explained what had happened with the possessed girl. Of course, his brother insisted on taking a closer look at it and Sam complied. He wasn’t in the mood for a fight so for once in his life he thought it better to do as he was told. After all, the faster they got over it, the faster they’d leave.
Dean examined his ankle carefully. Again, the cuts weren’t particularly deep, they wouldn’t even need any stitches and Dean finally seemed to calm down.
“So, do you believe me now? I’m fine, Dean, just tired.”
They were both exhausted and in serious need of a rest, but Dean knew he had to put as much distance as possible between Somerton and them. So, he checked out while Sam put their bags in the trunk, and joined him a few minutes later, only to find his brother on the passenger’s seat, slowly falling asleep. Dean sat behind the wheel and turned on the ignition with only two thoughts in his mind: find a motel so they could both get some sleep, and get the hell out of Somerton…real fast.