Demon's Year 02/?: Supernatural AU
Title: Demon's Year
Author: yami_faerie
Words: ~5,000
Ratings/Warnings: Rated PG-13, or R if you're offended by the "f" word, language, some violence, spoilers for seasons 1-5.
Disclaimer: This isn't my world. I just like to imagine it is.
Summary: Dean has one year left to live before he goes to Hell. Meanwhile, he and Sam are being chased by the FBI, demons and even an escaped-from-prison Gordan Walker who wants Sam dead. Can Dean keep Sam alive before his Deal is up?
Chapter Two: The Girl with the Knife
"You mean to tell me that you haven't thought about it at all? Haven't thought about how it smelled, how it tasted, the way it sang in your veins when you used its power?"
- Mrs. Weston as possessed by a demon, "Demon's Trial"
She stood in the old cemetery, staring down at the worn headstone, the letters carved into it almost unreadable. The idea that no one had come to visit this grave in the last few centuries didn't really surprise her at all, not when her mother had died in childbirth and her father had never remarried before she had succumbed to the Plague. She wondered what she would be now if she hadn't sold her soul for power. Would she have gone to Heaven?
Truly, it didn't much matter, but as she stared at her own grave, she couldn't help but wonder what it was about her that made her different. Why did she still remember what it meant to be human? Why couldn't she have been like every other demon, and been stripped of everything but the basics? Of course, it was only the fact that she was different that had attracted Azazel's attention, that had caused things to be the way they were. The road ahead was going to be very lonely, but she had no choice. She had a job to do, a cause she believed in despite the odds.
She tucked a stray lock of curly red hair behind her ear as she knelt down and placed a single rose before her own grave. It seemed silly that a demon would pay such sentimental respects like this, but then, she wasn't just any demon. "Ruby's back," she whispered with a small smile. Rising to her feet, Ruby glanced around the cemetery to make sure she was alone, and then in the blink of an eye, she was gone.
"The seven deadly sins," Dean dead-panned as he stared at Bobby. Sam pressed his lips together and kept from saying anything.
"We have no idea what escaped when that Devil's Gate was opened," Bobby said with a tense shrug. "There coulda easily been demons with powers we know nothing about 'cause they've been trapped in the Pit for God knows how long, but I found this in 'Binsfeld's classification of demons.' In 1589, Binsfeld ID'd the seven sins - not just as human vices, but as actual devils."
Dean grimaced. "I guess that does make sense," he sighed. "Which means we got Envy sittin' in the next room."
The group of Hunters had been at Bobby's for another week before they caught wind of two potential jobs. One was in Elizabethtown, Ohio, its citizens suddenly turning to drinking and gambling in throes before committing suicide; the other job was in Lincoln, Nebraska and had strange insect activity along with sudden crop failures. Ellen and Jo had taken the Ohio hunt while Sam, Dean and Bobby drove to Nebraska. "Sin City, here we come," had been Ellen's last words before they went their separate ways.
Of course, Lincoln turned out to have a lot more going on than Bobby had first thought, and if that hadn't been enough, they had run into two Hunters, Isaac and Tamara who were married and hadn't wanted to work with Bobby or the Winchesters until they had gotten themselves surrounded by all seven demons in a bar. Isaac, as far as they could tell, was dead, having been forced to drink an entire bottle of Drain-o.
Speaking of Tamara, Sam glanced over his shoulder to see her leaning against a wall of the house they were currently holed up in, holding her stake with a blank face and dead eyes. Sam could feel the deep grief in her that was pretty much eclipsed by her anger. Unsurprisingly, while most of it was directed at Dean and Bobby, the better part was reserved for him. "Word travels fast when Gordon Walker says a freak of nature is masquerading as a Hunter," Isaac had told him earlier that day, only to be shoved against a wall by Dean, who had threatened to chop of the black man's balls if he or his wife said another word about Gordon or against Sam.
Sometimes Sam didn't know whether to love Dean's overprotective nature or not. It wasn't like they weren't right about him, though he supposed he should at least be grateful that he, Bobby, Ellen, Jo and Dean were the only ones still alive who knew that he'd been fed demon's blood as a baby. If any other Hunters found that out, he'd probably be dead inside a week.
Although, being killed by other Hunters would at least get Dean out of his Deal, right?
He felt guilty a moment later for even thinking such a thing, because he already knew that Dean didn't want him to do anything like that. Still, it was a bitter pill to swallow, knowing that when the clock struck midnight on April 27 next year…
"We shouldn't have left him," Tamara spoke up suddenly. "He wasn't dead."
"We don't know that," Bobby responded at once. "They made Isaac swallow that entire container. It's as good as suicide."
Tamara's eyes flashed and her anger went up a notch, but she didn't say anything.
Lincoln had felt strange to Sam, mostly because he could have sworn that he had sensed eight, not seven demons in the area. He suppressed a small wince when his head spiked with pain briefly. The last week had been like this for him, and he'd already noticed some changes about himself. While his empathy had resettled itself back into the normal rules of working non-stop without mental shielding, the telekinesis didn't cause any more random explosions, the demon-sensing worked as well as ever and he continued to avoid problems with the mind control, the electrokinesis was losing strength and frequency (which could only be good), there were no signs of any visions, and the super-strength seemed to be fading, as well.
Sam hadn't mentioned any of this to Dean as of yet, mostly due to the fact that if his brother wasn't on the job, then all he seemed to want was food, liquor and sex. Sam hated it, if he were to be honest with himself, but he could clearly feel that while Dean didn't necessarily want to die, the idea that it was all finally going to be over brought a strong sense of relief to him. There was no need to worry about much of anything anymore in his mind, apart from the job and, apparently, Sam's honor. Not that Sam particularly liked being called a freak of nature by people he didn't even know just because a lunatic said he was, but he already knew it was the truth. Gordon Walker had turned out to be right about more than he'd thought.
"Are we going to question Envy or not?" Tamara finally asked. Bobby sighed and nodded, leading the way into the next room where Envy, in the body of a very unassuming man named Walter who had gone missing the night the Devil's Gate had been opened, was tied up in a chair underneath a Devil's Trap. He chuckled as they stood around him. Sam wanted answers as much as the other three, but he hung back, Azazel's words coming back to him and making him suddenly hesitant.
"You are everything I could want in a leader, Sam."
The words still bothered him, two weeks later.
"So you know who I am," Envy said, attracting Sam's attention.
"We do," Bobby said calmly. "We're not impressed. Now, why are you here? What are you after?"
Envy just grinned.
"He asked you a question," Dean bit out, face carved into that of the perfect soldier. Envy's eyes followed Dean as he leaned against an old table. "What d'you want?"
The grin faded ever so slightly as the demon looked around him, eyes skating over Sam before returning. He grinned at Sam and started laughing as Dean pulled out a small bottle of holy water and splashed some on him. Envy broke into groans and grunts, teeth bared as the holy water sizzled against his host's skin. "We already have… what we want," the demon finally growled out between heavy breaths as he slowly lifted his head again.
"And what's that?" Dean asked.
Envy met Dean's eyes and said, "We're out."
There was a moment of silence.
"We're free," the demon continued, slowly easing back upright in his chair. "Thanks to you, my kind are… everywhere."
Sam swallowed, thoughts unwittingly turning to Danielle for a moment before he pushed them away.
"Azazel said he was going to unleash an army," Bobby said.
Envy grinned. "'I am legion, for we are many'," he quoted before chuckling. "Honestly, we're all celebrating, having a little fun." He looked back at Sam. "And for the record, there's no army happening. I'd much rather see people's insides on their outsides on my own terms."
Tamara stepped forward, dark eyes trained on the demon. "I'm gonna put you down like a dog," she spat, expression still blank, but eyes hard.
"Please," the demon said, looking away from Sam and eyeing the female Hunter. He started laughing again. "You really think you're better than me?" He looked around the room again. "Which one of you can cast the first stone, huh?" He looked at Dean. "What about you, Dean? You're practically a walking billboard of gluttony and lust."
Dean had crossed his arms by this point, but all he did was shrug.
"And Tamara. All that wrath?" Envy clucked his tongue a few times in fake sympathy, and Tamara's blank façade started to slip. "It's the reason you and Isaac became Hunters in the first place, isn't it?" His blue eyes were trained on the woman as he leaned forward as much as possible in his restraints. "It's so much easier to drink in the rage than to face what really happened all those years ago."
Sam, Dean and Bobby didn't know how Isaac and Tamara had become Hunters who specialized in demons, but it wasn't too hard to guess that something must have happened to someone they had both loved. Whatever it was, it finally caused Tamara to break. Her face twisted in rage and anguish, and she back-handed the demon with a strangled scream. Envy took the blow, head whipping to the side sharply before she struck him again, sending his face in the other direction. Bobby and Dean moved toward her, pulling her away from the demon and she struggled violently against them. "Let me go!" she shouted angrily.
Envy moved his jaw around a couple times before returning his gaze to Sam. "You know," he said softly, "if Azazel had lived and made you his precious leader, I would still be here with the others, having fun and living it up."
Sam shifted uncomfortably. "Even if he'd lived, I still wouldn't lead a single demon," he replied just as softly.
Tamara finally stopped struggling. "What's he talking about?" she asked loudly. "Who's Azazel? What leader?"
Envy started laughing. "Someone doesn't know!" he said in a sing-song voice before turning serious. "You can call me a sin all you want, but you know that we're all just natural, human instinct. You can repress and deny us all you want, but the truth is, you are just animals." Dean stepped away from Tamara and quietly eyed the demon. "Horny," Envy said quietly, "greedy, hungry, violent animals. And you know what? You'll be slaughtered like animals, too."
There was a long moment of silence. Sam refused to meet Tamara's questioning gaze.
"The others," Envy breathed after a long moment had passed. "They're comin' for me." He leaned back in his chair with a distinct sense of satisfaction. "And they're gonna gut every last one of you."
That's when Dean chuckled. "Maybe," he said, "but the others are not gonna find you, 'cause you'll be back in Hell. Someone send this clown packing," he added as the satisfied look faded from the demon's suddenly-pale face, stepping away and turning to walk out of the room.
"My pleasure," Tamara said, spine straight as her face took on the satisfaction. Meanwhile, Dean snagged Sam's shoulder and pulled him from the room, Bobby following just behind them.
The screaming started as the three men came to a halt in the corner of the next room over. "I don't think we're gonna have to worry about hunting them," Bobby said.
"What did he say to you?" Dean asked Sam, ignoring Bobby for the moment.
Sam sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Just that he wouldn't've followed Azazel even if he was still alive," he said. "Dean, we can't take on six demons, there's no way I could stop them all, even with the telekinesis."
"Tamara wouldn't much like seeing you try," Dean said sarcastically. "I don't think we got much choice in the matter. I could stay here, buy you guys some time while you take Tamara and head -"
"No!" Sam and Bobby said at once. "You're insane, Dean," Sam snapped. "Just forget about it, okay?"
"Sam's right," Bobby agreed.
There was a moment of silence, punctuated by Tamara's chanting and Envy's yelling.
"There's no place we could run to that they wouldn't find us," Bobby said quietly. "Like it or not, we're gonna have to make a stand here."
"Well," Dean said, "let's not make it easy for them."
Just then, Envy let out a final scream that shook the house as Tamara completed the exorcism. The body of the host was slumped in the chair, and Sam could already sense that the man himself hadn't managed to survive the combined possession and exorcism. Tamara snapped her book shut and placed it on the table before striding into the room. "What now?" she asked.
"We think he was right and the other six sins are gonna come here," Sam said. "We're gonna have to find a way to trap and exorcise them all before they kill us."
"I'm in," Tamara said briskly. "What's the plan?"
"I think we got a hit."
"What?" FBI Special Agent Victor Henricksen looked up from his computer to see his partner holding up a videotape. "A hit?"
"This came from a hospital in southern Wyoming," Reidy said. "About a week ago, two guys came in with a dead girl, said they'd been attacked while camping and the girl was shot by their attackers, but get this." A funny little smirk crossed his face before he continued. "There was no police report filed, no investigation, and the name on the insurance card was almost identical to one we know was used by their father seven years ago." He held out the tape.
"Are you sure it's them?" Victor asked, standing and taking the tape. Reidy's smirk grew as he nodded.
"Positive," he said. Less than a minute later, the two men were ensconced in a small room with a TV, playing the security footage.
"It's them," Victor breathed, watching the way the shorter man on the tape kept a careful hand on the taller one's shoulder. "It's the Winchesters." He couldn't believe his luck. It'd been hard to find any traces of the boys after they escaped from the bank robbery in Milwaukee, and it had been downright impossible to find anything after Sam's miraculous escape from the prison outside of Little Rock, so this… It kind of felt like finding the Holy Grail. "Did they identify the girl they brought in?"
"Yeah," Reidy said, lifting up a file in his hands and opening it. "Her name's Danielle Elizabeth Young. She was shot in the abdomen, bled out in a matter of minutes." He paused, eyes lifting from the file to meet Victor's own. "She's from Provo, Utah," he said softly.
Victor knew they'd spent about a month in that city, though he'd never been able to identify their reasons. No one had died, been robbed, threatened, deceived, anything. It was like they'd taken a fucking vacation for no reason. But now he had a name to put with the city. "Did they say what their relationship with her was?"
"Girlfriend to Samuel," Reidy answered grimly. "But here's the interesting part. Young was a widow, had a husband named Jared Palmer for nearly three years before the oilrig he worked on in western Wyoming was sabotaged and burnt to a crisp in March last year. Young was the only witness, but she claimed she never saw who did it, and all the workers died in the fire." He held out the file. "Also, her friend Roxanne Parker reported her missing April twenty-second. And then she turned up in the hospital with our boys in the early hours of the twenty-eighth."
Victor took the file from Reidy and stared at the picture of Danielle Young. "I think we've finally found a connection we can work with," he said aloud. "We need to meet with Danielle's family, friends, anyone who might've met the Winchesters through her. I bet she was just as big a psychopath as the brothers are, that's probably how they met."
Reidy nodded. "I'll pull everything I can find." He rose and left, leaving Victor with the still-playing security footage. Victor stared at Dean's face and smiled.
"I finally got you," he said softly. "You're not getting away from me again."
It didn't come as a surprise to Sam that one of the demons possessed Isaac's corpse to draw Tamara outside and break the salt lines. It also didn't surprise him that it worked, too. Hell, he wasn't at all surprised to find that he was facing three demons rather than one or two.
"Figures you'd gang up on me," he sighed.
"Of course," said the demon in front, smoothing down the front of his suit and shooting Sam a broad grin. "Who doesn't want a chance at Sam Winchester, the prodigy, the Boy King…"
Sam rolled his eyes.
"I can't say you're living up to my expectations, though," the demon added. "Not that I'd follow a piss-poor human like you. I've got my pride after all." Pride's grin widened and he started to step forward before he looked up and spotted the Devil's Trap on the ceiling. He gave Sam a pitying look and broke the plaster with a wave of his hand, making the trap null and void. "It's a good thing Azazel's dead," he told Sam as he advanced. "Now I don't have to follow the freak he created."
Sam stepped back and lifted a hand, forcing Pride and the other two demons away from him. Pride chuckled. "Maybe there was something to all the hype," he said. "I'll handle this," he tossed over his shoulder to the other two demons. Sam seized the moment and forced a canister of rock salt open, quickly directing it to pour a line between Pride and the other two demons, trapping him in with Sam. Pride turned back to Sam and raised his eyebrows.
"Demons never play fair," Sam stated with a shrug. "I was just making sure they listened."
Pride chuckled and threw out a hand, forcing Sam back a few feet before he could retaliate. From then on, it got worse.
Sam figured he was lucky to get in a few real hits, leaving Pride with a black eye and badly split lip, but then the demon managed to trip him up and he landed hard on his back. Pride was on him in an instant, hands grasping his neck and squeezing, and Sam had a moment to wonder what it was about various supernatural creatures and his neck before he was fighting back.
That was when something bizarre happened.
It had been nearly a year since Sam had last known the sulfuric taste of demon's blood or been tempted by it. He had no reason to think that any demon that had managed to escape from the Devil's Gate in Wyoming would know about what Azazel had done to him or any of the other, now-dead, special children. This, of course, meant it was a complete accident when Pride's badly split lip released a single drop of blood right into Sam's mouth.
If he hadn't been running adrenaline through his system before, this did the trick. Sam panicked at the desire that ran through him at that single, small taste and pried the demon's hands off his throat before bucking hard and sending him crashing to the ground. Sam gasped for breath, turning on his side and spitting to get the taste out.
"What was that?" Pride groused as Sam forced himself to sit up, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand and coughing hard. Sam didn't say anything. "I mean, it was just my blood," the demon continued, staring at Sam with genuine bewilderment, "it's not like - " He broke off, black eyes going wide.
"What?" Sam snapped, hating how hoarse and weak his voice sounded.
"It can't be," Pride whispered. "He didn't…"
Just then, there was a commotion in the form of a tiny redheaded girl. "You," gasped the female demon Sam hadn't bothered to identify, and Sam sensed anger, confusion and even some fear from the brunette.
The short girl undid a clasp at her thigh and pulled free a knife with a wooden handle and engravings Sam couldn't make out in the dim lighting. "Me," the redhead smirked, flying forward and stabbing the knife through the underside of the brown-haired demon's mouth. Sam had no idea what the redhead was hoping to accomplish, but then the other female stiffened, sparking out from the inside just like that vampire and Azazel, and when the knife was ripped free, she dropped to the ground.
She was dead.
Sam quickly willed his salt line to scatter as the redhead swung at the other demon. He barely managed to dodge her knife and aimed a punch of his own, but she ducked, curly hair flying as she spun around, coming back upright behind the demon and stabbing him hard in the back.
Pride growled and ran forward as the other demon collapsed, just as dead as the female. He managed to get in a hard punch, sending the redhead stumbling, and Sam reacted without thinking, raising a hand and pulling Pride far enough back that the redhead managed to get her bearings. Pride snarled at Sam and shot a hand out, catching him off-guard and sending him into the nearest wall, but the distraction proved to be enough. Sam dropped to his hands and knees, watching as the girl ran forward, punching Pride in the stomach and ramming the knife up into his chest as he doubled over. Seconds later, he was also on the ground, and just as dead.
"Who are you?" Sam asked, stumbling to his feet.
"I'm the girl who just saved your ass," said the redhead, brown eyes twinkling with mischief as she quickly wiped her blade off on Pride's suit jacket before sliding it back into her thigh holster with the practiced ease of a professional.
"I was doing fine on my own," Sam pointed out, rubbing at his sore throat and knowing there were gonna be bruises in the morning. "And I helped save your ass, too, I hope you noticed that."
"Of course," said the girl, tone just condescending enough to make Sam scowl. She grinned. "I'll see you around, Sam."
"Wait!" Sam moved forward as the girl left the room and strode down the hall, but when he stepped into the hallway himself, she was gone. "I didn't even check if you were a demon," he said aloud, feeling a tad put-out.
He stood there, shoulders slumped for a few seconds before he heard footsteps.
"Sam!" Bobby came running up the stairs. "You okay, son?"
Sam nodded absently. "Some girl came in and killed all three with a knife."
Bobby frowned. "What?"
"A demon-killing blade," Sam stated, "and some redhead the size of a twig used it to kill the three demons that came after me. Not that I needed her help," he added as Dean stepped into the hallway from the other side of the floor.
"Wait, some chick with a cool knife saved your ass?" Dean said with raised eyebrows.
Sam rolled his eyes. "I said I was doing just fine on my own," he protested as Dean chuckled and guided the other girl who had been possessed out into the hallway. "She okay?"
Dean nodded. "Bobby?"
"My guy's fine, too," Bobby said. "We're gonna have to salt n' burn those bodies, though."
"We'll take care of it," Dean said. "You can get our two survivors back into town, yeah?"
Bobby nodded and led the girl back down the stairs. There was a moment of silence.
"So that girl," Dean finally said, and Sam looked over at him. "Did you get her number?"
Gordon Walker sighed and leaned against the counter. "Just tell me what I want to know," he said, "and I promise you'll never have to see me again. I really don't find any pleasure in hurting an innocent like yourself. I mean, it wasn't your fault your son was a freak of nature -"
"Don't you say a word about my son!" Gordon's captive snapped angrily. "You don't know the first thing about him!"
Gordon considered. "Fair enough," he said, "but I doubt he'd expect you to keep holding out like this when he's been dead for about nine months." He raised his machete and lightly ran the edge along the palm of his hand, removing small droplets of blood as he did so. "All I need is her name and location, and then I'm gone."
There was a long moment of silence before the captive man finally slumped in his chair. "Wilson," he whispered. "Ava Wilson from Peoria, Illinois."
Gordon couldn't stop his smile. "Thank you," he said, moving forward and knocking poor old Mr. Carey unconscious. "I'm sure Scott appreciates your cooperation."
He cut the bonds tying Mr. Carey to his own chair before doing a quick clean-up and slinking out of the back door. Two blocks away, Kubrick was waiting for him.
"Got a name?"
Gordon grinned. "We're headin' to Illinois, my friend. One step closer to finding Sam Winchester."
Kubrick grinned back and stepped on the gas.
"… so Casey's staring at me with this daring expression on her face," Jo told Dean as they sat down to dinner at Bobby's house two days later, "and all I can think is that I can't blow my cover or anything, so I leaned right over and kissed her."
Dean couldn't help but wolf-whistle, earning him a smack on the arm from Ellen as she passed by with a pot of stew. "Sounds hot," he said.
Jo laughed. "Yeah, but when we got to her place and she took me into the basement, I realized that she was a demon, but get this." She turned to look across the table at a silent Sam. "She said she wants Sam to do that whole 'lead the army of darkness' thing."
Sam raised his eyebrows and blinked. "Oh," he said after a moment. "I didn't expect that."
"Believe me," Jo said, "it took me by surprise, too. Of course, she caused a cave-in so I couldn't escape from the basement and for some reason, I couldn't remember the beginning of that exorcism you helped me learn, so we were kinda stuck until Mom figured out that Casey was working with the priest, also a demon, and she used him to get to us and exorcised them both." Jo frowned thoughtfully. "Casey said she believes that Lucifer is the ruler of Hell, even though no one's ever seen him, kinda like how so many people believe in God, y'know?"
A mildly strange expression crossed Sam's face at those words, but then Ellen demanded more eating and less talking, and Dean got sidetracked because Ellen really did make the best food he'd eaten in a long time. "Well," he finally said, "it sounds like you two had one helluva Hunt out there."
"That we did," Ellen said. "Where you boys off to, next?"
"We're goin' to Cicero, Indiana," Dean said quickly. "Guy fell on his own power saw."
Sam frowned. "That's it?"
Dean nodded. "Yep."
"Liar."
Dean rolled his eyes. "Okay, so there's more in Cicero than just a potential case."
"And that is?" Ellen asked.
"Lisa Braeden."
Sam frowned even more before recognition lit up his face. "You don't mean the Lisa Braeden who gave you the best -"
"Finish that sentence and I'll kick your ass," Dean cut him off calmly, remembering an old laundromat in the middle of nowhere where Sam first started practicing his Jedi Mind tricks with him as his primary target. Jo snorted.
"Getting all nostalgic in your old age?"
"I'm only twenty-eight," Dean said defensively before grinning and continuing, "but I would say it's my dying wish."
"How many of those do you plan on making?" Bobby asked. "You're already eating double-cheeseburgers for breakfast."
"Don't forget the Doublemint Twins last week," Sam spoke up. "I spent all night in the car, didn't get any sleep."
"And I appreciate the sacrifice," Dean said genially. Sam snorted and rolled his eyes, but the corners of his lips actually tilting into the smallest semblance of a smile for the first time in weeks, and Dean couldn't help but consider it a win.
TBC...
Chapter Three
Author: yami_faerie
Words: ~5,000
Ratings/Warnings: Rated PG-13, or R if you're offended by the "f" word, language, some violence, spoilers for seasons 1-5.
Disclaimer: This isn't my world. I just like to imagine it is.
Summary: Dean has one year left to live before he goes to Hell. Meanwhile, he and Sam are being chased by the FBI, demons and even an escaped-from-prison Gordan Walker who wants Sam dead. Can Dean keep Sam alive before his Deal is up?
Chapter Two: The Girl with the Knife
"You mean to tell me that you haven't thought about it at all? Haven't thought about how it smelled, how it tasted, the way it sang in your veins when you used its power?"
- Mrs. Weston as possessed by a demon, "Demon's Trial"
She stood in the old cemetery, staring down at the worn headstone, the letters carved into it almost unreadable. The idea that no one had come to visit this grave in the last few centuries didn't really surprise her at all, not when her mother had died in childbirth and her father had never remarried before she had succumbed to the Plague. She wondered what she would be now if she hadn't sold her soul for power. Would she have gone to Heaven?
Truly, it didn't much matter, but as she stared at her own grave, she couldn't help but wonder what it was about her that made her different. Why did she still remember what it meant to be human? Why couldn't she have been like every other demon, and been stripped of everything but the basics? Of course, it was only the fact that she was different that had attracted Azazel's attention, that had caused things to be the way they were. The road ahead was going to be very lonely, but she had no choice. She had a job to do, a cause she believed in despite the odds.
She tucked a stray lock of curly red hair behind her ear as she knelt down and placed a single rose before her own grave. It seemed silly that a demon would pay such sentimental respects like this, but then, she wasn't just any demon. "Ruby's back," she whispered with a small smile. Rising to her feet, Ruby glanced around the cemetery to make sure she was alone, and then in the blink of an eye, she was gone.
"The seven deadly sins," Dean dead-panned as he stared at Bobby. Sam pressed his lips together and kept from saying anything.
"We have no idea what escaped when that Devil's Gate was opened," Bobby said with a tense shrug. "There coulda easily been demons with powers we know nothing about 'cause they've been trapped in the Pit for God knows how long, but I found this in 'Binsfeld's classification of demons.' In 1589, Binsfeld ID'd the seven sins - not just as human vices, but as actual devils."
Dean grimaced. "I guess that does make sense," he sighed. "Which means we got Envy sittin' in the next room."
The group of Hunters had been at Bobby's for another week before they caught wind of two potential jobs. One was in Elizabethtown, Ohio, its citizens suddenly turning to drinking and gambling in throes before committing suicide; the other job was in Lincoln, Nebraska and had strange insect activity along with sudden crop failures. Ellen and Jo had taken the Ohio hunt while Sam, Dean and Bobby drove to Nebraska. "Sin City, here we come," had been Ellen's last words before they went their separate ways.
Of course, Lincoln turned out to have a lot more going on than Bobby had first thought, and if that hadn't been enough, they had run into two Hunters, Isaac and Tamara who were married and hadn't wanted to work with Bobby or the Winchesters until they had gotten themselves surrounded by all seven demons in a bar. Isaac, as far as they could tell, was dead, having been forced to drink an entire bottle of Drain-o.
Speaking of Tamara, Sam glanced over his shoulder to see her leaning against a wall of the house they were currently holed up in, holding her stake with a blank face and dead eyes. Sam could feel the deep grief in her that was pretty much eclipsed by her anger. Unsurprisingly, while most of it was directed at Dean and Bobby, the better part was reserved for him. "Word travels fast when Gordon Walker says a freak of nature is masquerading as a Hunter," Isaac had told him earlier that day, only to be shoved against a wall by Dean, who had threatened to chop of the black man's balls if he or his wife said another word about Gordon or against Sam.
Sometimes Sam didn't know whether to love Dean's overprotective nature or not. It wasn't like they weren't right about him, though he supposed he should at least be grateful that he, Bobby, Ellen, Jo and Dean were the only ones still alive who knew that he'd been fed demon's blood as a baby. If any other Hunters found that out, he'd probably be dead inside a week.
Although, being killed by other Hunters would at least get Dean out of his Deal, right?
He felt guilty a moment later for even thinking such a thing, because he already knew that Dean didn't want him to do anything like that. Still, it was a bitter pill to swallow, knowing that when the clock struck midnight on April 27 next year…
"We shouldn't have left him," Tamara spoke up suddenly. "He wasn't dead."
"We don't know that," Bobby responded at once. "They made Isaac swallow that entire container. It's as good as suicide."
Tamara's eyes flashed and her anger went up a notch, but she didn't say anything.
Lincoln had felt strange to Sam, mostly because he could have sworn that he had sensed eight, not seven demons in the area. He suppressed a small wince when his head spiked with pain briefly. The last week had been like this for him, and he'd already noticed some changes about himself. While his empathy had resettled itself back into the normal rules of working non-stop without mental shielding, the telekinesis didn't cause any more random explosions, the demon-sensing worked as well as ever and he continued to avoid problems with the mind control, the electrokinesis was losing strength and frequency (which could only be good), there were no signs of any visions, and the super-strength seemed to be fading, as well.
Sam hadn't mentioned any of this to Dean as of yet, mostly due to the fact that if his brother wasn't on the job, then all he seemed to want was food, liquor and sex. Sam hated it, if he were to be honest with himself, but he could clearly feel that while Dean didn't necessarily want to die, the idea that it was all finally going to be over brought a strong sense of relief to him. There was no need to worry about much of anything anymore in his mind, apart from the job and, apparently, Sam's honor. Not that Sam particularly liked being called a freak of nature by people he didn't even know just because a lunatic said he was, but he already knew it was the truth. Gordon Walker had turned out to be right about more than he'd thought.
"Are we going to question Envy or not?" Tamara finally asked. Bobby sighed and nodded, leading the way into the next room where Envy, in the body of a very unassuming man named Walter who had gone missing the night the Devil's Gate had been opened, was tied up in a chair underneath a Devil's Trap. He chuckled as they stood around him. Sam wanted answers as much as the other three, but he hung back, Azazel's words coming back to him and making him suddenly hesitant.
"You are everything I could want in a leader, Sam."
The words still bothered him, two weeks later.
"So you know who I am," Envy said, attracting Sam's attention.
"We do," Bobby said calmly. "We're not impressed. Now, why are you here? What are you after?"
Envy just grinned.
"He asked you a question," Dean bit out, face carved into that of the perfect soldier. Envy's eyes followed Dean as he leaned against an old table. "What d'you want?"
The grin faded ever so slightly as the demon looked around him, eyes skating over Sam before returning. He grinned at Sam and started laughing as Dean pulled out a small bottle of holy water and splashed some on him. Envy broke into groans and grunts, teeth bared as the holy water sizzled against his host's skin. "We already have… what we want," the demon finally growled out between heavy breaths as he slowly lifted his head again.
"And what's that?" Dean asked.
Envy met Dean's eyes and said, "We're out."
There was a moment of silence.
"We're free," the demon continued, slowly easing back upright in his chair. "Thanks to you, my kind are… everywhere."
Sam swallowed, thoughts unwittingly turning to Danielle for a moment before he pushed them away.
"Azazel said he was going to unleash an army," Bobby said.
Envy grinned. "'I am legion, for we are many'," he quoted before chuckling. "Honestly, we're all celebrating, having a little fun." He looked back at Sam. "And for the record, there's no army happening. I'd much rather see people's insides on their outsides on my own terms."
Tamara stepped forward, dark eyes trained on the demon. "I'm gonna put you down like a dog," she spat, expression still blank, but eyes hard.
"Please," the demon said, looking away from Sam and eyeing the female Hunter. He started laughing again. "You really think you're better than me?" He looked around the room again. "Which one of you can cast the first stone, huh?" He looked at Dean. "What about you, Dean? You're practically a walking billboard of gluttony and lust."
Dean had crossed his arms by this point, but all he did was shrug.
"And Tamara. All that wrath?" Envy clucked his tongue a few times in fake sympathy, and Tamara's blank façade started to slip. "It's the reason you and Isaac became Hunters in the first place, isn't it?" His blue eyes were trained on the woman as he leaned forward as much as possible in his restraints. "It's so much easier to drink in the rage than to face what really happened all those years ago."
Sam, Dean and Bobby didn't know how Isaac and Tamara had become Hunters who specialized in demons, but it wasn't too hard to guess that something must have happened to someone they had both loved. Whatever it was, it finally caused Tamara to break. Her face twisted in rage and anguish, and she back-handed the demon with a strangled scream. Envy took the blow, head whipping to the side sharply before she struck him again, sending his face in the other direction. Bobby and Dean moved toward her, pulling her away from the demon and she struggled violently against them. "Let me go!" she shouted angrily.
Envy moved his jaw around a couple times before returning his gaze to Sam. "You know," he said softly, "if Azazel had lived and made you his precious leader, I would still be here with the others, having fun and living it up."
Sam shifted uncomfortably. "Even if he'd lived, I still wouldn't lead a single demon," he replied just as softly.
Tamara finally stopped struggling. "What's he talking about?" she asked loudly. "Who's Azazel? What leader?"
Envy started laughing. "Someone doesn't know!" he said in a sing-song voice before turning serious. "You can call me a sin all you want, but you know that we're all just natural, human instinct. You can repress and deny us all you want, but the truth is, you are just animals." Dean stepped away from Tamara and quietly eyed the demon. "Horny," Envy said quietly, "greedy, hungry, violent animals. And you know what? You'll be slaughtered like animals, too."
There was a long moment of silence. Sam refused to meet Tamara's questioning gaze.
"The others," Envy breathed after a long moment had passed. "They're comin' for me." He leaned back in his chair with a distinct sense of satisfaction. "And they're gonna gut every last one of you."
That's when Dean chuckled. "Maybe," he said, "but the others are not gonna find you, 'cause you'll be back in Hell. Someone send this clown packing," he added as the satisfied look faded from the demon's suddenly-pale face, stepping away and turning to walk out of the room.
"My pleasure," Tamara said, spine straight as her face took on the satisfaction. Meanwhile, Dean snagged Sam's shoulder and pulled him from the room, Bobby following just behind them.
The screaming started as the three men came to a halt in the corner of the next room over. "I don't think we're gonna have to worry about hunting them," Bobby said.
"What did he say to you?" Dean asked Sam, ignoring Bobby for the moment.
Sam sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Just that he wouldn't've followed Azazel even if he was still alive," he said. "Dean, we can't take on six demons, there's no way I could stop them all, even with the telekinesis."
"Tamara wouldn't much like seeing you try," Dean said sarcastically. "I don't think we got much choice in the matter. I could stay here, buy you guys some time while you take Tamara and head -"
"No!" Sam and Bobby said at once. "You're insane, Dean," Sam snapped. "Just forget about it, okay?"
"Sam's right," Bobby agreed.
There was a moment of silence, punctuated by Tamara's chanting and Envy's yelling.
"There's no place we could run to that they wouldn't find us," Bobby said quietly. "Like it or not, we're gonna have to make a stand here."
"Well," Dean said, "let's not make it easy for them."
Just then, Envy let out a final scream that shook the house as Tamara completed the exorcism. The body of the host was slumped in the chair, and Sam could already sense that the man himself hadn't managed to survive the combined possession and exorcism. Tamara snapped her book shut and placed it on the table before striding into the room. "What now?" she asked.
"We think he was right and the other six sins are gonna come here," Sam said. "We're gonna have to find a way to trap and exorcise them all before they kill us."
"I'm in," Tamara said briskly. "What's the plan?"
"I think we got a hit."
"What?" FBI Special Agent Victor Henricksen looked up from his computer to see his partner holding up a videotape. "A hit?"
"This came from a hospital in southern Wyoming," Reidy said. "About a week ago, two guys came in with a dead girl, said they'd been attacked while camping and the girl was shot by their attackers, but get this." A funny little smirk crossed his face before he continued. "There was no police report filed, no investigation, and the name on the insurance card was almost identical to one we know was used by their father seven years ago." He held out the tape.
"Are you sure it's them?" Victor asked, standing and taking the tape. Reidy's smirk grew as he nodded.
"Positive," he said. Less than a minute later, the two men were ensconced in a small room with a TV, playing the security footage.
"It's them," Victor breathed, watching the way the shorter man on the tape kept a careful hand on the taller one's shoulder. "It's the Winchesters." He couldn't believe his luck. It'd been hard to find any traces of the boys after they escaped from the bank robbery in Milwaukee, and it had been downright impossible to find anything after Sam's miraculous escape from the prison outside of Little Rock, so this… It kind of felt like finding the Holy Grail. "Did they identify the girl they brought in?"
"Yeah," Reidy said, lifting up a file in his hands and opening it. "Her name's Danielle Elizabeth Young. She was shot in the abdomen, bled out in a matter of minutes." He paused, eyes lifting from the file to meet Victor's own. "She's from Provo, Utah," he said softly.
Victor knew they'd spent about a month in that city, though he'd never been able to identify their reasons. No one had died, been robbed, threatened, deceived, anything. It was like they'd taken a fucking vacation for no reason. But now he had a name to put with the city. "Did they say what their relationship with her was?"
"Girlfriend to Samuel," Reidy answered grimly. "But here's the interesting part. Young was a widow, had a husband named Jared Palmer for nearly three years before the oilrig he worked on in western Wyoming was sabotaged and burnt to a crisp in March last year. Young was the only witness, but she claimed she never saw who did it, and all the workers died in the fire." He held out the file. "Also, her friend Roxanne Parker reported her missing April twenty-second. And then she turned up in the hospital with our boys in the early hours of the twenty-eighth."
Victor took the file from Reidy and stared at the picture of Danielle Young. "I think we've finally found a connection we can work with," he said aloud. "We need to meet with Danielle's family, friends, anyone who might've met the Winchesters through her. I bet she was just as big a psychopath as the brothers are, that's probably how they met."
Reidy nodded. "I'll pull everything I can find." He rose and left, leaving Victor with the still-playing security footage. Victor stared at Dean's face and smiled.
"I finally got you," he said softly. "You're not getting away from me again."
It didn't come as a surprise to Sam that one of the demons possessed Isaac's corpse to draw Tamara outside and break the salt lines. It also didn't surprise him that it worked, too. Hell, he wasn't at all surprised to find that he was facing three demons rather than one or two.
"Figures you'd gang up on me," he sighed.
"Of course," said the demon in front, smoothing down the front of his suit and shooting Sam a broad grin. "Who doesn't want a chance at Sam Winchester, the prodigy, the Boy King…"
Sam rolled his eyes.
"I can't say you're living up to my expectations, though," the demon added. "Not that I'd follow a piss-poor human like you. I've got my pride after all." Pride's grin widened and he started to step forward before he looked up and spotted the Devil's Trap on the ceiling. He gave Sam a pitying look and broke the plaster with a wave of his hand, making the trap null and void. "It's a good thing Azazel's dead," he told Sam as he advanced. "Now I don't have to follow the freak he created."
Sam stepped back and lifted a hand, forcing Pride and the other two demons away from him. Pride chuckled. "Maybe there was something to all the hype," he said. "I'll handle this," he tossed over his shoulder to the other two demons. Sam seized the moment and forced a canister of rock salt open, quickly directing it to pour a line between Pride and the other two demons, trapping him in with Sam. Pride turned back to Sam and raised his eyebrows.
"Demons never play fair," Sam stated with a shrug. "I was just making sure they listened."
Pride chuckled and threw out a hand, forcing Sam back a few feet before he could retaliate. From then on, it got worse.
Sam figured he was lucky to get in a few real hits, leaving Pride with a black eye and badly split lip, but then the demon managed to trip him up and he landed hard on his back. Pride was on him in an instant, hands grasping his neck and squeezing, and Sam had a moment to wonder what it was about various supernatural creatures and his neck before he was fighting back.
That was when something bizarre happened.
It had been nearly a year since Sam had last known the sulfuric taste of demon's blood or been tempted by it. He had no reason to think that any demon that had managed to escape from the Devil's Gate in Wyoming would know about what Azazel had done to him or any of the other, now-dead, special children. This, of course, meant it was a complete accident when Pride's badly split lip released a single drop of blood right into Sam's mouth.
If he hadn't been running adrenaline through his system before, this did the trick. Sam panicked at the desire that ran through him at that single, small taste and pried the demon's hands off his throat before bucking hard and sending him crashing to the ground. Sam gasped for breath, turning on his side and spitting to get the taste out.
"What was that?" Pride groused as Sam forced himself to sit up, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand and coughing hard. Sam didn't say anything. "I mean, it was just my blood," the demon continued, staring at Sam with genuine bewilderment, "it's not like - " He broke off, black eyes going wide.
"What?" Sam snapped, hating how hoarse and weak his voice sounded.
"It can't be," Pride whispered. "He didn't…"
Just then, there was a commotion in the form of a tiny redheaded girl. "You," gasped the female demon Sam hadn't bothered to identify, and Sam sensed anger, confusion and even some fear from the brunette.
The short girl undid a clasp at her thigh and pulled free a knife with a wooden handle and engravings Sam couldn't make out in the dim lighting. "Me," the redhead smirked, flying forward and stabbing the knife through the underside of the brown-haired demon's mouth. Sam had no idea what the redhead was hoping to accomplish, but then the other female stiffened, sparking out from the inside just like that vampire and Azazel, and when the knife was ripped free, she dropped to the ground.
She was dead.
Sam quickly willed his salt line to scatter as the redhead swung at the other demon. He barely managed to dodge her knife and aimed a punch of his own, but she ducked, curly hair flying as she spun around, coming back upright behind the demon and stabbing him hard in the back.
Pride growled and ran forward as the other demon collapsed, just as dead as the female. He managed to get in a hard punch, sending the redhead stumbling, and Sam reacted without thinking, raising a hand and pulling Pride far enough back that the redhead managed to get her bearings. Pride snarled at Sam and shot a hand out, catching him off-guard and sending him into the nearest wall, but the distraction proved to be enough. Sam dropped to his hands and knees, watching as the girl ran forward, punching Pride in the stomach and ramming the knife up into his chest as he doubled over. Seconds later, he was also on the ground, and just as dead.
"Who are you?" Sam asked, stumbling to his feet.
"I'm the girl who just saved your ass," said the redhead, brown eyes twinkling with mischief as she quickly wiped her blade off on Pride's suit jacket before sliding it back into her thigh holster with the practiced ease of a professional.
"I was doing fine on my own," Sam pointed out, rubbing at his sore throat and knowing there were gonna be bruises in the morning. "And I helped save your ass, too, I hope you noticed that."
"Of course," said the girl, tone just condescending enough to make Sam scowl. She grinned. "I'll see you around, Sam."
"Wait!" Sam moved forward as the girl left the room and strode down the hall, but when he stepped into the hallway himself, she was gone. "I didn't even check if you were a demon," he said aloud, feeling a tad put-out.
He stood there, shoulders slumped for a few seconds before he heard footsteps.
"Sam!" Bobby came running up the stairs. "You okay, son?"
Sam nodded absently. "Some girl came in and killed all three with a knife."
Bobby frowned. "What?"
"A demon-killing blade," Sam stated, "and some redhead the size of a twig used it to kill the three demons that came after me. Not that I needed her help," he added as Dean stepped into the hallway from the other side of the floor.
"Wait, some chick with a cool knife saved your ass?" Dean said with raised eyebrows.
Sam rolled his eyes. "I said I was doing just fine on my own," he protested as Dean chuckled and guided the other girl who had been possessed out into the hallway. "She okay?"
Dean nodded. "Bobby?"
"My guy's fine, too," Bobby said. "We're gonna have to salt n' burn those bodies, though."
"We'll take care of it," Dean said. "You can get our two survivors back into town, yeah?"
Bobby nodded and led the girl back down the stairs. There was a moment of silence.
"So that girl," Dean finally said, and Sam looked over at him. "Did you get her number?"
Gordon Walker sighed and leaned against the counter. "Just tell me what I want to know," he said, "and I promise you'll never have to see me again. I really don't find any pleasure in hurting an innocent like yourself. I mean, it wasn't your fault your son was a freak of nature -"
"Don't you say a word about my son!" Gordon's captive snapped angrily. "You don't know the first thing about him!"
Gordon considered. "Fair enough," he said, "but I doubt he'd expect you to keep holding out like this when he's been dead for about nine months." He raised his machete and lightly ran the edge along the palm of his hand, removing small droplets of blood as he did so. "All I need is her name and location, and then I'm gone."
There was a long moment of silence before the captive man finally slumped in his chair. "Wilson," he whispered. "Ava Wilson from Peoria, Illinois."
Gordon couldn't stop his smile. "Thank you," he said, moving forward and knocking poor old Mr. Carey unconscious. "I'm sure Scott appreciates your cooperation."
He cut the bonds tying Mr. Carey to his own chair before doing a quick clean-up and slinking out of the back door. Two blocks away, Kubrick was waiting for him.
"Got a name?"
Gordon grinned. "We're headin' to Illinois, my friend. One step closer to finding Sam Winchester."
Kubrick grinned back and stepped on the gas.
"… so Casey's staring at me with this daring expression on her face," Jo told Dean as they sat down to dinner at Bobby's house two days later, "and all I can think is that I can't blow my cover or anything, so I leaned right over and kissed her."
Dean couldn't help but wolf-whistle, earning him a smack on the arm from Ellen as she passed by with a pot of stew. "Sounds hot," he said.
Jo laughed. "Yeah, but when we got to her place and she took me into the basement, I realized that she was a demon, but get this." She turned to look across the table at a silent Sam. "She said she wants Sam to do that whole 'lead the army of darkness' thing."
Sam raised his eyebrows and blinked. "Oh," he said after a moment. "I didn't expect that."
"Believe me," Jo said, "it took me by surprise, too. Of course, she caused a cave-in so I couldn't escape from the basement and for some reason, I couldn't remember the beginning of that exorcism you helped me learn, so we were kinda stuck until Mom figured out that Casey was working with the priest, also a demon, and she used him to get to us and exorcised them both." Jo frowned thoughtfully. "Casey said she believes that Lucifer is the ruler of Hell, even though no one's ever seen him, kinda like how so many people believe in God, y'know?"
A mildly strange expression crossed Sam's face at those words, but then Ellen demanded more eating and less talking, and Dean got sidetracked because Ellen really did make the best food he'd eaten in a long time. "Well," he finally said, "it sounds like you two had one helluva Hunt out there."
"That we did," Ellen said. "Where you boys off to, next?"
"We're goin' to Cicero, Indiana," Dean said quickly. "Guy fell on his own power saw."
Sam frowned. "That's it?"
Dean nodded. "Yep."
"Liar."
Dean rolled his eyes. "Okay, so there's more in Cicero than just a potential case."
"And that is?" Ellen asked.
"Lisa Braeden."
Sam frowned even more before recognition lit up his face. "You don't mean the Lisa Braeden who gave you the best -"
"Finish that sentence and I'll kick your ass," Dean cut him off calmly, remembering an old laundromat in the middle of nowhere where Sam first started practicing his Jedi Mind tricks with him as his primary target. Jo snorted.
"Getting all nostalgic in your old age?"
"I'm only twenty-eight," Dean said defensively before grinning and continuing, "but I would say it's my dying wish."
"How many of those do you plan on making?" Bobby asked. "You're already eating double-cheeseburgers for breakfast."
"Don't forget the Doublemint Twins last week," Sam spoke up. "I spent all night in the car, didn't get any sleep."
"And I appreciate the sacrifice," Dean said genially. Sam snorted and rolled his eyes, but the corners of his lips actually tilting into the smallest semblance of a smile for the first time in weeks, and Dean couldn't help but consider it a win.
TBC...
Chapter Three