XVI. BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN

Adelaide's weekend at Bobby's had come to an abrupt end after Sam's disappearance. After Adelaide woke up to an empty bed, she was quick to wake up Dean and Bobby.

Even with the three searching for the youngest Winchester, he was nowhere to be found. For days, the three searched but to no avail. Their efforts were in vain.

After Dean convinced Bobby to let him and Adelaide find Sam on their own, he reluctantly allowed them to go off while he reached out to his contacts for any leads on Sam.

It had been nearly two weeks since Adelaide had seen the younger Winchester, and she was worried. Not for herself—but for Dean and his codependency on Sam.

However, a part of her also missed having him around.

Adelaide slumped in the passenger seat beside Dean as he dialed Ellen's phone number for the second time that day. He was leaning against the car as he fidgeted to distract himself.

"Ellen, it's me again. Any chance you've heard from him?" Dean asked, rubbing a hand at his temples. "I swear, it's like looking for my dad all over again. I'm losing my mind here."

"You haven't heard anything from him?" Ellen asked in disbelief.

"No. I've called him a thousand times, there's nothing but voicemail. I don't know where he went, or why. Sam's just gone."

Dean's phone beeped, cutting through Ellen's voice. "Hang on," Dean told her.

Dean motioned for Adelaide to get out of the car and join him to where he stood. Seconds later, she was at his side as Dean moved to check the other caller on the line.

Adelaide heard his breath hitch with relief as Sam's contact filled his phone, immediately clicking answer, mumbling a half-hearted "hang on," to Ellen.

"Sammy? Where the hell are you? Are you okay?" Dean asked hurriedly, as Adelaide could hear Sam mumbling incoherently on the other end. "Hey, hey, hey! Calm down. Where are you? All right, don't move, we're on the way."

***

Dean drove like a madman to reach Sam's hotel. Adelaide held her tongue on teasing him about his reckless driving, deciding he had enough on his plate for the moment.

After sloppily parking the Impala in the motel's lot, Dean and Adelaide hurried into the building, frantically hurrying down a narrow hallway. Dean followed Adelaide as she tracked down the scent of blood to room 109.

She couldn't smell Sam's scent—he had blocked it by burning saffron, cabbage, and trillium blocks. Instead, she was following the blood. While she normally would've found the scent appetizing, there was something about it that made her stomach churn.

"Blood," Adelaide vocalized the growing scent to Dean.

Dean's face paled as he frantically knocked on the door.

"Sam, it's me," Dean called impatiently, knocking on the door again. "Sam!"

Adelaide huffed as she tried the door knob, seeing it was open. Her and Dean headed inside, her eyes immediately drawing to Sam, who sat with his head down on the foot of the bed.

Dean was quick to walk up to Sam as he shook him gently. Adelaide closed the door behind her as she stood a few feet away from the two.

"Sam?" Dean spoke gently. "Hey."

Sam nodded to him half heartedly. "Hey, Dean," he said, turning his head up slightly as he met Adelaide's eyes. "Adelaide."

Adelaide took this as her cue to take a step closer to Sam. She wasn't sure what to do in the moment—but after he had helped her at Bobby's, she knew she had to repay the favor.

Without a word, she tentatively reached out her hand, taking his hand in hers. Holding his hand had helped in the past, and she hoped it would give him some sense of comfort now.

Sam's hand froze at the touch, but he didn't pull away. After a moment, his hand relaxed into hers.

"Are you bleeding?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head slightly. "I tried to wash it off," he reasoned.

Adelaide's eyes shifted from Sam's hand down to his shirt, seeing it was covered in blood. Her eyes widened.

"Oh my God." She stressed, though Dean was already a step ahead as he began searching for the wound.

Sam stopped them both.

"I don't think it's my blood." He mumbled out slowly, his words barely audible as his voice shook.

Adelaide inhaled as she noticed an unfamiliar scent within the blood. It didn't have the same twinge that Sam's blood did, and she knew Sam was right.

Dean furrowed his eyebrows, briefly meeting Adelaide's eyes with a worried glance. "Whose is it?"

"I don't know." Adelaide felt Sam squeeze her hand anxiously. "All I know is it's not his."

She inhaled deeply. "Sam, what the hell happened?"

Sam was silent for a moment, before he finally tilted his chin upwards. His eye bags were heavy and his lips were dry and cracked.

Finally, he brokenly rasped out, "I don't remember anything."

***

Adelaide stayed with Sam as Dean had gone to gone out to get him food and find out more information. Sam changed out of his bloody clothes, ones that Adelaide had discarded immediately, knowing the stain wouldn't come out. Even if it did, she doubted Sam would ever be open to wearing those clothes again.

It was quiet as Sam and Adelaide sat in the motel room. Sam flipped through the motel's daytime tv as they waited for Dean to come back. Every interaction between them was awkward, as if they were teenagers who didn't know how to act appropriately.

As they sat in silence, Adelaide couldn't help but think back to that night before Sam had disappeared. The moment they had shared was now a distant memory, clouded by the current situation.

She pushed away her thoughts, focusing on the fact that Sam needed her support now more than ever. But despite her best efforts, memories of that night kept resurfacing in her mind. She found herself glancing over at Sam every so often, trying to read his expression.

Suddenly, Sam turned off the TV and looked over at Adelaide. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Adelaide furrowed her brows in confusion. "For what?"

Sam hesitated, his eyes filled with uncertainty. "For...for everything. For disappearing, for worrying you and Dean, for not remembering what happened. I just...wish I wasn't so useless."

Adelaide frowned at Sam's words. She wanted so badly to tell him that he wasn't useless, that whatever happened wasn't his fault. She wanted to tell him that he was cared for by so many people—including herself, and as his friend, she was just worried about him.

However, she didn't exactly think friend would describe the situation accurately.

Instead, she reached out and placed her hand on top of his.

"Oh please. Useless, Sam? You've got to be kidding." She began, her harsh words betrayed by her uncharacteristically soft tone."We're going to figure out what happened, but for now, we're just glad you're back and safe. I'm glad you're back and safe."

Sam looked down at her hand on his and then back up at her. His eyes softened at her attempt at kindness, and Adelaide felt as though the air in the room had shifted.

Before Adelaide could dwell on it too much, the sound of the motel room door opening broke the moment. Dean walked in, carrying a bag of takeout. He took one look at the two, sat closely on the bed, and raised an eyebrow.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked with a smirk, though there was a hint of concern in his eyes.

"No." Adelaide said, her hand off Sam's in an instant as she shifted away from him.

She could feel him glance uneasily at her sudden shift in emotions. He shook it off seconds later.

"What'd you find out?" Sam asked.

"You checked in two days ago under the name Richard Sambora," Dean explained. "Of course, I think the scariest part about this whole thing is the fact that you're a Bon Jovi fan."

"Dean." Sam said seriously.

Dean shrugged. "Your room's been quiet, nobody's noticed anything unusual."

Sam huffed. "You mean no one saw me walking around covered in blood?"

"Yeah." Dean nodded. "That's what I mean."

"Then how the hell did I get here? What happened to me?" Sam asked, growing frustrated.

"I don't know. But you're okay, and that's what matters. Everything else we can deal with." Dean assured.

This seemed to frustrate Sam further as he looked to Dean. "Oh really? Cause what if I hurt someone? Or worse?" He spoke.

"Sam..." Dean warned.

"What if this is what Dad warned you about?" Sam questioned tentatively.

Dean stiffened, shaking his head. "Hey, whoa, whoa, come on man, let's not jump the gun here. We don't know what happened. We've just got to treat this like, like any other job. What's the last thing you remember?"

Sam sat down. "Bobby's. I fell asleep next to Adelaide on the her bed, and—"

"Bobby's?" Adelaide asked, surprised. "That was over a week ago."

"That's when he took off, wasn't it?" Dean reasoned.

Sam eyed the two, vision darting back and forth as he sighed. "That's it." He spoke. "Next thing I knew I was sitting here. Bloody. Felt like I'd been asleep for a month."

"...Okay." Adelaide spoke. "Let's retrace your steps."

Dean nodded in agreement. "The manager said you left yesterday afternoon and he never saw you come back, so," he pulled back the curtain, noticing a bloody handprint on the window. "Hey."

***

Less than an hour later, Sam, Dean, and Adelaide headed outside to try and jog Sam's memory. Though the sun was barely prominent through the rain, Adelaide adorned a pair on sunglasses on her face.

"Recognize anything?" Dean asked hopefully.

Sam shook his head. "Not really."

Dean sighed as the three walked towards a parking garage further down the alley, as Sam spoke up. "Wait."

"What?" Asked Adelaide.

"I think I was here." Sam pondered.

Without the heavy stench of saffron, Adelaide could faintly smell Sam's scent in the garage. She nodded. "I think so, too."

"You remember?" Dean inquired.

"Not really, it just feels familiar, you know?" Sam answered.

The three walked closer to the garage doors, as Sam pointed over to the second door. "Try that one."

"Okay." Dean agreed, tugging on the padlock.

After having no luck with it, Adelaide offered to break it apart with her hands. Just as she was about to break it open, Sam stopped her.

"Wait," he muttered, digging through his pockets as he pulled out a key.

Adelaide opened the padlock with the key, as she watched Dean pull up the garage door. Her eyes landed on a beat-up, filthy, VW Beetle.

Dean groaned as he took in the car's messy state. "Oh, please tell me you didn't steal this."

Sam didn't reply as the three walked inside the garage, opening the doors of the car. Adelaide stood besides Dean as Sam was on the driver's side.

"More blood," he said to the two, showing his finger with blood from the driver's wheel.

Adelaide gulped.

"Sam, back seat," Dean spoke, as Sam reached down.

His fingers wrapped out a knife, the blade coated with blood. "...You think I used this on someone?"

Dean was silent for a moment. "I'm not thinking anything."

Adelaide looked around the front seat, eventually picking up a pack of cigarettes. She nudged Dean, catching his attention as she showed him the pack.

"Okay now this is disturbing. Come on, man, this couldn't have been you," he insisted. "Had to have been someone else, somebody who, uh," he sniffed the box, "smokes menthols."

"Hey," Adelaide nudged Sam's shoulder with her elbow. "Guess I finally rubbed off on you, huh?"

Sam wasn't amused by Adelaide's comment as he pursed his lips in a flat line. He turned away and continued searching the car's interior, before pausing abruptly.

Sam got Dean's attention as he showed him and Adelaide a crumpled piece of paper. "Gas receipt. Few towns over."

***

"All right. Receipt's for ten gallons at pump number two," Dean spoke as the three pulled up to a small gas station. "You getting any, uh, any goosebumps yet? 'God, this looks familiar', deja vu vibes?" Dean asked, turning to Dam as the latter shook his head.

"Maybe someone inside'll remember you,"
Adelaide suggested. "Come on."

Adelaide opened the Impala's door as she walked inside the gas station, giving the cashier a brief glance. His expression was bland, until his eyes landed on Sam. He grew angry.

"You," he spat, motioning to Sam. "Out of here now, or I'm calling the cops."

Dean looked stunned as he turned to the cashier. "You talking to him?"

The cashier nodded. "Yeah, I'm talking to him. Jerk comes in yesterday, stinking drunk, grabs a forty from the fridge, starts chugging it."

Dean blinked. "This guy? You're drinking malt liquor?"

The cashier scoffed, shaking his head. "Not after he whipped the frigging bottle at my head."

"This guy?" Dean questioned again in disbelief.

The clerk rolled his eyes. "What, am I speaking Urdu?"

Sam frowned. "Look, I'm really sorry if I did anything—"

The cashier quickly cut Sam off, his hand flying to the phone. "Tell your story walking, pal. Po-po will be here in five."

Adelaide furrowed her eyebrows, angry with the cashier's blatant disrespect. Without thinking, she grabbed the phone out of the cashier's hand aggressively.

"I'd think nice and hard about your next move, buddy," she threatened, her eyes narrowed as she increased the strength of her grip on the man's wrist with her other hand.

He looked at her with fearful eyes, before his expression turned smug. "We've got cameras in here, you know."

Adelaide hummed nonchalantly, shrugging. "Yeah, but I doubt they'll be much help. Maybe only for reviewing the crime."

The cashier's face quickly resembled a white sheet as he gulped. He stuttered on his next few words.

"Put the phone down," Dean said, giving Adelaide a knowing look. She challenged his stare for a moment, eventually giving in after a moment as she released her grip.

"Fine." Adelaide huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Both of you, go wait in the car." Dean spoke after a moment, making Sam scoff.

"I don't need her to babysit me—"

"Go wait in the car!" Dean repeated, louder.

Sam sighed after a moment, leaving. Adelaide followed behind him.

***

Later that evening, the three were driving down a dark road. Dean was driving north down Route 71, after he had bribed the cashier to tell him of Sam's whereabouts.

Adelaide had fiddling with her fingers as Sam stared out the window.

"What's going on with you, Sam?" Dean asked, breaking the silence in the car. "Hm? 'Cause smoking, throwing bottles at people, I mean, that sounds more like Adelaide than you."

Sam didn't react, not intending to reply. However, after a moment he jumped up in his seat. "Dean, wait, right here," he spoke eagerly. "Turn down that road."

"What?" Dean asked.

"I don't know how I know, I just do."

Dean proceeded to turn down a back road, eventually driving nearby a large home, secured with security cameras.

"Whoever lives here, I'd say they don't like surprises." Sam mumbled to Adelaide, a hint of playfulness in his tone.

Adelaide looked up to meet his eyes. She nodded. "Understatement." She replied back.

"Should we knock?" Dean asked the two, knocking seconds later after the two nodded their heads.

Adelaide tried to sniff out anyone inside as Dean stood by the front door, while Sam had gone around the side of the house.

"Guys," Sam called all but a moment later, his flashlight waving around a broken window.

As Sam called them over to the broken window, Adelaide's keen senses picked up on something off. "This place reeks of blood, guys," she commented, covering her nose. "Be cautious."

"I'm surprised the cops didn't show. Place like this, you'd think it'd have an alarm." Dean said.

Adelaide nodded in agreement as she continued to poke around the front door, while Sam stayed behind. He mumbled out a half-hearted, "yeah, you would."

It was easy to break into the home as the three pried the front door open, though remained quiet as they headed inside. As Adelaide entered the house, she was hit with an intense whiff of blood.

She would have been salivating at the scent had it not smelled so...rotten. It almost threw her off balance as she covered her nose with her hand, following the dulled scent down the hall.

While Dean and Sam explored the house, Adelaide focused on her surroundings, observing the lingering evidence of a struggle. "Someone fought here. Hard."

She could hear the footsteps of Sam and Dean trailing behind her, as she stopped in front of a doorway at the end of the hallway. Through the darkness, she could see the silhouette of a body, limp on the floor.

As they discovered the lifeless body, Adelaide maintained a composed exterior, though her vampiric instincts recognized the scent of fresh blood. The rottenness of it came from the fact that the body was dead—and vampires weren't allowed to drink blood of the deceased.

She knelt beside the body, studying the gruesome scene. "This wasn't just a break-in, it's personal," she suggested.

"Hit the lights," Dean whispered, as Sam flicked the lights on.

The older Winchester kneeled over the body, turning it over as he noticed the slash across the man's throat. The scene was gruesome.

Adelaide looked at the floor, averting her eyes. She could see Sam's horrified expression out of the corner of her eye.

His voice shook as he spoke. "Dean, I did this."

Dean shook his head in denial. "We don't know that."

Adelaide looked between the two. She bit back a reply, knowing there was nothing she could say that would help the situation.

"What else do you need?" Sam probed impatiently. "I mean, how else do you explain the car, the knife, the blood—"

"I don't know, man, why don't you tell me?" Dean snapped, startling Adelaide as she looked at the scene in front of her. "Look, even if you did do this I'm sure you had a reason, you know? Self-defense...uh...he was a bad son of a bitch...something!"

Adelaide frowned at Dean's growing anxiety as she patted down the body. "Whoever it was, there's no ID."

"I need your lock-pick." Sam requested, holding his hand out.

Dean looked at him, completely puzzled. "What?" He asked, as if he had heard Sam incorrectly.

"I need your lock-pick." Sam repeated.

Dean handed Sam the lock-pick, as he pressed it into the closet door. As Adelaide peered into the closet, it was lined with weapons, charts, and newspaper clippings.

"Holy," Dean inhaled. "Either this guy's a unabomber..."

"Or a hunter," Sam replied, growing horrified. "Dean, I think I killed a hunter."

"Let's find out," Dean agreed, motioning to the security camera at the ceiling.

Adelaide wasn't sure if she was hit with a wave of hope or dread.

***

The three situated themselves around the man's computer as Sam downloaded the security tape to watch. Adelaide could practically feel the nerves radiating off Sam.

"Here we go," Dean murmured as the screen came to life.

The room fell into deathly silence as Adelaide's eyes were trained on the screen. She watched as Sam and the man on the floor fought, eventually going off screen. The fight continued until Sam got the upper hand in the man, slitting his throat.

Adelaide's lips parted in shock. Dean pulled back from the computer with disbelief. Sam looked down at the floor in shame.

Dean was quick to collect himself as he jumped into action, pulling Adelaide along with him. He began to clean up the scene as best as he could and pointed to the computer. "How do you erase this? Huh? Sam, come on, I need your help."

Sam remained seated in the chair, reading a note he found on the man's desk. "I killed him, Dean. I just broke in and killed him."

"Listen to me," Dean said firmly. "Whoever this guy is, he's a hunter. Which means that other hunters are going to come looking for his killer, which means we've got to cover our tracks, okay?"

Sam remained solemn. "His name was Steve Wandell. This is a letter from his daughter."

Dean looked at Sam, his line of vision shifting to the letter. When he realized Sam was useless for the moment, he grabbed the computer, smashing it to pieces on the floor.

"Really?" Adelaide commented. "Destroying evidence won't solve this. We need a plan to handle the fallout when other hunters come looking."

Sam was still despondent. Dean shook his head, grabbing a rag from nearby as he threw it at Sam. "Wipe your prints, then we go."

***

The ride back to the motel room was silent. Adelaide couldn't get the smell of blood out of her nose, attempting to distract herself as she stared out the window.

As the Impala drove up to the parking lot of the motel, Dean sighed heavily. "Alright, you two, out. I need a minute to think."

When neither moved, Dean snapped. "Did you hear me? Out!"

Adelaide furrowed her eyebrows as she got out of the car, Sam following suit. The two walked to their motel room in silence as the Impala drove away, though Adelaide knew Dean just needed time to process. He'd be back soon.

"Panicking won't help anything," Adelaide spoke, noticing the crease between Sam's furrowed brow.

"Just try to relax. You can sleep, I'll keep watch," Adelaide offered, looking up at Sam as he had his back to her. She sighed. "This isn't ideal—for anyone. We can't undo what you did, but we can try to put it behind us."

Sam turned to face Adelaide slowly. "Try to relax?" He repeated with hostility. "This isn't some amateur mistake. This was murder."

Adelaide bit the inside of her cheek. Normally, her replies were quick, barely thought out—no regard for anyone's feelings. However, she thought in silence about her reply.

For once, she was worried to say the wrong thing.

"It's gotta be some sort of fluke. Maybe someone cursed you...or maybe someone tampered with the tapes."

Sam gave a small chuckle at her words. "Who, Adelaide? The guy I killed? We both know what happened out there."

"It wasn't your fault." Adelaide decided. "It couldn't have been."

"Wasn't it?" Sam offered. "When are you going to realize I'm not some saint? I know you want to think I'm some sort of savior, that I can 'fix' you, but I can't save you from all the things you've done—I can barely look after myself!"

Adelaide shook her head. "Sam, come on—"

"Deep down, we knew this was coming." Sam told her. "I mean, maybe this was the yellow-eyed demon's plan. Turning me into a killer just like he's done before."

Adelaide shook her head, her expression a mix of disbelief and concern. 'Thats bullshit," she huffed. "That's not who you are, Sam. These feelings you're talking about, they don't define you.'"

"...Why can't you realize that I'm not a good person?" Sam muttered. "Why can't you just open your eyes and realize who I really am?"

"Sam, stop it." Adelaide asserted. "I'm not giving up on you, just like you didn't give up on me back at Bobby's."

Sam's shoulders grew tense. "This isn't some outburst like you had, okay? I've been having these...feelings for a while. Maybe that's why I did what I did."

Adelaide furrowed her eyebrows. "Feelings? Like what?"

"Rage," Sam fumed. "Hate." He chuckled angrily. "And you—you're the only one who can stop them. God knows why you're the only person I feel somewhat normal around—I don't have to worry about scaring you, or worrying you...or any of that crap."

Adelaide watched, her concern deepening, as Sam stood up, his eyes clouded with a mixture of anger and desperation. "I can't use you as my safety cushion," he mumbled, his voice a tortured whisper. "It's not fair to you, it's not fair to anyone. Which is why it's gonna stop."

Adelaide stop up as Sam turned around, one hand in his pocket as the other held his pistol with a shaky grip.

"Dean won't do it. That's why you have to." Sam pleaded, eyes teary. "I don't want to hurt Dean. I really don't want to hurt you."

Adelaide's eyes widened in pure shock. Sam's desperation pierced through her, but she knew he wasn't in his right mind. "No," she stated. "No way, Sam."

"Adelaide, please." Sam begged. "This is the only way."

The vampire remained adamant as she placed her hands behind her back. "No," she repeated, her voice a bit shakier, despite her best attempts to sound strong.

Where was Dean? Surely he'd be able to talk Sam down from this. She just had to keep stalling, just a little while longer.

The two went back and forth for a few more minutes, though after a moment, Sam's demeanor shifted entirely.

"I guess you're more of a wimp than he is," Sam figured, the tears of desperation in his eyes fading in an instant.

Adelaide blinked, and she could even begin to question his statement with confusion etched across her features, Sam pulled out a syringe of dead man's blood from his pocket.

Her eyes widened in horror as realization struck, feeling the needle make its way into her neck as the room faded to black.

— argentsires
wow omg we hit 10k reads?!! actually insane guys thank U SOOO MUCH
sorry for not updating. im still emo over my failed situationship and ive been trying to busy myself with things in my personal life as a distraction but i will do my best to update more frequently <3
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