Blood Bond

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Supernatural…obviously.

Chapter 1

Sam and Dean Winchester trudged along the barely there mountain track. It had been raining now for nearly 48 hours straight and didn't look likely to stop anytime soon.

"Sam, where exactly is this water devil supposed to be?" Dean asked in an almost accusing tone.

"Like I told you before Dean, it prefers caves or crevices near a water source – you read the notes too. The local papers have reported five bodies found along Campbell's Trail in the last 6 months and that guy reported missing on the local news last night makes six. I don't know exactly where it's gonna be Dean but we've got to find it. We can't let that thing, kill anyone else."

"I get it Sam, but it would be nice for once to have something going in our favour – even if you had one of your vision thingies to narrow down the search. I mean the bodies were found what, in about a two mile radius – that's a lot of looking…and… let's not forget the other reason this trail was in the news was because of the mudslide. I can't wait to see that."

"Yeah Dean, I've heard that a mud bath is great for the complexion – yours could do with a little help."

"Oh Sammy you're killing me, I'm laughing on the inside."

They trudged on in silence, both letting the rain and gloom dampen any motivation for further conversation.

Sam walked head down following a few paces behind Dean, the monotonous squelch of each step lulling him deep into thought. He watched as his brother strode purposefully along through the mud and rocks strewn along the trail. Nothing seemed to slow him down and it made Sam feel confident following his steps. Dean always seemed to do that to him, just by being Dean he gave Sam the strength to… well, to do just about anything.

"Woaw!" Sam blurted out as his foot slid out from under him and he sat down unceremoniously on his butt in the mud.

Dean spun around as soon as Sam made a noise, a look of concern flashed across his features as his eyes darted around for any threat.

Concern, much to Sam's disgust, turned quickly into a fit of uncontrolled laughter as Dean finally had to bend over to catch his breath. Eyes watering and a smirk still on his face, Dean fished in his pocket for a second and in one fluid motion had his mobile out and pointed at Sam. "Say cheese for the Winchester blooper album Sammy."

"Fuck off jerk" Sam groused as he struggled to his hands and knees and finally stood up.

As Sam tried to clean the muck off his hands and clothes, Dean walked up the trail a few more paces and pointed off to the right. "OK mud man, while you get yourself all pretty I'm gonna see if I can get up on those rocks and see what we're headed into."

Dean checked his watch, "We've been going for nearly 4 hours so I guess here's as good a place as any to check the map and have a break before we run into this thing." Dean slipped off his backpack and headed off, grinning at Sam's stubborn refusal to say anything.

Sam watched as Dean loped off, glaring daggers into the back of his brother's head. Sam had managed to wipe some of the chunks of mud off but his jeans were pretty much a lost cause. His back felt jarred from the hard landing and to add insult to injury he was definitely going to have one bruised ass but there was no way he could let Dean find that out.

He found his water bottle and the notes he had scribbled before they had left, then gently eased himself down on the smoothest rock he could find. Sam glanced over to the pile of rocks and saw Dean clambering his way to the top. "Jerk" he muttered, the side of his mouth lifting in a grin he couldn't help.

Dean was cursing under his breath at the rain, the mud and the fact that the rocks were a lot higher and a lot less climber friendly than he had first thought. His hands were cut in several places from having to grip jagged edges of stone to get any purchase.

Finally he reached the top and found a flat surface to crawl onto and sat down quickly. There was no freaking way he was going to stand up. He couldn't tell from the side he had climbed but the pile of rocks actually marked the edge of a somewhat steep gorge and he could hear and see glimpses of white water below.

Damn, this was a little too high and exposed for his liking and did the rocks just move a little. God, he was getting paranoid.

Dean took a breath and focused on the trail they had been walking. He could see Sam, and could follow the path with his eyes for another 100 feet where it was lost in trees. He then caught another glimpse of the trail as it emerged on the downside of the bush, its bare mud standing out from the lush foliage. The path then sloped steeply down, cutting back towards the rock pile he was on and then, "Well that's just great".

The path ended abruptly where a slice of the hillside had disappeared, leaving behind what looked like clay, pockmarked with debris of various sizes. Tree roots and fallen trees together with rocks and boulders littered the red clay giving an almost alien landscape look. "Guess I found the mudslide" he muttered as he searched for a way to get down to the river.

Sam was studiously looking over the map working out the most likely places they would locate the water devil. He was certain of what they were hunting, the deaths fit the creature's MO. Bites and gashes where the creature had fed whilst keeping its victims alive and the deep purple colouring on the wounds from whatever poison this thing used on its victims.

Water devils initially weakened or paralysed their prey by injecting toxin from their claws or teeth. By the time the effects of the toxin wore off, the victims were further weakened by blood loss and pain. The creatures drained blood directly from the wounds, inflicting as much pain as possible to increase the adrenaline in the blood supply. The victims were normally kept alive for several days but their bodies were normally discovered near where they had been taken.

His Dad's notes were sketchy, mainly referencing information he had gleaned from other sources, other hunters. He had also come across some information on the web that made these creatures out to be pretty sick little bastards, preferring to have their victims not only alive but conscious whilst they fed. Sam shuddered, grimacing at the thought. The few phrases at the end of the page indicated they were not pack animals, preferring to hunt alone but when they did mate it was for life. There was also some kind of blood link between them that helped them communicate.

All the material he had read did have one thing in common, fire seemed to be the approved method to kill this bastard but there was something not quite right.

Something Sam couldn't quite put his finger on apart from the fact that none of the victims lived to tell the tale. The victims ranged in age both male and female, usually out hiking or camping near a water source but it seemed odd that none had escaped. The water devil was part demon but still corporeal not infallible.

He had gone over these notes in the motel room last night until his vision was swimming but he couldn't shake this nagging doubt about the hunt. He had even called Bobby, to check if he had come across one in his travels but Bobby wasn't that familiar with the creatures and had no new information to offer.

All the accounts were sketchy and summarized and none included actual details of the devil itself or any other characteristics apart from kill with fire. He knew they had taken on hunts with far less information but Sam kept reading, absently chewing the end of one finger as he finally started to realise what was wrong.

Sam shook his head and glanced up when he heard the approaching squelches. He prepared himself for the worst when he saw the look on Dean's face. As his brother approached, he also noticed the muddy and disheveled clothing and a glimpse of red through a tear in the knee of Dean's jeans.

"What happ…" Sam began

"I slipped."

"Okaay."

"We're gonna have one bitch of a walk ahead of us Sam" Dean shook his head. "It's not that far to the river but guess what I found on the other side of the rocks."

"So I'm thinking you found the mudslide but there's gotta be a way around it."

"Well Sam there is, if you want to either jump straight off that pile of rocks and pray you land in deep water oh and of course hope that the water devil is otherwise occupied. Then there is option number two where you can negotiate the untamed forest and if you don't get bitten by snakes or whatever else is lurking in there just keep your eyes open cause I think the sheer cliff is in there somewhere.

"Hmmm…" Sam paused. "You forgot option number three."

"And what exactly would that be college boy?"

Sam chose to ignore the sarcasm. "Well we could try and go down the slide itself. I mean, if it looks stable enough we might be able to follow the edge down. I saw a show on the discovery channel about mudslides and avalanches and once they're settled, it's actually pretty safe to…" Sam paused when he noticed the look he was getting from Dean. "Well what's the worst that could happen, we get a little muddy…muddier."

Dean turned to look at Sam with wide eyes and opened his mouth but then sighed and paused to consider the suggestion. "I s'pose we should check it out. Just cause no one can get through on this trail doesn't mean the little bitch won't just go further along the river to find the next victim. If it hasn't already packed its' bags and moved."

Sam stood and handed the water bottle to his brother "Have a break before we get going, let me see your knee."

"No Sam it's just a scrape and I'd prefer to get going and get this over with before it gets dark". Dean took a swig from the bottle and handed it back to Sam. "Look if we can get down the mudslide we should be at the river in an hour, maybe two. That'll still give us some daylight to finish this. We set up camp for the night and trek back first thing in the morning."

"I wish." Sam mumbled as he thought back to how often Dean's simple get in, kill the thing and get out plan worked. He was also going to have to tell Dean about the other possible problem he had just worked out.

"What?" Dean stopped and faced his brother.

"Well, we might be able to get down to the river Dean but I don't know how long it's gonna take to find the water devil. And when we do find it well, I mean..."

"What?" Dean repeated throwing his hands out wide.

"Well the thing is, all the info I found, including Dad's notes said that fire would destroy it."

"Yes Sam, which is why I'm carrying several rather heavy items of fire capability." Dean pointed to his large backpack sitting on the rock near their feet. It was stretched to almost breaking point which is why Sam carried most of their other supplies.

"Well we either need to get it out of the water or incapacitate it to get close enough with the blowtorch. And…" Sam hedged looking nervous.

"What?" Dean almost screamed. "Sam for Gods sake will you just spit it out."

"There's no first hand account that I could find of anyone actually killing one. Every bit of information says fire will do the trick but there's nothing that proves this theory had been tested."

"Oh" Dean mulled this over. "Don't you think this would have been a good thing to mention, oh I don't know, maybe before we left?"

"I know Dean and I'm sorry but it wasn't that obvious. I mean it just hit me when I was reading over my notes that everything is written in third tense. Like when an outcome is theoretically correct, but not yet scientifically proven in the field."

"Come again?"

"Like the conceptual argument is a valid one with a pretty sound basis but at this point it may still be a hypothetical conclusion."

"Huh?"

"I don't know if anyone has actually killed a water demon with fire Dean." Sam looked down shaking his head. How could he have missed this detail, how could he have overlooked something that might cost them their lives? How could he have been so stupid?

Dean took a breath and glanced over at his brother. Sam looked distraught, chewing his bottom lip as though he were about to cry. God no, that's not gonna happen!

"Sam get a grip we're not dead yet. You don't know if anyone has used fire but you also don't know if they haven't. I mean what if that's just the way they wrote it, y'know to sound really scientific or something."

Dean could see Sam thinking about this, good, a bit more distraction and he could avert a chick flick moment altogether. Dean continued, "Sam, you can't think of everything man and besides, I'd rather know this now before we meet this soggy badass, at least we can come up with some options." Dean's brain scrambled to think of at least one other option in case Sam asked but his mind drew a blank.

Dean sighed in relief when Sam nodded.

"Yeah, I guess we can use the blowtorch or even a couple of iron rounds to slow it down. Hell, I mean it is corporeal, so even some kind of trap might work until we figure it out."

Dean smiled and began loading his backpack and sleeping bag as he saw Sam go into plan formulation mode.

"Hey Dean, I'm sorry I let you down on this man. You got any ideas for a Plan B?"

"I'm working on it Sammy." Son of a bitch!

TBC…