Never Look Back 17/21
Yay! I'm back with chapter 17.
Chapter Seventeen
Just Give The Signal
“Dude,” Dean breathed.
Sam nodded. “Yeah.”
“Think they see us?”
From out in the valley, someone shouted. “Hey, Sammy!”
“Yes, Dean,” Sam muttered through clenched teeth. “I think they’ve seen us.” He glanced back at the small army that he had never wanted to amass, the mixture of demons and psychics armed to the teeth with holy water, rosaries, and squirt guns. They didn’t stand a chance, not against the writhing mass of flesh and smoke that inhabited the valley.
He looked back down at the other army, the group of demons that wanted to end him, and gasped. Someone was walking up the hill toward them, her arms raised in a sign of peace, long brown hair waving in the slight breeze.
“Please,” she gasped, “you have to help me. They won’t let me go.”
Sam raised his eyebrows, unable to believe his eyes. “Sarah?”
Sarah Blake nodded, her pretty mouth stretching into a smile as recognition dawned on both Winchesters’ faces. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s me.”
“You’re psychic?”
She dropped her hands, shaking her head wildly. “It’s inside me,” she whispered. “I can feel it. I can hear it. I can barely hold it off. Sam, you have to help me.”
“Wait, you’re possessed?”
She nodded. “Please, you have to get it out of me.”
“We can’t,” Dean said.
“Why not?” she questioned. “You can’t just leave me like this.”
“If we exorcise it,” he explained, “you’ll die. Right now, that demon’s the only thing keeping you alive.”
“Then get me out of here,” she begged, her eyes darting between them. “Please. I can’t stay here. Not with that… thing.” Sarah shuddered, wrapping slender arms around herself.
“What thing?” Sam asked, glancing back down into the valley, where the demons sat, waiting for them, watching them.
“The little girl,” Sarah explained. “The blind one. The one this thing inside of me brought me to see.” She stepped closer to Sam, as if asking him to wrap his arms around her, to protect her from what the world had become. “She’s not blind. And she’s not a little girl.”
“She’s a demon,” Dean said.
“She’s in a twelve-year-old.”
“Yeah, she loves kids.”
Sarah shook her head, stepping closer to Sam until he got the hint and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. “I led people to her. I brought them here. I tried not to, but I… I couldn’t stop it. And she took them, and she… killed some of them, and the rest she let her army take and they possessed them and I’m so scared.”
“It’s ok,” Sam said. “It’s almost over.”
“What do you mean?”
He stepped back, turning her body slightly with his hands, and revealed the small army behind him. “We’re gonna fight.”
Sarah looked up at him with wide eyes. “She’s scared of you.”
Sam nodded. “So I’ve heard.”
“No, I mean really scared. Sam, she’s not gonna stand for this. She’s not gonna let you do this.”
“She doesn’t really have a choice,” Dean chimed in.
“She’ll kill you,” Sarah argued. “Both of you.” She looked back at the army behind them. “All of you.”
“At least we tried,” Dean shrugged. “Besides, we’ve got a couple of new tricks up our sleeves.”
“Oh? Like what?” she asked, her attention turning from the army to Sam. She gazed up at him expectantly, hungrily, her eyes glistening.
“Let’s just say we’ve unlocked some true potential,” Dean smirked, realizing that Sam wasn’t going to give her an answer.
Sarah cocked her head slightly to one side. “Really? I can’t wait to see.”
“Yeah, neither can I,” Sam muttered. He looked past her head to the valley, to the army that awaited them, the army that was watching them expectantly, waiting for something. “They see us, right?”
Dean nodded. “Looks like.”
“Then why aren’t they attacking us?”
The older man shrugged. “Waiting for the signal, maybe?” He glanced at Sarah. “Is there a signal?”
“Yeah,” she said. “There’s a signal. They’re waiting for something to happen, something big.”
“What is it?” Sam asked, suddenly nervous. He was surrounded on all sides by demons, and could only hope that the ones behind him really were there to back him up. They were fidgeting, anxious, ready to start the fight that had been brewing for centuries.
“I don’t know,” Sarah shrugged. “All I know is that when it happens, everybody will know. Everybody will see. It’ll be huge, something you can’t miss.”
“But you have no idea what this big bang is?” Dean questioned.
“I only know what it lets me know,” she replied sadly. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey, it’s all right,” Sam said, stepping around her to stare down at Lilith’s army, putting himself between a woman he’d never thought he’d see again and the force that had recently taken her.
Why weren’t they attacking? Why wasn’t Lilith giving the signal? What was she waiting for?
And just how big was big?
“Maybe we should start things off,” Dean suggested, stepping forward to join his brother.
Sam shook his head. “Something isn’t right.”
“They won’t attack until she tells them to,” Sarah said. “If you go down there now, they can’t stop you. They’ll wait for her. If they don’t, she’ll kill them. Either way, her numbers thin.”
“I’ve just got a bad feeling about this,” Sam said. “Why hasn’t she given them the signal?”
Sarah shrugged. “Just cocky, I guess.”
He turned back around to face her. “She wouldn’t be this cocky if she’s as scared of me as everyone says.”
“Maybe she’s taking a nap? It doesn’t matter why she’s taking her sweet time, Sam, as long as she is. You can win this thing. You can win it, and you can help me. Please, I can feel it inside me. I can’t hold it back much longer. You need to end it.”
The psychic sighed. She had a point. He knew she did. He just couldn’t help but feeling that something was off, something was not right, something was deadly, dangerous, looming closer the longer they waited.
Sarah stared up at him with an indescribable look in her eyes. She seemed hopeful, lost, scared, and excited all at the same time. Her saviors had come, backed by a sad excuse for an army, to save her from the Hell some random demon had decided to put her through. Sure, she was safe, was alive, but at what price?
“Ok,” Sam said. “Yeah. We should go down there and get things started before Lilith decides to do whatever it is that she’s gonna do.”
Dean grinned. “That’s the spirit.” He turned back to their troops. “Ready, men?” There was a general murmur of approval through the ranks. “Awesome.”
“Stay here, all right?” Sam said, looking down at Sarah.
“All right,” she said, leaning up to peck him on the cheek. He grinned. “And another,” she said, voice low, “for luck.”
She leaned up as he leaned down, their lips connecting in a soft moment that brought back memories of normal, safe, loved. She had been the one to understand, to charge full-force into the unknown, to take the lead, to not cower or shrink away. He had been open and honest with a girl for once in his life and it didn’t lead to rejection.
Jealousy tingled in the corner of Sam’s mind, but he pushed it away. It wasn’t his fault Dean couldn’t have that, someone who would understand, who would trust him. Besides, how was he to know that Sarah had survived, that she would be here, waiting for him? It was almost too convenient.
She slid her hands onto his chest, her palms flat, trailing across his body. She rested them there for a second, long enough to steady her body and adjust her weight, and pushed.
Their lips disconnected as Sam fell backward, arms pinwheeling, down the hill toward the waiting mob of demons.
Dean watched his brother skid to a stop on the grassy hill only a few feet from the army. He glared at Sarah, the hair on the back of his neck rising as the air charged around him and the faint scent of sulfur wafted on the breeze.
The woman looked up at him, her eyes milky white, and smiled. “Hiya, Dean.”
“You’re not twelve,” he commented, his eyes flicking to Sam as the younger man climbed back to his feet behind her.
“And you’re not dead. Can’t always get what we want.”
“Why Sarah?”
“Why not?” the demon asked, cocking her head to the side, her grin never faltering. “I like her body. It’s all grown-up and pretty. Sammy likes it, too.” She looked over her shoulder at Sam. “Don’cha, Sammy?”
“Go to Hell,” the psychic growled.
Lilith giggled. “Silly. Why would I wanna do that? I’m having too much fun playing up here.” She turned back to Dean. “You, on the other hand, can do what he says.”
“Don’t count on it, bitch.”
The demon gasped, her mouth forming a comical ‘o’ of surprise. “We don’t say naughty words, Dean.”
“Bite me.”
She smiled, a stray chuckle escaping her lips. “That’s gross.” The smile turned sinister. “But if you really want, I can find someone who will.” She whistled.
The wind picked up immediately, the grass swaying in the breeze, trees rustling their leaves, clouds moving in to block out the sun as a faint growling reached the hunter’s ears.
Dean took a small step back, away from the possessed woman, as a hulking shadow appeared at her side. The shadow twisted, gaining mass as he watched, terrified. Its shape ebbed and flowed as it lifted a shadowy snout and howled its rage at being kept at bay. Sharp muscles rippled at its side as it continued to form, smoke and fire and bone and flesh and blood and fear rising from the very depths of the earth to create a bone-chilling creature that never should have been created.
Dean stared at the hellhound. The hellhound stared back. It licked its chops.
Lilith snapped her fingers. The hound howled again, happy to be released, and leapt.
Dean dove to the side, barely avoiding the quivering mass of smoke and muscle. The dog hit the ground hard, whining as it got a snout full of dirt, and paused long enough to right itself.
The hunter took the mild distraction and used it to really start the festivities. He glared at Lilith, focusing on the demon, and jerked his head to the side, toward the spot where Sam had fallen.
The demon lifted off her feet and flew through the air, right into Sam’s outstretched arms. “Hey, there, kiddo,” he growled. “You miss me?”
She struggled to escape Sam’s grip. “Depends,” she hissed. “You miss your brother?” She looked back up the hill toward Dean, who was walking in a slow circle, his eyes never leaving something that neither of them could see.
Sam threw the demon the ground with a harsh grunt and looked back up at his army, the mass of psychics and demons that watched with fascination as Dean hit the dirt, lashing out at his invisible opponent. “Go!” the psychic yelled as Lilith regained her feet.
The army snapped out of its stupor and proceeded to run down the hill, squirt guns held at the ready. Lilith grinned as they raced past her, giving her a wide berth on either side, careful to avoid the deadliest evil they would ever encounter.
“Let’s make this interesting,” she cooed. She waved a hand toward her own army, and they immediately fell into motion, clashing with the few soldiers under Sam’s control. She glanced back up at Dean, who was backing quickly down the hill, his arm thrown out in a psychic attempt to stop the raging hound. She turned back to Sam. “And then there were two.”
Chapter 18
Chapter Seventeen
Just Give The Signal
“Dude,” Dean breathed.
Sam nodded. “Yeah.”
“Think they see us?”
From out in the valley, someone shouted. “Hey, Sammy!”
“Yes, Dean,” Sam muttered through clenched teeth. “I think they’ve seen us.” He glanced back at the small army that he had never wanted to amass, the mixture of demons and psychics armed to the teeth with holy water, rosaries, and squirt guns. They didn’t stand a chance, not against the writhing mass of flesh and smoke that inhabited the valley.
He looked back down at the other army, the group of demons that wanted to end him, and gasped. Someone was walking up the hill toward them, her arms raised in a sign of peace, long brown hair waving in the slight breeze.
“Please,” she gasped, “you have to help me. They won’t let me go.”
Sam raised his eyebrows, unable to believe his eyes. “Sarah?”
Sarah Blake nodded, her pretty mouth stretching into a smile as recognition dawned on both Winchesters’ faces. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s me.”
“You’re psychic?”
She dropped her hands, shaking her head wildly. “It’s inside me,” she whispered. “I can feel it. I can hear it. I can barely hold it off. Sam, you have to help me.”
“Wait, you’re possessed?”
She nodded. “Please, you have to get it out of me.”
“We can’t,” Dean said.
“Why not?” she questioned. “You can’t just leave me like this.”
“If we exorcise it,” he explained, “you’ll die. Right now, that demon’s the only thing keeping you alive.”
“Then get me out of here,” she begged, her eyes darting between them. “Please. I can’t stay here. Not with that… thing.” Sarah shuddered, wrapping slender arms around herself.
“What thing?” Sam asked, glancing back down into the valley, where the demons sat, waiting for them, watching them.
“The little girl,” Sarah explained. “The blind one. The one this thing inside of me brought me to see.” She stepped closer to Sam, as if asking him to wrap his arms around her, to protect her from what the world had become. “She’s not blind. And she’s not a little girl.”
“She’s a demon,” Dean said.
“She’s in a twelve-year-old.”
“Yeah, she loves kids.”
Sarah shook her head, stepping closer to Sam until he got the hint and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. “I led people to her. I brought them here. I tried not to, but I… I couldn’t stop it. And she took them, and she… killed some of them, and the rest she let her army take and they possessed them and I’m so scared.”
“It’s ok,” Sam said. “It’s almost over.”
“What do you mean?”
He stepped back, turning her body slightly with his hands, and revealed the small army behind him. “We’re gonna fight.”
Sarah looked up at him with wide eyes. “She’s scared of you.”
Sam nodded. “So I’ve heard.”
“No, I mean really scared. Sam, she’s not gonna stand for this. She’s not gonna let you do this.”
“She doesn’t really have a choice,” Dean chimed in.
“She’ll kill you,” Sarah argued. “Both of you.” She looked back at the army behind them. “All of you.”
“At least we tried,” Dean shrugged. “Besides, we’ve got a couple of new tricks up our sleeves.”
“Oh? Like what?” she asked, her attention turning from the army to Sam. She gazed up at him expectantly, hungrily, her eyes glistening.
“Let’s just say we’ve unlocked some true potential,” Dean smirked, realizing that Sam wasn’t going to give her an answer.
Sarah cocked her head slightly to one side. “Really? I can’t wait to see.”
“Yeah, neither can I,” Sam muttered. He looked past her head to the valley, to the army that awaited them, the army that was watching them expectantly, waiting for something. “They see us, right?”
Dean nodded. “Looks like.”
“Then why aren’t they attacking us?”
The older man shrugged. “Waiting for the signal, maybe?” He glanced at Sarah. “Is there a signal?”
“Yeah,” she said. “There’s a signal. They’re waiting for something to happen, something big.”
“What is it?” Sam asked, suddenly nervous. He was surrounded on all sides by demons, and could only hope that the ones behind him really were there to back him up. They were fidgeting, anxious, ready to start the fight that had been brewing for centuries.
“I don’t know,” Sarah shrugged. “All I know is that when it happens, everybody will know. Everybody will see. It’ll be huge, something you can’t miss.”
“But you have no idea what this big bang is?” Dean questioned.
“I only know what it lets me know,” she replied sadly. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey, it’s all right,” Sam said, stepping around her to stare down at Lilith’s army, putting himself between a woman he’d never thought he’d see again and the force that had recently taken her.
Why weren’t they attacking? Why wasn’t Lilith giving the signal? What was she waiting for?
And just how big was big?
“Maybe we should start things off,” Dean suggested, stepping forward to join his brother.
Sam shook his head. “Something isn’t right.”
“They won’t attack until she tells them to,” Sarah said. “If you go down there now, they can’t stop you. They’ll wait for her. If they don’t, she’ll kill them. Either way, her numbers thin.”
“I’ve just got a bad feeling about this,” Sam said. “Why hasn’t she given them the signal?”
Sarah shrugged. “Just cocky, I guess.”
He turned back around to face her. “She wouldn’t be this cocky if she’s as scared of me as everyone says.”
“Maybe she’s taking a nap? It doesn’t matter why she’s taking her sweet time, Sam, as long as she is. You can win this thing. You can win it, and you can help me. Please, I can feel it inside me. I can’t hold it back much longer. You need to end it.”
The psychic sighed. She had a point. He knew she did. He just couldn’t help but feeling that something was off, something was not right, something was deadly, dangerous, looming closer the longer they waited.
Sarah stared up at him with an indescribable look in her eyes. She seemed hopeful, lost, scared, and excited all at the same time. Her saviors had come, backed by a sad excuse for an army, to save her from the Hell some random demon had decided to put her through. Sure, she was safe, was alive, but at what price?
“Ok,” Sam said. “Yeah. We should go down there and get things started before Lilith decides to do whatever it is that she’s gonna do.”
Dean grinned. “That’s the spirit.” He turned back to their troops. “Ready, men?” There was a general murmur of approval through the ranks. “Awesome.”
“Stay here, all right?” Sam said, looking down at Sarah.
“All right,” she said, leaning up to peck him on the cheek. He grinned. “And another,” she said, voice low, “for luck.”
She leaned up as he leaned down, their lips connecting in a soft moment that brought back memories of normal, safe, loved. She had been the one to understand, to charge full-force into the unknown, to take the lead, to not cower or shrink away. He had been open and honest with a girl for once in his life and it didn’t lead to rejection.
Jealousy tingled in the corner of Sam’s mind, but he pushed it away. It wasn’t his fault Dean couldn’t have that, someone who would understand, who would trust him. Besides, how was he to know that Sarah had survived, that she would be here, waiting for him? It was almost too convenient.
She slid her hands onto his chest, her palms flat, trailing across his body. She rested them there for a second, long enough to steady her body and adjust her weight, and pushed.
Their lips disconnected as Sam fell backward, arms pinwheeling, down the hill toward the waiting mob of demons.
Dean watched his brother skid to a stop on the grassy hill only a few feet from the army. He glared at Sarah, the hair on the back of his neck rising as the air charged around him and the faint scent of sulfur wafted on the breeze.
The woman looked up at him, her eyes milky white, and smiled. “Hiya, Dean.”
“You’re not twelve,” he commented, his eyes flicking to Sam as the younger man climbed back to his feet behind her.
“And you’re not dead. Can’t always get what we want.”
“Why Sarah?”
“Why not?” the demon asked, cocking her head to the side, her grin never faltering. “I like her body. It’s all grown-up and pretty. Sammy likes it, too.” She looked over her shoulder at Sam. “Don’cha, Sammy?”
“Go to Hell,” the psychic growled.
Lilith giggled. “Silly. Why would I wanna do that? I’m having too much fun playing up here.” She turned back to Dean. “You, on the other hand, can do what he says.”
“Don’t count on it, bitch.”
The demon gasped, her mouth forming a comical ‘o’ of surprise. “We don’t say naughty words, Dean.”
“Bite me.”
She smiled, a stray chuckle escaping her lips. “That’s gross.” The smile turned sinister. “But if you really want, I can find someone who will.” She whistled.
The wind picked up immediately, the grass swaying in the breeze, trees rustling their leaves, clouds moving in to block out the sun as a faint growling reached the hunter’s ears.
Dean took a small step back, away from the possessed woman, as a hulking shadow appeared at her side. The shadow twisted, gaining mass as he watched, terrified. Its shape ebbed and flowed as it lifted a shadowy snout and howled its rage at being kept at bay. Sharp muscles rippled at its side as it continued to form, smoke and fire and bone and flesh and blood and fear rising from the very depths of the earth to create a bone-chilling creature that never should have been created.
Dean stared at the hellhound. The hellhound stared back. It licked its chops.
Lilith snapped her fingers. The hound howled again, happy to be released, and leapt.
Dean dove to the side, barely avoiding the quivering mass of smoke and muscle. The dog hit the ground hard, whining as it got a snout full of dirt, and paused long enough to right itself.
The hunter took the mild distraction and used it to really start the festivities. He glared at Lilith, focusing on the demon, and jerked his head to the side, toward the spot where Sam had fallen.
The demon lifted off her feet and flew through the air, right into Sam’s outstretched arms. “Hey, there, kiddo,” he growled. “You miss me?”
She struggled to escape Sam’s grip. “Depends,” she hissed. “You miss your brother?” She looked back up the hill toward Dean, who was walking in a slow circle, his eyes never leaving something that neither of them could see.
Sam threw the demon the ground with a harsh grunt and looked back up at his army, the mass of psychics and demons that watched with fascination as Dean hit the dirt, lashing out at his invisible opponent. “Go!” the psychic yelled as Lilith regained her feet.
The army snapped out of its stupor and proceeded to run down the hill, squirt guns held at the ready. Lilith grinned as they raced past her, giving her a wide berth on either side, careful to avoid the deadliest evil they would ever encounter.
“Let’s make this interesting,” she cooed. She waved a hand toward her own army, and they immediately fell into motion, clashing with the few soldiers under Sam’s control. She glanced back up at Dean, who was backing quickly down the hill, his arm thrown out in a psychic attempt to stop the raging hound. She turned back to Sam. “And then there were two.”
Chapter 18