Breathe Life Into Me

We got a little motorboat and rode it to the other side: Prentiss Island. When we headed into the woods we started to scope around. I had my hand on my phone for a long time. Text Sam? Don’t text Sam? Text Sam? Don’t text Sam?

“We shouldn’t text Sam, right? I mean…you don’t think we’ll need backup” Dean murmured to me.

That was when I took my hand off my pocket and shook my head. “No texting Sam. Personal matter remember? Since when do we need backup?” I raised an eyebrow.

He chuckled and nodded. “It's weird being back…in the world, I mean. Isn't it?” Benny voiced as we tossed our bags to the ground.

“Sure as hell is” Dean agreed.

“I mean, what do you do with it all? All the…all the everything? Hell, I don't even know if this world is real, if I'm real” I got in front of him and placed a hand on his chest.

“Hey, look at me and listen very carefully. I’ve been in that situation too, okay? I’ve been in a worse situation than not knowing what’s real and what’s not”

“And I’ve seen it, it isn’t pretty” Dean added.

“We are all real” I looked at both of them.

“Benny, this is real. It's the only way to play this game, you get me?” He just nodded.

We found the mansion-size house and easily snuck inside with our weapons ready. Benny got distracted by the piano in the living room. “Time to move, Benny” Dean whispered.

“The old man's harpsichord” he murmured.

“Benny!” I hissed at him as we kept walking.

I saw he wasn’t following though…but I couldn’t go get him…because someone was coming down the stairs. It was a beautiful woman in a long dress with long braided black hair. “Benny?” she spoke delicately. “Andrea” he gasped.

And all Dean and I could do was watch as he was attacked from behind while being surrounded by three other henchmen. “Idiot” Dean shook his head. “Come on” he whispered to me and we walked around the corner.

Just then my phone began to buzz. It was Sam. “Damn it, Sam. I’m a little busy right now” I muttered, ignoring it.

I could hear creaks and see shadows coming from down the hall so I grabbed a hold of Dean and we slipped into the room beside us. After a minute Dean poked his head out to see if they had passed. Seeing as they had I decided to call Sam back. “Hey” he said as we were walking down the halls cautiously. “What is it?” I whispered.

“What?”

“Why did you call me?” I said quickly.

“Why are you whispering?”

“It's kind of hard to explain right now, but I'm sort of in the middle of cleaning out a vampire's nest, and it's sort of gone a little sideways on me”

“What?!” he exclaimed and I pressed the phone to my stomach to muffle the sound as he continued to just yell at me.

“Well, hey we’re not alone okay. We've got backup. A guy who's been tracking the nest for a while”

“What guy? Garth?”

“What? No. You don't know him. He's a friend”

“A friend? Brit, you don't have any…all your friends are dead!”

“Yea, thanks for the reminder, Sammy”

“I wasn’t referring to…”

“Okay whatever, Sam. That's not what I called to talk about…”

“God damn it, let me talk to him” he took the phone out of my hands.

“Sam? Yea…hold on…” he rolled his eyes at Sam ranting and started texting something.

“Oh my god just stop talking! I texted you our 20”

Then he set it down on the side table and pulled me around the corner. I watched as one of the vampires could hear Sam’s excessive talking. When he got close enough Dean swung and sliced his head right off. I bent down to pick up my phone that was now on the ground and saw it was smashed to bits.

“You owe me a new phone” I glared at him.

“Put it on my tab” he quipped as he picked the body up by the legs.

I watched him struggle with the dead weight a little and then he looked up at me to make some kind of stupid joke but out of nowhere this vamp jumped from around the corner, getting ready to dig his teeth into Dean from behind. So I lunged forward, spun with ease and threw all my weight into my machete, slicing the head off of the vampire that was in midair, trying to take a bite out of us. I lowered my arm and turned back to Dean.

“Okay…I owe you a new phone” he established. I just smiled smugly.

We took care of the bodies and continued making our way to find Benny.

“Dean…do you really think Benny knows how to get Mel back?” I wondered.

“We have to trust that he does, Brit…if he doesn’t…then I don’t know how else to bring her home”

“I just…I don’t know…”

“I thought you were past this whole thing about being unsure about him”

“You know that I would trust Benny would everything I have…but this is Mel we’re talking about…” I looked to the floor feeling everything I used to feel in Purgatory.

Flashback

I hooked onto Dean’s hand and pulled him to his feet. I looked over at Cas who placed a hand on a ghoul and he was enveloped in light. The body fell to the ground. Benny came over to us and I wiped some blood off the side of my face but really I just feel like I smeared it, mixing it in with the dirt that covered my body.

“Well, I got to admit, he's got his strong points, but holy hell if he ain't a magnet” Benny commented.

“Well, before we found Cas, you said it was our humanity that was drawing too much attention” Dean mentioned.

“Yeah, that too”

“Well, I think we're clear for the moment. It does present a curious curl in the metaphysics, doesn't it? If you murder a monster in monster heaven, where does it go?” Cas spoke.

“And this is the crazy aunt I want to take on the road?” Benny spoke sarcastically.

“I am not your aunt” Cas spat.

“What? Really?”

“I have no possible relationship to your sibling offspring”

“Now, you're kidding me”

“Okay, enough. You’re both giving me a migraine” I stepped in.

Cas faced me and Dean. “I have to agree with the vampire. The risk of crossing Purgatory with a seraph…it's less than strategic, and certainly when we have no reason to believe that I can pass through the door that you're headed for…and then there’s the fact that you two are still searching for Melissa who might as well be…”

“Don’t say that” I hissed at him.

He avoided my eyes. Benny stepped forward. “You see, Brittney…you're an intact, living human being stuck in Purgatory's craw. This dimension wants to spit you two out, which is exactly what's gonna power our escape pod. Melissa…from what you’ve told me…she doesn’t have any more of a chance than I do…”

“And you say you still have a chance!”

“Yes because, after all, you take away the fangs and the fun, I was born human, too. But…”

“And so was she…”

“Not technically…” Cas argued.

“We are not fighting about this! We’re not leaving without her. So if you want us to help you hijack out of here then stick around and help us find her” Dean spoke.

“Cas…you, of all people, should understand…she was always there when you needed. She was there when you weren’t you!”

He looked away. “I’m not saying it won’t work…I’m just saying it may not…”

“You hear what he's telling you two? Your buddy is saying…”

“Listen to me, you undead blood junkie, we’re the ones with the mojo. We’re the ones with the plan. We’re bringing everyone back home if it kills all of us” Dean stood his ground.

“Obviously, I'm less than comfortable with that”

~

“What the hell do you know about the value of life? You're a vampire” Dean spoke as we continued through out the forest.

“Yep. And I think we both know which of our kinds kills more humans”

“Well, statistically speaking, that'd be your…” Cas voiced.

“Yes, thank you, Cas” Dean snapped.

“I get it. You're worried what I might do if we make it topside. I'll start eating your little piggies. I already told you, man, by the time I got iced, I was strictly on blood transfusions, donated blood. Not donated to me, I'll give you that, but I paid good black-market scratch for it”

“So, what is that? Like the Vampire Zone diet?”

“Look, all I'm saying is I started seeing something in humanity, okay? Something that shouldn't be taken. I drink blood. I don't drink people”

I spun around quickly, causing him to stop short and stare me right in the eye. “And why the hell should we believe you?” I asked, glaring up at him.

“What does it matter what you believe? Dean has his head so far up his ass, he doesn’t even realize we’re already done for. The angel knows it and I can see it in your eyes that you can see that too. You just don’t want to admit it. You don’t want to tell him that because you want to protect him from the devastation of the fact that his girlfriend might be dead. Monsters around here feed off power like this one over here and it’s only a matter of time before Melissa’s power is all drained and her body deteriorates if it hasn’t already”

“Don’t talk about her like you know her! We made a deal! Everyone gets out!” I exclaimed and shoved him back.

“I’m just saying that we will never make it with this glowing beacon of power. He’ll get us killed”

“We may get to test that theory” Cas spoke up. I looked at him and Dean in a panic.

“More monsters?” Dean asked.

“Leviathan”

“Why don't you blip out of here?”

“They're too close. I can't. Run” We took off.

End Flashback

If Benny was considered a monster in Purgatory wouldn’t he be able to sense out where Mel’s “power” was hidden? Wouldn’t he be able to sense out where she was? Maybe it was because he was a “reformed” monster so it was different in his case.

All of a sudden Dean put an arm out in front of me so I stopped walking. I looked down the hallway and saw two more vamps turning a corner. They looked up and saw us. I sighed as they charged at us. One jumped on top of me as I put my feet on his chest and tossed him back behind me. I did a quick backward roll, jumped to my feet and before he could even stand I sliced off his head. I turned to see Dean had done the same.

“I’m so over this” I muttered as we trudged down the hallway.

We finally came to the main hall and I could see Benny and Andrea talking. He was trying to get her to go with him…but she felt she had everything she needed here. He had realized she wasn’t the woman he had fallen in love with. She was someone else…she was a vampire. I watched her take a step back and actually snarl her fangs at him. Without even thinking I sprinting into the room and lunged my weapon into her back, stunning her. Then I ripped it out and decapitated her. Benny’s eyes fell down to the lifeless body of the woman he used to love. I felt my heart breaking for him as I looked up at Dean and he gestured for me to follow. I nodded and we both walked outside.

I tried to walk down the steps but my legs became frozen. “Tell me there was nothing we could do…tell me we would’ve died if we stayed…if we tried to find another way…” I murmured.

He faced me and sighed. “I don’t know what would’ve happened, Brit. Yea, we probably would’ve died sooner or later…would we have found a way to get to Mel? Maybe? Would it have been worth it? I don’t know”

“Do you think we can really bring her back? Or do you think we just have false hope?” I tried not to break.

“I think…we’re doing whatever we can…because I know she would be doing the same for us”

I didn’t want to say anything else because I knew I would start crying and I’m not that person anymore. I spent a year in Purgatory without breaking down with tears I refuse to go back to the person I used to be.

Benny came out to us and without a word we went back to the boat. “Why'd you both do it?” he suddenly asked us.

“Do what?” Dean asked as I looked up at him.

“Resurrect me. You could have drained my soul into any culvert, and no one would have been the wiser”

“What the hell are you talking about? Hey, you good?”

“Man…I don't know what I am” he shook his head and just got in the boat. I followed in pursuit as Dean started it up. I sat motionless and just stared into the water.

Flashback

Running…dodging trees…dust flying into my mouth…I was used to it by now. I was also prepared for it. How sad is that? I stopped short as a mass of black goo came crashing down in front of me and it transformed into a leviathan. I looked around and saw two other blobs of goo plop to the ground as well. One of them started to advance toward me. I swung at it but he ducked and knocked my weapon out of my hands. He grabbed my throat and threw me to the ground, knocking the wind out of me. “Brittney!” I could hear Dean’s voice. I could see Mel’s face as my eyes rolled back. But when the grip loosened on my neck and my vision came back…I saw it was Benny standing over the headless leviathan. He offered his hand to me and helped me up. I looked over to see another one getting ready to get rid of Cas for good but Benny threw his weapon so fast I couldn’t even see it slice right through the neck of the leviathan holding Cas down. Cas got to his feet and met eyes with Benny and then Benny looked back at me. Who is this guy?

End Flashback

That was the second time he had saved me. And I think it was when I started to really trust him…especially since he had saved Cas as well. I mean, he had just got done saying Cas would be the result of our death. He could’ve easily let him die…but he didn’t. I owed Benny to give him my trust at least since he risked his life for mine multiple times.

I looked up to see Sam waiting for us at the docks. Great. Dean threw him the rope so he could tie it down. Sam took my hand to help me out of the boat…and it was a good thing too because I almost tripped. I could feel Benny behind me getting ready to catch me. But I tripped forward into Sam and stared up into his eyes. I kind of missed him….

We pulled apart from each other as his eyes met Benny’s while him and Dean got out of the boat. “I'm Benny” he offered his hand. Sam shook it. “Heard a lot about you, Sam” he added.

I looked up to see Sam’s face change. He was suddenly tense. His other hand went to his knife holster and he gripped it. My eyes went down to watch and I looked back up at him, leaning in to him. He looked down at me and I shook my head. He looked at Dean for some kind of confirmation and he shook his head as well. Benny let go of his hand and Sam dropped his arms.

“I can see you three have a lot to talk about” Benny said, patting Dean on the arm.

He picked up his bag and then placed a hand on my shoulder. I smiled lightly up at him and watched him go. I looked back up at Sam and saw a look that I’ve never seen Sam give Dean before…a look of anger…disappointment…hostility…. This wasn’t going to end well….