Trading Heartbeats

Chapter 22:

Swallowing down the lump in his throat, Dean cut the Impala's engine, not looking away from the worn down, abandoned barn. Was Liv even here? Was she still...alive? Had Dean failed to protect yet another innocent? His grip on the wheel tightened slightly before he's brought out of his thoughts by the sound of someone next to him clearing their throat, trying to get his attention. Blinking a few times, he looked over to Sam. Raising his eyebrows in silent question, Dean leaned back in the soft leather seat.

"You good, Dean?" Sam asked, hazel eyes filled with doubt and concern. Dean nodded in response, swallowing down yet another lump in his throat.

"Yeah, I'm good," Dean replied, not looking Sam in the eyes. He took a breath and opened up his door, shutting it behind him. Rounding the Impala, he opened the trunk and began to load his Colt M1911A1 with pure silver rounds.

Dean allowed his thoughts to wander as he loaded his gun and didn't hear the other two doors open and footsteps following close behind him. He looked up to his right to meet Cas' gaze that was equally as worried as his brothers had been. He raised an eyebrow as he stuffed the gun in the waistband of his jeans at the small of his back.

"Dean..." Cas began, almost hesitantly. "Sam and I, we can handle this..." he finished softly.

"For the last time," He glanced over at Sam, giving them both a face, "I'm fine. I can handle this," Dean stated firmly.

"I really think you might be too close to this..." Sam sighed.

"Sam, how many times have women that we've hooked up with been in the line of fire?" Dean shot at him.

Sam furrowed his eyebrows at him and shook his head thoughtfully, "Too many, Dean. but Olivia's not just - "

"Right, so I can handle this. Just another day at the office" Dean shrugged, cutting Sam off with a weak smile as he closed the trunk to the Impala. "Sam, check around back. Cas, cover his back, okay? I'll go in through the front. "

Sam rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath but seemed to understand it wasn't worth the argument. Dean pulled out his flashlight and made his way towards the door of the barn as he watched Sam and Cas slowly round the corner, heading towards the back of the large barn, their weapons at the ready.

Dean nodded to himself as he made his way into the barn, gun at the ready. Sweeping the immediate area he saw no sign of anyone at that moment. His eyes scanned the area and he lowered his gun slightly.

"Liv...you here?" Dean called quietly, and he could swear he could hear his own heartbeat as he waited for a reply.

"D-Dean?!" A small, confused sounding voice called back from around a corner, followed by a cough.

Rushing around the corner, Dean paused at the sight of not only Liv but her two friends tied up on either side of her. Guilt flowed over him at the sight of deep, angry scratches on the side of her face. Trying to assess the situation and blinking himself out of his worst thoughts, Dean places his gun in his waistband and rushes up to Liv and began untying her.

"Are you okay, did Max hurt you or your friends?" Dean asked, averting his eyes.

"No...how did you...Dean, just get them out of here. Make sure they're safe. Jamie isn't waking up. You have to get them out of here. Please, Dean. Please." He looked up meeting her panicked eyes that matched the growing panic in her voice.

"Hey..." He replied, softly, trying to calm her, "We'll get all of you out of here and safe. It'll be fine, Sam and Cas are outside. Do you know where Max is now?" He finished, his voice turning more serious with his question.

"No, but Dean, seriously. Something's not right with him, or Brian...they're...different." Liv shook her head in disbelief. "I don't want my friends or you getting hurt. You guys have to get out of here before they come back." She pleaded.

"Shhh, Sweetheart, I know. We're gonna have to have a talk after this. But it'll all be fine, I promise." Dean gave her right thigh a comforting squeeze before losing the restraints on her wrist before his attention is pulled to the sound of people scuffling behind him and a small gasp from Liv. He spun around seeing Cas restraining a guilty-looking Max and Sam, with a busted lip, restraining a guy he didn't recognize looking almost...smug?

Dean pulled himself to his feet and crossed the space to stand in front of the other man.

"Wanna explain why you're holding your friends and girlfriend hostage?" Dean hissed getting in Max's space. He smirked when the ass actually flinched.

"Brian...it...it was his idea. We were gonna turn them. Form a pack." Max rushed out in a single breath. Dean's attention was drawn to the other guy Sam was holding back who scoffed and rolled his eyes. Grinning at him Dean shuffled to stand in front of the other guy.

"Let me guess, Brian?" He asked. "The..uh ex-boyfriend." he looked back at Liv who nodded before turning to the other guy who narrowed his eyes and smirked with a nod.

"And you must be the guy that Livvie was whoring around town with last weekend. I really hope you guys were safe, I don't want to catch anything." Dean cocked an eyebrow and took a step back and punched the guy square in the jaw. He shook his hand out as he heard the guy chuckling.

"Sam, get them all out of here." He said pointing to the three women behind him, "Cas and I will deal with them." He narrowed his eyes meeting Brian's challenging gaze. He watched Cas firmly grab Brian's upper arm as Sam walked towards where Alexis would be.

"Livvie, see this guy was just using you to get to us, not like anyone other than me would ever want you that way." Brian snarled. Dean growled and lifted his arm to punch the smug asshole again.

"Dean. Stop." Sam called, causing Dean to turn his attention back to him.

As Dean turned his body and opened his mouth to make some comment back to Sam he heard a growl followed by a groan from Cas. Max and Brian had both changed and were now both attacking Cas. Dean rushed them pushing Brian off of him and began to try and wrestle a fully grown, apparently pure blood, werewolf. Dean noticed that Sam had been able to pull Max off of Cas and they were now restraining him when Brian landed a good punch on his left jaw. He tried to reach into his waistband for his gun and paused for a split second when he realized he had slipped out in his scuffle with Brian. In that split moment he was caught off guard, Biran was able to pin Dean to the ground. Dean's eyes widened as he watched the werewolf raise a razor-sharp claw. He swallowed down hard and flinched when he heard a gun go off. Blinking his eyes back open he could feel a wetness spreading onto his shirt as a now lifeless body of a werewolf slumped down on him. He took a few shallow breaths before pushing the body off of him to see Liv standing a few yards away holding his now smoking gun towards him.

The color seemed to drain from her face as she allowed the gun to fall from her hands and she fell down to her knees. Dean looked at his brother and Cas as they all watched on before crawling over to where Liv was now kneeling. He placed his hands on her shaking, narrow, shoulders and nodded when she looked up into his eyes, hers filled with unshed tears.

"Hey...it's gonna be okay," Dean said, brushing some hair out of her face. Their heads both snapped in the direction of the other three men as Max was able to free himself of Cas and Sam's grips, but they were quickly on his heels as they sprinted after him out of the barn.

Dean pulled Liv into his body and hugged her tight and they sat that way in silence for a few moments. The silence was only broken by another single gunshot in the distance.