Searching Purgatory [COMPLETED]

Chapter Eight

Sam searched the upstairs hallways as carefully as possible. He found out very quickly that the mansion was basically empty, no demons in sight. And--although that was normally relieving--it was beginning to worry him. If there were no demons here, was Lauren even here?

Sage put her hand on Sam's shoulder. "We'll find her." She seemed so sure.

Sam wondered why the angels couldn't just use their grace and find where she was in this giant house. So he asked Sage this exact question.

Sage sighed. "I wish I could. This place is so huge; it'd be a lot faster. You and Dean did a good job getting rid of the sigils you could find, but there are more all over the place. We came in as soon as we could but that doesn't mean we're up to our full power. Even Gabriel the archangel wouldn't be able to find her in this place."

Sam nodded in understanding.

Cas came back down the hallway then, Meg in tow, his brow furrowed in worry or confusion--Sam couldn't tell which. "We believe that we found Lauren."

"Where?" Sam's hopes were immediately lifted as he heard these words and he couldn't believe that he was so close to finding her.

Meg pointed over her shoulder. "The room down the hall is covered in all kinds of angel warding crap. Cas couldn't even get close."

Sam's stomach was tying itself in knots in anticipation of finally reaching Lauren. He started on his way towards the room when Sage grabbed his arm.

"You can't seriously think that you're going in there along, Sam," she protested. "It could be a trap."

"He won't be alone," Meg countered. "It's warded against angels; not demons. I'll go with him."

"The two of you against a horde of demons?" Cas asked. "You'll both be slaughtered."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Meg smirked.

"We don't even know if there are demons in there," Sam argued, eager to finish this conversation and go get Lauren. "It could just be an empty room" He shrugged off Sage's hand and continued to the room. He could hear Meg following close behind.

As soon as he touched the handle, someone grabbed the back collar of his shirt and threw him backwards. He collided with the wall and looked up to see a demon launching at him. He raised his demon knife just in time to kill the demon.

Sam pushed himself to his feet and looked around the hallway, his ears ringing and his head pounding. They were outnumbered: three to one. He took one step forward but Cas looked directly at him and shook his head.

"Go, Sam," he cried, "get Lauren!"

Sam nodded and left the fight, hurrying back to the room. He threw the door open and ducked inside, slamming the door shut behind him.

The room he was in looked like it was used for storage. It was dark except for a single, naked light bulb dangling from the ceiling and shining sad rays of light onto stacks of dusty boxes.

Sam took a hesitant step forward, between the walls of boxes and squinted in the darkness. There was a scuffling sound to his left and he swiveled in that direction.

"Lauren," he hissed into the shadows.

Something hit him in the back of the head, at the base of his skull, and he cried out in pain. "Damn, ow. What was that?"

He turned around to see Lauren, standing between two tall columns of boxes, clutching a flashlight to her chest. She looked absolutely terrified, her eyes wide as she looked Sam up and down, trying to figure out who he was.

 "Who are you?" She demanded. "And how do you know my name?"

Sam raised his hands to show her that he didn't want to hurt her. His heart sank as he realized that Crowley hadn't lied when he said he'd erased her memory. "I'm not here to hurt you, Lauren," he told her. "I'm here to rescue you."

"Rescue me?" She asked skeptically. "Rescue me from what?"

"I know you don't remember me, but we're friends, we know each other. You've been kidnapped by Crowley and he's erased your memory, changed what you remember so that you don't run away. You didn't sign up for this, you only went with him to protect those people that you loved."

Lauren squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Sam nodded. "I can't imagine how confused you must be, but please, try and remember." Lauren dropped the flashlight then, clutching the sides of her head in her hands. Sam put a cautious hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Lauren groaned and fell to her knees. Before Sam could say another word, her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell forward, unconscious. Sam managed to catch her and he easily lifted her into his arms. Whatever this was, Cas had to be able to fix it, right? And if Cas couldn't, they did have Gabriel with them and if Cas couldn't fix her, certainly an archangel could.

He carried her out of the room to see that Meg, Cas, and Sage had taken care of the demons with little harm to themselves. It looked as though Sage used to have some cuts but since she was an angel, she had healed those right up. Cas was fussing over a cut across Meg's back and she was insisting that she was fine. When Sam stepped into the hallway, they all stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

"What'd you do to her?" Sage cried. Sometimes Sam forgot that her and Lauren had been roommates and pretty close friends.

"I didn't do anything," Sam told her, but Sage was still glaring at him, unbelieving. "I was talking to her and she just gripped her head and passed out. I figured you guys could tell me what's going on."

Sage was at his side in an instant, the back of her hand pressed against Lauren's forehead. "Crowley used an angel to get rid of her memories of you." She frowned and shook her head. "No, not get rid of...the angel he used wasn't powerful enough for that. He just had them buried and buried deep. Seeing you, speaking to you, it started to dig up those memories and that's not always the most comfortable thing. She's starting to run a fever."

Sam scowled. "What do we do?"

"We need to find Gabriel. He'll be able to fix her the best." Sage sighed. "I can try and bring her fever down, but digging up memories is a lot harder than burying them and I haven't done either in centuries. Cas could give it a try."

Sam looked desperately to Cas who made his way over to them. He put his hand on Lauren's forehead now and the same frown appeared on his face that Sage had. "Although this angel wasn't as powerful as one that would be able to completely erase memories, he did know what he was doing. I'm not very skilled when it comes to bringing back memories."

Sam sighed. "Well then, let's go find Gabriel."