Two Guys, a Girl and a Chevy Impala: As The End Draws Near (4/5)
Series: Two Guys, a Girl and a Chevy Impala
Fic 22: As the End Draws Near
Authors: clarksmuse and xtremeroswellia
Rated: NC-17
Pairings: Dean/Chloe, Sam/Sarah
Disclaimer: Not ours. Please don't sue, okay? Thanks. :P
Ellen looked around the relatively silent cemetery, seeing no signs of movement anywhere. The darkness seemed to enclose them, and the moon shone with a deep red hue that would have freaked most people out. For this little group, however, it was just a sign that the demon’s end was near. And as the clock approached midnight, they all knew it was coming for them.
"You sure this is the place?" Bart asked doubtfully, glancing at Sam and Dean.
Dean nodded but said nothing. He could already feel it, something emanating from the old abandoned church. Something old and evil, yet strangely familiar. He pointed towards the ruins. "It's gonna come from there," he whispered and cocked his sawed off.
"We should probably fan out a little, scout out the area," Oliver suggested.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea. Safety in numbers," Ava said nervously, glancing at him sideways and then looking at Bobby.
"She's right," Bobby agreed and looked at the tall, blonde man. He couldn't make heads nor tails of what the guy was wearing, but the commanding look in his eye spoke volumes. This man was a leader, and he wasn't used to taking orders. "We need to stick together in this."
"Agreed," Sam said with a slight nod, looking out over the cemetery. There was a faint rumbling beneath the ground.
"Are there a lot of earthquakes in Kansas?" Jo asked uncertainly.
"Not as many as there are apocalypses," Clark responded.
"And you'd know about that... because?" Jo prompted before she grabbed onto Oliver for support as the ground began to move beneath her feet roughly.
"What the hell?" Dean demanded.
"It's Hell," Ellen shouted over the rumble of thunder as a beam of light shot into the night, its source coming from the center of the church ruins.
"Well, that's just fantastic," Bart grumbled, taking a step backwards and nearly falling over a tombstone.
Clark grabbed his arm and hauled him back up, his eyes glued to the church ruins.
"That can't be good," Chloe whispered, cocking her gun.
Sam strained his eyes and saw something inside the ray of blood red light. Shadows moved through it, as though demons were making their way out of the ground and into the world. The only problem was, they'd already taken human form. "Uh, guys?" he called. "The demons are already in Lex's human droids."
"Aw, great," Dean grumbled and watched as a handful of them crawled out from between the rubble towards them. They moved quickly, though he knew that really, they were just glorified zombies.
Chloe’s heart pounded in her chest as several approached them all at once and it suddenly occurred to her their crash course teachings in exorcism were going to be for nothing. There wouldn't be time to save the humans that the demons were trapped inside of. It was kill or be killed. Her hand trembled a little as she held the gun.
"Someone tell me there's a plan," Jo said with gritted teeth, keeping her shotgun aimed at the possessee that was approaching. When he leapt toward her, she fired and smirked as he fell back onto the ground hard, rock salt knocking the wind out of him.
"Not so much," Chloe mumbled, shooting the one approaching her with rocksalt as well.
"There's a plan," Sam said quietly, lifting his chin.
Dean cocked his gun and shot another one in the chest, sending it reeling down the slight incline towards Sarah, Victor, A.C. and Ava, who were gathered around a large Devil's Trap that he and Sam created in iron lines on a barren spot of cemetery ground. "That's the plan!" he yelled and cocked his gun, face hard with determination.
"Nice," Bart said with a grin. Without warning he sped forward and knocked one of them down the hill and into the trap, smirking with satisfaction. "This end of the world stuff isn't so hard after all."
"Now we're all doomed," Oliver said wryly.
"Easy for you to say, flyboy," Sam complained and mentally stopped a demon in the middle of knocking a punch in Ellen's direction. Within moments, he had lifted it off the ground and dropped it into the Devil's Trap, where the four of them were busily chanting Latin as quickly as they could.
"Oh come on. This is it? I thought this was going to be the battle to end all battles," he complained, watching as Bobby and Dean and Chloe sent more over the hill.
Everything fell silent. Then the earth began to shake again, harder this time.
"You just had to complain that it was too easy, didn't you?" Chloe grumbled.
"Remind me to smack that kid when all this is over," Dean grumbled and nearly fell over a demon that had stumbled towards him from the violently shaking earth.
Oliver, using his bow, shot another demon that has come at him with an arrow, the force of it knocking it down the hill and into the circle. He smirked and turned to see several dozen more emerge from the now growing blinding light. "Crap," he muttered and glanced sidelong at Jo, who had been knocked down by a demon but had managed to drag the thing down with her.
The air was still, but heavy with a dark sense of foreboding and Chloe could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing up as she stood beside Dean on the hill overlooking the cemetery. Her stomach tightened with anxiety, the breath catching in her throat as she watched the gates of hell open before her.
Sam clutched the flask of holy water in his hand, sweat dripping down his forehead as he saw the unthinkable happening. He swallowed hard and glanced at his brother. His face was stony and set, as was Chloe’s. They were ready for this, and he was grateful Sarah was, for the moment, out of the way. Especially when the demon, with his catlike yellow eyes, suddenly appeared out of nowhere and set his gaze on him.
"Come on," Dean grumbled under his breath and felt the cool steel of the Colt on his back. It was their moment: they had Hell to contend with, but they would get through this. They had to.
Sam lifted his chin a little, staring hard at the Yellow Eyed Demon, his body tense and ready for a fight. He glanced to his left to see the members of the Justice League looking more than a tad horrified at what was happening.
"What the hell is that?" Bart whispered, clearly alarmed at the large group of what looked like people heading their way.
"Uh, that'd be Hell, apparently," Oliver replied, never taking his eyes off the humans who moved towards them. Humans with dead eyes. Lex's mutant army.
"We are so screwed," Chloe said inaudibly.
Jo nodded in agreement as she stood and saw with wide eyes the thing that had haunted the Winchesters' footsteps all their lives.
"So we meet again," the Yellow-Eyed Demon replied and set its intense gaze on Sam.
Sam's gaze was cold and even, staring back just as intently. "One last time."
"Take your best shot, hotshot," it cackled and held out its arms.
Oliver, never one to back down from a blatant dare, pulled back an arrow and let it fly. And when it dropped to the ground suddenly, without any warning or hitting the thing in front of them, he stilled momentarily surprised.
The demon looked at the arrow, then at the blonde who had tried to shoot him. "Nice try, Blondie, but no banana."
Without warning Oliver went flying back against a tree, hitting his head hard on the wood and groaning as he slid bonelessly to the ground.
"Oliver!" Jo cried out, frightened.
"You're next, little girl," he whispered, turning his golden eyes toward Jo.
"No!" Dean yelled and moved in front of Jo, just as he suddenly felt himself flying backwards, rather than her.
It took Chloe a moment to understand what was happening. Sam! He has Lex's shield!
Sam's eyes widened a little and he glanced at her sideways. Oh shit.
The demon cackled, its yellow eyes sparking with awareness. "Yeah, nifty gift, isn't it?" he said aloud. “Kinda wish old Lex was around to witness his genius, but… oh well. Wasn’t like I needed him alive to grant my success.” He saw Dean try to get up and pushed him back to the ground with a motion of his hand. "Stay put," he said casually and eyed Sam. "You really, honestly thought you could defeat me?"
"Let him go," he whispered darkly, his eyes narrowing with hatred.
"No," it replied and smirked darkly, turning to look at Sarah, who had her back turned to the action, her focus entirely on exorcising the demons who were being put into the trap by the rest of their fighters. "You think that puny spell you cast is going to keep her away from me?"
Chloe's attention was drawn away from old Yellow Eyes, and she watched with horror as a group of at least 100 of Lex's mutant army headed right toward them. She backed up a step involuntarily, reloading her gun with more rock salt.
Grabbing a handful of mutants, Clark yanked them off their feet in a sudden swoop and rushed them into the growing circle of demons and bodies. Quickly, he supersped the lifeless bodies out of the circle to try to help with the cleanup, but the masses of mutant demons seemed to be coming from everywhere.
They were going to lose, she realized, shuddering involuntarily.
"You're not gonna touch her," Sam warned darkly and refused to look at Sarah. One wrong move, and it could all be over in the blink of an eye.
"Oh yeah?" the demon demanded. "How are you going to stop me? You and what army?"
Dean struggled to get to his feet, but the invisible iron grip holding him kept him firmly planted on the ground. He saw the standoff between his brother and the demon, watched as he saw his friends, his Chloe, fighting for their lives and slowly losing. Despite the super speeding Bart and Clark, their capturing bodies and depositing them inside the devil's trap wasn't good enough, because it took time to exorcise a demon. Several at once was even harder, and despite their best efforts, Sarah, Victor, A.C., and Ava could not keep up. The sounds of howling and demonic screaming filled the air as the mutants tried to get out of the Trap. He swallowed hard and shot a single thought to his brother. Do something, Sammy.
Sam knew they were in trouble, was just as aware of all the lower level demons slowly surrounding them as he faced off with their leader. His brother's voice in his head made him lift his chin, glaring at the demon who'd caused so much death and pain in his family even more intensely. "This army."
Bobby aimed his shotgun at the demon. "Back away from Sam."
"Or what?" the demon sneered and looked at Bobby with contempt.
Ellen glowered at him, moving to stand at Bobby's side. "Or you're gonna land yourself in that pit with your friends," she said darkly.
Laughter bubbled up from the demon's throat, a low sadistic cackle that spoke volumes. "You humans," it said and glared at Sam, "so predictable. So stupid at a time like this. You're surrounded. All I have to do is give the word, and my army?" He indicated to the horde around them. "It's going to enjoy tearing you to pieces and watching your insides become your outsides."
"Not if we can help it," Oliver said, having shaken off his stupor. He stood next to Jo, arrow pointed at the demon.
"You can't," it said coldly. "I am Azazel, fallen one who rules below."
Chloe stared at him wide-eyed.
Jo stared at the thing, her knees wobbly with shock.
"What?" Sam said and stared in shock.
He smirked. "What? You think you were just dealing with some lower level demon?" He took a step toward Sam, glaring at him fiercely. "I'm going to take everything from you." Lifting his hand a little, he motioned and three of the meteor-mutants attacked Chloe at once, taking her to the ground.
"NO!" Dean wailed from the ground as he watched Chloe struggle against the mutants who had attacked her. Though she had tossed in a couple of punches, they held her down and clamped hands over her nose and mouth, effectively closing off her air supply. "Chloe!!" He ripped his body around violently, the shock of what was happening so hard and massive that it weakened the force that held him down. He took advantage of the moment, getting onto his knees and crawling towards Chloe, his eyes red and murderous.
"That's enough," a voice from behind said in a calm voice.
Every meteor-possessed demon froze, including the ones on Chloe. Sucking in a lungful of air as their hands left her face, she turned her head, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. "Mom," she whispered.
"Walk into the devil's trap and stand still. Don't make any noise."
Dean watched, surprised, as the mutant-demons turned and walked in one large group towards the Devil's Trap. The group exorcising demons had stopped reading, and he saw Sarah turn around, gaze upon the creatures heading her way, and move as quickly as she could. The problem was, the yellow-eyed demon had already seen her and honed in on her.
Sammy, do something, he thought again and reached Chloe quickly. Do some mind mojo on it and get that force-field down.
Chloe grabbed Dean's hand and let him haul her off the ground once more. She picked her gun up and fired it at the demon, anger in her eyes. But the shots did nothing except make him laugh.
Sam shut his eyes, focusing his mind until there was nothing there but silence. And then he imagined the force-field exploding, shattering, falling away and leaving the demon defenseless.
Dean saw a shimmer surround the demon and then disappear. He leaned into Chloe and whispered, "Take another shot. I think Sammy's done it."
Lifting her chin, she pulled the trigger once more, watching with some amazement as he stumbled forward with the force of the rock salt. "Dean--"
But the Colt was already out, and Dean was pointing it at the demon's head. He squeezed the trigger and felt it vibrate with energy as the bullet shot forth from the gun and planted itself firmly inside the demon's human skull. It shuddered, eyes going dark and empty, as a couple shots of light spewed from the wound. Then the lifeless body crumpled to the ground and lay silent.
The demon was dead.
The breath caught in Chloe's throat as she watched him fall to the ground hard and grow completely still. Then she slowly turned her eyes to look at Dean.
Sam did the same, shock flickering over his features.
"Ding, dong, the demon's dead," Dean whispered with a silly grin on his face. He walked towards the body and kicked it a couple times, just to make sure it was dead.
"Dude, I think it's dead," Sam pointed out, relief beginning to register on his face.
"I know that," he protested with a shrug. "I just... wanted to make... sure." He emphasized his words with a few more kicks.
"Uh, guys, hate to burst your little happy-time bubble," Bobby interrupted, "but we have a few hundred more demons trapped in mutant bodies. Wanna focus and help us out with that?"
A smile spread across Chloe's face as she looked from Bobby to Dean. "You did it."
"We did it," he corrected her and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her to him and planting a heated kiss of relief onto her lips.
She kissed him back, lifting a hand to his face, barely noticing as Sam took off and headed down the hill toward Sarah.
Frustrated and near tears, Sarah didn't move when Sam literally lifted her off her feet and held him to her with a gentle urgency. She stroked his cheeks, looked into his worried eyes, and smiled weakly. "Knew you could do it," she whispered and felt a rush of relief, the likes of which she had never encountered before.
"Not without you," he whispered, kissing her softly.
She kissed him back, relieved they were all alive, though momentarily worse for the wear.
"You guys think you can--?" Sam turned to look at the remainder of the group now circled around the devil's trap.
"I think we can get it from here," Ellen said with a faint smile.
"What do we do with the mutants once they're not possessed anymore?" Bart asked uncertainly.
Dean pulled away from Chloe and looked at Clark. "He's the super speedy one. Get him to dump them into the Atlantic Ocean or something."
"Either that or salt and burn the bodies," Sarah suggested and held onto Sam.
"What if they're not...you know...dead?"
"They will be," Chloe said quietly, knowing the only reason she'd lived through the hell Meg had put her through when she was possessed was because of the strong bonds she had with Dean, Sarah, and Sam.
Oliver nodded and walked over to Chloe, his hand firmly in Jo's. "Chloe," he said, "I know I didn't tell you about Moira, but it's because I didn't want you to worry about her."
She met his gaze for a moment, nodding slightly and looking up at Dean. "Come with me," she whispered, tugging lightly on his hand and slowly walking back up the hill to where her mother stood silently. "Hi, Mom."
"Chloe." Moira Sullivan's smile lit up her entire face at the sight of her daughter. She hugged her tightly and then pulled back to look at Dean Winchester. "Dean."
"Mrs. Sullivan," he said and cleared his throat awkwardly.
Chloe's eyes watered. "Thank you," she whispered, not really knowing what else to say.
"Was the least I could do," she remarked gently. "After all, Ollie said it was the end of the world, and I don't think he was kidding."
"Yeah, we try not to joke about apocalypses. It's in bad taste." She chuckled softly, leaning into Dean.
"Says you," he whispered and kissed her forehead. "Sammy and me? Smile like you mean it, because tomorrow you might die."
"Always the optimist." She grinned up at him.
Moira gazed at Dean, an appreciative twinkle in her eyes. "Hopefully that has rubbed off on my daughter," she said.
Dean had the decency to look down at his shoes for a second and squeeze Chloe's hand. "More than likely, since I've asked her to... ya know... marry me."
Chloe looked up at her mother, her hand tightening around Dean's. "I said yes."
Tucking her daughter's chin into her hand, Moira chuckled softly. "I certainly hope so," she replied and looked at Dean. "He seems to be the kind of man who's worthy of you."
Her eyes sparkled at her mother's approval and wordlessly she wrapped her arms around her waist tightly. "Will you be there?" she whispered, trying not to hope for too much.
Moira moved to look at Oliver, who was at the moment engaged in some quiet debate with the slender blonde who was obviously Jo. "I think I can swing it," she replied thoughtfully. "Not everyday my only daughter gets married."
She smiled, tears shining in her eyes as she turned to look at Dean. Maybe they would get that happy ending after all.
Fic 22: As the End Draws Near
Authors: clarksmuse and xtremeroswellia
Rated: NC-17
Pairings: Dean/Chloe, Sam/Sarah
Disclaimer: Not ours. Please don't sue, okay? Thanks. :P
Ellen looked around the relatively silent cemetery, seeing no signs of movement anywhere. The darkness seemed to enclose them, and the moon shone with a deep red hue that would have freaked most people out. For this little group, however, it was just a sign that the demon’s end was near. And as the clock approached midnight, they all knew it was coming for them.
"You sure this is the place?" Bart asked doubtfully, glancing at Sam and Dean.
Dean nodded but said nothing. He could already feel it, something emanating from the old abandoned church. Something old and evil, yet strangely familiar. He pointed towards the ruins. "It's gonna come from there," he whispered and cocked his sawed off.
"We should probably fan out a little, scout out the area," Oliver suggested.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea. Safety in numbers," Ava said nervously, glancing at him sideways and then looking at Bobby.
"She's right," Bobby agreed and looked at the tall, blonde man. He couldn't make heads nor tails of what the guy was wearing, but the commanding look in his eye spoke volumes. This man was a leader, and he wasn't used to taking orders. "We need to stick together in this."
"Agreed," Sam said with a slight nod, looking out over the cemetery. There was a faint rumbling beneath the ground.
"Are there a lot of earthquakes in Kansas?" Jo asked uncertainly.
"Not as many as there are apocalypses," Clark responded.
"And you'd know about that... because?" Jo prompted before she grabbed onto Oliver for support as the ground began to move beneath her feet roughly.
"What the hell?" Dean demanded.
"It's Hell," Ellen shouted over the rumble of thunder as a beam of light shot into the night, its source coming from the center of the church ruins.
"Well, that's just fantastic," Bart grumbled, taking a step backwards and nearly falling over a tombstone.
Clark grabbed his arm and hauled him back up, his eyes glued to the church ruins.
"That can't be good," Chloe whispered, cocking her gun.
Sam strained his eyes and saw something inside the ray of blood red light. Shadows moved through it, as though demons were making their way out of the ground and into the world. The only problem was, they'd already taken human form. "Uh, guys?" he called. "The demons are already in Lex's human droids."
"Aw, great," Dean grumbled and watched as a handful of them crawled out from between the rubble towards them. They moved quickly, though he knew that really, they were just glorified zombies.
Chloe’s heart pounded in her chest as several approached them all at once and it suddenly occurred to her their crash course teachings in exorcism were going to be for nothing. There wouldn't be time to save the humans that the demons were trapped inside of. It was kill or be killed. Her hand trembled a little as she held the gun.
"Someone tell me there's a plan," Jo said with gritted teeth, keeping her shotgun aimed at the possessee that was approaching. When he leapt toward her, she fired and smirked as he fell back onto the ground hard, rock salt knocking the wind out of him.
"Not so much," Chloe mumbled, shooting the one approaching her with rocksalt as well.
"There's a plan," Sam said quietly, lifting his chin.
Dean cocked his gun and shot another one in the chest, sending it reeling down the slight incline towards Sarah, Victor, A.C. and Ava, who were gathered around a large Devil's Trap that he and Sam created in iron lines on a barren spot of cemetery ground. "That's the plan!" he yelled and cocked his gun, face hard with determination.
"Nice," Bart said with a grin. Without warning he sped forward and knocked one of them down the hill and into the trap, smirking with satisfaction. "This end of the world stuff isn't so hard after all."
"Now we're all doomed," Oliver said wryly.
"Easy for you to say, flyboy," Sam complained and mentally stopped a demon in the middle of knocking a punch in Ellen's direction. Within moments, he had lifted it off the ground and dropped it into the Devil's Trap, where the four of them were busily chanting Latin as quickly as they could.
"Oh come on. This is it? I thought this was going to be the battle to end all battles," he complained, watching as Bobby and Dean and Chloe sent more over the hill.
Everything fell silent. Then the earth began to shake again, harder this time.
"You just had to complain that it was too easy, didn't you?" Chloe grumbled.
"Remind me to smack that kid when all this is over," Dean grumbled and nearly fell over a demon that had stumbled towards him from the violently shaking earth.
Oliver, using his bow, shot another demon that has come at him with an arrow, the force of it knocking it down the hill and into the circle. He smirked and turned to see several dozen more emerge from the now growing blinding light. "Crap," he muttered and glanced sidelong at Jo, who had been knocked down by a demon but had managed to drag the thing down with her.
The air was still, but heavy with a dark sense of foreboding and Chloe could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing up as she stood beside Dean on the hill overlooking the cemetery. Her stomach tightened with anxiety, the breath catching in her throat as she watched the gates of hell open before her.
Sam clutched the flask of holy water in his hand, sweat dripping down his forehead as he saw the unthinkable happening. He swallowed hard and glanced at his brother. His face was stony and set, as was Chloe’s. They were ready for this, and he was grateful Sarah was, for the moment, out of the way. Especially when the demon, with his catlike yellow eyes, suddenly appeared out of nowhere and set his gaze on him.
"Come on," Dean grumbled under his breath and felt the cool steel of the Colt on his back. It was their moment: they had Hell to contend with, but they would get through this. They had to.
Sam lifted his chin a little, staring hard at the Yellow Eyed Demon, his body tense and ready for a fight. He glanced to his left to see the members of the Justice League looking more than a tad horrified at what was happening.
"What the hell is that?" Bart whispered, clearly alarmed at the large group of what looked like people heading their way.
"Uh, that'd be Hell, apparently," Oliver replied, never taking his eyes off the humans who moved towards them. Humans with dead eyes. Lex's mutant army.
"We are so screwed," Chloe said inaudibly.
Jo nodded in agreement as she stood and saw with wide eyes the thing that had haunted the Winchesters' footsteps all their lives.
"So we meet again," the Yellow-Eyed Demon replied and set its intense gaze on Sam.
Sam's gaze was cold and even, staring back just as intently. "One last time."
"Take your best shot, hotshot," it cackled and held out its arms.
Oliver, never one to back down from a blatant dare, pulled back an arrow and let it fly. And when it dropped to the ground suddenly, without any warning or hitting the thing in front of them, he stilled momentarily surprised.
The demon looked at the arrow, then at the blonde who had tried to shoot him. "Nice try, Blondie, but no banana."
Without warning Oliver went flying back against a tree, hitting his head hard on the wood and groaning as he slid bonelessly to the ground.
"Oliver!" Jo cried out, frightened.
"You're next, little girl," he whispered, turning his golden eyes toward Jo.
"No!" Dean yelled and moved in front of Jo, just as he suddenly felt himself flying backwards, rather than her.
It took Chloe a moment to understand what was happening. Sam! He has Lex's shield!
Sam's eyes widened a little and he glanced at her sideways. Oh shit.
The demon cackled, its yellow eyes sparking with awareness. "Yeah, nifty gift, isn't it?" he said aloud. “Kinda wish old Lex was around to witness his genius, but… oh well. Wasn’t like I needed him alive to grant my success.” He saw Dean try to get up and pushed him back to the ground with a motion of his hand. "Stay put," he said casually and eyed Sam. "You really, honestly thought you could defeat me?"
"Let him go," he whispered darkly, his eyes narrowing with hatred.
"No," it replied and smirked darkly, turning to look at Sarah, who had her back turned to the action, her focus entirely on exorcising the demons who were being put into the trap by the rest of their fighters. "You think that puny spell you cast is going to keep her away from me?"
Chloe's attention was drawn away from old Yellow Eyes, and she watched with horror as a group of at least 100 of Lex's mutant army headed right toward them. She backed up a step involuntarily, reloading her gun with more rock salt.
Grabbing a handful of mutants, Clark yanked them off their feet in a sudden swoop and rushed them into the growing circle of demons and bodies. Quickly, he supersped the lifeless bodies out of the circle to try to help with the cleanup, but the masses of mutant demons seemed to be coming from everywhere.
They were going to lose, she realized, shuddering involuntarily.
"You're not gonna touch her," Sam warned darkly and refused to look at Sarah. One wrong move, and it could all be over in the blink of an eye.
"Oh yeah?" the demon demanded. "How are you going to stop me? You and what army?"
Dean struggled to get to his feet, but the invisible iron grip holding him kept him firmly planted on the ground. He saw the standoff between his brother and the demon, watched as he saw his friends, his Chloe, fighting for their lives and slowly losing. Despite the super speeding Bart and Clark, their capturing bodies and depositing them inside the devil's trap wasn't good enough, because it took time to exorcise a demon. Several at once was even harder, and despite their best efforts, Sarah, Victor, A.C., and Ava could not keep up. The sounds of howling and demonic screaming filled the air as the mutants tried to get out of the Trap. He swallowed hard and shot a single thought to his brother. Do something, Sammy.
Sam knew they were in trouble, was just as aware of all the lower level demons slowly surrounding them as he faced off with their leader. His brother's voice in his head made him lift his chin, glaring at the demon who'd caused so much death and pain in his family even more intensely. "This army."
Bobby aimed his shotgun at the demon. "Back away from Sam."
"Or what?" the demon sneered and looked at Bobby with contempt.
Ellen glowered at him, moving to stand at Bobby's side. "Or you're gonna land yourself in that pit with your friends," she said darkly.
Laughter bubbled up from the demon's throat, a low sadistic cackle that spoke volumes. "You humans," it said and glared at Sam, "so predictable. So stupid at a time like this. You're surrounded. All I have to do is give the word, and my army?" He indicated to the horde around them. "It's going to enjoy tearing you to pieces and watching your insides become your outsides."
"Not if we can help it," Oliver said, having shaken off his stupor. He stood next to Jo, arrow pointed at the demon.
"You can't," it said coldly. "I am Azazel, fallen one who rules below."
Chloe stared at him wide-eyed.
Jo stared at the thing, her knees wobbly with shock.
"What?" Sam said and stared in shock.
He smirked. "What? You think you were just dealing with some lower level demon?" He took a step toward Sam, glaring at him fiercely. "I'm going to take everything from you." Lifting his hand a little, he motioned and three of the meteor-mutants attacked Chloe at once, taking her to the ground.
"NO!" Dean wailed from the ground as he watched Chloe struggle against the mutants who had attacked her. Though she had tossed in a couple of punches, they held her down and clamped hands over her nose and mouth, effectively closing off her air supply. "Chloe!!" He ripped his body around violently, the shock of what was happening so hard and massive that it weakened the force that held him down. He took advantage of the moment, getting onto his knees and crawling towards Chloe, his eyes red and murderous.
"That's enough," a voice from behind said in a calm voice.
Every meteor-possessed demon froze, including the ones on Chloe. Sucking in a lungful of air as their hands left her face, she turned her head, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. "Mom," she whispered.
"Walk into the devil's trap and stand still. Don't make any noise."
Dean watched, surprised, as the mutant-demons turned and walked in one large group towards the Devil's Trap. The group exorcising demons had stopped reading, and he saw Sarah turn around, gaze upon the creatures heading her way, and move as quickly as she could. The problem was, the yellow-eyed demon had already seen her and honed in on her.
Sammy, do something, he thought again and reached Chloe quickly. Do some mind mojo on it and get that force-field down.
Chloe grabbed Dean's hand and let him haul her off the ground once more. She picked her gun up and fired it at the demon, anger in her eyes. But the shots did nothing except make him laugh.
Sam shut his eyes, focusing his mind until there was nothing there but silence. And then he imagined the force-field exploding, shattering, falling away and leaving the demon defenseless.
Dean saw a shimmer surround the demon and then disappear. He leaned into Chloe and whispered, "Take another shot. I think Sammy's done it."
Lifting her chin, she pulled the trigger once more, watching with some amazement as he stumbled forward with the force of the rock salt. "Dean--"
But the Colt was already out, and Dean was pointing it at the demon's head. He squeezed the trigger and felt it vibrate with energy as the bullet shot forth from the gun and planted itself firmly inside the demon's human skull. It shuddered, eyes going dark and empty, as a couple shots of light spewed from the wound. Then the lifeless body crumpled to the ground and lay silent.
The demon was dead.
The breath caught in Chloe's throat as she watched him fall to the ground hard and grow completely still. Then she slowly turned her eyes to look at Dean.
Sam did the same, shock flickering over his features.
"Ding, dong, the demon's dead," Dean whispered with a silly grin on his face. He walked towards the body and kicked it a couple times, just to make sure it was dead.
"Dude, I think it's dead," Sam pointed out, relief beginning to register on his face.
"I know that," he protested with a shrug. "I just... wanted to make... sure." He emphasized his words with a few more kicks.
"Uh, guys, hate to burst your little happy-time bubble," Bobby interrupted, "but we have a few hundred more demons trapped in mutant bodies. Wanna focus and help us out with that?"
A smile spread across Chloe's face as she looked from Bobby to Dean. "You did it."
"We did it," he corrected her and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her to him and planting a heated kiss of relief onto her lips.
She kissed him back, lifting a hand to his face, barely noticing as Sam took off and headed down the hill toward Sarah.
Frustrated and near tears, Sarah didn't move when Sam literally lifted her off her feet and held him to her with a gentle urgency. She stroked his cheeks, looked into his worried eyes, and smiled weakly. "Knew you could do it," she whispered and felt a rush of relief, the likes of which she had never encountered before.
"Not without you," he whispered, kissing her softly.
She kissed him back, relieved they were all alive, though momentarily worse for the wear.
"You guys think you can--?" Sam turned to look at the remainder of the group now circled around the devil's trap.
"I think we can get it from here," Ellen said with a faint smile.
"What do we do with the mutants once they're not possessed anymore?" Bart asked uncertainly.
Dean pulled away from Chloe and looked at Clark. "He's the super speedy one. Get him to dump them into the Atlantic Ocean or something."
"Either that or salt and burn the bodies," Sarah suggested and held onto Sam.
"What if they're not...you know...dead?"
"They will be," Chloe said quietly, knowing the only reason she'd lived through the hell Meg had put her through when she was possessed was because of the strong bonds she had with Dean, Sarah, and Sam.
Oliver nodded and walked over to Chloe, his hand firmly in Jo's. "Chloe," he said, "I know I didn't tell you about Moira, but it's because I didn't want you to worry about her."
She met his gaze for a moment, nodding slightly and looking up at Dean. "Come with me," she whispered, tugging lightly on his hand and slowly walking back up the hill to where her mother stood silently. "Hi, Mom."
"Chloe." Moira Sullivan's smile lit up her entire face at the sight of her daughter. She hugged her tightly and then pulled back to look at Dean Winchester. "Dean."
"Mrs. Sullivan," he said and cleared his throat awkwardly.
Chloe's eyes watered. "Thank you," she whispered, not really knowing what else to say.
"Was the least I could do," she remarked gently. "After all, Ollie said it was the end of the world, and I don't think he was kidding."
"Yeah, we try not to joke about apocalypses. It's in bad taste." She chuckled softly, leaning into Dean.
"Says you," he whispered and kissed her forehead. "Sammy and me? Smile like you mean it, because tomorrow you might die."
"Always the optimist." She grinned up at him.
Moira gazed at Dean, an appreciative twinkle in her eyes. "Hopefully that has rubbed off on my daughter," she said.
Dean had the decency to look down at his shoes for a second and squeeze Chloe's hand. "More than likely, since I've asked her to... ya know... marry me."
Chloe looked up at her mother, her hand tightening around Dean's. "I said yes."
Tucking her daughter's chin into her hand, Moira chuckled softly. "I certainly hope so," she replied and looked at Dean. "He seems to be the kind of man who's worthy of you."
Her eyes sparkled at her mother's approval and wordlessly she wrapped her arms around her waist tightly. "Will you be there?" she whispered, trying not to hope for too much.
Moira moved to look at Oliver, who was at the moment engaged in some quiet debate with the slender blonde who was obviously Jo. "I think I can swing it," she replied thoughtfully. "Not everyday my only daughter gets married."
She smiled, tears shining in her eyes as she turned to look at Dean. Maybe they would get that happy ending after all.