An Inner Darkness Book 5 Bay City paranormal

The other reason waited in artificial stillness on his computer screen. Sam found the quiet depressing. He was glad Dean had offered to come in and help review the videos.
    “Sam?”
Blinking, Sam turned back to Dean. “Sorry, what?”
    “I was just asking what you’ve found on the video.” With a quick glance toward Bo’s closed office door, Dean rolled closer to Sam. “Although from the look on our face, I’d say the camera picked up the things you saw in Adrian’s closet.” www.samhainpublishing.com 127 Ally Blue

    Sam nodded. “Yes. Or, well, it picked up what I saw first, before I turned on the light. I haven’t watched any further than that yet.” He didn’t explain why , though Dean knew him well enough that he could probably guess. “What about you? Did the other camera catch anything?”
    “As far as video, no, nothing.” Dean’s brow furrowed. “But there were some strange noises, after Adrian lost his temper.” “Right when the portal was trying to open, I bet.” Groaning, Sam rubbed his eyes.
“Shit. I guess I need to bite the bullet and watch the rest of my video.”
    “Well, it would be good to see if the sounds I heard correspond to anything on your tape.” Dean jumped up and crossed to his computer, where he’d been watching the other video from Friday night. “I started hearing them at, hm, nine twenty-seven and twelve seconds. Right after Adrian threw that thing against the wall.” Swallowing his fear, Sam forwarded his video to nine twenty-seven and started it playing. Dean pulled his own chair over and sat beside Sam, leaning forward to watch the screen. Adrian’s angry, wounded voice rose, his pajama-clad arm drifting in and out of view on the left side of the picture. Then came the crack of plastic shattering, followed by the hair-raising rasp that still made Sam want to run from the room as fast as he could.
    In the video, nothing happened. Relief rushed through Sam’s veins, leaving him weak. “It’s not there.” He glanced at Dean, a grin spreading over his face. “We must’ve—”
    “You didn’t.” Dean pointed at the screen, eyes wide and face white. “Look.” Sam forced himself to look. There on the video was the vortex-like thing he’d seen with his own eyes Friday night. He stared, frozen. Seeing it on video, knowing the impartial eye of the camera had recorded it as faithfully as everything else in the room, made it horribly real. He and Dean watched as the structure— the portal, Sam reminded himself, call it what it is — grew more solid over the next few seconds, tugging at the very air around it as if it were a black hole.
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An Inner Darkness
    The light pulsed and waned. In the flickering illumination, Sam saw a hint of translucent obsidian reach through the widening portal. For a heartbeat, the room seemed to waver. Then the opening snapped shut and winked out of existence.

    “This corresponds with the sounds on the other video, all right.” Reaching across Sam, who hadn’t moved, Dean stopped the video. He took Sam’s hand and squeezed it.

    “You didn’t let it open, Sam. You stopped it.”
    “What if I hadn’t been there?” Sam searched Dean’s eyes as if they held the answers to all his questions. “What happens next time, Dean? What happens when he’s there alone, and he’s afraid or angry?” An image of Amy’s mutilated body flashed into his mind, her lifeless eyes fixed on him in silent accusation. He pulled his hand free of Dean’s and rubbed his fingertips against his temples, as if he could erase the memory so easily. “I’m teaching him as much as I can, we worked together for nearly three hours this morning before Bo took him back to his mom’s, but it’s not enough . What if…” He trailed off, fighting a surge of panic. What if I can’t protect him, and I can’t teach him to protect himself? What if he ends up like those others—catatonic, a shell?
    What if he dies, like Amy did?
What if I fail again?
The thought was unbearable. Sam squeezed his eyes shut.
    Hands grasped his shoulders and gave him a shake. “Sam. Look at me.” Sam opened his eyes. Dean’s gaze bored into him with an intensity Sam rarely saw in his friend.

    “You weren’t responsible for Amy’s death,” Dean said, his voice gentle. “You did the best you could under truly horrible circumstances. Nobody can ask anything more of you than your best.”

    “This is different.”

    “Yes, it is.