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The monster hit Dean again, a backhand to the right side of his face. His eye was already swollen shut, his lip split and dripping.
“Where did you hide it?” The thing growled.
Dean swayed on his knees, hands tied roughly behind him, saying nothing.
“I will get it back. I will destroy you in the process. If you tell me where you put it, I'll be nice and make it quick.”
It turned to Sam, tied up and slumped against the wall where he'd been dropped like a sack of potatoes. Dean had watched Sam get knocked unconscious from behind as he had tried to make it to their rendezvous spot in the warehouse after Dean had taken the object while Sam had created a distraction. The creature had popped out from behind a piece of equipment and Dean had revealed himself when he screamed at Sam to look out. He knew if he'd just stayed silent it would have been better, but what's done was done. He'd put up a good fight but whatever this monster was, it took Dean down hard.
Unbeknownst to Dean, Sam was awake and cutting slowly through his ropes.
The creature moved towards Sam and Dean needed to keep him away from Sammy. “Fine. I'll tell you.” he mumbled.
The thing stomped back to him, gripping his jaw with one huge hand, fingers digging into Dean's cheeks with bruising force, his lips parting involuntarily, revealing bloodied gums and red stained teeth.
“Take me there,” it snarled, tightening its grip on his jaw, using it to lift Dean to his feet.
Dean stumbled as the pain in his jaw whited out his vision momentarily and the creature wrapped his hand around Dean's bound arm and started to half drag him away from Sam.
Fuck, Sammy. Dean thought. Hell of a time to take a long nap.
He cast a surreptitious glance back and thought he saw Sam move. His heart beat a little faster.
In an attempt to delay things, Dean tangled his feet and caused them both to stumble, landing on his knees on the hard, ruined, concrete floor. The creature raged and yanked him up again by his bicep and Dean felt a crunching in his wrist beneath the rope. He grimaced.
They were out of sight from Sam now. Dean was being pushed from behind by the thing, and he lead them on a wild goose chase for a while, wandering down an aisle, then cutting over to another, giving Sam time.
He'd tried desperately to break the artifact before, but it seemed to have an unearthly solidness to it, so he'd thrown it out one of the broken warehouse windows, hearing it clatter down another roof before a dull thud told him it was stuck. He'd planned to gank the monster, then work on destroying the object. Everything had gone wrong after that!
They were below the windows now, thirty or so feet above their heads. Dean stopped.
“Where is it?” The creature hissed into his face, his hot breath smelling of rotten meat. Dean turned away lest he throw up.
“It's here.”
The thing growled at him, scanning the area, his grip tightening on Dean's arm. His hands were numb, save for the throbbing in his finger tips.
“Where?”
Dean glanced up in the direction of the windows.
“There.” He jerked his head up.
The sky in the windows was beginning to turn from absolute darkness to the faintest hint of dawn.
The creature threw Dean down on the ground and kicked him in the ribs. Dean gasped and spit blood into the concrete.
“I should kill you and make the other one get it before I kill him too.”
“Nah,” Dean choked out, “he doesn't know anything. Untie me and I'll go get it for ya.”
He smiled, revealing his bloody teeth again. The creature made to kick him again and he shifted on the ground awkwardly to take the blow on his legs rather than ribs again. He shouted as the boot tip connected with his shin.
Ribs would have been better, he thought as he kicked out in reaction, his vision white with pain again.
He didn't have time to react again before the boot connected with his chest, knocking the air out of him and he jerked on the ground, loose gravel digging into his body as he writhed and struggled to breathe again.
“I'm going to throw you out the window now, so you can fix your mistake. I'll keep your partner here so I know you'll come back. I know you wouldn't leave him. I can smell it on you. Pathetic.” He emphasized the last word, disgusted.
He gripped Dean by his neck and the back of his jeans, lifting him off the ground while Dean heaved in his breaths.
Suddenly, Dean hit the ground again, his bruised, swollen cheek taking the brunt of the landing. He screamed.
He could hear the sounds of a fight behind him.
“Sammy,” he groaned
The sounds of fists connecting in satisfying ways filled his ears. A body hit the ground hard and didn't move. Dean tried to open his good eye to see who won, but all he saw was a blurry figure on the ground through the dust and tears filling his vision.
“Sammy! Sam!” He called again.
“Yeah, Dean. I'm right here. It's ok.” he murmured as he untied Dean's wrists. “Are you ok? Anything broken?”
“Feel like a million bucks,” Dean scoffed, rolling onto his back and grimacing as the blood rushed back to his hands.