Bliss In Emptiness - Chapter 3 (soulless!Sam/Ruby, NC-17)

[blood_and_pie]

"You have a legitimate- well as legitimate as things get in Hell claim to the throne, and you don't want it?" Meg asked Sam for what felt like the tenth time.

Ruby chuckled to herself as she followed Meg and Sam to the prison. "You having trouble hearing today?"

"No. Your boy-wonder's being an idiot." She grabbed Sam by the elbow, pulling him back a step. "I get that something in your gourd cracked. You're not as much of a wuss as you used to be."

Sam smirked.

"But ruling Hell would give you several tons of leverage and you--"

"I'm not. Interested," Sam said, his eyes darkening. "And why do you care so much? Take the throne yourself if it's that awesome."

"Taking the throne's easy," Meg said bitterly. "Keeping it is the hard part."

"And you think I'd have no problem keeping it? As a human?" Sam arched his eyebrows skeptically.

"You're not exactly human, Sam," Meg said. "Don't be dense."

"Hell always does better with a Queen anyway," Ruby said. "Lilith got everybody nice and motivated."

Meg laughed. "Lilith ordered us all to kill you."

"Yeah and you never tried. Not even once," Ruby mused. "Why is that?"

"Because I knew what Sam could do, how strong he'd get." Meg looked up at him warily. "I've been around a lot longer than you, you know," she said, turning to Ruby. "Azazel made me. My father might not have told me everything, but I knew enough to put two and two together. He loved Lucifer. As much as Lilith, maybe more. You have any idea how pissed he was at me for taking a joyride in Lucifer's Ferrari?" She looked at Sam, who glared back at her with a distinct look of 'I'm not a car.'

"But you didn't say anything. You spent that whole year, all those centuries down below, hiding," Ruby said.

Meg looked at Sam. "Not a fan of being food." She flicked her eyes back to Ruby. "Unlike you."

Sam snorted. "She's more than food, you know."

"Is that right?" Meg asked, raising her chin, amusement coloring her voice.

"Yeah she's a damn good lay, too." Sam winked at Ruby, who didn't know whether to smack him or kick him in the nuts.

"How romantic," Meg muttered, crouching down behind the low wall they'd come to. Sam kneeled down next to her and Ruby flanked Meg's other side.

They were outside of the rear entrance to the large abandoned prison Crowley had been using as a home base for whatever monster-abducting scheme he was running. Ruby narrowed her eyes and surveyed the building. The windows were barred and mostly blackened by dirt or paint or both, but even with the little she could see, she knew they'd found it. Things that looked mostly human but weren't were pacing back and forth, clawing at the windows, rocking on their beds, and howling. It was Crowley's own monster-zoo. But why did he have one? What was he doing with them?

The answers became obvious as soon as they set foot inside the building. There were loud and inhuman screams echoing through the walls of the building. This section of the ground floor was completely empty, but they walked slowly anyway watching for any movement. Ruby tilted her head as she listened to the screaming above them.

"Shifter," Sam said as he looked up towards the direction of the sound. "It's the same thing, using different voices."

"We've got company," Meg said, nodding up towards a stairwell ahead of them.

For a moment, Ruby couldn't see anything. But she felt it. A tremor in the air, the heat and smell of hellfire. Then she saw them.

A low growl came from the top of the stairs, and Sam's eyes widened as he brought his hand up, palm out.

"Hellhounds," Ruby said.

The large hounds leapt down the stairs, one at Sam, one at Meg. The air shuddered as the hellhound on the left opened its maw and lunged for Sam's throat. Ruby threw herself forward, not sure if Sam could even see the beast. She crashed into its flank, but it kept going, shrugging her off like she'd never been there at all.

Ruby landed heavily, her chin colliding with the stone floor. It took her a few seconds to knit the bones in her jaw back together, and a few more to get her vision working again. Meg yelled out behind her, struggling with the other hound, and Ruby looked over to Sam in a panic.

The hound was on top of him, snarling, its red eyes glaring down. Sam's left hand was on the hound's throat and his right was pressed against its chest. His eyes were closed in concentration and Ruby nearly screamed at him right then to never close his eyes during a fight.

There was a flash of light from the center of the hound, followed by another and another until it was lit up inside, golden light streaming out through its skin, its eyes and its mouth.

Sam was looking straight at the hellhound, and he was smiling. His power peaked and then collapsed in on itself, taking the hellhound's life with it. The empty shell of the beast collapsed on top of him. He pushed it off with a grunt, then stood, looking past Ruby to Meg.

"Thanks for the help," Meg said, her face splattered with black. The hound lay at her feet, panting but otherwise unmoving. She'd gutted it with a Bowie knife. Ruby's Bowie knife. That Ruby couldn't remember ever handing over.

"Is it dead?" Sam asked curiously. He walked up next to Ruby and looked at the still-growing puddle of hellhound ichor. "What'd you do to it?" he asked Meg.

"Sliced it open."

"Didn't think you could kill them just by cutting them open," Sam said.

"You can't." Meg shrugged. "But this'll keep him down for a few minutes. Long enough for us to get a move on." She followed Sam's gaze to the floor. "You can't see it, can you? You just killed one yourself…and you can't even see it." She scoffed, then turned her back on them and started heading up the stairs.

Ruby looked up at Sam. "How did you know where it was?"

"You taught me how. I could feel it. I knew where it was." Sam crouched down next to the black puddle, and reached out his hand until he was touching the hound.

Ruby watched, waiting for the electric crackle of Sam's power to snuff out the weakened attack dog.

Instead of lighting the hellhound up from the inside, Sam ran his hand over the large wound running up the hound's center and brought his fingers to his nose, sniffing curiously at the black ooze. Tentatively he stuck out his tongue and touched it to his pointer finger, tasting the hound's blood.

"Sam-" Ruby started to say, but then she stopped herself. She didn't actually know. She had no idea what hellhound blood would or wouldn't do to Sam. From the stench alone, she was sure it couldn't taste good, at any rate. Then again, blood was an acquired taste…and once acquired, rarely lost. Sam was no exception.

Sam didn't seem too affronted by the smell at any rate, and cleaned off his fingers quickly, one by one. "I can see it now," he said, as he brought his hand forward, reaching for more. "I've never seen anything like it. This doesn't even look like skin, it looks like-"

"Shadows. It's skin is made of shadows."

Sam brought his hand to his mouth again, this time cupped and holding a small pool of the blood which he drank down quickly. He reached for the hound again, and Ruby grabbed him by the wrist. "There's no time. We have to go before Crowley sends others."

The look Sam gave her was strange. First he was practically pouting, mad at being denied seconds, but then his eyes met hers and he stared, like he was seeing her for the first time. Maybe he was.

"How's it taste?" she asked, not ready to ask what it was he'd seen in her.

"Pure," Sam said, as he pulled free from her hold. He touched the hound's wound, closed his eyes and burned the demon-beast's soul as quickly as he had the other.

Ruby watched him as he walked closer, still looking at her strangely. "Can you…see me, too?"

Sam nodded.

Ruby swallowed and looked down, remembering what she'd seen the last time she'd caught sight of herself. Her real self. It wasn't easy to see your own reflection as a demon. Most mirrors and cameras couldn't even pick up the full spectrum of Hell's damage. She knew what Sam would see though. He'd see the truth: her real face, shaped by time, power, sorrow, anger, pride, and hatred for those that had wronged her-all etched into her skin-bone-deep scars that made her twisted and inhuman.

Two long fingers touched her chin as Sam tilted her head up to look at him. He pressed his body against hers, hard and insistent, and kissed her deeply, the taste of hellfire still strong enough to leave her breath smoke-filled after they pulled apart.

"You two coming some time today?" Meg called from above.

"Definitely," Sam said under his breath.

Stepping away from Sam, Ruby responded,Yell a little louder, maybe they haven't heard us at the other end of the prison yet.

Sam stopped by the hound Meg had gutted one last time, running his hand through the puddle of blood. They already heard us, plus Crowley's gonna be curious when his dogs don't come back.

Speaking of noise… Meg looked towards the door at the top of the stairs, and then up at the ceiling.

The shifter. He stopped screaming. Ruby reached for the double doors in front of them and pushed them open.

Sam finished sucking the blood off his fingers, his teeth dark with hellhound blood. He's dead.

She should really get him to start carrying gum around.

They walked down the hall, looking in each cell briefly. Werewolves, vampires, rougarous, arachnids-all of them were caged like beasts, shackled to the walls or in some cases to their beds.

Sam stopped next to a vampire's cell first and stared at him, silently until the vampire lost its nerve. He was young, both in body and age. He didn't smell quite newly made, he'd already fed on humans, but he was still far too frightened to be more than a few decades old, at most.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Just an answer to a question?" Sam said.

"What question?"

"Where's your father?" Sam asked.

Ruby crossed her arms and stood behind Sam, waiting. She could hear Meg moving further down the hall, her knife held out, skimming across the metal bars.

"My father?" the vampire swallowed. "I killed him, after I-"

"Your new father. The one that speaks right into your frontal lobe," Sam wrapped his long fingers around the bars of the vampire's cell. "Tell me where he is."

"No, I-"

Sam clutched the bar tighter and the air started to smell like electrical fire. Ruby watched the vampire's fangs come out in reflex as Sam's power squeezed him by the throat and pulled him closer, until he was just inches away, separated only by the iron bars.

"Show me. I know you see him."

Ruby listened in on Sam's thoughts carefully as the vampire's eyes widened and his mind cracked open. Flashes of memories sped by, one frame at a time-a house, three large pine trees, a long curving driveway, and the number "48" written in gold lettering. Not enough to pinpoint a location, but then, that wasn't the point. One more memory flickered in and out of the vampire's mind, recent and stronger than all the others: the face of the alpha vampire-powerful, ancient, deadly-and very much alive.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Sam said, as he let the vampire's mind go. "Just one more thing." He slipped his hand quickly through the bars and grabbed onto the vampire's wrist. How much do you need? Sam asked Ruby.

"To track the alpha again?" Ruby pulled out her knife and ran it over the vampire's wrist. "With those memories fresh in his mind, just a few drops from this one'll do." She swiped her finger over the wound and pulled a small piece of cloth from her pocket.

"Find him. Now," Sam said, his thrill for the hunt a tangible thing.

"Crowley, remember?" Ruby said, and started back down the hall after Meg.

"Please, help me. You have to help me," said a voice from one of the cells as they passed by. Ruby took a step back and peered into the dimly lit cell. There was a woman inside, chained to the worn cot next to her. She looked terrified and her eyes were red from crying. "You gotta get me out of here, please!" she said again, as she walked towards them. She didn't get far, the chains holding her tight feet away from the barred door.

Sam tilted his head looking at her arm. "That's a hell of a tattoo."

The woman ran her hand over the tattoo running down her other arm and the design shifted, retracting, like it was fading into her skin.

"Djinn," Meg said, "you're a djinn, right?"

"We killed a djinn once," Sam said as he stepped closer to the bars. "Older, bald guy. Had tattoos like yours, but way more. Face and everything. His eyes were blue."

"That was my father," the woman said, her voice shaky. "You killed him! You and your brother." She lunged forward again, but the chains pulled her back, and she fell to the floor, looking up at Sam miserably. "We got your brother-"

"Dean's alive," Sam said, crouching down so he could meet the Djinn's eyes. "You failed."

The woman nodded miserably, her black curly hair framing her face. "Those hunters caught us, brought us here. To him."

"To who? Crowley?" Meg asked.

The djinn's eyes widened. "Don't say his name. He'll hear you."

Meg scoffed. "Honey, he already knows we're here. I'm starting to think that's the whole point. Isn't it, Ruby?" Meg asked turning to her. "Not really sure you two told me the whole plan."

"We didn't," Ruby said, and left it at that.

Meg glared at her and stared at the back of Sam's head. "How about you, Sammy? Gonna fill me in on what we're doing here chit-chatting with the inmates?"

Sam didn't move, or speak, he just narrowed his eyes and Meg began choking. She clutched at her throat and her eyes flipped to black as Sam squeezed her soul just enough to make it hurt before letting go of her again.

Ruby watched, unsurprised as Meg's face turned furious.

"Fine. But at least hurry it up, " Meg snapped.

"Tell me why Crowley's so interested in you," Sam said to the djinn, his voice thick with power, just the way Ruby had taught him.

He wouldn't have an easy time overpowering a djinn though. Demons, the weakest ones, were the easiest for Sam to command, because that's what he'd been built to do. Humans were even easier to sway then demons, but the woman in the cell was neither.

Sam kept watching the djinn who had fallen silent. The tattoo on her arm had started to shift and grow, crawling down her arm in a beautifully intricate pattern until it reached her fingertips. Her eyes were focused on Sam's, unblinking, and her face had become completely expressionless.

"You're not trying to read her mind, are you?" Ruby asked, confused. Human minds were easy to peek in on, once you got the hang of it, but djinn were a whole different species. Their minds were generally immune to being manipulated-a handy side-effect of their anatomy.

"I was…" Sam said, keeping his focus on the woman in front of him. "…but I can't get in, so I started squeezing her heart instead. Figured she had to have one."

"Clever boy," Meg said. "That's what controls their toxin flow."

"Mmm…" Sam reached his hand out and closed his fingers into a fist quickly. As he did, three feet away from him, the chain holding the djinn snapped. He pulled his hand in towards himself and the woman slid forward, until she was pressed up against the bars. She was conscious, but unable to move, held in place by Sam's power.

Sam slid his slim fingers through the bars until he was touching the djinn's shoulder, right above her tattoo.

"Sam!" Ruby said, alarmed. "You're not immune to her, don't be stupid."

"I want to see what she has to show me," Sam said. "This is the quickest way."

Meg snorted from behind him. "Have fun with that."

Sam ran his fingertip carefully over the highest curve of the djinn's tattoo and took a deep breath as he closed his eyes.

Ruby put her hand on Sam's shoulder, almost reflexively, and tried to monitor his thoughts, careful not to let herself get swept up by the djinn's illusion. Demons were immune to monster venom, but djinns were absolute masters of thought manipulation. She could feel the moment the toxin entered Sam's system, not just in the tightening of his back muscles, but in the way his mind relaxed. A soft blue light bled into his thoughts and started to form pictures as the veins on his face turned dark.

Flashes of light so intense it could only be one thing-grace, pure and terrible; Ruby's hand as it grabbed Sam's own; the smell of air, of food, of blood-the taste of it on his tongue, metallic, bitter with sulfur and sweet with power. Sam's memories-his happiest memories. This Sam didn't have any other desires, or regrets, and the djinn's magic stuttered, trying to find something more potent it could use. Finally it found an image of Dean and held on to it.

Dean faced Sam and there was no trace of affection in his eyes. "You're not my brother. You're not even human." He raised a knife and brought it plunging straight down into Sam's heart. "You don't get to wear his skin"

Within the djinn's illusion, Sam was paralyzed. He couldn't fight back, he couldn't even move, he just watched as the blade pierced his flesh and then his heart.

"Dammit, Sam," Ruby muttered under her breath as his back started to arch, the djinn's poison convincing him he was dying. "I told you."

A soft but pleased laugh came from behind her. "Still not the brightest bulb, huh?" Meg kneeled down next to Ruby. "I mean he's definitely the 60 watt to Dean's 20, but still…"

"Shut up, Meg," Ruby nodded towards the djinn, who was now wide-awake, and backing away from them. "We need the antidote."

"Which is…?" Meg held up her hands. "What- you think I have some on me?"

"Her blood," Ruby said. "Their blood carries the antitoxin."

"Of course it's the blood. When is it not the blood?" Meg muttered. She reached her hand out, and made a fist, mimicking Sam's gesture from earlier.

The djinn screamed as she was pulled back towards the bars. Meg brought her knife up to the woman's throat. "Stop, no- please. I'll tell you. I'll tell you what Crowley wants, okay? I'll tell you everything."

Meg flicked her eyes over to Ruby. Well? Think your boy can last a few more seconds?

Ruby nodded to Meg, while she tried her best to hold Sam still. He was strong. He'd make it. Hurry.

Meg dug the very tip of the blade into the djinn's throat until a bright red bead welled up. "Speak."

"He wants Purgatory. It's all he talks about."

"Purgatory?" Meg repeated, eyebrows quirked.

"He wants to know how to open a door," the djinn sniffed, her breath shaky.

"Why?" Ruby asked, feeling Sam's pulse. It was going fast-too fast, but his body was used to running past human norms, he'd hold out a little longer.

"I don't know why," said the woman, clutching one of the bars in front of her. "Let me out, please. I can't stay here. He'll kill me. He's killed so many already."

Meg pushed the knife tip in another millimeter. "What did he ask you, exactly?"

"I told you!" the djinn said, her eyes widening again. "He asked me how to open a door to Purgatory, asked me how to get there. I told him I don't know. None of us know. We only go there when we die. That's all I know." She took another breath and met Ruby's eyes. "I swear that's all I know."

"Thank you for your cooperation," Meg said, and started to pull the knife further across the djinn's throat.

"Stop," Ruby grabbed Meg's wrist. "Take it from her arm. You don't need to kill her."

"When has that ever stopped me before?" Meg asked, confused.

"How are you going to get her head through the bars, genius? Cut low down by her wrist, not enough for her to bleed out. Sam only needs a little."

"Whatever," Meg shook her head, irritated and did as Ruby asked, guiding the djinn's hand through the bars and as close to Sam's head as she could.

Ruby tilted his head, angling his mouth towards the djinn's bleeding wrist, and forced his jaw open.

For a few seconds, Sam didn't respond, his eyes still rolled back into his head as the djinn's illusions ran through his mind. The moment the blood hit his system, his breathing slowed and his mouth closed around the djinn's wrist, taking in more of her blood, like it was something familiar.

"That's enough," Ruby said, pulling the djinn's arm gently away. "You just needed a few drops as an antidote. More won't do you any good."

Sam wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. "You sure about that?"

She was sure. Mostly. Monster blood wouldn't give him a boost the way demon blood did-in theory it wouldn't do anything to him. Most humans risked being changed if they ingested vampire blood, or werewolf blood, or a myriad of other things, but thanks to Azazel's blood, Sam had been immunized against anything that would make him unsuitable as Lucifer's vessel. Unfortunately that immunity didn't include the djinn's neurotoxin.

Sam was watching the djinn nurse her bleeding wrist. "How did you do that? Get into my head, even though I was blocking you out?" he asked. "I'm stronger than you." He sounded steady as always, but something had shifted in his eyes. What the djinn showed him had rattled him.

You can't block her, Ruby told him.

"Doesn't matter," the woman said, as her tattoo faded slowly back into her skin. "That's the thing most people...and demons don't get. They think we're magic and assume we're subject to its laws. "We're more than that." She turned her wrist towards them. The skin was completely healed. "We're just another part of nature. We're not strong like the wolves or the bears, but we can defend ourselves against them. Against anyone."

"Fascinating, can we go now?" Meg asked, standing.

"Yeah." Ruby took one last look at the djinn and felt like apologizing, but didn't. "We've got all we need."

We're sure she was telling the truth? Meg asked. Or are you scared Sam's gonna lick another toad?

Sam laughed as he pushed himself back to his feet. "She was telling the truth."

"Well then, let's go find Oz, the great and powerful," Meg said.

They walked further down the hall, past one occupied cell after another. This floor was full to capacity, but much to Sam's dismay, there was no trace of the alpha vamp or any other alpha.

"Why is he keeping them alive this long?" Sam asked as they walked into a larger room, one that looked like it had been repurposed to function as an operating room…or a torture chamber.

Ruby recognized several of the instruments on display: bone saws, valve clamps, scalpels, everything silver and sharp. Most demons, Alistair included, insisted that torture could only be a true art down below because you could cut directly into the soul, but she disagreed. If you were linked to your body tightly enough, torture above-ground could be just as bad, and just as effective. It all had to do with the skill of the one holding the blade.

"Why not just kill them, if they don't know the answer?" Sam asked again, this time looking at Ruby.

"Because you get more information out of people when they're terrified, and the best way to do that is to show them what happens if they don't cooperate. You kill them, they're out of the picture, but you keep them alive. Break them slow. You'll get what you need." Ruby swallowed bitterly as she remembered.

Humans were cruel. She'd known that, on some basic level all her life-even as a girl. But it wasn't until she became a witch that she got to experience the worst of it first-hand. Fear made people do all kinds of horrible things. Fear mixed with religious fervor made them do those horrible things with conviction.

The first time they tried her as a witch, she was still living near her childhood home. It was after they'd burned her house, after they'd burned her father. After she'd killed Mr. Henry. She stumbled into town, her hair covered in soot, her dress charred and when others, who'd seen what she'd done to Mr. Henry, grabbed her by the arms and dragged her to the courthouse, she hadn't even put up a fight. She was too tired, too heavy with sorrow to stop them.

They tied her arms behind her and blindfolded her, questioning her about what she did, and how. She ignored them, and didn't say a word.

She stayed completely quiet until they put her on a burning hot iron stool. Then she screamed.

By the time they'd finished with her, she was covered in blisters and burns. Her blindfold had slipped and she could see the skin of her leg, red and black. The pain was excruciating, but she'd passed the point of caring and found a strange sort of calm inside of herself. They pushed her onto the floor and told her to confess her sins yet again, even though she'd already confessed to everything they'd accused her of-true or not. The voices of those around her faded away, and she heard the demon's voice in her instead, saying 'Why not ask them their sins?'

And so she did. She stood, and turned to each of them and asked them, her voice lower and louder than it should have been. They all confessed, one by one to the worst thing they'd ever done. They looked at each other in horror and disgust, unable to stop themselves.

She waited for them to strike her again, or spit on her, or cut out her tongue (that would have been the smart thing to do), but instead they started to leave one by one.

After an hour of sitting on the cold stone floor by herself, her legs started to heal, slowly. One of the demon's first gifts to her was resilience. She could still be hurt like any human, but given just a little time, she'd recover from nearly anything. The pain was worse as her wounds healed. With nothing more than a look, Ruby picked up the metal stool and threw it against the back wall forcefully enough to crack the wood.

She limped to the door, out of the courthouse and out of the town. No one said a single word as she left.

"Well, well. The messiah and his two whores." Crowley appeared behind the surgery table, and picked up a scalpel. "Sorry, if I'd known you were coming I would have made dinner."

Next to her, Ruby could feel Sam tensing. His shoulders rolled back, his chest expanded and his power prickled beneath his skin, ready to strike.

She wanted to stay optimistic, she did, but Crowley was a snake-he always had been. They had to be careful.

"What are you doing, Crowley?" Sam asked. "What's with the monster collection?"

Crowley gave him a look and shrugged. "Always wanted a petting zoo. Tricky upkeep though. You have any idea how much meat a rougarou goes through in a day?" He clucked his tongue. "Messy too. Always have to hose down the whole hall when it's done. He turned to Meg. "So, what horrible fate befell you that made joining up with these two chuckleheads seem like a good idea?"

Meg took a step closer to Crowley and smirked. "We have similar goals." She raised her hand and brought her fingers into a fist.

Crowley doubled over in pain, gasping.

Releasing her hold on Crowley, Meg threw a look to Sam. You ready?

Sam nodded, but Ruby could feel the tension underneath. Killing the hellhounds had taken a lot out of him. He could help them take Crowley down, probably even kill him, but if others showed up, and they would, his concentration was going to be split. He'd had a gallon of demon blood from the back-up supply, so his power should have been through the roof, but she had felt it dip after the first hellhound kill, and again after the second, spiking just a little when he drank from the second hound.

"What do you want?" Crowley asked, eyes shifting nervously from Meg to Sam to Ruby.

"A few things," Ruby said. "First, tell us why you're looking for Purgatory."

"Pass," Crowley said, angrily. "Next?"

Meg squeezed her hand shut again and Crowley winced in pain.

"Ow! Would you stop that?" he yelled, as the air behind him shimmered and four demons appeared.

Ruby could feel Sam grinning next to her.

"Oh bloody hell," Crowley muttered. Turning to his guards, he added. "Did I or did I not specifically tell you to wait for me to call you?"

"Sir," the demon furthest to the right said, "you said 'wait for me to call you unless it sounds like I'm dying.'"

Crowley's eyes rolled up towards the ceiling and the tips of his ears tinged red. "Clearly you've forgotten what dying sounds like. If you survive this, which you probably won't, I'll give you a refresher."

Clearly done waiting, Sam reached out with his mind and grabbed hold of the demon nearest to him, pulling it through the air until it landed in a heap by his feet. He reached down and grabbed the demon by the collar, as he pulled out his knife.

"Now, now," Crowley said, wagging his finger at Sam, "none of that." He tilted his head to the side. "Business first, drinks later."

His expression shocked, Sam froze where he stood.

Sam, what the hell? Ruby asked, confused at why he was cooperating, until she realized he wasn't. Sam wanted to tear the demon's throat open, but Crowley had overridden him.

This isn't happening, Meg added to Ruby's thoughts. Crowley's not even close to the same league as Azazel or Lilith, no way he can override Sam.

"Heel, boy," Crowley said, smiling beatifically at Sam.

Sam fell to his knees, his face twisted in fury.

"Hellhound blood. Nasty stuff, but it's got a hell of a kick for you, am I right?" Crowley asked.

The demon next to Sam grabbed Sam's knife and held it to his throat. Ruby flung her own will at the demon, slamming him into the nearest wall.

Crowley chuckled. "Hellhounds are wonderful creatures. Multi-dimensional manifestors, apex soul grabbers and magnificently loyal. Their blood is a part of them. It holds their intellect, their sight, their power...and what else? Oh right, their complete inability to disobey a command from their king."

Meg's lips twitched. "You have no right to the throne."

"Maybe not, but I took it, and that's all they care about." Crowley raised his eyebrows and smirked, pleased with himself. "And until you burn through those drops you swallowed, Sam, you're part of the pack." Crowley shifted his view to Ruby and Meg, grinning. "So…kill them."

"Sam, wait-" Ruby said as he stood and stretched his arm out towards them, his power coiling in his fingertips. "Come on, you're stronger than this."

His power collided with Meg first, knocking her straight back against the wall behind them. Plaster crumbs rained down as Meg ran her tongue over the cut on her lip. She'd bitten down hard.

"Sam!" Ruby yelled as she watched him stalk towards Meg. Then she found herself pinned on the opposite side of the room, watching as Sam lowered his mouth over Meg's neck and bit down.

Meg pushed against Sam as he drank, fighting against his hold with all she could muster. "Stop!" she yelled.

Empowered by the new influx of blood as he was, Sam's strength was far greater than Meg's and he pulled her off the wall, holding her tight as he drained her.

Stop, Ruby told him, speaking right into his thoughts. We need her for this.

His only reaction was a low growl as he finished drinking the last drops from Meg's veins and let go of her, dropping her to the ground. Meg glared up at him, her throat frayed where Sam had bitten through.

"Well," Crowley said, with raised eyebrows, as Sam turned back to face him. "Put me down as scared and horny. Now kill the other one."

Sam turned to face Ruby and found Meg standing directly in front of him. She waved, smiled, and then kneed him in the groin. For all his strength, and all his power, Sam was still a man, and he sunk to the floor and curled in in himself, just like a man.

"Red card!" Crowley yelled to Meg, and gestured to his guards. "You're off the bench."

Now would be a really good time to snap out of it, Sam, Ruby thought, as two of the four demons started to run at her. She pulled out her knife ready to slice them wide open. Meg got ready to face the other two, swaying slightly where she stood from the blood loss. They might not need blood to inhabit human bodies, but it held a good chunk of their power.

Sam slowly rolled to his knees and pushed himself up-bleary eyes looking from Ruby to Meg. He reached his arm out towards them and Ruby felt the air tingle as he tried to grab hold of all four demons and stopped. He was fighting against Crowley's command, and losing, but he was fighting.

Crowley's attention snapped to Sam. "Need to take you back to obedience school, do I?" He raised his chin. "I said: kill them."

"Sam took a step forward and held his hand out again. This time his power roared to life, focused entirely on Ruby. She was pulled instantly, across the room, still white-knuckling her knife when Sam caught her in his left arm, pushed her head to the side with his right and bit down on her throat.

Her vision bloomed with stars as the pain and pleasure of Sam's bite overwhelmed her senses. His power held her absolutely still and all she could do was hope that the new influx of blood would help him snap out of it. Distantly she heard Meg fighting off the other demons, grunting as they attacked her.

Blood is power over another.

That was the demon's first lesson in spellwork, and the one she never, ever forgot.

Blood is the conduit between the flesh and the spirit. Every drop contains a fragment of the soul. Take a drop of someone's blood and you hold a part of them. Burn their blood and you burn them. Swallow their blood and you become them.

Sam had taken so much of her blood Ruby could feel her body protesting. She felt weaker than she had in centuries, but she wasn't the least bit afraid. Sam wouldn't hurt her. He couldn't. She was inside of him, she flowed through him and she added her power to his, to Meg's, to the hounds, to every other drop he'd taken until his fire became a star, became a sun.

The room lit up flash-bang bright and she felt Sam release his hold on her. When she could see again, all four of Crowley's guards were dead. Meg stood in the middle of the ring of their bodies and let out a sharp exhale. "Thanks."

Soft applause sounded as Crowley clapped his hands together. "Very impressive. Like flushing out laudanum with scotch."

Sam's hand reached out towards Crowley and the hum of power started to rise again, but then cut off as an even brighter light formed around Crowley.

When Sam dropped his hand, Crowley was gone, and the whole room was silent except for the flutter of wings.

*******

"It was an angel," Sam said for the fourth time.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Meg said aggravated. "Whatever gave you that idea?" She plopped onto the ratty bedspread heavily and rubbed at her neck wound, which was nearly completely healed.

Sam's jaw twitched in annoyance. "What I mean is: Why is an angel working with Crowley?" Sam looked to Ruby. "Or bailing him out? Are there other angels in Hell that aren't loyal to Lucifer?"

Meg scoffed. "All the angels that fell with Lucifer are already dead. Plus, the Fallen were demons-incredibly powerful demons, the lords of Hell, but they lost their grace when they fell. Lucifer…" She smirked. "…and Michael are the only two angels in Hell."

"Castiel," Ruby said, as a crazy thought entered her mind and solidified-fact after fact clicking together.

"Castiel?" Sam turned to look at her and within seconds his look of confusion turned into one of certainty. "You're right."

"It all makes sense-" Ruby stood up, pacing between the beds and the table. "He didn't care that the Campbells were working with a demon, he knows Crowley, he's fighting against the other angels in Heaven-"

"So he allies himself with Hell." Sam huffed. "I wonder if Dean knows."

Meg held up her hand and closed her eyes. "Wait, wait, whoa. The Campbells- as in Mary?"

"As in Christian, Mark, Gwen, and my grandfather Samuel." Sam said.

Meg's eyebrows shot up at the mention of Samuel.

"Dean's been working with them," Sam added.

"Your grandpa died. He was down in Hell last time I checked," Meg said.

"When was the last time you checked?" Ruby asked. "Can't be safe there for you since Lucifer got locked up again."

Meg rolled her eyes. "No wonder you and Sam get along so well. You're both geniuses. Really."

"Think Crowley sprung him?" Sam asked.

"Definitely," Ruby said. "The question is why?"

"Who cares. I'm way more interested in what Clarence is up to," Meg said. "He was two steps away from falling last time I saw him anyway. Maybe he finally took the plunge." Her lips curved on the last word and she smiled, showing a hint of teeth.

"Follow him," Sam said.

"What?" Meg and Ruby asked in unison. Ruby wondered if the hodge-podge of blood earlier had made Sam's occasionally questionable logic take a turn for the worse.

"Follow him. See what he's up to," Sam said.

"You want me to follow an angel?" Meg said. "I'm sorry, why am I risking my barely-healed neck for you? And what the hell makes you think I could follow him without him knowing I'm there?"

"He'll know you're there. Doesn't matter." Sam moved from his position in the center of the room and headed for his duffel bag.

"Right. Doesn't matter to you because if he kills me, you won't bat an eyelash," Meg sighed. "Where's my motivation exactly?"

"You still want to help us take down Crowley, right?" Ruby asked.

Meg stared at her silently, but her eyes held nothing but hatred for the king.

"This is how. We have to figure out what they're up to, and if I'm right…" Ruby turned to watch Sam as he pulled out a change of clothes from his bag. "...then Dean doesn't know what Castiel's up to either. Maybe you should go right to Dean."

Meg stood up and threw her hands out in front of her. "Why? So I can die ten times quicker?"

"Because Dean has to know something's up. He's not stupid," Sam said.

Meg scoffed. "Could've fooled me."

"How many times has he kicked your ass?" Sam asked. "Oh, right."

"And yet, here I am," Meg said coldly.

"Tell Dean what we saw. Tell him everything." Sam turned towards the bathroom. "I'm gonna shower."

"Room for one more?" Meg asked. Then she turned to Ruby and winked. "Or two?"

Sam ignored her and closed the door behind him.

"Thought he'd be more fun like this," Meg said, folding her arms across her chest.

"He is," Ruby said. "But he still has taste."

"Nice."

"Go to Dean, find out what he's up to," Meg said.

"Dean? I thought I was spying on Castiel. Did I sign a contract to be your personal 007 when I wasn't looking, or something?"

"You know Dean's more of a threat than Castiel, he always is. He's not going to give up on Sam. He'll keep looking until he finds something or someone that can fix him." Even saying it out loud tasted bad on her tongue, but Ruby knew it was true. Dean never accepted "no" for an answer when it came to Sam. Never.

"Nobody can fix Sam," Meg said. "Nobody's strong enough to break the cage open."

"Except…" Ruby watched Meg, curious if she'd come to the same conclusion.

"No. No way he'd be stupid enough to try to summon him," Meg said.

"Remember who we're talking about," Ruby said, smirking.

"You know there was chatter about how it all went down." Meg tapped her finger against her chin. "Some people on the fringe say Death helped Dean lock Lucifer back up."

"Makes sense. Lucifer walking would throw off the 'natural order' a bit." Ruby cocked her head to the side, thinking. "You think he'd help Dean out again?"

"That'd suck," Meg said. "Okay, I'll go follow the brain-trust." Just before she vanished she said. "You'd better get in the shower before the water turns off."

*******

After their second shower, Ruby and Sam were both hungry.

Well Ruby wasn't, not really, but she wanted a break, even if it was just fifteen minutes and French fries. Sam had picked them up food from somewhere nearby, slightly more solid than fast food. Less than two bites into their meal, he asked, "Did you track him yet?"

Ruby nodded, her mouth full of potato and salt. She pointed at the map spread out on her bed.

Sam walked over to the map, still holding his sandwich. "Hoople, North Dakota. Hoople, really?"

"Sounds pretty creepy," Ruby said, licking the salt from her thumb. It prickled her tongue and she thought of the taste of Sam's skin after a kill. "You get your refill?

"Tracked down two demons on the way," Sam said in between bites, "Three gallons."

"Good, you gonna drink up before we go to the vamp?"

Sam looked at her, considering. "I've still got plenty of juice, could've taken down Crowley easy if the angel express hadn't snatched him." He finished off his sandwich. "Then again, it's the alpha. I still have no idea how strong he is."

"I've been thinking about this." Ruby played with her soda straw. "Wherever he's holed up, he's bound to be surrounded by his vampires, right? I mean at the rate they're going, they could've made him hundreds of personal guards."

Sam tilted his head to the side. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying as much fun as it is taking vampires apart with your brain, we need to be smart about this. Try to take down as many as we can the old fashioned way: machetes and fire."

*******

Machetes and fire got them through the first dozen vampires they found waiting outside the grounds of the alpha's manor. Sam was about to bring his blade down onto the thirteenth vampire's neck when it held up its hands and yelled. "Wait!" Sam stopped the blade a millimeter from the man's skin. "He wants to see you."

"Who does?" Ruby asked, stepping closer to them, her own machete still wet with blood. She flicked the blade, sending the blood down into the thick green grass.

"Our father." The vampire pointed over his shoulder towards the manor.

They followed the guard into the ornate, ostentatious house from one room to another until they reached a large dining hall, where they were asked to hand over their weapons by two other vampires. Tall ones, with their hair in buns.

"No way," Ruby said, clutching her machete handle.

"Fine," Sam said, holding out his blade handle first to the guard across from him. "Keep in mind, I can kill you with my brain."

The vampire across from him, a tall blonde woman, didn't seem the least bit impressed, and took his blade with a mild look of distaste in her face, like it offended her sensibilities.

There was a soft hush of wind in the back of the large room, a door swinging open and shut, and a man entered. Not a man-the alpha vampire. His dark brown eyes were far more ancient than they looked, and he had an air of power around him that made even Ruby shiver.

"Sam Winchester. Lovely to meet you. I have heard so much about you." He sat down at the head of the table and leaned into the high-backed chair. "Remarkable things."

Two guards crossed the room and took position on either side of the alpha, their eyes straight ahead.

Seconds later, Sam sat in a chair on the left, three seats down from the alpha, but close enough to look him in the eyes.

Ruby moved over to a seat opposite Sam, standing behind the chair with her back close to the wall. She still held her machete, and wasn't going to sit down in a roomful of fangs. The vampires flanking the alpha didn't spare her a glance.

Their mistake.

"Is it true that you have no soul?" the alpha asked, his gaze fixed on Sam.

Sam nodded, his lips slightly curved.

"How wonderful." The father vampire brought his hands together, long curved nails barely making a sound as their tips touched. "The soul is humanity's greatest weakness, if you ask me."

"Couldn't agree more," Sam said, his eyes scanning the room.

He thought he was being subtle, and to a human he might have been. His head was turned towards the alpha vampire, but his eyes were moving every which way, looking for exits, defensible locations, potential weaknesses in the guards. Ruby had known him long enough to spot it all immediately, but if she could see it, so could the alpha.

"Humans are capable of magnificent cruelty," the alpha said, turning to smile up at a human woman who had brought him a blood-filled crystal pitcher and matching glass.

She poured the blood into the glass and bowed her head towards him. A servant, maybe even a thrall.

The father vampire continued, "But their souls make everything murky. It must be so difficult trying to weigh right and wrong, guilt and conviction every moment of every day."

"I wouldn't know," Sam said, his eyes on the vampire's glass.

"No," the alpha chuckled. "And why should you care? You are, quite possibly, the first perfect human." He raised his glass towards Sam and took a deep drink-a toast.

No, Ruby told Sam, even though he hadn't asked. Even though I'm 90% sure it wouldn't turn you, don't drink anything he offers you. At the very least, it'll give him sway over you, and at worst there'll be side-effects.

"I'm human. Doesn't that make me imperfect by definition?" Sam asked. "We're cattle to you."

"Hardly," the vampire said, as he placed his glass back down on the table. "We feed to survive, and some humans are just that: food. But some…" He smiled at Sam, showing a hint of teeth. "Some are so much more. Some of them, we take under our wing-help them climb another rung on the evolutionary ladder."

Sam smiled stiffly. "Is that why you wanted to see us? To give us a leg up?"

The alpha laughed, rich and deep. "Not both of you." He turned to look at Ruby, and his smile faded. "I can't do a thing with her."

"What a shame," Ruby said. She could see Sam's patience wearing thin. His fingers tapped the surface of the mahogany table in a steady rhythm.

"But you, Sam," the vampire continued. "If I were to give you my gift, you would be…complete. The perfect hunter." He picked up his empty glass and set it down right in front of him, at the edge of the table. He lifted his hands, and brought the long, sharp nail of his left thumb to his right wrist. A stream of red welled up, and he moved his wrist over the glass right before drops started to fall, catching every single one.

Ruby watched Sam watching the glass fill and chewed on her lip in annoyance. Don't be stupid.

Sam ignored her, focused solely on the blood. Maybe he'd decided it was worth the risk. Maybe he was so sure he couldn't turn that he wanted to see what a dose of vampire blood would do. Or maybe he had some half-assed attack plan bubbling in his brain.

The alpha's grin spread wide as he held up the crystal glass, holding it towards Sam in clear invitation. It only held a few spoonfuls of blood. But that's all it took to turn a human.

Sam's fingers tapped against the tabletop a few more times and then he stood, crossing the floor in a few quick strides. He took the glass from the vampire's hand, and threw him a lop-sided smile. Then he brought the cup to his lips, tilted the cup back and drank.

Ruby took a step away from the wall, itching to knock the glass out of Sam's hand. She waited for a shift in Sam's soul. A flicker of clashing energies like she'd seen with the djinn. But nothing happened.

Sam brought the once again emptied glass back down to the table, turned and spit a large mouthful of blood right at the alpha vamp's face. Then he reached his arm out behind him and pulled Ruby's machete out of her grip. The blade hurtled through the air and into Sam's waiting hand. He brought the blade down nearly instantly, but the vampire was long gone, moving so fast Ruby could barely see him.

Two strong hands grabbed her by the biceps and Ruby growled in frustration. Two vampires, one male, one female, had grabbed her, and there was a third coming towards her with a sigil-covered sack. Like she'd even consider smoking out and leaving Sam unprotected.

On the other hand, she didn't like getting sacks stuck over her head so she stopped fighting the vamps holding her, and slammed herself back against the wall, pulling them along with her using her own considerable strength and her mind.

Across the room, Sam had gotten himself pinned to the wall by the alpha vamp who was bringing his mouth down to Sam's throat.

"Sam!" Ruby screamed, as she brought her knee crashing into the vamp in front of her. He dropped the sack he'd been holding, and clutched his other one.

Ruby tried to will herself across the room, but found herself suddenly and terrifyingly, powerless. She sprinted forward, desperate to get to Sam in time, but right before she got to the head of the table, all the air in the room shuddered, filling with power as something stepped through.

For a moment, Ruby thought she'd gone mad. She'd spent centuries in Hell, lost so much of her humanity, of her life. She'd been hanging on to her last few memories of being alive like they were diamonds. The weakest of those memories were the last glimpses of her parents: they'd faded with time, growing dimmer in her mind with every decade. But when she saw the woman who'd appeared across from her, she knew exactly who it was.

"Mom?" she said, every logical part of her mind telling her she was wrong. But it looked like her. Exactly like her.

The woman smiled at Ruby, and then turned to the alpha vampire and Sam, grabbed them both by the shoulders and pulled them apart easily. She stepped between them and put her hand on the vampire's chest. "Play nice."

"Mother," the vampire said, and suddenly Ruby understood.

"Echidna..." she said under her breath.

The woman threw Ruby a smile over her shoulder. "I go by 'Eve' these days."

As Sam brought his hand to his throat, Echidna-Eve-shifted her form, her hair growing pale and her body growing taller. She brought her hand to Sam's cheek and clucked her tongue. "Boys. That'll heal quick, don't worry."

Sam's brow was furrowed in confusion. "Mom?"

So this was what Mary Winchester had looked like. Ruby had seen pictures, even a few memories from Sam and Dean's thoughts, but seeing her move and hearing her speak (even if it was just a facsimile), was something different altogether.

Ruby moved closer to Sam, figuring that if Eve didn't want her there she'd be dead already. Echidna...Eve was the goddess of Purgatory. The mother of all monsters. Even Azazel had spoken of her with respect and a tinge of fear-a rare thing with him. The power of Purgatory came largely from the sheer number of souls it housed. Monsters that had existed long before humans had, long before angels had, lived there and Eve was the most powerful of all of them.

Eve, wearing Mary's face smiled at Sam beatifically. "Not exactly, but I can be." She turned to the alpha, grabbed a clean linen napkin from the table and cleaned the blood off of the vampire's chin and brow. "No need to fight."

"Mother, I offered him my gift and he turned me down. He spit it back at me."

Eve giggled and gave Ruby a look. "Men."

Ruby was shocked by the casual feeling of warmth coming from such a powerful being. She watched, fascinated as Eve put her arm on the alpha's shoulder. "Your gift wouldn't have worked on him anyway. He's not quite human. He has no soul to alter. But don't worry, there's always a way."

Eve focused on Sam again. "Every human soul has the potential to be something more: demon, monster, god."

Sam's voice stayed carefully expressionless. "What about all the souls in Heaven?" He moved his hand just enough for Ruby to see the wound in Sam's neck.

"They're dying. They're being devoured slowly, one depleted metaphysical cell at a time." Eve took hold of Sam's hand and pulled it away from his bleeding throat. Then she ran her fingertips over the now much smaller wound. His flesh closed under her touch and her fingers came away bloody. "But you, you're something else entirely. You left a part of yourself behind, trapped with the Morningstar himself."

"Nothing I need," Sam said, watching her with more than a hint of fear in his eyes.

"No, you don't, do you?" She brought her blood-tipped fingers to her mouth and cleaned them, smiling at the taste. "You look like a human, taste like a demon, and kill like an angel. What does that make you, exactly?"

Sam didn't answer her. His shoulders were tense and his eyes were tracking every small movement the alpha vampire made behind Eve, sure that one of the two monsters would strike again soon.

But they weren't going to. Eve had stopped the alpha from killing Sam. For whatever reason, she wanted him alive. She had plans for him. Ruby found that far more terrifying. She was used to their lives being threatened, but this felt far more like recruitment. Sam would say no, of course...assuming he was given a choice.

"You're special, Sam. Your mom always knew that. And I know that, too." Eve turned to wink at Ruby. "I know that's why you're still looking out for him. It's important to see that he follows the right path, isn't it?"

"Yes," Ruby said unable to stop herself. "Please, we'll leave. He just wants to-"

"He wants to hunt," Eve said, her back still to Ruby. That's all he knows. He wants to hunt the greatest prey, and believe me, I understand." As Eve stepped in closer to Sam, Ruby could see Sam's body tensing unnaturally. Eve's power had locked him still.

Knowing she only had seconds to spare, Ruby pushed forward with all her strength but found herself frozen as well. She couldn't move. She couldn't help Sam. She couldn't do anything, but watch.

"But I can't let you hurt my first-born. I already have Crowley torturing them-so many of my children. I can see everything they see, and they're so scared. Terrified of that demon." Eve rolled her shoulders back. "That's why I haven't killed you. I saw what you did in Crowley's prison. You left my children alive."

"No fun shooting fish in a barrel," Sam said.

"Of course you don't. Where's the challenge in that?" Eve nodded, satisfied. "So, here's the deal, Sam. I'm going to give you something. I'm going to make you perfect. You will grow stronger every day until there is nothing on, below or above this world that you can't kill."

"And...in exchange?" Sam asked, his voice completely calm.

"You kill Crowley for me."

"We tried. There was something protecting him," Sam said.

"He's allied himself with an angel. All you need to do is make yourself strong enough to take both of them on. And you will." Eve put her hand on the back of Sam's head, stroking her fingers through his hair.

Ruby couldn't read Sam's thoughts, not with Eve in the room, but she could tell by his expression that he was far more curious now, than worried about his survival.

"Why don't you kill Crowley yourself?" Ruby asked.

"Politics," Eve said, throwing Ruby a look of vague irritation. "Whoever kills the king of Hell is vying for the throne. I have no interest in that, and I certainly have no intention of going to war with both Heaven and Hell if I can avoid it. And that is exactly what would happen if I killed Crowley."

"Why would Heaven care if you killed Crowley?" Sam asked. "They hate him as much as everybody else. Probably more."

"True, but if I kill him, Hell would be mine for the taking, which means I'd have more power than Heaven, and that would make me a threat." Eve frowned. "I was happy with our arrangement. Up until now, my children would kill a few humans, turn a few others. Some humans killed my children too, if they were clever enough. It was fair. But now? Crowley's torturing my sons and daughters, and he has an angel helping him. So, fine. They want a war, they've got one. My children are turning as many as they can as quickly as they can and every turned human is a Purgatory-bound soul."

"What good does that do?" Sam scoffed. "Crowley can just have his demons kill all the new monsters. An angel could take out what-hundreds, thousands at a time?"

"Maybe you're not as bright as I thought," Eve said, frowning. "Did your brains get stuck down in the cage along with your soul?"

"He doesn't know," Ruby said as she understood what Eve was planning. "He doesn't understand what souls really are."

"How could he?" Eve turned back to Sam. "Think of it this way. To some of us-upper management, if you will-souls are power. They're like fuel cells: each soul a tiny little nuclear reactor. Put them together and you have the sun."

"That's why Crowley wants to open Purgatory," Ruby said as the pieces started to fit together. "For the souls."

"And his angel friend wants a cut, too," Eve said. "Heaven hasn't been too stable from what I've heard. It's civil war up there. Again." She smirked to herself. "Lucifer must find this all hilarious."

Ruby swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. "Did you know him?"

"The Morningstar?" Her smile widened. "Of course I did. He was beautiful, and as strong as they come up there." She brought her hand down to Sam's chest and pushed her palm flat against him. "He had heart. And more of a spine than the rest of his siblings."

"Do you know- I mean, can you hear him in the cage?" Ruby couldn't fight back the flicker of hope, deep in her chest. If Eve was half as strong as she'd heard then maybe she could hear him, maybe she knew-

"You're looking for guidance, aren't you?" Eve said. "You have no idea what Lucifer wants you to do. You're not even sure that matters anymore."

Ruby shook her head. She was scared. She didn't know what Eve was about to do to Sam, but she had a pretty good idea. She was going to change him and any ounce of control Ruby had over him would disappear. He might kill her the first chance he got, considering her nothing but prey. At best, she'd be irrelevant and he'd ignore her.

You will never be irrelevant to him. You're the closest thing he has to a friend. And you're so much more than that. You brought him this far. Eve told her, without ever taking her eyes off of Sam. She leaned forward suddenly, brought her hand behind Sam's head and pulled him down into a deep kiss.

At first, Sam fought against her, out of fear, disgust or sheer self-preservation.

Ruby watched his struggle weaken and then stop as he gave in to whatever Eve was doing. The yellow light inside of Sam's veins flickered and shifted as Eve force-fed him something new and completely different. Streaks of red and grey flowed into Sam, rippling under his skin as his body responded to Eve's magic. He didn't look any different on the outside, but the void where his soul should have been was starting to fill, and what was taking its place didn't look the least bit human.