Silent Restraint

Episode 17:
 

Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.

Sam breathed slowly. Garth called out ten minutes to take off and he was mentally preparing himself with slow, deep breaths. It was something he had done in that dungeon cell to pass the time, something Dean had not missed the opportunity to make fun of him for, and now he found himself doing it for just about everything. 

He opened his eyes when a dull throb started in his right shoulder. He rubbed it, but the pain stayed consistent. It didn't falter or get worse, he could barely even tell where it was coming from. It just ached. Dean handed him a sheathed machete and Sam strapped it to his waist, a little upset by the ghost pain. 

"C'mon, Zo."  Sam shook his head, but wordlessly followed his brother outside. 

The party milled about the cars, a bit restless. Sam took out his phone and dialed Amare's number, putting a hand on his sore shoulder. 

"You okay?" Dean asked. Sam nodded, lifting the phone to his ear. 

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Amare ran hard, fully aware of her tail. She knew they were just playing with her.They could easily outrun her, and they had already caught up to her once, tearing into her shoulder with their finger nails. She assumed that the majority, including Jason, had stayed behind with Evvie, but that still left quite a few following her.

Her problem now was keeping her pace up and hoping they didn't get bored and just finish her there. It had taken her about fifteen minutes to walk that far, so she figured five minutes to run back to the house. 

Five minutes till she got help. 

Five minutes for them to kill Evagoras. 

Five minutes for them to catch up to her.

Her boots hit the ground in a dull rhythm. They didn't falter when her phone started ringing. She knew it was Sam. She didn't answer it. She just pumped her arms faster, thrusting her legs out further, inhaling and yelling as loud as she could. Someone would hear eventually. 

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Sam looked up when he heard her voice. He ended his call and slid the phone back into his pocket, then rushed past the cars. And there she was, monsters on her heels. 

From there on everything seemed to happen in slow motion. His eyes widened and he unsheathed his machete. He rushed at her and past her, swinging at the closest undead flesh, but catching collarbone instead of neck. There was shouting behind him and then his brother was beside him, trying to help but already overwhelmed by the numbers.  

Amare was still yelling. She looked at him before plunging right back into the fray. He caught a glimpse of her shoulder and ran to follow. A quick glance behind him showed him that the hunters and vampires were almost equally matched, but there weren't very many casualties yet. He saw Emma latch herself onto the neck of a burly vampire, blood already smeared down her chin and shirt. Hayden and Foster danced around each other, playing off of each other and successfully killing one monster and holding another off. No one seemed to notice Sam and Amare leaving. 

"Where are we going?" Sam asked. 

"Evagoras. That's not all of them. That's barely half, and Jason counts for at least two. Evvie held them off. We have to go help him." She quickened her pace to a fast trot. 

Sam easily matched it, but grabbed her arm. "Amare, there's only two of us--"

"Then go back, Sam. I have to do this." She pulled out of his grip. 

"You're already hurt," he pleaded. 

"Thanks for the newsflash, Mom." She quickened her pace again. 

He made a noise in the back of his throat and hated her for being so stubborn, before following her. And then she stopped and threw up her hands. 

"What am I doing? This is a suicide mission. Why are you here? Go back."

"The whole thing is a suicide mission. Let's go."

She frowned at him. "What?"

"I'm going if you're going and you won't not go, so come on."

She raised her eyebrows, but went on. They didn't get very far before their path was blocked by Jason. The color in Sam's face drained rather rapidly and he swallowed thickly. 

He stood before them, a spatter of blood on his white tie. He followed Amare's gaze to it and smiled sadly. 

"I just knew it was a bad idea to wear white today. Oh, my dear, Evagoras gave his regards before I tore his head from his shoulders. Would you like to see?" He motioned with his fingers before Amare could respond. Geoffry came forward, a sly smile on his face and Evagoras's lifeless head in his hand. Amare made an involuntary sound of emotional pain. 

"I'm going to give you two a head start," Jason continued. "Run back to your friends whom, I assume, have taken care of the first party rather nicely by now. We'll see you there." He smiled lightly, almost fondly, at Amare, but she didn't move. He turned and was swallowed by the small crowd behind him. 

Sam took her arm, urging her to go. She shook her head. She wasn't going to leave him to follow them as he pleased and make a feast of her friends. "You go," she told him. 

"I'm not leaving you."

"Get out of here before I feed you to them myself," she hissed, her eyes red. Sam looked at her, worry lines creasing on his forehead. He wanted to kiss her, show affection in some way, but he knew she would shrug him off. He looked at her one last time before trotting off to warn the rest of them. 

Amare watched him go. "I knew you would stay," Jason said over her shoulder. She didn't face him. "I know you better than you would believe. You and your sister," he ran his fingers up her bare arm, "You're more alike than you think. You two... You two are something special." He pulled away and said casually, "I had Mason killed. I know what he did for you. Quite clever. Perenna had something to do with it. Mason wouldn't admit it, but he was not smart enough to plan and act it all out by himself. I mean, even his efforts to keep your relationship discreet was a joke.

"Oh, well, let us not speak ill of the dead. Let's talk about you, Amare. Agápi̱, to our dear departed Evagoras. What on earth do you think you're doing? My Dear, we both know, even if you kill me you will not bring us down. You are aware of how tight our web is, that it cannot be unraveled even if you manage to kill me. It will still take years. What were you thinking, Sweetheart?"

"I told them this. But humans are determined. And strong."

"You are not one of them, though," he said. "You are so much more, so much stronger, so much more alive."

"I know what I am, Jason. What you've made me. But I was human first. I have found a home among them, one that I'm not keen to lose."

"You do not know what you're talking about," he replied simply. "You can never belong with them. You belong with your sister. You belong with us. Come back with us, Amare. Come back with us and we will stop this pointless battle."

She shook her head. "They would still hunt you even if I left."

"And we would let them. If the brainless apes see fit to murder us as they accuse us of doing them, so be it, and we will respond accordingly. But this, this is pointless genocide, my Dear. Come back with me and your precious humans will be safe for now."

She considered it, for a moment. Going back with him and living with Perenna and never seeing Sam again. She could deal with that, couldn't she? She'd dealt with a lot more recently. A life alone couldn't be worse than everyone around her being dead, could it? Sam would be pissed. And Dean, she didn't even want to think about how Dean would feel about her leaving his brother. Again. 

She looked at the machete in her hand for a moment before sheathing it. Jason smiled lightly at her and held out her hand. She accepted it confidently and followed him into the crowd. 

"Geoffry," he said, "go retrieve your remaining brothers and sisters. And make sure Sam Winchester knows what happened here."

"You're a monster," Amare said lowly. 

Jason chuckled. "I know, my Dear." 

She took a deep breath and discreetly measured the distance between the edge of her swing radius and Jason's neck. She quickened her pace and got a little bit closer. Another deep breath. Her window was closing. 

The machete slid out of it's sheath smoothly and quickly. She flipped it in her hand and yanked him down with the other. The thin metal cut through the front of his throat, but stopped halfway through. 

He looked at her with wide eyes. And then he seemed to realize that he wasn't dead, and grinned. Blood bubbled out of his lips and cascaded down his chin. She was still hanging onto the hilt and hurriedly tried to force it the rest of the way through, or at least far enough to sever his spinal cord. 

But then she was being forced away by cold hands and sharp teeth. Jason tried to bark out commands, but all that came out were strangled gurgling sounds. Amare watched in horror, almost unaware of the vampires still converging on her, as Jason's mind worked through every scenario that could come from this. She could almost see the gears turning. 

And then something else started happening, something Amare couldn't name. His eyes met hers an he reached for the hilt. With a sharp tug, the blade slid out the other side. 

Everything froze. 

She waited to die, she knew she was bleeding and not without broken bones. But no one moved. Someone whispered, close to her head, "He's dead." His head had rolled down a little slope, but had stopped on someone's foot. Bile rose in Amare's throat. She was released, dropped more like, and fell onto her butt. Her leg wouldn't support her. She couldn't tear her eyes away from his body. 

Everything started moving again and when she was able to see again, the body had been moved away and Sam was kneeling in front of her. He was talking to her very softly, touching her shoulders. She looked away, just wanting to wallow in her personal cold. Evagoras's head had been dropped four or more feet away from her. She pushed Sam's hand off of her shoulder, leaned to her right, and hurled. Sam quietly gathered her hair in his hands. When she was done, he gave her a water bottle and then half-carried her back to the house.