Fresh Blood.

CHAPTER SIXTY , FRESH BLOOD

a/n : EEEEEHHHHHH Hiiiii 🫶

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"What?!"

"I don't like it when people hold grudges against me, and more to the point, I'd rather you didn't kill me," Bela explains. "so I went ahead and found Athena's exact location for you."

Dean's back straightens. He and Sam were still out looking for her, they had found her phone, but it was broken. Neither Gordon nor Kubrick were in sight, neither was the vampire. They had no lead on finding Athena. And unfortunately, Bela might've been their only hope now. But if they now had a chance to find Athena, they were going to work with anyone they had to. Even if said person was the reason they were almost killed a few hours ago.

"You're a hundred miles away. How the hell did you--"

"Hello? Purveyor of powerful occult objects?" Bela reminds Dean. "I used a talking board to contact the other side."

"And?"

"Warehouse," Bela states. "Two stories, riverfront, neon sign outside."

"Thanks." The sarcasm was heavy in Dean's voice. Even though he was grateful for the information, he didn't want to give Bela the satisfaction of her actually being helpful.

"And I went ahead and did the courtesy of finding Gordon for you..."

Dean pulls his brows together. The way Bela trailed off her statement worried him. "What?"

"He's at the same place Athena is."

Sam notices Dean's entire body language morph completely.

"What?"

"One more thing--the spirit had a message for you," Bela adds. "Leave town, run like hell, and whatever you do, Don't go after Gordon. For whatever that's worth."

Dean brushes off her statement, not giving it a moment's thought. If Athena was at the same location Gordon was. He was going.

...

It had been almost an hour since Dixon left to find something for the Vamps to eat. The restraints on her wrists had started digging into her skin, cutting them raw.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. The 13-year-old snapped her eyes over to where Gordon was hanging and saw that he was waking up. "Uh...hey Gordon, rise and shine." she pulls at her restraints.

Gordon slowly stirs before opening his eyes.

"Would you be a doll and get me out of these?" Athena asks.

Gordon looks around, all the lights and quiet noises (that any human would never notice on a good day) left him disoriented. He looks up at his restraints that were connected to the ceiling. Gordon pulled at his restraints, but they didn't budge. He then pulls again with a lot more force and they're ripped from the ceiling. Gordon drops to the ground and Athena softly exhales. "Cool, so...are you gonna let me out?"

Gordon looks at Athena and tilts his head. Athena begins to grow worried the longer he stares at her. "Y-You know what? On second thought, just leave me here--"

"Your brothers are out looking for you."

Athena softly chuckles, not believing him. "Sure they are."

"You don't know brothers..." Gordon says. "They'd do anything for their younger siblings. And I've got a feeling that Sam and Dean would go to the extreme for you."

Athena keeps her strong eyes on Gordon not breaking eye contact. Gordon walks over to the girl. He crouches beside the box spring she was tied to. "I'm taking you with me--"

"Like fucking hell--"

"As an incentive for your brothers." Gordon tilts his head as Athena doesn't say anything. "You know it's the smart thing to do."

Athena sighs, "I know." she looks back at the ceiling. "It's always me that's pulled into their bullshit."

Gordon rips Athena's chains off her wrists and she sits up. "Let's go." he stands up and walks toward the door. Athena throws her legs over the box spring and stands up. She looks at the two girls still hanging from the ceiling and her chest tightens. "What about them?"

Gordon stops and looks at the two girls. He stalks over to the two girls and brushes past Athena. The girl pulls her brows together when Gordon doesn't take their restraints off. He stands in front of the girl and grips both sides of her neck. Before Athena could even look away, Gordon pulled her head off. Athena felt the cold blood splatter across her face. She flinches, but her brain feels frozen. The other girl hanging from the ceiling lets out a horrid scream. Athena then hears a loud thud and something hits her boots. Without a second thought, she slowly looked down and saw the decapitated head.

Athena inhales a shaky breath and exhales a sharp one. "Oh, my god..." she whispers. "Oh my god..."

The girl's screaming abruptly stops and Athena hears another thud. Athena flinches from the thud and she softly exhales another breath. Her stomach turns violently and her eyes widen. It finally settles in. What had just happened? "Oh my god!" she cries.

"Athena--"

The girl sprints for the exit. She pulls open the door and runs down the stairs, her breathing quick and tears blurring her eyes. Athena tries her best to make sure she doesn't trip and she succeeds. She makes it off the floor and sprints away from the motel building, she turns her head while running to make sure Gordon isn't behind her. Then her body hits something solid. She falls back and hits the pavement. Her arms connected with the ground first, so her head hadn't hit the floor. Athena's breathing was quick, but she looked at the person she ran into and her heart dropped. "Gordon--"

"I can't let you go."

"Yes, you can, ass!" As quick as the insult came out was as quick as she slapped her hand over her mouth. "I was kidding."

Gordon grabs her arm and pulls her onto her feet. Athena lets out a grunt of detest, "No--I said I was kidding!"

"I'm not gonna kill you."

"But you killed those girls up there," Athena states.

Gordon lets out a bitter chuckle, "Those weren't girls. Not anymore. You know that." he drags Athena down the street, despite her trying to yank herself from his grip.

"You ripped their heads off--you didn't have to do that to them!" Athena exclaims.

"Keep your voice down." Gordon groans, the heightened senses getting to him. His ears perk, the sound of a heartbeat. But, it wasn't Athena's.

He turns and looks at the man changing his tire. Athena follows his eyes and hers widen. "Gordon, no. You're a hunter, all right? You don't kill people--"

"I do now."

"You haven't even fed yet, there's still time--"

"Time for what?" Gordon snaps. "Time for me to die? Sorry, no. Not before I kill Sam."

"Right, Dean told me that you think Sam's some kind of monster--"

"He has abilities, doesn't he?" Gordon questions.

Athena scoffs, "That doesn't mean he's evil. He has used his powers for good. Lenore, that Vamp from the case we were all on together? She fed on animal blood and she was okay."

"But she wasn't her strongest and I need to be strong," Gordon says. "You're not changing my mind."

☆

"You don't understand."

Dean shakes his head, "I don't want to understand, you son of a bitch. Just tell me where our sister--"

"I was desperate. You ever felt desperate?" Dixon steps closer to Dean. Dean tightens his hold around the machete while Sam steps closer to Dixon, his gun never leaving the back of the Vamp's head.

"I've lost everyone I ever loved." Dixon's voice shakes. "I'm staring down eternity alone. Can you think of a worse Hell?"

Dean blinks, "Well...there's Hell."

Sam looks over at the two bodies and examines the way their heads were ripped off.

"I wasn't thinking...I just...I didn't care anymore." Dixon keeps his eyes on Dean's. "Do you know what that's like...when you just don't give a damn? It's like...it's like being dead already."

"So, just go ahead...do it." Dixon steps closer to Dean.

"Dean."

Dean looks over at Sam, noticing his worried expression.

"Head wasn't cut off, it was ripped off..."

Dean pulls his brows together and snaps his attention back to Dixon.

"...with someone's bare hands." Sam looks at Dixon. "Dixon, what did you do to Gordon?"

Dixon doesn't answer. Instead, he cries harder than before.

Dean's jaw clenches, "You turned him?!" his voice booms through the room.

"Does he have Athena?!" Sam snaps.

Dixon doesn't answer and that pisses the brothers off.

"Dammit, Dixon..." Dean looks away from him.

"She was here with Gordon when I left," Dixon answers.

Sam and Dean look at each other, the fear of their sister's safety practically drowning them.

...

"Gordon..."

Kubrick looks from his friend and looks at the young girl that was sitting at the table with her eyes on her hands. He looks back at Gordon. "You okay?"

"Not even close."

"I thought maybe you were dead." Kubrick exhales.

Gordon softly scoffs and looks to the ground. Kubrick pulls his brows together, "What is it?"

"Something...happened." Gordon begins to tremble which causes Kubrick to worry for his friend.

"What?"

"They turned me."

Kubrick's jaw goes slack and his eyes widen. "Those fangs?"

Gordon doesn't answer, which gives Kubrick his answer. Kubrick closes his eyes and lets out a devasted breath. "I'm sorry."

"You know what this means," Kubrick states.

Gordon looks back at Kubrick, "It means you have to kill me..." he understood. But he also knew that he had to finish his mission first. "...but not yet."

"What do you mean?"

"You have to let me do one last thing first." Gordon says.

"What?"

"Kill Sam Winchester."

Kubrick's back straightens, "Gordon."

"It's the only--it is the one good thing to come out of this nightmare," Gordon says.

"Killing my brother isn't going to do anything."

Ignoring the girl, Gordon continues. "I'm stronger, I'm faster--I can finish him."

"Gordon...I'm sorry." Kubrick whispers. "You know I can't let you walk out of here."

"Listen to me." Gordon grasps both of Kubrick's arms. "There is nothing more important. Please."

"Is this why you took her?" Kubrick points to Athena. "To get Sam Winchester out of hiding?"

"I can do one last good thing for the world." Gordon ignores Kubrick and turns to the cross hanging on the wall.

Kubrick grasps the cross hanging around his neck. "Yeah...I hear you." he walks away from Gordon and grabs the machete off the table where Athena is sitting. The 13-year-old follows Kubrick as he walks over to Gordon.

"You know, Gordon...you're right." Kubrick stands behind Gordon. "One last good thing--" Gordon turns around and rams his hand into Kubrick's stomach.

Athena lets out a scream and covers her mouth with both her hands. She quickly breathes as Kubrick falls limp against Gordon. Gordon's hand dripped with his friend's blood. He presses his face against Kubrick, his eyes watering before he whispers.

"I'm sorry."

☆

"Sammy, stay here.

Sam turns from Dean and sees him grabbing his jacket and the colt.

"What? Where you going now?"

"I'm going after Athena," Dean answers.

"What?"

Dean tucks the gun in the back of his waistband. "You heard me."

"Not alone, you're not," Sam says.

Dean looks at Sam, "Sam, I don't need you to sign me a permission slip, okay? Gordon's after you, not me, and he's turbocharged."

"I want you to stay out of harm's way. I'll take care of it."

"Well, Dean, you're not going by yourself. You're gonna get yourself killed." Sam tells him.

Dean shrugs a shoulder, "Just another day at the office." he then frowns. "It's a massively dangerous day at the office."

"So, what? You're the guy with nothing to lose now, huh?" Sam asks. "Oh, wait. Let me guess. Because, uh...it's because you're already dead, right?"

"If the shoe fits."

Sam scoffs and looks to the side with a shake of his head. Dean looks back at Sam and lets out a breath.

"Athena is out there with Gordon right now, Sammy." Dean's voice was firm. "Sitting around isn't an option."

"If either of us go out there without a clue on Gordon's location, he has the upper hand," Sam states. "Then he wins and we're no good helping Athena."

"So, you want to just wait?"

"That's exactly what I think we should do."

Dean shakes his head, "No, Gordon's not after you; so he won't care about me."

"You know what, man?" Sam scoffs. "I'm sick and tired of your kamikaze trip."

Dean pulls his face back, "Whoa, whoa. Kamikaze?" he then cracks a smile. "I'm more like a ninja."

"That's not funny."

"It's a little funny."

"No. It's not." Sam's tone was a lot more low.

Dean's amused smirk drops and he walks over to Sam, "What do you want me to do, Sam, huh--sit around all day writing sad poems about how I'm gonna die?" he grabs a notepad and pen. "You know what? I got one. What rhymes with 'shut up, Sam'?"

"Dude." Sam grabs the notepad and tosses it to the ground. "Drop the attitude, Dean. Quit turning everything into a punch line."

"And you know something else? Stop trying to act like you're not afraid."

"I'm not." Dean looks to the side.

"You're lying," Sam answers with ease. "And you may as well drop it 'cause I can see right through you."

Over the past few months, Sam has noticed how standoffish Dean and Athena have been about their true feelings about everything that has been happening. Sam was the only person who actually wanted to talk about what was happening. He wanted to do everything he could to save Dean, he wanted all three of them to stay together and be a family. It just seemed like Athena and Dean were so stubborn to keep their feelings bottled up that they were willing to not fight for what they truly wanted.

"You got no idea what you're talking about." Dean brushes past his brother.

Sam looks at his brother, "Yeah, I do. You're scared, Dean." he says. "You're scared because your year is running out and you're still going to Hell and you're freaked."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I know you!" Sam snaps.

Dean scoffs, "Really?"

"Yeah, because I've been following you around my entire life!"

Dean's eyes soften and a ping of guilt enters his chest.

"I mean, I've been looking up to you since I was four, Dean--studying you, trying to be just like my big brother." Sam's voice shakes. "So, yeah, I know you--besides Athena, I know you better than anyone else in the entire world."

"And this...is exactly how you act when you're terrified."

Dean forces himself to look at the ground.

"And, I mean, I can't blame you," Sam admits. "It's just..." a painful lump forms in Sam's throat.

Dean notices Sam's silence and looks back at him. "What?"

Sam swallows, "It's just I wish you would drop the show and be my brother again, 'cause...just cause."

Dean keeps his eyes on Sam's for a moment, noticing the tears. He knows this year was stressful—even terrifying for his younger siblings. And he was only adding to it by throwing himself into any kind of danger without a second thought.

"All right," Dean softly speaks. "We'll hole up. Wait for any sign of him or Thena." He looks at Sam. "And if we need to, we can cover our scent so he can't track us, and wait the night out here."

☆

"How'd you get this number?"

"Scents all over the cellphone store," Gordon answers. "Of course, I can't smell you now. Where are you?"

Dean smirks, "I guess you'll just have to find us, won't you?"

"I'd rather you come to me." Gordon simply says.

"What's the matter, Gordo?" Dean teases. "You're not afraid of us, are you? I would hope so."

"Dean—"

"Where's Athena?" Dean's entire demeanor had changed. At first, he had been teasing Gordon; wanting to get him riled up. But Dean was getting tired of whatever game this was.

Gordon holds the phone out to the girl that was tied to the chair. Athena looks at Gordon before speaking into the phone. "Dean?"

Dean lets out a small breath. He looks at Sam and he gives Sam a nod, telling him that Athena was okay. Sam felt whatever heavy feeling was on his chest evaporate.

"Thena, are you hurt?"

Athena keeps her eyes on Gordon. "No, I'm fine..." she inhales a breath. "Whatever you do, don't bring S—"

Gordon pulls the phone away from Athena and shushes her. He places the phone against his ear. "Factory on Riverside off the Turnpike. Be here in 20 minutes or Athena dies."

"Gordon, let her go." Dean warns.

"Bye, Dean—"

"Gordon! Don't do this. You don't kill innocent people." Dean says. "You're still a hunter."

"No...I'm a monster." Gordon hangs up the phone.

Athena huffs, "Corny."

"Earlier..."

Athena rolls her eyes, she looks at Gordon with an unreadable expression.

"At that Vamp's place. You were crying."

Athena's face goes slack and a chill rushes down her spine. She tries her best to recover. "I'm a 13-year-old and I've been kidnapped. I think it makes sense that I was crying."

Gordon slowly nods his head. There was definitely something deeper to the story but he chose to leave it alone. Athena looks to the side, her eyes now on the wall. She felt her stomach turn and her hands began to shake.

"When I was 7..." Athena starts her eyes still on the cracked wall.

Gordon looks at her. Athena begins to pinch the skin at the back of her hand. "I was kidnapped." Her voice was quiet. She softly winces from the pain in her hand. "He...did things to me. And being in that Vamp's place, it brought back bad memories." She looks at Gordon, who has a soft look of sympathy.

"I'm sorry that happened to you, Athena."

Athena slowly nods, "Yeah. Me too..." she looks down at her hand. "I've only told you and one other person." She chuckles. "My brothers don't even know."

Athena inhales, "The only reason I'm telling you this is because my brothers are going to find you and they are going to kill you." She softly huffs and leans her head against the wall behind her. "Then only one person will know once again..."

...

Gordon was the first to hear a noise outside. Athena quickly caught that he heard something when he abruptly looked at the garage door. Gordon shifts his gaze to Athena. He grabs the duct tape and walks over to her. Athena keeps her strong gaze on Gordon as he crouches in front of her.

"I'm sorry for what I have to do to your brother," Gordon speaks.

Athena shakes her head, "You're not surviving this."

"Gordon, they are going to kill you and I won't be able to stop them."

Gordon rips a piece of duct tape off the roll and puts it over Athena's lips. She lets out a frustrated breath through her nose as Gordon walks away from her. Silence settles around the girl and she feels her worry begin to grow. She shifts her eyes up to examine her hands that were tied above her head against the radiator. The 13-year-old pulls at her handcuffs a couple of times, the clanking sound echoing down the hall. The handcuffs cut into the already embedded skin from the chains from earlier. Athena bites her lower lip and softly groans. With every soft thud she hears in the distance, Athena's heart drops an inch deeper into her stomach.

She yanks harder at the handcuffs, hoping for them to break or the pipe too. A door kicks open from her right and she screams. Athena quickly looks over and sees her brothers. Sam and Dean quickly run over to her. "Athena, hey." Dean quickly starts to pick the lock on the handcuffs.

"You okay?" Sam asks, searching her shaking eyes.

Athena inhales a trembling breath, trying to get her thoughts in order. She had to tell them that Gordon was still here. But why wasn't anything coming out? Sam and Dean quickly notice that Athena was too shaken to speak. They continue to help her out of her cuffs. As soon as the locks on Athena's handcuffs were picked, Dean carried Athena in his arms as he and Sam quickly made their way out from where they came.

Dean was infront of Sam by a couple of centimeters when the garage door closed between him and Sam. As the door slams Sam into darkness, Dean and Ahena are greeted with light from the parking lot lights. Dean whips his head around, "Dammit." kicks at the garage door. "Sammy!"

"Dean!"

Dean sat Athen gently on the floor and tried his best to get the garage door open. "Dammit!" He shakes at the door and gives it another kick. "Sammy, be careful in there!"

Athena stands on her feet and walks towards Dean. "There was another entrance." She grabs the sleeve of his jacket. Dean looks down at his sister as she points down another hall. "It's in the back." She urgently tugs Dean down the pavement.

Both siblings race down the sidewalk and around the corner. It wasn't long before they got to another door leading into the building. Dean quickly picks the lock, before he even pushed open the door; he looked at Athena. "Stay here, all right?"

Athena stays silent for a moment. She didn't bother arguing this time, there was no time. They had no idea what kind of state Sam was in right now. So, Athena presses her lips into a firm line and nods her head. "Okay."

Dean pushes the door open and enters the building. Athena waited, her eyes glued to the door that Dean had just gone through a few minutes ago. It wasn't long before she heard abrupt crashing through the building and screams. Athena felt her worry skyrocket through, forcing her skin to crawl.
Without much thought, she pulled open the door and ran into the building. She followed the sounds of thuds and crashes, with her breathing quick. No, no, no.

Athena spots a giant hole in a wall, she steps through it and sees Sam struggling with Gordon. She then looks to her side and sees Dean on the ground bleeding from his neck. Athena's eyes widen and her heart sinks. "Dean!" she runs over to him. "Shit, are you okay?--Are you dead?"

"No," Dean grunts out. "Just bleeding."

Athena lets out a small breath and hangs her head loud. Dean raises his brows from Athena's sudden relief. "What's wrong with you?" he then opens his mouth. "Ohhh...I get it, you were worried about me?"

Athena's sudden relief was exchanged with a twisted expression of disgust. "No. No, I wasn't."

"You definitely we--"

A thud causes both the siblings to stop talking. Athena and Dean turn to see Sam standing up with blood splattered across his face. Athena then looks down and her eyes widen from seeing Gordon's head severed from his body. Dean forces himself onto his feet and grabs at his neck.

"You just charged a super vamped-out Gordon with no weapon." Dean voices. "That's a little reckless, don't you think?"

Sam lets out a breath and rolls his eyes. "Like you're one to talk."

Sam walks over to Dean and Athena. "Can we go, please?"

Athena then stands up. She pats the dust off her jeans. "Wait, hold on." the girl then points at the decapitated head. "Are we just going to leave him here?"

Sam and Dean look at each other. Then they look back at their sister. Athena sighs, "You guys can't just leave Gordon's mutilated body on the ground like this!"

The brothers jump from her sudden shouting. Dean opens and closes his mouth, "N-No, we weren't gonna leave him." he nervously laughs. "Right, Sammy?" he nudges Sam's ribs. Sam grunts, "Yeah, of course, we were totally going to b-bury him..."

Athena folds her arms and squints her eyes.

"We were going to do it...right now!" Dean grabs Sam's arm and they hurry back over to Gordon's body. They would rather take care of this asshole's body than meet Athena's wrath for anything.

...

Sam was sitting on the beer ice cooler with his beer in his hand. Athena was sitting on her own ice cooler with Gil sleeping in her lap and her apple juice in her hand. Soft rock played from the stereo as Dean examined underneath the hood of his car. Sam had handed Dean a beer bottle, "You figure out what's making that rattle?"

"Not yet." Dean lets out a heavy sigh. "Hand me a box wrench, would you?"

"Yeah."

Without lifting her eyes from Gil, Athena grabs the box wrench, and hands it to Sam. Sam then hands the wrench to Dean. Dean grabs the wrench from his brother, but he stops when and looks at his two siblings. Athena was clicking her boots together and sipping her apple juice. Dean looks back at the wrench and a lump forms in his throat. He pulls his head out of the hood of the car and stands up straight. "Sam, Thena."

Simultaneously, the younger siblings turn to Dean. Sam raises his brows, "Was it the wrong one? Athena handed it to me, so...it's not my fault."

Athena then snorts, "That's exactly why, it's not the wrong one."

"It wasn't the wrong wrench," Dean says. "Just, come here for a second. The two of you."

Athena and Sam look at each other with a confused expression. The girl picks Gil up in her arms and walks over to the car with Sam.

"This rattle could be a couple of things." Dean voices. "I'm thinking it's an out-of-tune car."

Athena frowns, "Okay...?" she wrinkles her nose. What the hell was Dean getting at?

Dean notices Sam and Athena's confused expressions. He exhales through his nose. "All right, see this thing?" he points inside the car. "It's a valve cover. Inside are all the parts that are on the head."

"Hand me that socket wrench."

Sam grabs the wrench and hands it to Dean.

"All right, you guys with me so far?"

Athena shrugs, "Yeah. Valve cover covers the head."

"Very good." Dean nods. "This is your intake manifold, and on top of it...?"

Sam softly chuckles, "It's, uh, a carburetor."

Dean nods his head, "Carburetor--very good."

Athena and Sam exchange another look once again.

"What's with the auto shop?" Sam asks.

Dean hands the socket wrench to Sam. Athena raises her brows out of surprise. "You want him to fix your car?"

Dean shrugs, "Why not?"

"Because you never let us touch the car on a good day." Sam voices. Athena then points at Sam.

"Well, it's time," Dean says. "You should know how to fix it."

"You're gonna need to know these things for the future."

Athena feels her heart sinks and her jaw instinctively clenches. Even though Sam grabs the wrench from Dean's hand.

"And, besides, that's my job, right?" Dean looks at them. "Show my little siblings the ropes."

Athena watches as Sam puts his head under the hood. She felt a sense of anger return to her body. Watching Dean hand that wrench to Sam made Athena feel like he was giving up. And Sam fixing the Impala just made it seem like he was giving up as well.

Athena shakes her head, "Sam, can entertain this all he wants; but I won't." she lightly runs her fingers over Gil, trying her best to calm herself.

Sam and Dean watch as Athena walks away from them and sits on her cooler with a feeling of defeat.

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author's note.

next chapter is kind of filler but it still sort of connects with the storyline!

words : 4684