Sun, Sand, Tequila and Soulmates ch 1
The One in Which Wincest Save the World
“No! You can’t do this!” Dean howls, but only Michael hears him. Dean struggles to move his arm, fights to stop his legs from walking but he has no control over his limbs. “Listen douchebag, we had a deal.”
“I don’t make deals,” Michael replies to the voice in his head. “That was your friend Crowley.”
“But you need my permission. I’m rescinding my permission. I take it back. Get the fuck out of my body!”
Michael ignores him and gets his vessel some new clothes. Then he admires himself in a mirror. “I make this look good.”
Dean looks into his reflection, but he isn’t there. Those aren’t his eyes looking back at him.
**************************************************
It only takes Michael a moment to see that this earth is no better than the one he left.
“How did this place become so depraved that even its holy men commit the most immoral of sins? Where is God? Where are the angels to guide them? Why aren't my brothers stopping this?” he asks Dean though he doesn’t need Dean to speak to get the answers; they fly from Dean’s memory as the angel speaks.
We stopped them. Me and Sammy. You junkless angel douchebags were nothing to us. Now there’s only like ten of you left. You have no power here, so get the hell out!
“That's where you're wrong, Winchester. That simply makes me the most powerful being in this universe. I will set this world right. The sinners will be stopped and the righteous will rule.”
Sammy can stop you.
“He wouldn't dare hurt this vessel.”
About that. Why don’t you go find yourself another one and leave me out of your plans?
Michael admires himself in the mirror. “No, I quite like this one. It’s strong and beautiful. Yes, I'm keeping this vessel.”
You can’t do this! Dean bellows from deep inside himself. I’m getting my body back and I will make you pay for this.
“Shut up. I’m the captain now. You will be silent and stand down,” Michael commands.
Dean snarls. If Michael wants him to be silent then silent is the last thing he will be. Sammy won’t let you do this. He will hunt you down and stop you. My brother won’t give up until you’re dead.
“Killing me would kill you. Your precious Sam wouldn’t do that.”
That’s where you’re wrong. Sam will never give up. He’ll figure a way to break me out of here and when he does--
“Stop fooling yourself, Dean. Sam’s given up on you before.” Michael smirks at the pang of betrayal Dean feels. “And now he has no one to help him. You think he’ll put saving you before saving others? We both know better than that. Sam’s a big picture guy. Sam saves the world. He won’t have time to look for you.”
What does that mean? Dean demands.
“Assume he’ll be busy fighting his own demons and monsters and things that go bump in the night.”
Michael’s right. Jack is powerless. Cas is weak. With Crowley gone, no one is ruling the demons. Rowena might be able to do something but Sam would have to find her first.
“That witch can’t touch me, boy. She’s much too afraid of my power.”
Dean growls in frustration. How can he defeat this asshole if his every thought can be heard?
“I’m glad you finally understand.” Michael checks his reflection again. “Now hang on and enjoy the ride.”
Dean knows this isn’t really him doing these awful things, but it is his hands and it becomes his guilt. He makes another vow to himself to defeat Michael’s hold on him. What did Sammy use to say? Always keep fighting.
He’s struck by a memory. He can’t dwell on it, Michael might figure out a way to stop him if he does, but hell, it worked for Swayze.
I'm Henry the eighth I am,
Henry the eighth I am I am,
I got married to the widow next door,
She's been married seven times before,
And everyone was a Henry (Henry),
She wouldn't have a Willie or a Sam (no Sam)
I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henry,
Henry the eighth I am
Second verse, same as the first
I'm Henry the eighth I am,
He continues to sing loudly, off key and occasionally in an awful cockney accent. Michael doesn’t sleep. He doesn’t need to eat. So, neither does Dean, which allows him to continue singing for twelve hours non stop. His voice never weakens.
At first, Michael thinks Dean’s gone bat shit crazy. But at hour twelve and one minute, his eye twitches. At hour fifteen, he searches Dean’s memories for anything that would make him shut up.
All he finds is Sam. The song makes it difficult to focus but Michael finds a couple memories that stand out.
Dean likes classic rock and ‘80’s horror flicks. He likes cheeseburgers and pie. Michael examines every memory he can. The car seems to be very important to Dean, but nothing is more important than Sam. For his entire life Dean has made sacrifices for Sam, though he doesn’t see them as sacrifices since he did them willingly. Michael also finds promises Dean’s made but has yet to keep. And that is something he can work with.
Hunting and Sam have been Dean’s entire existence, so hunting and Sam will be what Dean gets.
“Sam!”
“Dean!”
The ancient oak door slams shut between them leaving Dean outside the dilapidated house “Watch your back, Sam. I’ll go around.”
Dean picks his way through the overgrown brush along the side of the house. This was supposed to be a simple salt and burn, but nothing was ever simple.
The sound of a shotgun blast quickens his step to the back of the house. “Sam!” Dean yells as he pries a board off a low window.
From the inside, Sam lifts the pane. “Hurry. I don’t know how long that will hold him off.”
Dean hoists himself and a duffle bag through the window and rolls onto the floor. “Get down.”
Sam falls to his knees and Dean shoots at the giant masked figure behind him. “Let’s get to the basement.”
Once in the basement the brothers take pickaxes to the wall. When they finally break through, they are greeted by a blast of cold air and the rotten stench of death. Knowing they are close drives them on. Ten minutes later they are salting and burning and congratulating each other on a job well done.
As they pack up the Impala, Sam says, “You know, any of the newbies could have done this. We didn’t have to drive all the way to Wisconsin for a ghost.”
“Not just any ghost, Sammy. Ed Gein, the original leatherface. You love this serial killer shit.”
Sam smiles. “Yeah, I do,” he concedes with a slight blush.
“And did you see Celeste?” Dean whistles low. He grins at Sam and waggles his brows. “You know she has a sister.”
Sam rolls his eyes and walks to the passenger door. “That’s okay, Dean. You can go be with Celeste, but I don’t want a set up with her sister.”
Dean starts the car and chuckles, “Your loss, man.”
************
He drives them back to the hotel and gets cleaned up while Sam pouts in front of his laptop screen. Sam does a double take when his brother leaves the bathroom in boxers and not dressed for a date. “Making it pretty easy for her, aren’t you Dean?” Sam teases.
Dean shakes his head and crosses the room to Sam. “No, man. I was just yankin’ your chain. Let me show you something.” He spins Sam’s laptop to face him and taps a few keys. “Celeste’s sister is a travel agent and she hooked me up with these.” He turns the screen to his brother.
Sam looks at the screen and then to his brother in awe. “Boarding passes?”
Dean nods, grinning like a kid at Christmas. “All expense paid trip to Cabo, Sammy. Just her way of saying ‘thank you for saving my sister’.”
“Seriously?” Sam’s eyes are wide with excitement.
“Hell yeah, I’m serious. Now go get cleaned up. I want to get some shut eye. We leave early in the morning.” He pats Sam’s shoulder as he heads for the bed. “Sun, sand, tequila and Sammy. My kind of vacation.”
Michael seduces another human to feed to his vampire pets.
This is what heaven feels like, Dean thinks, then shakes his head. No, he’s been to heaven and it ain’t this nice. Their suite is on the ground floor with a sliding door that opens onto a private beach. The resort has everything they could want. Parasailing, deep sea fishing, a masseuse that comes to your room, there’s even a grill if you want to cook your own food. He’ll make use of that later, grill up some seafood since Sam likes it so much.
“Dude there’s a hot tub,” Sam tells him as he strips off his shirt. “This place is amazing. I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
His smile warms Dean more than the Mexican sun. “We’ve earned this, Sammy.”
“Yeah we have.” Sam pulls on some swim trunks. “I’m going for a swim. Wanna join me?”
“In a minute, I’m gonna order something I can throw on the grill. What do you feel like having steak or seafood?”
Sam wrinkles his face in thought. “Why not both?”
“Surf and turf it is.” Dean picks up the phone. “Don’t forget sunscreen. I don’t want to deal with your whiny ass if you get burned.”
They spend the day relaxing in the sun, drinking beers, and reminiscing. Dean loves seeing that smile on Sam’s face and he loves being the one to put it there. It’s been a long time since they were alone, just the two of them, without the pressures of a case and Dean feels years younger by the time they pour the wine for dinner.
He’s nervous about the food though he doesn’t know why. For some reason it’s especially important that Sam likes it. And he does. He tells Dean so more than once during the meal and Dean smiles with pride. He pours Sam the last of the wine but notices that he’s staring at the cooler. “Did you want a beer instead?” he asks.
Sam shakes his head. “No.”
“Are we out of beer?” Dean asks since Sam still finds the cooler interesting.
“No, not yet.” Sam raises his wine glass. “Thanks, Dean. I can’t believe we’re finally doing this.”
“Like I said, we earned this.” Dean pushes himself back from the table, perfectly sated after their meal. “The best part? We don’t have to clean any of this up. They’ve got someone to do that for us.” Sam makes a disgruntled face which makes Dean roll his eyes. “Dude I’m going to tip them.”
“No. I mean good,” Sam nods, “but I was just thinking that maid service is definitely not the best part of this trip.”
Dean laughs at himself. “What do you think is the best part, Sam?”
Sam stands up and moves around the table to Dean. He reaches out a hand to pull him from his chair. “You and me, here, alone without a care in the world. That is the best part.”
“I can get on board with that,” Dean says as he allows Sam to lead him back into their suite.
Sam pulls Dean into his arms. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had you all to myself without worrying about interruptions or the world ending?”
“Too long,” Dean whispers stretching up to kiss his brother. He ignores the slight tremor under his feet, not even an earthquake will keep him from his brother.
Michael twitches like a trickle of ice water slid down his neck. What was that? Doesn’t matter. He can’t dwell on it, can’t let it become a weakness Winchester can exploit.
He doesn’t have time, anyway.
The rumble of the Impala tells Michael this will be over much too soon. Sam Winchester and his little army of hunters will put an end to this group of vampires and he will have to start over. If he’s lucky his vamps will kill a few of Sam’s people. If he’s luckier still, they’ll turn one. But he knows they won’t get lucky enough to capture Sam.
Michael doesn’t stick around to help his brood. He has to find Anael, that whore must have told Winchester and company where to find him. She’s going to pay for that.
In the morning there’s fresh fruit, pastries, bacon, and eggs waiting on the lanai for them. Sam’s already at the table when the aroma of fresh coffee entices Dean to join him. Sam hands him a steaming mug. “Dude, I --” recognizing Dean’s nothing before coffee look makes Sam pause. “Right, in a minute.”
With his eyes still closed, Dean savors his first sips. Once the coffee does it’s trick, he opens his eyes. “Alright, what’s up?”
“Here, eat up.” Sam hands him a plate filled with bacon, eggs, and hash browns. “I thought today maybe we’d go fishing. There’s a charter that leaves in an hour.”
The green cooler captures Dean eye. He ignores his food and nods absentmindedly. “When did we get here?”
“Yesterday. Just before one. What’s going on with you?”
“Had a weird dream. There were vampires and you were driving the car instead of me.”
Sam’s eyes widen but he’s smiling. “Ooo, nightmare, huh?” he teases.
Dean ignores the teasing. “It felt really real, ya know? Like I was watching it all happen but not actually a part of it.” He shakes his head as if clearing cobwebs. “Do you like it here?”
“Yeah, it’s beautiful,” Sam assures him quickly. “This place is the vacation we always wanted but never took. So, fishing?”
“Sure, Sammy, whatever you want.” Dean tucks into his food, savoring every bite.
The ocean is the deepest blue Dean has ever seen. It’s beautiful and grand and awe inspiring. Dean drinks it all in because it took a lifetime to get here and he doesn’t know when they’ll ever be back.
Sam is going on about the types of fish that are migrating at that time of year. He knows how big they get and how fast they swim and the best bait to use. Dean’s about to tease him for being a nerd about everything, but seeing the smile on Sam’s face stops him. For a minute. “You gonna talk the fish to death or are you gonna catch one?” His rod and reel are already set and he’s sipping his first beer. Sam gives him a bitch face but joins him, grabbing a beer for himself.
“This is the life, Sammy.” Dean grins tipping his head back to soak in the sun.
Dean’s lost track of time again. He doesn’t think much of it. It’s not as bad as when that witch cursed him and he forgot who he was. But something is scratching at the corner of his mind, telling him that something isn’t right.
He’s about to mention it to Sam when he feels a stabbing pain in his arm. “What the fuck?” He mumbles under his breath. He rubs his bicep and the room around him shimmers. There’s a brief flash of a hooded figure in the woods. “What the hell was that?”
“What the hell was what?” Sam asks.
Dean turns startled, like he forgot Sam was in the room. “Nothing. I tweaked my arm somehow.”
“Huh. Weird. Gettin’ old, dude.”
“Shut up. You’re old.”
Sam snorts at the lame come back. “Yeah, I am, but you’re way older.” HIs insult is softened by his fond smile and the kiss he places on Dean’s neck when he comes up behind him to wrap his arms around him.
Dean allows himself to be encircled in Sam’s arm and tries to ignore the pain in his arm and itching in his brain.
Chapter 2