Supernatural Fresh Meat - By Alice Henderson Page 0,39
a kid, Sam’s life had been saved by a little girl, a kitsune—a fox creature that has to eat a certain part of the human brain to survive. The girl had killed her own mother to protect Sam. Later, as an adult, she had never killed. She worked as a mortician, getting the brain matter she needed from the dead. But when her son got terribly sick, she realized she had to get him fresh meat and killed a human for him. When her son recovered, she swore to Sam that she would never kill again, and he spared her life. But then Dean went behind Sam’s back and killed her. She had murdered people, after all, even if the victims she chose were scum—a heroine drug dealer among them. Dean had a mission, didn’t he? He had to protect humanity.
He felt bad about her, though. She haunted him. Dean had sent her son away on his own, vowing that if the boy ever murdered anyone, he’d show up and kill him. The boy had stared at him with hatred, and sworn that the only person he’d ever kill was Dean. Then he’d run off.
If Sam ever found out, Dean knew it would change his brother’s opinion of him. He would be tarnished in Sam’s eyes.
Dean knew that even when you make a decision you think is for the best, it can change how people feel about you. Killing Amy was right. He knew that. She would have killed again. But it had put the trust between him and his brother in jeopardy. Sam would feel betrayed if he found out Dean had gone behind his back.
God knew, that’s how Dean felt about Castiel, though Cas sure as hell had made far more epic mistakes than Dean. Castiel had once told him that he thought of Dean as family. Dean had begged the angel to defuse after he’d taken on the power of all those souls from Purgatory, but Cas hadn’t listened, and instead became drunk with power, his original good intentions lost in his megalomania.
He’d betrayed them all. Dean had trusted him, remained loyal even when Sam and Bobby suspected that Cas was going dark side. Dean had refused to believe it then, but they’d been right.
Dean forced himself to think about something else. He wondered how Bobby and Sam were faring at the seaside, and if Bobby would talk to Sam about his Hell memories.
The temperature continued to dip lower. The snowflakes, which had been huge and clumped together at first, were now smaller and discrete, a sure sign of increasing cold. Dean shivered a bit, then stood up to walk around the perimeter in an attempt to get warm.
On Dean’s second lap, Jason sat bolt upright with a garbled shout.
“What is it?” Dean said, scanning the surrounding trees.
Jason looked around, confused. “Nightmare. Sorry.” He slumped back into his bag.
Dean made another circuit, glancing at Jason as he tossed and turned. Finally, Jason sat up again. “I can watch for a while.”
Grateful, Dean took him up on his offer and climbed inside his own warm sleeping bag while Jason took the watch.
Snow floated down, dusting his eyelashes. With only his face sticking out of his bag, Dean drifted off to the sensation of his nose going slightly numb with cold. Around him the forest creaked and gusts sighed in the trees. He knew it was just the wind, but he couldn’t fight the feeling that the aswang was close by their camp, breathing in the darkness.
TWENTY-TWO
The bell rang above Sam’s head as he exited Johennie’s shop, a bag full of spices tucked under one arm. He also now had the stingray barb and the hemp and twine for the whip.
In the west, a glow was still visible above the horizon, though the sun had now set. The deep blue of the sky there blended into night in the east.
He was halfway to Bobby’s van when a splitting pain erupted in the back of his head. He crashed down hard, thinking at the last minute that he couldn’t land on the bag. He twisted, landing on his back.
As the blinding pain surged forward, forcing his eyes shut, Sam struggled to get his bearings. Vaguely aware of a VW Rabbit parked beside him, he slid the bag under it.
Gripping the back of his head with one hand, he tried to rise. Warm stickiness met his cradling fingers. He forced his eyes open in time to see a two-by-two come swinging