Fic: Brimstone Synthesis - Chapter Nine
Title: Brimstone Synthesis (or How Samuel Winchester Escaped From Hell To Go Stand Under A Streetlamp)
Author: ikira
Pairings/Characters: Gen. Sam, Michael, Adam, Lucifer, Bela, Meg, OMC, OFC, a general chorus of demons, hellhounds and other denizens of Hell.
Rating: PG-13.
Word count: ~6k
Spoilers: through 5.22 "Swan Song." AU as of Season 6
Warnings: Some swearing, violence, disturbing imagery, grossness, unnatural creatures, bad cooking, good cooking, bad plans, rituals, flaming chariots, angels, demons, hellhounds, dragons, and pretty much anything that can be found in Hell.
Summary: Sam is trapped after falling into Lucifer's Cage. It is cold, dark, and empty, and alone anyone would be driven mad. But he hadn't been alone in his fall, and he isn't alone now. This is the story of how Sam found family, conquered personal demons, conquered regular demons, and escaped from Hell. And everything in between.
Author's Notes: eph_inspiration betaed, thank you again so much! Cross-Posted to adamwinchester, spn_gen and sn_fic.
When Bela woke next, she woke alone. She snapped upright, already looking wildly around the cave, searching out some sign of the boys, and just this side of a complete panic attack. Thankfully, it didn’t take her very long at all to find the note that they had left her. It was just a few steps towards the fissure that let light into the caves, carved into the stone of the ground - most likely with one of their knives or a sharp rock.
Hey Bela! Hope you’re feeling better!
Don’t panic, we’re okay. We just went out to find more clothes, and possibly Princess.
We shouldn’t be gone long.
See you soon!
Sam & Adam
She growled in frustration, but felt a small wave of affection pass over her at the sight of the cheerful message. She glanced down at the thin cloth that covered her, and could see why they were looking for more clothes. Asmodeus’ outfit would not do very well for her in the rough landscape of Hell.
With a sigh, she started scuffing up the note with a large rock, trying to destroy the message. It was good of them to let her know where they had gone, but she didn’t want this message left behind as a clue for Malonic. It was hard work, scratching the rough stone over the message over and over, but it kept her warm from the cold breeze coming from Asmodeus’ lands through the fissure, and the repetitive motions let her lose herself in thought.
She thought about her three companions, now down to two. She felt a pang of worry for Princess becoming separated from them, but the hellhound had been surviving in Hell for longer than all of them combined, so she knew that she could take care of herself. Bela missed her, though. Princess had been constantly by her side since escaping the rack, and this was the first time she’d been truly alone since she had died. She wondered why she wasn’t more bothered by the silence, but she in fact found it a nice change of pace. Sam and Adam were a lot of things, but quiet wasn’t one of them.
She glanced up occasionally as she worked, hoping to spot the boys returning soon. They too had grown on her. She had always been an only child, and she had been without anyone really since her parents…since then and perhaps even earlier, so she was unfamiliar with having anyone close. But perhaps this was what it meant to have a family - people that took care of you and helped you out, even when it was dangerous for themselves. She would never forget the sight of Sam and Adam, framed in the doorway, ready to take down anything in their path to save her. She normally hated the thought of needing to be rescued, but at the time it had felt less like she was a damsel in distress and more like she was a lost child that was finally found.
Bela scoffed at the direction her thoughts were going in, and shook her head to clear them. She was getting too introspective and silly, she decided. She should be thinking harder about where to go from here. They were still a ways off from the gate, and they had a good chunk of Hell to cross. She should have been thinking of paths and routes, not family and rescues.
Suddenly she stilled, her ears straining. She had thought she had heard something scuttling in the darkness behind her. She waited a moment longer, rock gripped tightly in her hand and ready to be used as a weapon, but nothing happened. However, after living and dodging secretly through Hell for as long as she had, she wasn’t going to let it go. She smoothly crawled over to the sack which had been left behind by the boys, and drew out her demon knife, all of her senses straining to hear the noise again.
“What do you think you’re doing?” something cried out of the shadows, and Bela fell back when she recognized the voice.
“You!” She shouted, but her voice shook slightly. She held the knife up in a defensive position and pressed her back to the cave wall, ignoring the chill as it sank down into her bare skin. “You lied to me!”
“I did no such thing, you useless piece of trash!” The voice snarled. Bela glanced wildly about, but as before, she could see nothing in the darkness.
“You said you would return me to life!” Bela insisted, picking a spot of darkness at random to speak to. She silently begged the boys to hurry back. “All you did was make me human, then abandon me at the base of Hell! That was not what we agreed to!”
“I only gave you half of your payment, because you only finished half the job,” the voice rasped, and Bela jumped as it seemed to be moving closer, “you only released him from the cage. You haven’t finished yet.”
Bela’s eyes narrowed. “You never mentioned a second part. That was never part of our deal.”
“I told you to release Sam Winchester from the cage so that he could complete a task for me. He hasn’t completed that task yet, so only half has been completed. You stupid thing, did you really think you would just be released, like that?” The voice let out a dark chuckle, and Bela flushed in embarrassment and indignation.
But before she could snap at the demon, she was suddenly being pushed against the wall by an invisible force, and was slowly being dragged up it. She would have cried out if she could breath.
“You useless, stupid thing. If I could do this myself, I would, but unfortunately I need others to act in my place. But don’t you ever forget that you are not the only resource available to me. If I decide you aren’t worth the hassle anymore, I’ll just turn you back into a demon. And then I’ll kill you.”
And with that, Bela was released, and she was dropped to the ground. She lay their gasping in air, shaking slightly. Her skirt was completely torn.
Once she could breathe properly again, Bela rose gingerly and faced the darkness once again. She schooled her features into a blank expression, refusing to show any more weakness to this demon. “What is it that you want me to do?” She asked.
“Sam Winchester seems to be doing a wonderful job of killing off all of the Crown Princes. See to it that he completes the set. Do whatever it takes. And remember, fail me and the rack will be the least of your concerns.”
And just like that Bela was alone again. She waited a few more moments, just to make sure that the demon was truly gone, and then she sank down to the floor and curled up into a ball, shaking like a leaf and trying very hard not to cry.
*****
When the boys finally returned, Bela tried to paste on a smile, but it was obviously strained. She let them think that she was still shaken up by the whole Asmodeus fiasco, and they thankfully dropped it, but she could feel Sam’s concerned gaze almost constantly.
They had brought back new clothes for all of them, thankfully, but were unable to find any sign of Princess. Bela shrugged, reminding them that Princess could take care of herself, then moved further into the cave to change. Because the boys had to steal clothes from succubae, everything was a little tight and scandalous, but Bela had worn worse on several heists, so she didn’t complain.
When she came back fully dressed, both boys did a double take, and Sam’s mouth actually dropped open.
“What?” She asked playfully, but it seemed to knock them out of their revere, because both just looked away sharply with a vivid blush on their cheeks.
They had also grabbed clothes for themselves, but they figured that they could probably make some of the wrath demon robes last a bit longer, so Adam just put on a new shirt and the rest of the spare clothes and the remnants of Bela’s slave outfit went into the sack. Then they pulled out a pack of chips to split and sat down to discuss plans.
“Malonic has almost caught us twice now,” Sam started, looking far too serious. It made Bela ache a bit inside. “We can’t afford to run into him again. We’ve been saved so far by miracles, we aren’t going to keep getting them, and he seems to be too big for us to take down without some serious help.”
“Agreed,” Bela said, centering herself and preparing. It was just another job, just another con. Look at it like that; these two were not family, they were targets. “We’ll need to start moving even more under the radar.”
“I also don’t like that those lust demons knew exactly where to find us. Did you hear the one say that two of us were already spoken for? Who told them we’d be there?” Adam joined in. He was new at the making plans thing, but Bela could tell that he was sharp, the kind to pick up details. She would have to accommodate for that.
“It could have been Malonic, or his second in command.” She suggested.
“Except the white demon was waiting for Malonic to show up with an army, and they were expecting us to attack. Plus, they want all of us dead, not just two. I don’t think it was him,” Sam frowned, deep in thought.
“Then it must have been Asmodeus. Perhaps he sent his own scouts out, perhaps it was just a fluke, what does it matter?” Bela asked a bit desperately. “We should be focusing on getting out of Hell, not on monarchs that can no longer hurt us.”
Sam’s eyes widened, and then his look softened. “You’re right,” He said gently, “we should be focusing on other topics. Sorry we keep bringing it up, Bela.”
Adam seemed to catch on, because he apologized as well. Bela wished that Asmodeus was what had been upsetting her, but she accepted the subject change gratefully as an opening to get her job done.
“We’ll need to start taking longer tunnels. It’ll be slower, but I think it’ll be worth it.” She explained, drawing faint shapes on the stone with the tip of her finger showing the shape of her intended path.
“Do you know a good route?” Sam asked, watching her hands move.
Bela hesitated. She looked at both of these men, that had risked their lives for her. They looked back at her without suspicion, without judgment, only attention and mild concern. They were the closest thing she had to family.
“Yes,” she finally said, closing her eyes to block out the pain of her heart breaking, “I know a way.”
*****
Sam couldn’t take his eyes off of Bela as they passed through yet another tunnel in the walls of Hell, for several reasons. One, she was directly in front of him, and there was little else to look at. Two, she was leading them on the quickest route she knew that would get them to the gate without being seen by any more demons. And three, she was wearing an outfit that would put Catwoman, Uhura, and Lara Croft to shame. He was a young man in the prime of his life, he couldn’t help it.
It was pitch black in the tunnels again, but either his night vision was getting better or Adam was glowing again, because he could still see Bela and everything in their path clearly. He had suggested taking a few of the glowing brimstone rocks with them to use as a sort of flashlight for Bela, but she had just glared at him silently, so he let the matter drop. She didn’t seem to need it anyways, moving as carefully and surely as a cat.
This tunnel was much longer than any of the others that they had gone through, and they had to stop for a quick break about halfway through. Adam and Bela split a bottle of the holy water, trying to save as much as possible. They didn’t talk in case something was prowling. They had decided that they were going to be as quiet as possible, no talking unless necessary.
Once they were back on the move, Sam and Adam switched positions so that Sam could watch the rear. Adam had stumbled a bit, so Sam figured that indicated that he wasn’t actually glowing, and therefore neither of the others could actually see anything. He left Bela to guide Adam by touch, while he stood guard as best he could.
He was just thinking of calling another break after watching Adam stumble yet again when Bela gave the signal for the end of the tunnel. Both brothers were immediately at her side, peaking around her shoulders. They could make out the weak light coming from the opening about fifty yards away. With the go ahead from Sam, they made their way over.
Unlike the other openings of the tunnels, which were basically cracks and fissures in the walls of Hell, this opening seemed to be carved. It was perfectly spherical, with odd markings all around the edges. And most importantly, it was blocked by a large pile of rocks.
“I don’t understand,” Bela whispered. They leaned in close so she could be even quieter. “This way was completely clear when I came through before.”
“Maybe there was a rock slide?” Adam suggested.
“Ugh, probably,” Bela eyed the pile. Sam tilted his head. The rocks seemed a bit too well stacked to be just a rock slide, but he wasn’t really an expert.
“So now what?” He whispered, “How do we get out of here without causing any commotion?”
Bela seemed to be thinking about it, then she shook her head. “The tunnel opening was pretty isolated. I think we should be okay if we just knock it down - if we’re careful, we shouldn’t be heard.”
Sam made a disbelieving noise in his throat.
“Well it’s better than the alternative,” She snapped, “we’d have to go back all the way to Asmodeus’ lands, and then try to find another tunnel. Let’s just hurry up and get out of here.”
They got to work on the rock pile. It was slow going, made even slower by the fact that they had to be almost silent. Even together, the three were not quite strong enough to move the largest of the boulders, so Sam was forced to try and telekinetically lift them. He was unused to doing anything with his powers other than killing demons, so after every big stone, he was forced to retreat to fight off a migraine as the others worked on the smaller rocks.
It felt like it took forever, but eventually there was an opening even Sam could crawl through. Sam bit back a grateful sigh. The tension had been growing while they worked, and his headaches only built upon each other.
Bela went first, knife drawn. She passed through the opening without disturbing even the slightest pebble, and the brothers waited anxiously as she passed out of sight. After what seemed like far too long, a hand appeared in the opening and waved at them.
Adam went next, and although he was far less graceful than Bela, he made it through with only a minor scrape and a small tumble of pebbles. Once he was through, Sam passed the sack to him, and then it was his turn.
He was even less graceful, digging at the rocks around him as he tried to shove his massive frame through the tiny opening. He tried to be as quiet as possible, but they had clearly underestimated his size, and it was taking a bit more effort to get him out. When it was clear that he wasn’t escaping as smoothly as the others, they stepped up to help him out. Adam grabbed him around the shoulders, and Bela grabbed his free arm, and they started tugging.
“Geeze, Sam, what the hell have you been eating?” Adam grunted into his ear. Sam chose to ignore him as he felt the rocks scraping up his skin and clothes.
With a final burst of effort, and a loud ripping noise, Sam finally tumbled out of the rocks and landed with a whump on top of the others. A minor second rockslide sounded behind them, and they all froze as they waited for the noise to stop. When the dust settled, Sam slowly rose to his knees and looked down at the others.
“So much for stealth,” Bela muttered, pushing herself up.
Sam’s robes had been ripped in the struggle, ruining them, so he had to pull out some of the clothes from the incubi. He curled his lip slightly at the loose cotton shirt that hung open down his chest except for where it was tied by some strings, but chose that over the fishnet tank. He felt like he was a model for the cover of some Harlequin romance novel, but at least his skin was covered. The pants were a little tight, but a nice silky material that stretched well when he moved, so he could make do. He caught Bela eying him, and didn’t feel as bad anymore for ogling her in the tunnel.
They started forward again, sticking to shadows as they moved through a short canyon. Bela informed them absently that they were on the outskirts of the lands of Mammon, Crown Prince of Greed, and that they had bypassed a rather nasty set of canyons that actually acted as a natural maze. Her attention wasn’t really on them, though. Sam watched her looking around when she thought they weren’t paying attention, as if she was expecting something. He narrowed his eyes.
“Bela,” he started, ready to ask what she was so jumpy about, when the short canyon ended and they got their first look at Mammon’s lands.
The ground was completely barren. No one was around, nothing moved. There was nothing but ashes; Sam could taste them, and something metallic at the back of his throat, and it made him want to choke slightly.
“There’s nothing here,” Adam observed with a slight wonder. He looked kind of like he’d been punched, and Sam could kind of understand. After the busy messes of the other Princes’ lands, the lack of anything was a bit of a shock.
“Of course there isn’t anything,” Bela pointed to their left, where the biggest fortress they had seen yet was resting, towering over the empty plain. “Mammon takes everything and keeps everything in his palace.”
They stared for a while longer. Then Sam shook his head, trying to break out of the stupor. “Let’s keep moving,” he suggested, and the others nodded weakly.
They had just started forward when Bela let out a short scream. Sam whirled around, already drawing his knife, to see that she was fighting off two demons. There was already a large gash in her arm from their twisted lances, and she seemed to have lost use of it, because it hung limply at her side.
Sam immediately charged in to do battle, vaguely wondering where the demons had come from and why none of them had noticed. He took one of the demons, punching it in its mutated face before gutting it with the angel blade, carefully avoiding its lance. When he finished with the one demon, Adam had already taken care of the other. He looked a little sick, but Sam was both proud and sad to see that he just shook it off. Both of them turned back to Bela.
She was pale and sweaty, almost falling over with nothing to lean against. Sam quickly stepped in as her support while Adam took a look at the wound.
“It’s poisoned,” She said tightly, clearly fighting back pain, “Greed demons always tip their weapons in poison.”
“Why?” Sam asked, watching in horror as Adam checked the gash over. It was long and jagged, tearing up the skin like paper, but the gash on her ankle had looked worse. Sam normally would have just washed it and stitched it, easy, but with the threat of poison, suddenly the gash looked much worse.
“They like to collect anything, including souls and other demons. The poison ensures that their prey can’t run. It’s a fast acting paralyzer, and it’ll spread everywhere. I can already feel it moving through my arms.”
“Won’t it wear off?” Sam asked, directing his question at both of them. He’d hunted a fair number of creatures over the course of his life, but most of them weren’t poisonous. They were deadly enough without adding venom on top of it.
Adam swallowed carefully, before answering. “If it was able to take out her arm this easily, it’s not a problem of wearing off. It’s a problem of what happens when it reaches her lungs or her heart. It doesn’t matter how fast it wears off if she suffocates first, or if her heart stops beating.”
They sat in silence for a moment, completely unsure of what to do.
“You can’t help her, can you?” Sam asked Adam, who was already shaking his head.
“We might be able to suck the poison out, but if it’s already starting to spread like she said, then I can’t do much without an antidote.”
“Bela?” Sam asked. She blinked sluggishly at him, struggling against the effects of the paralyzer. “Where can we find an antidote? Where do the demons keep it? They must have something, right? Otherwise their prey will die.”
She seemed to be collecting her strength to answer. “Mammon,” She finally slurred out. “Mammon will carry it on his person. He likes to be able to pick from his demons’ prey. Find him, he’ll have it.”
Sam choked back a shout of rage. Once again they would have to take on another Prince to keep their family safe, and once again, Bela was the victim. Adam laid a calming hand on his shoulder, so he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Found the source of his fury and discarded it. They couldn’t be blinded by anger when they went to steal the antidote.
They moved Bela back to the rock slide they had come through. They wanted to hide her in the tunnel itself, but getting her in safely was too hard, so they settled on tucking her out of the way.
“How long do you think we have?” Adam asked softly, padding the area around her with as much spare clothes and scraps of fabric as they had.
“Not long,” she whispered through barely parted lips, “maybe a few hours? Maybe half a day? No more than that.”
“That doesn’t give us much time. We’re going to have to charge in, then,” Sam said. He was nervous about attacking all out, but they didn’t have time to waste. He crouched down next to Bela, and held her numb hand. “Don’t worry, okay? We’ll get the antidote. You’ll be fine.” And then he gave her the brightest smile he could manage, which she weakly returned. Then they gathered up their weapons, a bottle of holy water each, and started marching back towards Mammon’s palace.
Once they disappeared from view, Bela rose and stretched her arms high above her head. She briefly checked out the cut on her arm, but the bleeding had already slowed to a trickle. She would have to make sure it was open and looked unhealthy when the boys got back.
“Happy?” she snarled at the dark crevices surrounding her.
“Yes,” the shadows whispered back, sounding disgustingly smug.
*****
Sam and Adam didn’t hesitate in their path across the wastelands. They aimed at the front gates, and just charged, Sam focusing his powers as they went. Although the fortress was obviously designed to resist attacks from even the most enraged wrath demon, it was under fortified to deal with two very pissed off Winchesters, one of which was channeling one of the most powerful demons in Hell’s history, the other wielding the sword of an archangel. The gate, and the demons standing guard, fell easily, crashing to the ground.
Sam and Adam didn’t bother with trying to sneak around. They just charged headlong into the fray, smacking demons around left right and center. Sam dealt with most of the opposition, flinging demons into walls or bodily over their heads, and Adam catching what he missed. Their way was hampered by the many piles of stuff that clogged the hallways and on assumption, the rooms that lined them, but both were agile and nimble enough that they could manage. Sam followed a path seemingly at random, but Adam guessed that he was probably using their previous experiences in the other fortress to calculate where Mammon was most likely to be. Plus, as they went on the piles of spoils got larger, which was a pretty big tip.
When they reached the huge double doors that Adam assumed would lead to Mammon’s throne room, he was bent over panting heavily, and even Sam seemed a bit winded. He didn’t seem to be suffering from any ill effects from using his powers too much, though, so Adam figured that was a win. He gave himself a few moments to get his breath back, then straightened and nodded at Sam. With that signal, Sam threw the doors of the throne room open with his powers.
The doors crashed into the walls with a bang that sounded like standing in a thundercloud when lightning struck. Adam winced in pain, but followed Sam into the throne room. The room looked almost exactly like the Cave of Wonders from Aladdin, Adam thought, looking in awe at the heaps and heaps of gold, jewels, priceless paintings and furniture. He wondered what all this stuff was doing in Hell, guessing that half of humanity’s most priceless lost objects were here. In one corner, he thought he saw something that looked exactly like Amelia Earhart’s Plane, and in another there seemed to be a large pile of scrolls that looked older than the dinosaurs.
The news of their attack had clearly not made it to Mammon yet, because he looked completely bemused at the sight of them. The room was silent aside from the echo of the doors still ringing in Adam’s ears, and Mammon just stared. Then, his mouth broke into a wry grin, and he stepped down from his throne, carefully sidestepping a chest full of gemstones. His pointed ears perked up around his ornate crown which was much larger than any of the other Princes’ crowns.
“Well, well. What has just fallen into my grasp?” He smiled like a used car salesman, fake and oily. His teeth were crooked, jagged like a wolf’s, which matched his hairy form. He plucked at a grey goatee with clawed hands.
“You have something we need,” Sam growled at him, and he didn’t even wait for Mammon to prepare himself, just outstretched his hand and pinned Mammon to the ground. Mammon’s eyes widened in fear, clearly not expecting to be beaten down so easily or completely, but he couldn’t seem to struggle much against Sam’s powers despite his vigorous attempts.
“Adam,” Sam grunted, his nose starting to bleed as Mammon continued to fight to break his hold, “check him over quick. Find it, okay?” Adam nodded and swallowed his nerves down, then walked over to Mammon. Despite his instincts, he sheathed his sword at his side to free up his hands for the search.
He was very uncomfortable being so close to such a powerful demon when unarmed, but he trusted Sam to both keep Mammon down and to warn him if he was losing his grip. He moved fast to decrease the risk, digging through Mammon’s multiple voluminous layers to look for any items on his person. After finding stash after stash of jewelry, gems, silk scarves, toys, fans, and other random spoils, Adam realized it could take a while. He started riffling through Mammon’s clothes like a madman, feeling more than a little awkward about the exercise. Thankfully, about three layers and fifteen pockets in, he found a handful of vials full of a liquid that shifted from gold to green depending on how the light hit it.
“This must be it!” He shouted, waving the vials above his head so that Sam could see them from where he was standing. Mammon snarled at him.
The second Adam was clear Sam dropped his arm, reaching up to hold his skull together. Mammon rose stiffly, looking at them like they were the dirt on a fine Persian rug. Adam stared back unflinchingly, trying to cover Sam from view.
“Those were mine,” Mammon said quietly, but his stillness made him all the more threatening. Adam had never seen a werewolf in his life, but he knew that after confronting Mammon, facing one down would be child’s play.
He tensed, ready to defend Sam when Mammon pounced, but still didn’t see it coming. Mammon launched himself at them as fast as quicksilver, his nails now full on talons, mouth open wide to rip out their throats. Adam tried to bring up his sword to block, but could already see that Mammon was way too fast.
Thankfully, Sam was apparently faster. One second he was crouched behind Adam suffering from a head splitting migraine, the next he was in front of Adam with two fingers pressed to Mammon’s chest. Mammon froze, then let out a high pitched whine and started to flail in Sam’s thrall, trying to break free of whatever power Sam was using to hold him in place. The whine became screams, and then Mammon burst into flames, just like Belial had. As the ashes settled, once more the only noise in the room was a clatter as Mammon’s crown hit the floor.
Sam and Adam stared at the crown, once again shaken by the more violent side of Sam’s powers. Adam walked around Sam to poke at the crown with his foot, then checked on Sam, looking to see if he was in any pain. He was mildly surprised to see that Sam’s eyes had already returned to normal, but he was okay with it. When Sam’s eyes turned yellow, it was a little…disconcerting.
“Come on,” Sam said eventually into the quiet room, “We should hurry back to Bela before she gets worse.” His words were muffled by the vast array of objects that surrounded them. Adam looked over their surroundings and actually considered pocketing a bit of the gold before he shook his head vigorously. Nothing in this room would be useful to them in Hell.
He picked up one of the discarded silk scarves from Mammon’s pocked and turned it into a rough pouch to hold the vials, and then he followed Sam back through the chaos they had caused on their mad rush in.
*****
It was both satisfying and disturbing that every demon they encountered as they moved through the fortress, however few, ran screaming in the other direction when they caught sight of the both of them. With this somewhat fortunate turn of events, they made it back out and across the plain in less time than it had taken to get through in the first place. Still, it felt like it took far too long to turn the corner and finally come back to the tunnel where they had left Bela.
When they stumbled around the rubble pile to the other side where Bela was hidden, they found her sprawled out, the cut still bleeding sluggishly. Her eyes were closed, and Sam had a brief moment of panic before he noticed her chest rising and falling in slow, shallow breaths. HE and Adam immediately dropped to her sides, Adam fumbling with the scarves in his hands to pull out the vials of the antidote.
“Do we have to get her to drink it? Or pour it on the wound?” Sam asked Adam, his voice cracking with tension. She looked so peaceful, but so had so many corpses Sam had seen over his lifetime. He waved his hands about in a futile attempt to help, but he wasn’t sure what assistance he could give.
Adam looked much more nervous now, and he eyed the vials. “I should probably administer the antidote intravenously, but I don’t have a needle.” He looked around a bit, as if he would suddenly find one magically on the ground nearby.
“Bela? Bela!” Sam began shaking her shoulders, trying to get a response. “Bela, how do we give you the antidote? Bela!”
Miraculously, her eyes cracked open. She was silent, but one eyebrow rose the smallest bit. Sam would take what he could.
“The antidote,” Adam repeated, showing her the vial with its strange gold-green contents. “How do we administer it?”
Bela slowly focused on the vial being presented to her, and then her eyebrows furrowed slightly. Sam had a sudden horrifying thought, and he felt like his heart had stopped. “This is the antidote, right?”
Adam paled just as quickly as Sam had. He had clearly not thought of it either. Sam could already sense the guilt eating away at his little brother. If they had grabbed the wrong thing…and everything Mammon had been carrying had gone up with him…
But to the relief of both of them, Bela gave a small smile. She managed to open her mouth the tiniest bit, and Sam took that to mean that they should let her drink it. He gestured at Adam to help her out.
“How much?” Adam asked, every inch a medical professional. “The whole thing?” Bela’s mouth closed. “A little?” Her mouth opened. “A few drops?” Her mouth remained open. “Close your lips when I’ve given you enough. Sam, can you get some water ready?”
Sam sprung to his feet, grateful to be given something to do to help while Adam did his stuff. He picked up the bottles of holy water that they had taken in with them but not used, but figured they could still use those. Instead he grabbed a smaller bottle of water from the sack that had already been opened. He also snatched up a small piece of fruit in case Bela was up for eating. He also snagged a clean piece of fabric to bind the cut.
To his shock, by the time he got back, Bela was already moving, albeit slowly. Adam also seemed kind of surprised, but also extremely relieved. Sam felt that same relief wash over himself as well, but it was also tainted slightly. Something seemed off here.
He bit down his gut reaction though, and just brought over the supplies. Bela looked up as he approached, and the look of gratitude and warmth on her face made him break out into a huge grin and forget all of his worries. He had thought that she would never smile like that again after what happened with Asmodeus, but the look of trust and affection she was giving them both filled him up with hope. He sat heavily and gracelessly in the dirt next to them, passing Adam the fabric so he could work on Bela’s arm, and Bela the water and fruit. She ended up passing the apple to Adam, but sipped the water carefully.
Sam watched the both of them, and couldn’t help but think that now he had a brand new family that he would fiercely protect with his life. But he also couldn’t help but think that a few things were missing from making it his true family.
He couldn’t afford to think like that. Not now, when they were coming so close to escaping. He ruthlessly crushed those thoughts to the back of his head, and reached out to help Adam tie a tighter knot.
Author: ikira
Pairings/Characters: Gen. Sam, Michael, Adam, Lucifer, Bela, Meg, OMC, OFC, a general chorus of demons, hellhounds and other denizens of Hell.
Rating: PG-13.
Word count: ~6k
Spoilers: through 5.22 "Swan Song." AU as of Season 6
Warnings: Some swearing, violence, disturbing imagery, grossness, unnatural creatures, bad cooking, good cooking, bad plans, rituals, flaming chariots, angels, demons, hellhounds, dragons, and pretty much anything that can be found in Hell.
Summary: Sam is trapped after falling into Lucifer's Cage. It is cold, dark, and empty, and alone anyone would be driven mad. But he hadn't been alone in his fall, and he isn't alone now. This is the story of how Sam found family, conquered personal demons, conquered regular demons, and escaped from Hell. And everything in between.
Author's Notes: eph_inspiration betaed, thank you again so much! Cross-Posted to adamwinchester, spn_gen and sn_fic.
When Bela woke next, she woke alone. She snapped upright, already looking wildly around the cave, searching out some sign of the boys, and just this side of a complete panic attack. Thankfully, it didn’t take her very long at all to find the note that they had left her. It was just a few steps towards the fissure that let light into the caves, carved into the stone of the ground - most likely with one of their knives or a sharp rock.
Hey Bela! Hope you’re feeling better!
Don’t panic, we’re okay. We just went out to find more clothes, and possibly Princess.
We shouldn’t be gone long.
See you soon!
Sam & Adam
She growled in frustration, but felt a small wave of affection pass over her at the sight of the cheerful message. She glanced down at the thin cloth that covered her, and could see why they were looking for more clothes. Asmodeus’ outfit would not do very well for her in the rough landscape of Hell.
With a sigh, she started scuffing up the note with a large rock, trying to destroy the message. It was good of them to let her know where they had gone, but she didn’t want this message left behind as a clue for Malonic. It was hard work, scratching the rough stone over the message over and over, but it kept her warm from the cold breeze coming from Asmodeus’ lands through the fissure, and the repetitive motions let her lose herself in thought.
She thought about her three companions, now down to two. She felt a pang of worry for Princess becoming separated from them, but the hellhound had been surviving in Hell for longer than all of them combined, so she knew that she could take care of herself. Bela missed her, though. Princess had been constantly by her side since escaping the rack, and this was the first time she’d been truly alone since she had died. She wondered why she wasn’t more bothered by the silence, but she in fact found it a nice change of pace. Sam and Adam were a lot of things, but quiet wasn’t one of them.
She glanced up occasionally as she worked, hoping to spot the boys returning soon. They too had grown on her. She had always been an only child, and she had been without anyone really since her parents…since then and perhaps even earlier, so she was unfamiliar with having anyone close. But perhaps this was what it meant to have a family - people that took care of you and helped you out, even when it was dangerous for themselves. She would never forget the sight of Sam and Adam, framed in the doorway, ready to take down anything in their path to save her. She normally hated the thought of needing to be rescued, but at the time it had felt less like she was a damsel in distress and more like she was a lost child that was finally found.
Bela scoffed at the direction her thoughts were going in, and shook her head to clear them. She was getting too introspective and silly, she decided. She should be thinking harder about where to go from here. They were still a ways off from the gate, and they had a good chunk of Hell to cross. She should have been thinking of paths and routes, not family and rescues.
Suddenly she stilled, her ears straining. She had thought she had heard something scuttling in the darkness behind her. She waited a moment longer, rock gripped tightly in her hand and ready to be used as a weapon, but nothing happened. However, after living and dodging secretly through Hell for as long as she had, she wasn’t going to let it go. She smoothly crawled over to the sack which had been left behind by the boys, and drew out her demon knife, all of her senses straining to hear the noise again.
“What do you think you’re doing?” something cried out of the shadows, and Bela fell back when she recognized the voice.
“You!” She shouted, but her voice shook slightly. She held the knife up in a defensive position and pressed her back to the cave wall, ignoring the chill as it sank down into her bare skin. “You lied to me!”
“I did no such thing, you useless piece of trash!” The voice snarled. Bela glanced wildly about, but as before, she could see nothing in the darkness.
“You said you would return me to life!” Bela insisted, picking a spot of darkness at random to speak to. She silently begged the boys to hurry back. “All you did was make me human, then abandon me at the base of Hell! That was not what we agreed to!”
“I only gave you half of your payment, because you only finished half the job,” the voice rasped, and Bela jumped as it seemed to be moving closer, “you only released him from the cage. You haven’t finished yet.”
Bela’s eyes narrowed. “You never mentioned a second part. That was never part of our deal.”
“I told you to release Sam Winchester from the cage so that he could complete a task for me. He hasn’t completed that task yet, so only half has been completed. You stupid thing, did you really think you would just be released, like that?” The voice let out a dark chuckle, and Bela flushed in embarrassment and indignation.
But before she could snap at the demon, she was suddenly being pushed against the wall by an invisible force, and was slowly being dragged up it. She would have cried out if she could breath.
“You useless, stupid thing. If I could do this myself, I would, but unfortunately I need others to act in my place. But don’t you ever forget that you are not the only resource available to me. If I decide you aren’t worth the hassle anymore, I’ll just turn you back into a demon. And then I’ll kill you.”
And with that, Bela was released, and she was dropped to the ground. She lay their gasping in air, shaking slightly. Her skirt was completely torn.
Once she could breathe properly again, Bela rose gingerly and faced the darkness once again. She schooled her features into a blank expression, refusing to show any more weakness to this demon. “What is it that you want me to do?” She asked.
“Sam Winchester seems to be doing a wonderful job of killing off all of the Crown Princes. See to it that he completes the set. Do whatever it takes. And remember, fail me and the rack will be the least of your concerns.”
And just like that Bela was alone again. She waited a few more moments, just to make sure that the demon was truly gone, and then she sank down to the floor and curled up into a ball, shaking like a leaf and trying very hard not to cry.
*****
When the boys finally returned, Bela tried to paste on a smile, but it was obviously strained. She let them think that she was still shaken up by the whole Asmodeus fiasco, and they thankfully dropped it, but she could feel Sam’s concerned gaze almost constantly.
They had brought back new clothes for all of them, thankfully, but were unable to find any sign of Princess. Bela shrugged, reminding them that Princess could take care of herself, then moved further into the cave to change. Because the boys had to steal clothes from succubae, everything was a little tight and scandalous, but Bela had worn worse on several heists, so she didn’t complain.
When she came back fully dressed, both boys did a double take, and Sam’s mouth actually dropped open.
“What?” She asked playfully, but it seemed to knock them out of their revere, because both just looked away sharply with a vivid blush on their cheeks.
They had also grabbed clothes for themselves, but they figured that they could probably make some of the wrath demon robes last a bit longer, so Adam just put on a new shirt and the rest of the spare clothes and the remnants of Bela’s slave outfit went into the sack. Then they pulled out a pack of chips to split and sat down to discuss plans.
“Malonic has almost caught us twice now,” Sam started, looking far too serious. It made Bela ache a bit inside. “We can’t afford to run into him again. We’ve been saved so far by miracles, we aren’t going to keep getting them, and he seems to be too big for us to take down without some serious help.”
“Agreed,” Bela said, centering herself and preparing. It was just another job, just another con. Look at it like that; these two were not family, they were targets. “We’ll need to start moving even more under the radar.”
“I also don’t like that those lust demons knew exactly where to find us. Did you hear the one say that two of us were already spoken for? Who told them we’d be there?” Adam joined in. He was new at the making plans thing, but Bela could tell that he was sharp, the kind to pick up details. She would have to accommodate for that.
“It could have been Malonic, or his second in command.” She suggested.
“Except the white demon was waiting for Malonic to show up with an army, and they were expecting us to attack. Plus, they want all of us dead, not just two. I don’t think it was him,” Sam frowned, deep in thought.
“Then it must have been Asmodeus. Perhaps he sent his own scouts out, perhaps it was just a fluke, what does it matter?” Bela asked a bit desperately. “We should be focusing on getting out of Hell, not on monarchs that can no longer hurt us.”
Sam’s eyes widened, and then his look softened. “You’re right,” He said gently, “we should be focusing on other topics. Sorry we keep bringing it up, Bela.”
Adam seemed to catch on, because he apologized as well. Bela wished that Asmodeus was what had been upsetting her, but she accepted the subject change gratefully as an opening to get her job done.
“We’ll need to start taking longer tunnels. It’ll be slower, but I think it’ll be worth it.” She explained, drawing faint shapes on the stone with the tip of her finger showing the shape of her intended path.
“Do you know a good route?” Sam asked, watching her hands move.
Bela hesitated. She looked at both of these men, that had risked their lives for her. They looked back at her without suspicion, without judgment, only attention and mild concern. They were the closest thing she had to family.
“Yes,” she finally said, closing her eyes to block out the pain of her heart breaking, “I know a way.”
*****
Sam couldn’t take his eyes off of Bela as they passed through yet another tunnel in the walls of Hell, for several reasons. One, she was directly in front of him, and there was little else to look at. Two, she was leading them on the quickest route she knew that would get them to the gate without being seen by any more demons. And three, she was wearing an outfit that would put Catwoman, Uhura, and Lara Croft to shame. He was a young man in the prime of his life, he couldn’t help it.
It was pitch black in the tunnels again, but either his night vision was getting better or Adam was glowing again, because he could still see Bela and everything in their path clearly. He had suggested taking a few of the glowing brimstone rocks with them to use as a sort of flashlight for Bela, but she had just glared at him silently, so he let the matter drop. She didn’t seem to need it anyways, moving as carefully and surely as a cat.
This tunnel was much longer than any of the others that they had gone through, and they had to stop for a quick break about halfway through. Adam and Bela split a bottle of the holy water, trying to save as much as possible. They didn’t talk in case something was prowling. They had decided that they were going to be as quiet as possible, no talking unless necessary.
Once they were back on the move, Sam and Adam switched positions so that Sam could watch the rear. Adam had stumbled a bit, so Sam figured that indicated that he wasn’t actually glowing, and therefore neither of the others could actually see anything. He left Bela to guide Adam by touch, while he stood guard as best he could.
He was just thinking of calling another break after watching Adam stumble yet again when Bela gave the signal for the end of the tunnel. Both brothers were immediately at her side, peaking around her shoulders. They could make out the weak light coming from the opening about fifty yards away. With the go ahead from Sam, they made their way over.
Unlike the other openings of the tunnels, which were basically cracks and fissures in the walls of Hell, this opening seemed to be carved. It was perfectly spherical, with odd markings all around the edges. And most importantly, it was blocked by a large pile of rocks.
“I don’t understand,” Bela whispered. They leaned in close so she could be even quieter. “This way was completely clear when I came through before.”
“Maybe there was a rock slide?” Adam suggested.
“Ugh, probably,” Bela eyed the pile. Sam tilted his head. The rocks seemed a bit too well stacked to be just a rock slide, but he wasn’t really an expert.
“So now what?” He whispered, “How do we get out of here without causing any commotion?”
Bela seemed to be thinking about it, then she shook her head. “The tunnel opening was pretty isolated. I think we should be okay if we just knock it down - if we’re careful, we shouldn’t be heard.”
Sam made a disbelieving noise in his throat.
“Well it’s better than the alternative,” She snapped, “we’d have to go back all the way to Asmodeus’ lands, and then try to find another tunnel. Let’s just hurry up and get out of here.”
They got to work on the rock pile. It was slow going, made even slower by the fact that they had to be almost silent. Even together, the three were not quite strong enough to move the largest of the boulders, so Sam was forced to try and telekinetically lift them. He was unused to doing anything with his powers other than killing demons, so after every big stone, he was forced to retreat to fight off a migraine as the others worked on the smaller rocks.
It felt like it took forever, but eventually there was an opening even Sam could crawl through. Sam bit back a grateful sigh. The tension had been growing while they worked, and his headaches only built upon each other.
Bela went first, knife drawn. She passed through the opening without disturbing even the slightest pebble, and the brothers waited anxiously as she passed out of sight. After what seemed like far too long, a hand appeared in the opening and waved at them.
Adam went next, and although he was far less graceful than Bela, he made it through with only a minor scrape and a small tumble of pebbles. Once he was through, Sam passed the sack to him, and then it was his turn.
He was even less graceful, digging at the rocks around him as he tried to shove his massive frame through the tiny opening. He tried to be as quiet as possible, but they had clearly underestimated his size, and it was taking a bit more effort to get him out. When it was clear that he wasn’t escaping as smoothly as the others, they stepped up to help him out. Adam grabbed him around the shoulders, and Bela grabbed his free arm, and they started tugging.
“Geeze, Sam, what the hell have you been eating?” Adam grunted into his ear. Sam chose to ignore him as he felt the rocks scraping up his skin and clothes.
With a final burst of effort, and a loud ripping noise, Sam finally tumbled out of the rocks and landed with a whump on top of the others. A minor second rockslide sounded behind them, and they all froze as they waited for the noise to stop. When the dust settled, Sam slowly rose to his knees and looked down at the others.
“So much for stealth,” Bela muttered, pushing herself up.
Sam’s robes had been ripped in the struggle, ruining them, so he had to pull out some of the clothes from the incubi. He curled his lip slightly at the loose cotton shirt that hung open down his chest except for where it was tied by some strings, but chose that over the fishnet tank. He felt like he was a model for the cover of some Harlequin romance novel, but at least his skin was covered. The pants were a little tight, but a nice silky material that stretched well when he moved, so he could make do. He caught Bela eying him, and didn’t feel as bad anymore for ogling her in the tunnel.
They started forward again, sticking to shadows as they moved through a short canyon. Bela informed them absently that they were on the outskirts of the lands of Mammon, Crown Prince of Greed, and that they had bypassed a rather nasty set of canyons that actually acted as a natural maze. Her attention wasn’t really on them, though. Sam watched her looking around when she thought they weren’t paying attention, as if she was expecting something. He narrowed his eyes.
“Bela,” he started, ready to ask what she was so jumpy about, when the short canyon ended and they got their first look at Mammon’s lands.
The ground was completely barren. No one was around, nothing moved. There was nothing but ashes; Sam could taste them, and something metallic at the back of his throat, and it made him want to choke slightly.
“There’s nothing here,” Adam observed with a slight wonder. He looked kind of like he’d been punched, and Sam could kind of understand. After the busy messes of the other Princes’ lands, the lack of anything was a bit of a shock.
“Of course there isn’t anything,” Bela pointed to their left, where the biggest fortress they had seen yet was resting, towering over the empty plain. “Mammon takes everything and keeps everything in his palace.”
They stared for a while longer. Then Sam shook his head, trying to break out of the stupor. “Let’s keep moving,” he suggested, and the others nodded weakly.
They had just started forward when Bela let out a short scream. Sam whirled around, already drawing his knife, to see that she was fighting off two demons. There was already a large gash in her arm from their twisted lances, and she seemed to have lost use of it, because it hung limply at her side.
Sam immediately charged in to do battle, vaguely wondering where the demons had come from and why none of them had noticed. He took one of the demons, punching it in its mutated face before gutting it with the angel blade, carefully avoiding its lance. When he finished with the one demon, Adam had already taken care of the other. He looked a little sick, but Sam was both proud and sad to see that he just shook it off. Both of them turned back to Bela.
She was pale and sweaty, almost falling over with nothing to lean against. Sam quickly stepped in as her support while Adam took a look at the wound.
“It’s poisoned,” She said tightly, clearly fighting back pain, “Greed demons always tip their weapons in poison.”
“Why?” Sam asked, watching in horror as Adam checked the gash over. It was long and jagged, tearing up the skin like paper, but the gash on her ankle had looked worse. Sam normally would have just washed it and stitched it, easy, but with the threat of poison, suddenly the gash looked much worse.
“They like to collect anything, including souls and other demons. The poison ensures that their prey can’t run. It’s a fast acting paralyzer, and it’ll spread everywhere. I can already feel it moving through my arms.”
“Won’t it wear off?” Sam asked, directing his question at both of them. He’d hunted a fair number of creatures over the course of his life, but most of them weren’t poisonous. They were deadly enough without adding venom on top of it.
Adam swallowed carefully, before answering. “If it was able to take out her arm this easily, it’s not a problem of wearing off. It’s a problem of what happens when it reaches her lungs or her heart. It doesn’t matter how fast it wears off if she suffocates first, or if her heart stops beating.”
They sat in silence for a moment, completely unsure of what to do.
“You can’t help her, can you?” Sam asked Adam, who was already shaking his head.
“We might be able to suck the poison out, but if it’s already starting to spread like she said, then I can’t do much without an antidote.”
“Bela?” Sam asked. She blinked sluggishly at him, struggling against the effects of the paralyzer. “Where can we find an antidote? Where do the demons keep it? They must have something, right? Otherwise their prey will die.”
She seemed to be collecting her strength to answer. “Mammon,” She finally slurred out. “Mammon will carry it on his person. He likes to be able to pick from his demons’ prey. Find him, he’ll have it.”
Sam choked back a shout of rage. Once again they would have to take on another Prince to keep their family safe, and once again, Bela was the victim. Adam laid a calming hand on his shoulder, so he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Found the source of his fury and discarded it. They couldn’t be blinded by anger when they went to steal the antidote.
They moved Bela back to the rock slide they had come through. They wanted to hide her in the tunnel itself, but getting her in safely was too hard, so they settled on tucking her out of the way.
“How long do you think we have?” Adam asked softly, padding the area around her with as much spare clothes and scraps of fabric as they had.
“Not long,” she whispered through barely parted lips, “maybe a few hours? Maybe half a day? No more than that.”
“That doesn’t give us much time. We’re going to have to charge in, then,” Sam said. He was nervous about attacking all out, but they didn’t have time to waste. He crouched down next to Bela, and held her numb hand. “Don’t worry, okay? We’ll get the antidote. You’ll be fine.” And then he gave her the brightest smile he could manage, which she weakly returned. Then they gathered up their weapons, a bottle of holy water each, and started marching back towards Mammon’s palace.
Once they disappeared from view, Bela rose and stretched her arms high above her head. She briefly checked out the cut on her arm, but the bleeding had already slowed to a trickle. She would have to make sure it was open and looked unhealthy when the boys got back.
“Happy?” she snarled at the dark crevices surrounding her.
“Yes,” the shadows whispered back, sounding disgustingly smug.
*****
Sam and Adam didn’t hesitate in their path across the wastelands. They aimed at the front gates, and just charged, Sam focusing his powers as they went. Although the fortress was obviously designed to resist attacks from even the most enraged wrath demon, it was under fortified to deal with two very pissed off Winchesters, one of which was channeling one of the most powerful demons in Hell’s history, the other wielding the sword of an archangel. The gate, and the demons standing guard, fell easily, crashing to the ground.
Sam and Adam didn’t bother with trying to sneak around. They just charged headlong into the fray, smacking demons around left right and center. Sam dealt with most of the opposition, flinging demons into walls or bodily over their heads, and Adam catching what he missed. Their way was hampered by the many piles of stuff that clogged the hallways and on assumption, the rooms that lined them, but both were agile and nimble enough that they could manage. Sam followed a path seemingly at random, but Adam guessed that he was probably using their previous experiences in the other fortress to calculate where Mammon was most likely to be. Plus, as they went on the piles of spoils got larger, which was a pretty big tip.
When they reached the huge double doors that Adam assumed would lead to Mammon’s throne room, he was bent over panting heavily, and even Sam seemed a bit winded. He didn’t seem to be suffering from any ill effects from using his powers too much, though, so Adam figured that was a win. He gave himself a few moments to get his breath back, then straightened and nodded at Sam. With that signal, Sam threw the doors of the throne room open with his powers.
The doors crashed into the walls with a bang that sounded like standing in a thundercloud when lightning struck. Adam winced in pain, but followed Sam into the throne room. The room looked almost exactly like the Cave of Wonders from Aladdin, Adam thought, looking in awe at the heaps and heaps of gold, jewels, priceless paintings and furniture. He wondered what all this stuff was doing in Hell, guessing that half of humanity’s most priceless lost objects were here. In one corner, he thought he saw something that looked exactly like Amelia Earhart’s Plane, and in another there seemed to be a large pile of scrolls that looked older than the dinosaurs.
The news of their attack had clearly not made it to Mammon yet, because he looked completely bemused at the sight of them. The room was silent aside from the echo of the doors still ringing in Adam’s ears, and Mammon just stared. Then, his mouth broke into a wry grin, and he stepped down from his throne, carefully sidestepping a chest full of gemstones. His pointed ears perked up around his ornate crown which was much larger than any of the other Princes’ crowns.
“Well, well. What has just fallen into my grasp?” He smiled like a used car salesman, fake and oily. His teeth were crooked, jagged like a wolf’s, which matched his hairy form. He plucked at a grey goatee with clawed hands.
“You have something we need,” Sam growled at him, and he didn’t even wait for Mammon to prepare himself, just outstretched his hand and pinned Mammon to the ground. Mammon’s eyes widened in fear, clearly not expecting to be beaten down so easily or completely, but he couldn’t seem to struggle much against Sam’s powers despite his vigorous attempts.
“Adam,” Sam grunted, his nose starting to bleed as Mammon continued to fight to break his hold, “check him over quick. Find it, okay?” Adam nodded and swallowed his nerves down, then walked over to Mammon. Despite his instincts, he sheathed his sword at his side to free up his hands for the search.
He was very uncomfortable being so close to such a powerful demon when unarmed, but he trusted Sam to both keep Mammon down and to warn him if he was losing his grip. He moved fast to decrease the risk, digging through Mammon’s multiple voluminous layers to look for any items on his person. After finding stash after stash of jewelry, gems, silk scarves, toys, fans, and other random spoils, Adam realized it could take a while. He started riffling through Mammon’s clothes like a madman, feeling more than a little awkward about the exercise. Thankfully, about three layers and fifteen pockets in, he found a handful of vials full of a liquid that shifted from gold to green depending on how the light hit it.
“This must be it!” He shouted, waving the vials above his head so that Sam could see them from where he was standing. Mammon snarled at him.
The second Adam was clear Sam dropped his arm, reaching up to hold his skull together. Mammon rose stiffly, looking at them like they were the dirt on a fine Persian rug. Adam stared back unflinchingly, trying to cover Sam from view.
“Those were mine,” Mammon said quietly, but his stillness made him all the more threatening. Adam had never seen a werewolf in his life, but he knew that after confronting Mammon, facing one down would be child’s play.
He tensed, ready to defend Sam when Mammon pounced, but still didn’t see it coming. Mammon launched himself at them as fast as quicksilver, his nails now full on talons, mouth open wide to rip out their throats. Adam tried to bring up his sword to block, but could already see that Mammon was way too fast.
Thankfully, Sam was apparently faster. One second he was crouched behind Adam suffering from a head splitting migraine, the next he was in front of Adam with two fingers pressed to Mammon’s chest. Mammon froze, then let out a high pitched whine and started to flail in Sam’s thrall, trying to break free of whatever power Sam was using to hold him in place. The whine became screams, and then Mammon burst into flames, just like Belial had. As the ashes settled, once more the only noise in the room was a clatter as Mammon’s crown hit the floor.
Sam and Adam stared at the crown, once again shaken by the more violent side of Sam’s powers. Adam walked around Sam to poke at the crown with his foot, then checked on Sam, looking to see if he was in any pain. He was mildly surprised to see that Sam’s eyes had already returned to normal, but he was okay with it. When Sam’s eyes turned yellow, it was a little…disconcerting.
“Come on,” Sam said eventually into the quiet room, “We should hurry back to Bela before she gets worse.” His words were muffled by the vast array of objects that surrounded them. Adam looked over their surroundings and actually considered pocketing a bit of the gold before he shook his head vigorously. Nothing in this room would be useful to them in Hell.
He picked up one of the discarded silk scarves from Mammon’s pocked and turned it into a rough pouch to hold the vials, and then he followed Sam back through the chaos they had caused on their mad rush in.
*****
It was both satisfying and disturbing that every demon they encountered as they moved through the fortress, however few, ran screaming in the other direction when they caught sight of the both of them. With this somewhat fortunate turn of events, they made it back out and across the plain in less time than it had taken to get through in the first place. Still, it felt like it took far too long to turn the corner and finally come back to the tunnel where they had left Bela.
When they stumbled around the rubble pile to the other side where Bela was hidden, they found her sprawled out, the cut still bleeding sluggishly. Her eyes were closed, and Sam had a brief moment of panic before he noticed her chest rising and falling in slow, shallow breaths. HE and Adam immediately dropped to her sides, Adam fumbling with the scarves in his hands to pull out the vials of the antidote.
“Do we have to get her to drink it? Or pour it on the wound?” Sam asked Adam, his voice cracking with tension. She looked so peaceful, but so had so many corpses Sam had seen over his lifetime. He waved his hands about in a futile attempt to help, but he wasn’t sure what assistance he could give.
Adam looked much more nervous now, and he eyed the vials. “I should probably administer the antidote intravenously, but I don’t have a needle.” He looked around a bit, as if he would suddenly find one magically on the ground nearby.
“Bela? Bela!” Sam began shaking her shoulders, trying to get a response. “Bela, how do we give you the antidote? Bela!”
Miraculously, her eyes cracked open. She was silent, but one eyebrow rose the smallest bit. Sam would take what he could.
“The antidote,” Adam repeated, showing her the vial with its strange gold-green contents. “How do we administer it?”
Bela slowly focused on the vial being presented to her, and then her eyebrows furrowed slightly. Sam had a sudden horrifying thought, and he felt like his heart had stopped. “This is the antidote, right?”
Adam paled just as quickly as Sam had. He had clearly not thought of it either. Sam could already sense the guilt eating away at his little brother. If they had grabbed the wrong thing…and everything Mammon had been carrying had gone up with him…
But to the relief of both of them, Bela gave a small smile. She managed to open her mouth the tiniest bit, and Sam took that to mean that they should let her drink it. He gestured at Adam to help her out.
“How much?” Adam asked, every inch a medical professional. “The whole thing?” Bela’s mouth closed. “A little?” Her mouth opened. “A few drops?” Her mouth remained open. “Close your lips when I’ve given you enough. Sam, can you get some water ready?”
Sam sprung to his feet, grateful to be given something to do to help while Adam did his stuff. He picked up the bottles of holy water that they had taken in with them but not used, but figured they could still use those. Instead he grabbed a smaller bottle of water from the sack that had already been opened. He also snatched up a small piece of fruit in case Bela was up for eating. He also snagged a clean piece of fabric to bind the cut.
To his shock, by the time he got back, Bela was already moving, albeit slowly. Adam also seemed kind of surprised, but also extremely relieved. Sam felt that same relief wash over himself as well, but it was also tainted slightly. Something seemed off here.
He bit down his gut reaction though, and just brought over the supplies. Bela looked up as he approached, and the look of gratitude and warmth on her face made him break out into a huge grin and forget all of his worries. He had thought that she would never smile like that again after what happened with Asmodeus, but the look of trust and affection she was giving them both filled him up with hope. He sat heavily and gracelessly in the dirt next to them, passing Adam the fabric so he could work on Bela’s arm, and Bela the water and fruit. She ended up passing the apple to Adam, but sipped the water carefully.
Sam watched the both of them, and couldn’t help but think that now he had a brand new family that he would fiercely protect with his life. But he also couldn’t help but think that a few things were missing from making it his true family.
He couldn’t afford to think like that. Not now, when they were coming so close to escaping. He ruthlessly crushed those thoughts to the back of his head, and reached out to help Adam tie a tighter knot.