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Title: What Can Hurt You
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I have never owned a television show in my life. That includes both Supernatural and Dark Angel.
Summary: Alec assumes their biggest problem is finding The Demon. Sam doesn’t have the heart to tell him he’s wrong.
Series: Finale for the What Comes Around ‘Verse. Sequel to What You Dream About.
Author’s Note: Major props go out to ![[info]](https://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
scornedsaint and astrothsknot for the kick-ass beta job
Manmade Monster
What Comes Around 1 | 2
What You See
What You Dream About
What Can Hurt You 1 | 2
The Coming. Sam turns the phrase over and over in his head. He’s heard it before, but the situation and place eludes him.
“It’s Max,” Alec says as Welcome to Washington soars by on their right. “Logan wakes up, puts his glasses on and she’s up there.” He turns to stare out the window.
If Sam lets himself, he can still smell Jessica’s burning hair.
“You didn’t give him the heads up?”
“What the hell is he going to do, Sam?” Alec asks sounding more tired that Sam has ever heard him. “It’s going to happen if he’s with her or not. Let them be happy for a while at least.”
The words sound dull on his lips. Alec himself looks dulled, the colors of his skin, his lips, all washed out, too gray, like it’s been a year since he’s seen the sun. Sam worries about him. He remembers what it was like after Jessica, like a gaping wide hole in his stomach that ached for months on end.
“You think it’ll be there?” Alec asks.
Sam knows it will be there. But he doesn’t know how to stop it.
He remembers how Dean had to stifle a scream while the thing ripped him apart from the inside.
He remembers his father’s yellow eyes daring him to shoot.
The gun was a blessing. It was a miracle they’d ever found it again, a miracle that their trick with the bullet amounted to anything. And now the gun was gone. Sam doesn’t know of anything else that could even slow the Yellow Eyed Demon.
Alec doesn’t share his doubts. Sam doubts he has any. He thinks their biggest problem is finding the damn thing; he assumes that since Sam and Dean had managed to stop it the first time, the second time will be a piece of cake.
Sam doesn’t have the heart to tell him he’s wrong.
_______________________________________________________________________
It’s raining in Seattle. Just like it had been that first day, six months ago when Sam had walked into Crash more than six months ago and found the double of his brother playing pool.
He wonders what he’d do if he had a chance to change it. If he’d leave Seattle before the demon could zero in on Alec and just maybe spare the kid a hell of a lot of pain.
He doesn’t have an answer.
They park the car in abandoned parking garage and Alec leads them deftly through a maze of sewers on the way to Terminal City.
“Isn’t there another way into this place?” Sam asks.
“There’s always the front gate,” Alec admits, “but last I heard they had a regular military presence and odds are, the transgenics are just as inclined to shoot you as let you in.” He pauses at crossroad, laughs. “And I know Max isn’t fond of you.”
“She’s not on my list of favorite people either,” Sam says.
Alec turns into the left tunnel, beckoning for Sam to follow. As far as sewers go, it’s actually one of the most pristine Sam has ever seen. He gets the felling that the route is well used, perhaps even well cared for. It seems like something transgenics would do. Alec is far more preoccupied with cleanliness than Dean ever was. Sam guesses it had something to do with growing up in a genetics lab.
“Let me do the talking,” Alec says. “They don’t take well to strangers.”
It suddenly occurs to Sam that Alec’s disassociated himself with the transgenics, that he doesn’t ever include himself in that group; that it’s always, they, them, the transgenics and never we, never us. He wonders if it’s always been that way. If Alec has always been the outcast or if this self-imposed isolation is new. He wonders why he hadn’t noticed it before.
Probably because he’s the same way. It always used to be the Winchester Brothers against the world and after that it had been Sam against the world. And until Alec, it had stayed that way.
“Sam!” Alec hisses. “You ready, or what?”
“Right behind you,” Sam says as Alec pushes up and manhole and pulls himself up and into the rain. They’re a team whether they like it or not.
________________________________________________________________________
Terminal City greets him with a gun to the face. Sam isn’t terribly surprised. The guy holding the gun isn’t exactly human. He looks like an unfortunate mix between a man and a crocodile, with scaly, faintly green skin, an elongated snout and eyes that seemed to glow red. Directly across from him, Alec is in the grips of a literal batman.
“Security breech,” says Croc. “I knew the cease fire was too good to be true.”
“Clearly you’re new here,” Alec says to the guy with the gun on him. “Look, let me and my friend here go and I promise I won’t rat you out to Max.”
“Not hard to figure that name out. Nearly everyone on the outside knows Max.”
“Logan, then,” Alec says, completely calm. “Or Joshua. Maybe Dix or Mole…”
“Mole’s dead,” snaps batman. “Exploding cigar.”
Alec blinks, and something like regret flickers across his face, but it’s gone a second later, replaced by his usual mask of sarcasm. “That actually happens outside of cartoons?”
Batman twists his arms back farther and Alec winces. “I get it, touchy subject. Look, I just need to find Max?”
“Alec!” a voice says from the opposite side of the alley.
“Joshua!” Alec says with relief.
Sam tries not to let his eyes widen. Joshua is immense, taller than even Sam himself. He’s dressed in an army surplus jacket and baggy patchwork jeans that have seen better days. For the most part, he looks human, but that’s only until Sam notices the face hidden by the long, straggly hair. There’s something distinctly canine about his features.
“Alec,” says Joshua. “You… came back.”
“Never said I wouldn’t,” Alec replies gently but Sam knows him well enough to hear the lie beneath the words. Alec had never planned on coming back.
“Left,” Joshua says shortly. “No goodbyes.”
“I’m sorry,” Alec says. “But is that really a capital offense? C’mon, Josh, this goon’s almost popped my arm off.”
“Let him go,” Joshua says. “Friend.”
Batman relinquishes his hold on Alec, but Croc doesn’t lower his gun. Sam clears his throat. “Little help here, Alec?”
Joshua’s nose twitches. Sam keeps telling himself not to make sudden movements.
“That’s Sam,” Alec explains softly. “You’re going to want him on your side.”
Joshua tilts his head sideways, regarding Sam with open interest.
“He’s a good guy,” Alec says. “My friend.”
“Friend of Alec,” Joshua says slowly, “friend of ours. Always welcome.”
The gun finally lowers and Sam pulls himself through the manhole and back into the pouring rain. “Guy’s an ordinary,” Croc says with contempt. “What the hell are you doing bringing an ordinary in here?”
“Logan’s an ordinary too,” Alec snaps. “Look, we just need to see Max.”
Joshua nods once and then his face fades into a smile. “Missed you, Alec.”
The sight of Dean’ genetic double embraced by something that looks like it needs hunting unnerves Sam more than he cares to admit. Alec excluded, transgenics make him all sorts of uncomfortable.
“You too, big fella,” Alec mutters, “but me and Sam really need to talk to Max.”
________________________________________________________________________
Croc and Batman shove them into a broom closet to wait while Joshua leaves to find Max. Alec leans back casually against the wall. Sam takes a few deep breaths and then chokes on the dusty air.
“Nervous?” Alec asks.
“Edgy,” Sam concedes. “Typical policy with guys who look like that is shoot first, questions later.” And then he stops. “Sorry, that was out of line. I know they’re friends of yours.”
“Joshua, yeah, but the other two... Idiots. Manticore was hit and miss in the brains department.” Alec looks towards the ceiling. “Christ, Sammy, you sure coming here was a good idea. We could have done this without involving Max.”
“You think I want to see Max? You weren’t the one getting death threats from the girl.”
“Been there before,” Alec says. “Trust me, it just means she likes you.”
“Funny way of showing it.”
“We can still leave.” Alec says and there is a hint of pleading in his voice that Sam had missed before. “They don’t have any idea how to take this thing on. We ask for help and we’ll just get them killed.”
“She’s your friend, Alec,” Sam says. He wants Alec to know that, to treasure that like Dean never had a chance to, like Sam never could after he and Dean slipped onto the FBI’s most wanted list. “She’d want to know you were here even if she wasn’t tied up in the job.”
As if on cue the door creaks open and Max slides inside. She looks different than the last time Sam saw her. Sure she is still wearing her trademark leather jacket along with tight fitting pants, but her hair is shorter now, framing her face in soft curls and something about her eyes seems less desolate than they used to be.
“You came back,” Max says flatly.
Alec looks like he wants the ground to swallow him whole. “Good to see you too, Max,” he mutters.
The two stare at each other for a long moment and Sam gets the feeling that there’s a long complicated history between the two of them that he’ll never understand.
“I’m sorry about--”
“Max, don’t,” Alec says and she falls short.
“Okay,” Sam says, “awkward.”
The spell breaks and Max’s eyes swivel towards Sam giving him a brief once over. “And I thought I told you to leave town.”
“Back off, Max,” Alec snaps, “Logan said you guys had a situation. Something about White’s Coming. He’s here to help, same as me.”
“You trust this guy?” Max asks incredulously.
“Yeah,” Alec says, “I do.”
And just like that, the bomb’s defused, whatever grudge Max had intended to settle with Sam subdued for at least a while longer. In fact, her bravado disappears almost at once, leaking out of her face to leave a bone-deep exhaustion that mirrors Alec’s to perfection.
They’re related, Sam thinks with a start. Physically, they couldn’t be more different, but they’re definitely related, a fact that in a vague, nebulous sort of way reminds him of himself and Dean and starts the old ache anew.
“I’m in over my head, Alec,” she says quietly. “Things are getting bad and I’m not sure how much longer I can keep this up.”
Alec looks pained for a moment and then lays a hand on her shoulder. “You’re Max,” he says softly. “I haven’t seen anything that you can’t handle.”
Max gives him a watery smile. Alec’s face splits into a wry grin. “You and Logan sooo haven’t done it yet.”
She pulls back up and slugs him in the shoulder. Alec cackles. “Oh, I know you wouldn’t be this uptight if the two of you had just let off a little steam. C’mon, the virus has been gone for how long now? I’d have thought you’d be all over that.”
“You’re a pig,” Max says with disgust, but she’s smiling all the same.
Alec shoots Sam a look over her shoulder that quite clearly tells Sam that, no, this is not the right time to tell her that she’s going to die burning over Logan’s bed. Which, in all actuality, is exactly what Sam had been planning to say.
He’s going to have to have a talk with the kid before this is over, because if Sam has ever been sure of anything, it is the fact that knowledge is power. No matter how much easier it is to remain in the dark, Sam through the years has found that ignorance means death far more often than it means bliss.
“Max,” Alec starts, but he doesn’t get a chance to start before there’s the deafening screech of alarms.
“What the fu—” says Alec.
“Something’s wrong.” Max is out the door in a second, Alec close behind her, Sam tagging along feeling like the inevitable third wheel.
Outside, the streets of Terminal City are in pandemonium, transgenics are moving every which way with an inhuman speed that makes Sam feel ancient. Max grabs one of the human-looking ones by the shoulder and says, “Skip! What the hell happened?”
“Fire,” the kid says fidgeting like wild, “down where psy-ops stays.”
Alec goes completely white at the mention of fire. Skip shrugs Max’s hands off his shoulder and sprints away with that same terrifying transgenic speed.
Max takes off. She’s almost out of sight by the time Sam makes it to Alec’s frozen form. “You all right, man?” Sam asks.
“You don’t think…” Alec says.
“Only one way to find out.”
________________________________________________________________________
It takes a while to sort through all the details. Most of the people fleeing the scene fear an attack by some group called the Familiars. Despite the pouring rain, it takes more an hour to douse the fire.
The fire had been focused in one room, on the top story, a nursery. Nothing else seemed touched. When Sam and Alec finally push their way to the room, Max is there, talking to a shorter guy who reminds Sam vaguely of Andy.
“Two dead,” Alec says head tilted to the side, listening to the conversation. “One of the psy-ops girls and her six-month old kid.”
“You didn’t know,” Sam says. “There’s no way. These visions don’t always come.”
“He thinks it’s a lightning strike,” Alec continues. “But someone would have seen the flash, heard the thunder. It’s only this room that’s burned. It was here, Sam. It was here and we were too slow.”
Too Slow. The words echo in Sam’s head. They always do, because as much as he tries to pretend he’s used to this, he’s not. Sam hasn’t heard from this thing for ten years, and already the same despair is settling over him like a black cloud. This time, Dean’s not there to make sure he doesn’t get pulled too deep.
And Sam always seems to be a second too slow.
“I need to get out of here,” Alec says, sounding as young and small as Sam has ever heard him. “Now.”
“Yeah,” says Sam, eyes sweeping the all too familiar scene. “Nothing new to see here.”
There never is.
_______________________________________________________________________
“Do you think it’s still around?”
“I don’t know, Alec. Maybe.”
“It’s got to be somewhere. Things don’t just disappear! It’s not natural. Even the best ones slip up. It can’t—” He stops short, takes a deep breath. “This thing needs to die.”
“First we need to find it,” Sam hisses. “And if what Logan told you was right, they might have something even bigger on their plate here.”
There’s a slightly wild look in Alec’s eyes and not for the first time, Sam realizes just how much Dean had to deal with after Jessica. Sam doesn’t have that kind of patience. He never has. “Alec, you have to get a hold of yourself. If you’re not at the top of your game, things are going to get messy.”
Alec takes a sharp breath and snaps into what Sam has mentally dubbed as Soldier Mode. Guilt washes over him. Alec almost never talks about Manticore, but Sam knows enough. They were soldiers there, not people and Sam doesn’t want to be the one to push Alec back over the edge.
“I’m sorry,” says Sam. “That was out of line.”
Whatever, Princess, Dean echoes in his mind and it sounds so real, for a second he is sure Alec had said it.
But it’s not Dean. It hasn’t been Dean for a long time. After six months he still has to remind himself sometimes.
Alec, not Dean.
“Max!” a familiar voice calls from somewhere behind them. Momentarily distracted, Sam turns to find the source and sure enough it’s Logan Cale. Somehow he stands out from the rest of Terminal City’s bustle. Sam thinks it might have something to do with the faint limp when he hurries or maybe the glint of glasses among so many with perfect vision.
“Sam,” he says, surprised. “Alec. When did you guys get here?”
“Just now,” Sam says. “Figured you guys could use some help.”
Logan nods. “All the help we can get.”
“Logan,” Max says, appearing in the doorframe. "Please tell me we’ve got some good news.”
“Afraid not,” Logan says, shaking his head. “White got through. I don’t know how the hell he did it, but he took out the guards. I can’t find a trace of him.”
_______________________________________________________________________
“White can’t have just taken out two of our guards and disappeared,” Max hisses. “That defies so many laws of physics.”
“We’ve got it on video, Max,” Logan says. “He takes the guys out and then we just lose him. There are surveillance points all around this place, but he’s in none of the videos. It just doesn’t seem like it’s even possible.”
Across from Sam, Alec has gone pale.
“Sounds like the fire wasn’t your only problem,” Sam says hesitantly.
Max turns to glare at him. “That was lightning. Shit happens.”
“Because lightning only ever burns just the one room,” Sam says, “Me and Alec got a look at it. We’ve been tracking this thing for a while.”
“Asha’s fire,” Logan says almost immediately.
“The Demon,” Sam confirms.
“Has everyone gone insane?” Max asks. “Demons? Fires? Did you forget we’re talking about White here? You know the guy who walks in, takes out two guards and disappears.”
“Can we see the tape?” Sam asks. “Maybe you missed something the first time around.”
________________________________________________________________________
The video’s quality is somewhat grainy, too dark, and in black and white, but it’s not unwatchable. Sam peers at it curiously. White, who seems to top the transgenic’s list of enemies, does not look physically intimidating.
He’s short; Sam guesses a few inches taller than Max at most, with close-cropped, dark hair, and a perpetual scowl. He looks more like a pissed off accountant than a serious threat.
“Watch,” Logan says as if reading his thoughts.
And Sam watches.
The fight is something out of “The Matrix”. White is lightning quick--faster than either of the transgenics. He watches White effortlessly snaps the transgenic’s neck and realizes that in a lifetime on the job, he has never seen this kind of strength from a human.
“Are you sure this guy’s not transgenic?” Sam asks.
“Breeding cult,” Logan answers, fingering his glasses. Max is off doing damage control and it is just Sam, Logan and Alec alone with the footage. “Breed for strength, agility. So technically, he is genetically engineered. Just the old fashioned way. I don’t think the transgenics would take him.”
“Got that right,” Alec mutters. He has been pacing the room ever since Max left, too anxious to sit still. It’s the thing he’s said since Logan arrived.
Sam shoots him a glance, surprised to hear Alec get worked up about anything but Asha. There’s still a lot he doesn’t know about the kid. The thought stings more than it should.
“Outside of demonic possession,” Sam ventures, “I’ve never seen a human that strong.”
“I don’t think there are demons involved,” Logan says, “Just a lot of selective breeding.”
“And this is all tied up in some sort of Coming.”
“Now,” says Logan, “that’s where things get interesting.”
He pushes back from the desk, rolling his chair towards a stack of files on one of the side tables with a distinct grace he doesn’t quite possess on his feet. He grabs a folder and hands it to Sam.
“This is everything I’ve got,” Logan says, “I’ve been working on this case for months but all my usual sources have come up dry. Maybe you could stir up something different.”
“You know,” Alec says, uneasy. “This isn’t why we’re here.”
Sam ignores him, flipping through Logan’s files aimlessly. His eyes catch on a small design of intertwined snakes. “I’ve seen this before,” he says absently and flashes the picture to Alec and Logan.
Alec taps his foot impatiently. Logan’s eyebrows rise in interest. “Really? That’s the breeding cult’s symbol. Familiars, they call themselves. That symbol’s a brand. A means of identification. They’ve all got it on their left forearm. From what I’ve heard it’s a rite of passage involving snake blood.”
“You’re joking, right?”
Logan shrugs. “Max got initiated by mistake. It’s some sort of test.”
“The kind where you die when you fail,” finishes Sam.
“Right in one,” Logan says. “They were more than a little pissed when Max passed their test. “
“I’ll bet.”
Logan nods and then pauses for a long moment before saying, “I know Max isn’t exactly going to roll out the welcome wagon, but I’m glad you guys are here.”
“Anytime, Logan,” Sam says. “It sounded like you could use the help.
He glances to Alec who evades his eyes. “Logan, you got a place me and Sam can crash?”
________________________________________________________________________
Logan’s safe house is on the outskirts of the Terminal City, tucked away and hidden from view. On the outside it’s not much to look at; small and gray, a good part of the roof caving in, but inside is warm and cozy and nicer that the motels Sam usually frequents.
“You should have told him,” Sam says as Alec collapses on the couch.
“You don’t know Logan,” Alec retorts. “The guy’s got a martyr complex bigger than the state. Tell him Max is gonna die and he’s gonna back off of her for ‘her own good.’ Then they’ll both be miserable and I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“We should look into that symbol,” Sam says. “Logan was pretty thorough, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d hit the occult books.”
“That’s our Logan,” Alec says, “tell him there are demons and he’s fine with that. Tell him to take his head out of the computer and he can’t cope.”
“Makes you wonder how a guy like that falls in with transgenics.”
Alec goes quiet for a long moment before he finally says, “He got shot. Bullet severed his spinal cord. He’d met Max a few days before, and… she came back. It’s been Max and Logan ever since I’ve met them, even if they won’t admit it themselves.” He shakes his head. “They’re about the biggest drama you’ve ever seen, but… Sam, I gotta believe they’re gonna make it.”
“Alec,” Sam says.
“Forget it,” Alec says, face blank. “The thing that matters now is keeping them alive. Where do you think that thing got to?”
“I’ve told you before. There’s no real way to track this thing. Best thing to do now is concentrate on what’s in front of us.”
“The Coming,” Alec says. He stares out the window. A shooting star streaks through the night sky, followed by another. A meteor shower.
“Grab a book,” Sam replies.
_______________________________________________________________________
Sam skims through his father’s journal first, scanning the sketches in hopes of coming up with a match for the symbol. The first time though he find nothing, but the second time around, he sees it, just a small series of notes sandwiched between an entry on wendingos and a slightly smudged account of a hunt with a poltergeist.
The sketch isn’t exact, but the resemblance is too much to dismiss. There isn’t much accompanying it. Just a few words in John Winchester’s cramped handwriting.
Familiars. Selective breeding for strength? Telekinetics? Snake worship?
Sam scans the next page again but finds nothing. Something about the entry makes him nervous. His dad had always been extremely thorough and in most entries, if there weren’t details, there was usually a reference to where they could be found.
The only things without those references have been dismissed as false or have some unknown link to the Yellow Eyed Demon.
But Sam has never heard mention of Familiars and he’s been hunting this thing for just as long as his father.
The other possibility is something Sam doesn’t even want to consider:
The idea that an entire cult, a huge cult if Logan’s right, could stay under the radar for this long scares Sam more than he’d like to admit. Life is supposed to be more constant than this. The Pulse keeps people miserable, Sam hunts demons, and the bad guys all slip up eventually.
“Sam, these binding rituals,” Alec says. “They actually work?”
“Depends on which one.”
Alec reads the first line of the incantation, stumbling over the Latin.
“Only if you get really lucky,” Sam says, “and definitely not with your pronunciation.”
“Oh,” says Alec quietly and Sam goes back to his research.
A minute later, Sam looks back towards Alec. “Why the hell are you reading a book on demonology? I thought we were looking for these Familiars.”
Alec doesn’t answer.
Sam doesn’t press.
_______________________________________________________________________
Alec falls asleep on his book at
The phone rings at
“Logan?” Sam says. “It’s late.”
“Technically, it’s very early.” Logan says, but doesn’t really sound like he’s listening. “It’s here isn’t it? That demon you and Alec are hunting. You and Alec showing up and within an hour, there’s a fire. I don’t know how I missed it before.”
“Logan,” Sam starts.
“Are you guys in trouble?” Logan asks. “Does it know you’re here?”
“Logan, calm down,” Sam says. “We’re safe. I promise.” He pauses for a long second and finally asks, “Is Max with you?”
“Business in Terminal City,” Logan says. “I was just going though some of my old files, trying to put things together.”
Sam breathes a sigh of relief.
_______________________________________________________________________
The morning comes too soon for Sam’s taste. The sun is a pervasive golden light, leaking past partially closed eyelids. Alec is still asleep, drooling a little into his book. It’s by far the longest Sam has ever seen him sleep.
No progress. He boots up his computer, half-considering sending an e-mail out to Ash. He would have done so already except he hasn’t spoken to Ash since Jo tagged along in a hunt and got herself killed. That was ages ago, back when it was still Sam and Dean. He isn’t sure Ash is still alive. The Pulse has made any possibility of contact practically impossible.
“Find anything,” Alec asks, yawning.
“Dad has something about it in the journal,” Sam mutters. “Nothing specific though. I just keep thinking I’m missing a pattern.”
“So… what, the thing likes psychics?”
“Psychics?” Sam repeats, “I thought it was just some transgenic.”
“What do you think psy-ops stands for?” Alec says. “Psychic operations. I don’t know how successful they are but Manticore was definitely in the business.”
“Then it does fit the pattern,” Sam says. “Just like before. It burns the mother and takes the child.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense.” Sam can see the agitation etched into Alec’s face. “If this thing’s only interested in psychics, the why come after you and me? Why start gunning for Max? Why come after Asha?”
His voice cracks when he mentions her name and Sam immediately realizes he’s made a mistake, that he’s redirected Asha into just a mere lump on numbers, part of a pattern to be deciphered. He’s seen so much death, so much pain; it’s hard not to become inured to the things that don’t affect him. But to Alec she’s something more, someone real and human and losing her must ache as bad as loosing Dean and Jess.
“Alec,” he says, “Alec I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”
He used to be so much better at this.
“I’m not fucking made of glass,” Alec snaps and then he pauses, takes a deep breath, calms himself. “Come on,” he says, avoiding Sam’s eye. “We should get to Terminal City.”
________________________________________________________________________
Alec disappears as soon as they hit the city limits and Sam doesn’t chase after him. Instead he picks his way through various transgenics until he winds up in the computer hub of the city sitting across from Logan Cale.
“I found thirteen,” Logan says after a long silence.
“Sorry?”
“Five almost forty years ago, two about fifteen years after that and six in the past eight months. Fires in nurseries. Mothers dead. Sometimes the kids too, sometimes not.” Sam can feel Logan’s eyes one him, but he doesn’t look, can’t look. “And then there are two more. Two more that just don’t fit the pattern. Asha Barlow and Jessica Moore.”
Ash only ever found four, Sam thinks with a sort of detached admiration. Logan obviously knows what he’s doing. And if he’s this motivated when the case doesn’t even involve him, Sam doesn’t even want to imagine his level of obsession in matters threatening Max.
“It was sending a message,” Sam says quietly. “That’s what Jessica was for me. It wanted me to know that it was coming. That it could take me any time it wanted.”
“I’m sorry,” Logan says.
“It’s coming for Max,” Sam blurts before he can stop himself. “That’s why we’re here.”
“Max?” Logan says sounding genuinely surprised. “Why the hell would it come after Max? Another one of these messages? To who? Me?”
“No,” Sam answers immediately and as soon as he says it, he knows its true, “it’s going after Max because she’s a threat.”
Logan doesn’t say anything for a long time. In the silence, the hum of the computers sounds impossibly loud. An accusation almost. Alec didn’t want Logan to know, but Sam can’t think of any alternative. Knowledge after all is power and maybe, just maybe…
“How do I stop it?” Logan asks. There’s a quiet determination in his voice and just for a second, Sam believes that they’ll win.
But reality crashes back down a second later. Sam has never been an optimist (no, despite everything, that had always been Dean) and he can’t imagine a scenario that doesn’t end with death.
“I don’t know,” he tells Logan. “Alec saw it and we came. All we know is that it’s coming for her soon.”
Logan opens his mouth as if to say something, but at that moment, an intercom Sam hadn’t noticed cracks static and suddenly Max’s voice fills the room, Logan, we caught one of them. We need you to set up for interrogation.
________________________________________________________________________
Up in two parts since LJ can't seem to handle the size
What Can Hurt You | 2
