Savin' Me
Savin’ Me
Chapter 6
Chapter Wordcount: 2450
“So tell me again why I should be comfortable just walking into this guy’s house?” Casey asked, leaning over the back of the front seat.
“Because you’re with us,” Dean said, taking a turn off the main highway onto the back roads that would take him to Bobby’s.
“Just watch where you step,” Sam said, turning to look at her, “He’s got traps set up all over the place.”
“Wonderful.”
Dean chuckled, “Not like we wouldn’t release you.”
“And don’t drink his beer,” Sam said, somewhat quietly, Dean shooting him a look, remembering what Bobby had done to subdue the demon possessed Sam.
“Why?”
“He puts holy water in it,” Dean grinned.
“What makes you think he won’t recognize me from back in Ohio?”
“I don’t think he really got a good look at you…besides, we’re not gonna let him touch you so chill out.”
Casey huffed, resting her chin on the seatback.
“Well hey boys,” Bobby smiled, eyes freezing for a split second on Casey, “C’mon in.”
“Thanks Bobby,” Sam smiled, moving past him as he held the door open.
Casey tried to be nonchalant about looking around before she stepped anywhere, but Bobby had been in the game for far too long.
“So…why you boys dropping in?” he asked innocently, heading over to the couch and motioning for them to sit.
Sam took the old worn out recliner, glancing over at Dean and Casey as they settled nervously on the opposite sofa.
“Well…you know,” Sam stuttered.
“You need help, tell me something new.”
Dean grinned.
“Show him,” he said softly, looking at Casey.
“Dean…”
“Show him,” he said, absentmindedly touching her knee in reassurance, a move that was not lost on Bobby.
She sighed, glancing between Sam and Dean before meeting Bobby’s eyes, and letting her own flash black.
“Son of a…” Bobby immediately stiffened.
Dean tensed ready to stop him but froze when he felt the length of Casey lean ever so slightly into him. Luckily Sam jumped in.
“Listen Bobby, before you freak out…”
“Before I freak out?”
“She’s on our side.”
“And why the Hell should I believe that?!”
“Because she’s been with us for a couple weeks now…and has helped us fight.”
The glare Bobby shot at them had both the boys shifting in their seats.
“Case, why don’t you go outside,” Dean said quietly.
She nodded before silently leaving.
“Are you two mad?!”
“Possibly,” Dean said, mouth set in a grim line.
He normally was pretty casual, comfortable, with Bobby but something was different this time, and even he couldn’t explain the way he needed to defend Casey.
Sam squinted, the years had taught him how to read Dean’s body language and he could see the way his muscles had tensed.
“Uh…Dean, doesn’t the Impala need an oil change?”
“What?” Dean asked, surprised and a bit peeved.
But Sam knew working on the car would calm him down more than anything else, and he needed to talk to Bobby…both about what they had come there for in the first place and about something that had been a slow burn in the back of his own mind.
“There’s some oil in the shed Dean, should be some filters in the cabinet too,” Bobby said softly.
With an aggravated sigh he got up and left.
Casey was leaned against the side of the house, sitting on the steps when Dean slipped out, closing the old warped door with a forceful tug.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” he mumbled, settling down beside her.
Casey bit her lip and stayed silent. She could feel the waves of tension and frustration that were rolling off him and knew better than to push him.
“Can you help me get the car up on the ramps? I need to change the oil,” he said, getting up and walking towards Bobby’s tool shed without waiting for her answer.
“So son, what’s this trip really for?”
Sam sighed, wringing his hands together nervously, leaning forwards.
“Well first I want to talk to you about something while Dean’s not here.”
Bobby’s eyes twitched over to the door before landing back on Sam.
“Okay…what is it?”
“Well…” Sam’s mouth opened and closed a couple times, trying to find the words. “I’m not sure, how exactly to explain it…but it’s like…they’re connected.”
“Dean and…”
“Casey.”
“How do you mean?”
“I don’t even know, that’s what’s been bugging me. I mean,” he sighed, dropping his head into his hands. “She told him she’d follow him. She said…she said that because he had tried to save her, and because she had no one else to follow that her allegiance is with him now, and,” he sighed again, “She said that if I…if I don’t…at the end of the year she’ll follow him into Hell…help protect him,” he whispered, shoulders shaking with tension.
Bobby took his hat off, scratching his head before plopping it back down, rubbing his hand across his cheek.
“What’s this about being connected?”
“I’ve seen her sometimes, like…like she’s fighting something, inside, and all Dean has to do it catch her eye, or touch her arm or something and it’s like the fight drains out of her. I really think she’d do whatever he asked her too.”
Bobby nodded, his eyes darting back and forth across the floor.
Without a word he got up and walked into the other room, his finger trailing down a mountain of books, speed reading the spines, trying to find something.
Sam followed, stuffing his hands in his pockets nervously.
Finally Bobby grabbed a book off one of the shelves, snorting as a small cloud of dust erupted in its wake. He sat down at the small table and began flipping through the old brittle pages slowly, scanning over pages and pages of ancient dead languages.
“Well I’ll be damned…”
“What? What is it?” Sam asked, trying to read the book upside down from his seat.
“She’s bound to him.”
“What?”
“I’ve heard about it before, I’ve never seen it though, let alone between a demon and a human.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well there’s no telling what sparked the connection, probably because they both saved each other’s lives. But they are connected like you said. She will follow him, she’s not an automaton or anything, she still has free will, but ninety-nine times out of a hundred she’ll do as Dean says, just out of plain ol’ loyalty to him.”
“He can control her?”
“Kind of, like I said, she’s still her own person. It’s hard to explain, this book only mentions it in passing, I’ve never seen anything that goes in depth about it.”
“What about when he touches her?”
Bobby shrugged, “Hell if I know, the physical connection probably just strengthens the bond. Hell, I saw it in there,” he said, waving a hand towards the other room.
“You saw that too?” Sam smirked.
“Boy I was hunting when you were still in diapers,” Bobby grinned. “Yea, I saw it.”
Sam smiled.
“Get Dean in here…alone.”
Dean had just taken out the drain plug, snatching his arm away quickly, making sure the thick black fluid drained into the empty pan.
“Dean?” Sam called, leaning out the door.
“What?” Dean squawked.
Sam grinned. “Bobby wants to talk to you.”
Dean paused, repositioning the oil pan a little before grabbing a hold of the bumper and yanking himself out from underneath it, the creeper grating against the uneven concrete slab.
He stood up, wiping his hands on an old rag, which didn’t help much considering he had already managed to get grease on his t-shirt, his over-shirt long since discarded in the car.
“You think you can finish her up for me?” he asked, holding out the wrench.
“Sure,” Casey said, reaching for the wrench just in time for Dean to snatch it away from her grasp.
“Are you sure?”
“Dean…I remember the first car…I think I can manage changing oil. Besides I know if I fuck it up you’ll just send my ass to Hell.”
“No I wouldn’t,” he grinned, letting her grab a hold of the wrench.
Both of them froze, something clicking, realizing that they both knew he meant it.
Dean finally looked away, wiping his hands again before handing over the rag and headed towards the house.
He couldn’t help but turn around halfway there to watch as she pulled herself underneath the Impala.
“What’s up Bobby?” he asked, leaning his shoulder against the wall, eyeing Sam suspiciously as he sat back down at the table.
“Have you, noticed, anything between you and Casey?”
“What? Like crazy amounts of sex pheromones ‘cause we’re both so hot?” he grinned.
Bobby clenched his jaw trying hard not to turn that boy over his knee.
“What do you mean?” Dean sighed.
“A connection,” Sam said quietly, Dean catching his eyes.
“Why?”
“Just answer the question,” Bobby said.
“Maybe,” he mumbled, shifting nervously. “What is this about?”
“She’s bound to you Dean.”
“What?”
“There’s not a whole Hell of a lot of information anywhere on it, so don’t go spouting off questions. But I’m assuming, somehow, because you both saved each other’s lives she became bound to you,” Bobby explained.
“Have you ever noticed when she might be nervous, or angry…and you, I don’t know, say something, touch her and all of a sudden she’s fine?”
“Yea…”
“You can control her Dean…to a certain degree,” Sam added, glancing at Bobby to make sure he didn’t muck up the information. “Not like a robot or anything, but I’ve seen it too, between the two of you.”
“So…what does it have to do with anything?”
“Well, nothing really,” Bobby shrugged, “Just gives you one more reason for you to be connected to her, one more reason for you to trust her...for me to trust her.”
“So it’s no big deal?”
“Well, like I said, it’s not documented anywhere, so I wouldn’t go broadcasting it, or else you’ll end up some whacked out hunter’s lab rats…but,” he shrugged, “It’s not that big a deal.”
“Okay…well then can we finish what we came here to do?”
“Which is what?” Bobby asked.
“Geez, way to go Sammy, been here over an hour and you haven’t told him,” Dean smirked, grabbing the last empty chair and spinning it around to straddle it.
“What do you know about binding links?”
“We need to know how to burn one…properly,” Sam added.
Bobby’s eyes unconsciously went to the pale scar that still stood on Sam’s arm.
“You wanna lock that demon in that poor girl’s body? Which reminds me, why are you letting her stay in that body?”
“The body’s dead,” Dean blurted. “When she got shot back in Ohio, the body bled out, but because it wasn’t a direct shot, Casey…well, Demon Casey, was able to recover, and she’s just been truckin’ along in the…shell,” he said, waving his hand.
Bobby nodded, “So why do you want to lock her in?”
“Well we realized how tricky it could be,” Sam said, “I almost started reading an exorcism the other day with her still in the room.”
“I’ve got a book around here with the ritual in it,” Bobby nodded. “Dean, go get a socket and flat-head screwdriver, they’ll work. And grab the propane torch from the cabinet in the shed.”
Dean nodded, getting up to go collect the supplies and to tell Casey they were getting ready.
“Sam, you come with me, we’ll go find that book.”
Casey pulled her hair up in a bun, straddling a chair in the middle of the kitchen, hanging her chin over the back, baring her neck.
It would hurt like a bitch, branding it on the back of her neck, but it could also be easily covered.
She heard the boys moving behind her, getting situated.
Dean stood just in the edge of her peripheral vision, holding the socket, on the end of a long extension in one hand and a decent length screwdriver in the other. The propane torch set on the table, waiting to be fired up.
Sam fidgeted with the old leather bound book Bobby had bookmarked for him.
Bobby had taken it upon himself to do the dirty job of actually being the one to put the scorching metal against her skin.
Casey could feel Dean thrumming. Memories of a red hot poker searing through his flesh literally burning through his mind. And yeah, demons didn’t feel pain the same way humans did, but they did still feel it, and this was gonna hurt like a bitch.
She caught his eye, turning her head as she heard the switch of his lighter, the blue flame on the torch erupting with a whoosh.
“Relax boys, I’ve survived Hellfire, I think I can deal with hot steel for a few seconds,” she said, holding Dean’s gaze.
He held the socket in the flame until the metal was red-orange against the cool blue flame, watching her the entire time.
When Sam began reading the first part of the ritual she finally turned her head back, away from Dean and inhaled, hearing them switch the tool in between their hands.
Bobby’s hand came down warm and firm on her shoulder, squeezing reassuringly as she felt the heat radiate against her skin for a split second before the white hot pain exploded behind her eyes as the hot metal hissed and cut into her skin.
Dean grimaced, the stench of burned flesh suddenly filling the small room.
Sam stumbled for a split second, willing his stomach to stay the fuck down before continuing on through the reading. Nodding to Dean when it was time for the second mark.
Dean inhaled sharply, handing over the screwdriver to Bobby who again warned Casey with a gentle hand on her shoulder before waiting for the binding words from Sam to burn the lock into her flesh.
Instantly Sam sagged and Bobby placed the screwdriver in the kitchen sink, water hissing and steaming as the metal broke through the surface.
The clunk of Dean’s boots, heavy and determined were the first thing to come back to Casey’s senses and next thing she knew his hands had engulfed hers where they were clenched around the wooden slats of the chair back and his face hovered in front of her swimming eyes before he leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers and closing his eyes.
Bobby and Sam both watched, glancing at each other, as the shaking from her muscles being tensed and strained against the pain subsided. Watched as she breathed a deep sigh at the same time as Dean.
What they didn’t see was Dean’s feather light kiss to her forehead before he stood back up.
Chapter Notes: *dun dun dun* So yea...that whole bond thing, I made that shit up haha
Previous: Chapter Five | Next: Chapter Seven
Chapter 6
Chapter Wordcount: 2450
“So tell me again why I should be comfortable just walking into this guy’s house?” Casey asked, leaning over the back of the front seat.
“Because you’re with us,” Dean said, taking a turn off the main highway onto the back roads that would take him to Bobby’s.
“Just watch where you step,” Sam said, turning to look at her, “He’s got traps set up all over the place.”
“Wonderful.”
Dean chuckled, “Not like we wouldn’t release you.”
“And don’t drink his beer,” Sam said, somewhat quietly, Dean shooting him a look, remembering what Bobby had done to subdue the demon possessed Sam.
“Why?”
“He puts holy water in it,” Dean grinned.
“What makes you think he won’t recognize me from back in Ohio?”
“I don’t think he really got a good look at you…besides, we’re not gonna let him touch you so chill out.”
Casey huffed, resting her chin on the seatback.
“Well hey boys,” Bobby smiled, eyes freezing for a split second on Casey, “C’mon in.”
“Thanks Bobby,” Sam smiled, moving past him as he held the door open.
Casey tried to be nonchalant about looking around before she stepped anywhere, but Bobby had been in the game for far too long.
“So…why you boys dropping in?” he asked innocently, heading over to the couch and motioning for them to sit.
Sam took the old worn out recliner, glancing over at Dean and Casey as they settled nervously on the opposite sofa.
“Well…you know,” Sam stuttered.
“You need help, tell me something new.”
Dean grinned.
“Show him,” he said softly, looking at Casey.
“Dean…”
“Show him,” he said, absentmindedly touching her knee in reassurance, a move that was not lost on Bobby.
She sighed, glancing between Sam and Dean before meeting Bobby’s eyes, and letting her own flash black.
“Son of a…” Bobby immediately stiffened.
Dean tensed ready to stop him but froze when he felt the length of Casey lean ever so slightly into him. Luckily Sam jumped in.
“Listen Bobby, before you freak out…”
“Before I freak out?”
“She’s on our side.”
“And why the Hell should I believe that?!”
“Because she’s been with us for a couple weeks now…and has helped us fight.”
The glare Bobby shot at them had both the boys shifting in their seats.
“Case, why don’t you go outside,” Dean said quietly.
She nodded before silently leaving.
“Are you two mad?!”
“Possibly,” Dean said, mouth set in a grim line.
He normally was pretty casual, comfortable, with Bobby but something was different this time, and even he couldn’t explain the way he needed to defend Casey.
Sam squinted, the years had taught him how to read Dean’s body language and he could see the way his muscles had tensed.
“Uh…Dean, doesn’t the Impala need an oil change?”
“What?” Dean asked, surprised and a bit peeved.
But Sam knew working on the car would calm him down more than anything else, and he needed to talk to Bobby…both about what they had come there for in the first place and about something that had been a slow burn in the back of his own mind.
“There’s some oil in the shed Dean, should be some filters in the cabinet too,” Bobby said softly.
With an aggravated sigh he got up and left.
Casey was leaned against the side of the house, sitting on the steps when Dean slipped out, closing the old warped door with a forceful tug.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” he mumbled, settling down beside her.
Casey bit her lip and stayed silent. She could feel the waves of tension and frustration that were rolling off him and knew better than to push him.
“Can you help me get the car up on the ramps? I need to change the oil,” he said, getting up and walking towards Bobby’s tool shed without waiting for her answer.
“So son, what’s this trip really for?”
Sam sighed, wringing his hands together nervously, leaning forwards.
“Well first I want to talk to you about something while Dean’s not here.”
Bobby’s eyes twitched over to the door before landing back on Sam.
“Okay…what is it?”
“Well…” Sam’s mouth opened and closed a couple times, trying to find the words. “I’m not sure, how exactly to explain it…but it’s like…they’re connected.”
“Dean and…”
“Casey.”
“How do you mean?”
“I don’t even know, that’s what’s been bugging me. I mean,” he sighed, dropping his head into his hands. “She told him she’d follow him. She said…she said that because he had tried to save her, and because she had no one else to follow that her allegiance is with him now, and,” he sighed again, “She said that if I…if I don’t…at the end of the year she’ll follow him into Hell…help protect him,” he whispered, shoulders shaking with tension.
Bobby took his hat off, scratching his head before plopping it back down, rubbing his hand across his cheek.
“What’s this about being connected?”
“I’ve seen her sometimes, like…like she’s fighting something, inside, and all Dean has to do it catch her eye, or touch her arm or something and it’s like the fight drains out of her. I really think she’d do whatever he asked her too.”
Bobby nodded, his eyes darting back and forth across the floor.
Without a word he got up and walked into the other room, his finger trailing down a mountain of books, speed reading the spines, trying to find something.
Sam followed, stuffing his hands in his pockets nervously.
Finally Bobby grabbed a book off one of the shelves, snorting as a small cloud of dust erupted in its wake. He sat down at the small table and began flipping through the old brittle pages slowly, scanning over pages and pages of ancient dead languages.
“Well I’ll be damned…”
“What? What is it?” Sam asked, trying to read the book upside down from his seat.
“She’s bound to him.”
“What?”
“I’ve heard about it before, I’ve never seen it though, let alone between a demon and a human.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well there’s no telling what sparked the connection, probably because they both saved each other’s lives. But they are connected like you said. She will follow him, she’s not an automaton or anything, she still has free will, but ninety-nine times out of a hundred she’ll do as Dean says, just out of plain ol’ loyalty to him.”
“He can control her?”
“Kind of, like I said, she’s still her own person. It’s hard to explain, this book only mentions it in passing, I’ve never seen anything that goes in depth about it.”
“What about when he touches her?”
Bobby shrugged, “Hell if I know, the physical connection probably just strengthens the bond. Hell, I saw it in there,” he said, waving a hand towards the other room.
“You saw that too?” Sam smirked.
“Boy I was hunting when you were still in diapers,” Bobby grinned. “Yea, I saw it.”
Sam smiled.
“Get Dean in here…alone.”
Dean had just taken out the drain plug, snatching his arm away quickly, making sure the thick black fluid drained into the empty pan.
“Dean?” Sam called, leaning out the door.
“What?” Dean squawked.
Sam grinned. “Bobby wants to talk to you.”
Dean paused, repositioning the oil pan a little before grabbing a hold of the bumper and yanking himself out from underneath it, the creeper grating against the uneven concrete slab.
He stood up, wiping his hands on an old rag, which didn’t help much considering he had already managed to get grease on his t-shirt, his over-shirt long since discarded in the car.
“You think you can finish her up for me?” he asked, holding out the wrench.
“Sure,” Casey said, reaching for the wrench just in time for Dean to snatch it away from her grasp.
“Are you sure?”
“Dean…I remember the first car…I think I can manage changing oil. Besides I know if I fuck it up you’ll just send my ass to Hell.”
“No I wouldn’t,” he grinned, letting her grab a hold of the wrench.
Both of them froze, something clicking, realizing that they both knew he meant it.
Dean finally looked away, wiping his hands again before handing over the rag and headed towards the house.
He couldn’t help but turn around halfway there to watch as she pulled herself underneath the Impala.
“What’s up Bobby?” he asked, leaning his shoulder against the wall, eyeing Sam suspiciously as he sat back down at the table.
“Have you, noticed, anything between you and Casey?”
“What? Like crazy amounts of sex pheromones ‘cause we’re both so hot?” he grinned.
Bobby clenched his jaw trying hard not to turn that boy over his knee.
“What do you mean?” Dean sighed.
“A connection,” Sam said quietly, Dean catching his eyes.
“Why?”
“Just answer the question,” Bobby said.
“Maybe,” he mumbled, shifting nervously. “What is this about?”
“She’s bound to you Dean.”
“What?”
“There’s not a whole Hell of a lot of information anywhere on it, so don’t go spouting off questions. But I’m assuming, somehow, because you both saved each other’s lives she became bound to you,” Bobby explained.
“Have you ever noticed when she might be nervous, or angry…and you, I don’t know, say something, touch her and all of a sudden she’s fine?”
“Yea…”
“You can control her Dean…to a certain degree,” Sam added, glancing at Bobby to make sure he didn’t muck up the information. “Not like a robot or anything, but I’ve seen it too, between the two of you.”
“So…what does it have to do with anything?”
“Well, nothing really,” Bobby shrugged, “Just gives you one more reason for you to be connected to her, one more reason for you to trust her...for me to trust her.”
“So it’s no big deal?”
“Well, like I said, it’s not documented anywhere, so I wouldn’t go broadcasting it, or else you’ll end up some whacked out hunter’s lab rats…but,” he shrugged, “It’s not that big a deal.”
“Okay…well then can we finish what we came here to do?”
“Which is what?” Bobby asked.
“Geez, way to go Sammy, been here over an hour and you haven’t told him,” Dean smirked, grabbing the last empty chair and spinning it around to straddle it.
“What do you know about binding links?”
“We need to know how to burn one…properly,” Sam added.
Bobby’s eyes unconsciously went to the pale scar that still stood on Sam’s arm.
“You wanna lock that demon in that poor girl’s body? Which reminds me, why are you letting her stay in that body?”
“The body’s dead,” Dean blurted. “When she got shot back in Ohio, the body bled out, but because it wasn’t a direct shot, Casey…well, Demon Casey, was able to recover, and she’s just been truckin’ along in the…shell,” he said, waving his hand.
Bobby nodded, “So why do you want to lock her in?”
“Well we realized how tricky it could be,” Sam said, “I almost started reading an exorcism the other day with her still in the room.”
“I’ve got a book around here with the ritual in it,” Bobby nodded. “Dean, go get a socket and flat-head screwdriver, they’ll work. And grab the propane torch from the cabinet in the shed.”
Dean nodded, getting up to go collect the supplies and to tell Casey they were getting ready.
“Sam, you come with me, we’ll go find that book.”
Casey pulled her hair up in a bun, straddling a chair in the middle of the kitchen, hanging her chin over the back, baring her neck.
It would hurt like a bitch, branding it on the back of her neck, but it could also be easily covered.
She heard the boys moving behind her, getting situated.
Dean stood just in the edge of her peripheral vision, holding the socket, on the end of a long extension in one hand and a decent length screwdriver in the other. The propane torch set on the table, waiting to be fired up.
Sam fidgeted with the old leather bound book Bobby had bookmarked for him.
Bobby had taken it upon himself to do the dirty job of actually being the one to put the scorching metal against her skin.
Casey could feel Dean thrumming. Memories of a red hot poker searing through his flesh literally burning through his mind. And yeah, demons didn’t feel pain the same way humans did, but they did still feel it, and this was gonna hurt like a bitch.
She caught his eye, turning her head as she heard the switch of his lighter, the blue flame on the torch erupting with a whoosh.
“Relax boys, I’ve survived Hellfire, I think I can deal with hot steel for a few seconds,” she said, holding Dean’s gaze.
He held the socket in the flame until the metal was red-orange against the cool blue flame, watching her the entire time.
When Sam began reading the first part of the ritual she finally turned her head back, away from Dean and inhaled, hearing them switch the tool in between their hands.
Bobby’s hand came down warm and firm on her shoulder, squeezing reassuringly as she felt the heat radiate against her skin for a split second before the white hot pain exploded behind her eyes as the hot metal hissed and cut into her skin.
Dean grimaced, the stench of burned flesh suddenly filling the small room.
Sam stumbled for a split second, willing his stomach to stay the fuck down before continuing on through the reading. Nodding to Dean when it was time for the second mark.
Dean inhaled sharply, handing over the screwdriver to Bobby who again warned Casey with a gentle hand on her shoulder before waiting for the binding words from Sam to burn the lock into her flesh.
Instantly Sam sagged and Bobby placed the screwdriver in the kitchen sink, water hissing and steaming as the metal broke through the surface.
The clunk of Dean’s boots, heavy and determined were the first thing to come back to Casey’s senses and next thing she knew his hands had engulfed hers where they were clenched around the wooden slats of the chair back and his face hovered in front of her swimming eyes before he leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers and closing his eyes.
Bobby and Sam both watched, glancing at each other, as the shaking from her muscles being tensed and strained against the pain subsided. Watched as she breathed a deep sigh at the same time as Dean.
What they didn’t see was Dean’s feather light kiss to her forehead before he stood back up.
Chapter Notes: *dun dun dun* So yea...that whole bond thing, I made that shit up haha
Previous: Chapter Five | Next: Chapter Seven