Roads Untraveled ~ Sam Winchester

Chapter Sixty-Eight - I Don't Know Where We Go From Here

The car ride to the Brewery was beyond tense.
Sam didn't want to talk and Elizabeth felt too nervous to go against that.
Grieving Winchesters was not something she felt like messing with.
Even driving, everytime she blinked, she saw a flash of Charlie in that bathtub. Everytime she blinked, more tears threatened to spill.
Rowena and Castiel were talking when they arrived, but as soon as the door closed, they ceased whatever conversation they were having.
"About bloody time!" Rowena huffed.
Castiel rose from his seat at the table in the centre of the room, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs as they descended to the main level.
"Where's Charlie?" He asked.
Elizabeth looked down in shame, causing the Angel to frown in confusion at the Winchester.
Sam simply shook his head. He couldn't bring himself to say the words.
"Oh, no... God." Cas whispered. "I should've gone after her. I- What happened?"
"Me." Sam replied. "The Stynes, um... They caught up with her and, uh... Elizabeth got there just as they turned up but... They- they butchered her, Cas. And Charlie. If 'Liza was Human, she'd... I don't even wanna-" He shook his head, stopping himself before his voice cracked.
"Are you alright?" Cas asked the Vampire.
"Define 'alright...'" She uttered, sinking down against the wall by Charlie's desk.
"Dean's gone after them." Sam added.
"So, he knows." The Angel said gravely.
"Yeah." Sam nodded.
"Well, what now?"
"I'm shutting this down." The Winchester replied. "I promised Dean-"
"Uh, hello? Anybody want to tell me what's going on?" Rowena spoke up from the far side of the room.
"No." The boys snapped.
"What about her?" Cas asked.
"Guess." Sam gritted his teeth as he spoke.
"I'd be happy to kill her, she just called me a fish." The Angel sighed. "What about Dean?"
"We, uh, we should be able to track him." Sam pulled out his phone. "I low-jacked the Impala a few weeks back just in case. Here."
Cas moved forward, looking over the man's shoulder at his phone. Then, the phone went off, signalling an email.
"Is this what I think it is?" Sam asked, walking over to Rowena to show her the phone.
"Oh... That little minx." Rowena smirked.
"What is it?" Elizabeth asked from her spot on the floor.
She got up, walking over to join them.
"She's cracked the code." Rowena replied, showing her the phone.
Elizabeth's eyes lit up, taking the phone for a closer look.
"Does this mean..?"
"Can you read the Book of the Damned with this?" Sam asked the Witch.
"Every last word." Rowena smiled. Sam looked back at Cas, stood behind him. "We can cure the Mark of Cain."
Sam looked as though a small battle was going off in his mind.
"Cas, go find Dean. Make sure he doesn't go too far off the reservation, okay?" He instructed.
"What are you doing?" The Angel asked.
"I'm saving my brother." The Winchester said.
"You told Dean-"
"I know what I told Dean." Sam interrupted the Angel. "Cas, look. I've been the one out there messed up and scared and alone. And Dean-"
"Did whatever he could to save you..." The Angel mumbled, knowing he was right.
"Yes!" Sam exclaimed. "I mean, it's become his thing! I owe him this. I owe him everything! Look, I know he pretends that he can ride the Mark out, but we know the truth, we know what happens if we don't cure him. All three of us know where that road ends." He motioned between himself, the Angel and the Vampire.
"Black eyes and blood." Cas mumbled.
"Yes. Go. Find him, Cas. Keep him safe." Sam instructed. "'Liza, you should probably go with him."
"If I go with him and we face the Stynes, I will not be held responsible for my actions. And I certainly won't put myself in the way of Dean doing the same." Elizabeth held her hands up.
"I don't care if you turn that place into worst bloodbath you've ever seen. Have at it. God knows they deserve it." Sam retorted.
The Vampire looked to Cas with shocked eyes. Neither of them were expecting that out of Sam.
"I'll look out for Dean, you do whatever you have to do." Cas told her.
"Okay..." Elizabeth shrugged, walking off with him in tow.

Castiel unsurprisingly had some questions on the way to Louisiana.
"What happened, Elizabeth?"
"Do we have to talk about it?" She sighed.
"Sam said they butchered you. Did he mean that-"
"Literally? Yeah, pretty much." She mumbled, looking down at her hands in her lap. "There were three of them. Eldon Styne and two of his clan. The two kept me busy whilst Eldon... Did what he did to Charlie. I tried to fight them, I really did. They had me pinned – kept stabbing me all over my body, beating me, the works... I wasn't even sure if I'd even survive it for a second. I... Heard Charlie's screams as- anyway... Eldon walked passed me, making sure I saw how much of Charlie's blood was coated on him. As soon as I saw that, I lost it. What happened with the Angels? That energy blast? It happened again. I took out the two guys, but Eldon had already gone. And, when I saw Charlie... I barely even remember what happened until Sam was force-feeding me blood back at the Bunker."
"That's horrific..." Cas whispered. "I should've been there."
"I'm not sure it would've made much of a difference. It all happened so fast." The Vampire sighed. "God, Dean and I shouldn't have told Eldon what I was. He wouldn't have brought such heavy-hitting back-up."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that, but he couldn't have even known you'd be there."
"I'm sorry I didn't do enough." Elizabeth retorted, leaning her head back against the passenger headrest.
"Don't do that." He said. "Don't beat yourself up. There was nothing more you could've done."
"Yeah..."