Demon's Year 08/?: 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 Eight: Truths Laid Bare
"You really think Taryn's gonna believe me when I say demons did it?"
- Danielle Palmer, "Journey: Live and Breathe"
According to Bobby, demon-summoning rituals only worked if you knew the demon's name (or at least, whatever name it was going by at the time), or if you had seen it at one time or another. Sam wasn't particularly worried about doing the ritual right.
What he wanted to know was why Ruby had chosen this particular host. She wouldn't be able to say that she hadn't known who she was possessing, because Sam knew she'd been in Utah already, and she had told him repeatedly that she was doing everything she could to keep her body from being damaged. Broken arms were nothing compared to stabbing or torture.
Or being thrown from the seventh floor of a warehouse, his mind reminded him unhelpfully of the girl Meg had possessed before they had sent her to Hell.
"Ready?" Dean asked.
Sam looked down at the table and nodded. He lit a match and dropped it in the middle bowl of their set-up, watching the herbs catch fire in a shower of bright sparks that lasted only a few seconds before going out.
Then they waited.
"What the fuck?"
Ruby had managed to materialize right inside the Devil's Trap Sam had taped to the floor of their motel room.
"I don't think that's the kind of language Alexia would use," Dean pointed out dryly, and Ruby stopped moving inside her confines, slowly turning Alexia's brown eyes on the brothers.
"Excuse me?" she said softly.
"Alexia Fisher," Sam said. "Cousin to Taryn Fisher who is girlfriend to Roxanne Parker who was best friend of Danielle Palmer, a psychic like me."
"Danielle opened the Devil's Gate," Ruby said. "Your point?"
"What were you doing clear out in London?" Sam asked. "And why Alexia?"
"You'd better answer," Dean said firmly, "or you're goin' straight back to Hell the way I've wanted since the get-go."
Sam watched as Ruby narrowed Alexia's eyes, body tense and fists clenched. "I'm from a little town called Dudley," she finally answered. "I had no idea where I was when I first came through the Gate, so I found some waitress at a diner in Cheyenne and got my bearings - and my fry addiction - before heading across the ocean."
"Why go to your home town?" asked Sam with a frown.
"I didn't think demons were the sentimental type," Dean added.
"We're not," Ruby said sharply. "Well, the rest aren't. I just… I wanted to know if my father had actually buried me or not. Most people were usually buried in mass graves back then with the plague goin' on, but I had an actual grave marker." She smiled slightly. "After that, I headed back across the ocean to find you and my trusty knife." She patted Alexia's thigh, where the demon-killing blade was still strapped firmly to her jeans.
"You knew who you were possessing, didn't you?" Sam said.
"Not at first," Ruby sighed. "I was using her laptop to learn more about these modern times and I came across her MySpace page."
"What's a MySpace?" Dean asked with a frown. "No one will tell me."
"Never mind," Sam said quickly. "But why didn't you give her up if you were so determined not to damage her?"
"I figured it out after our first meeting," Ruby said with a scowl, "and by then she'd already been reported as missing. I tried to drop her off in an alley in Salt Lake City, but that's when I got cornered by those demons I told you about and received the broken arm." She looked down for a few seconds. "I think Taryn spotted me along with Alexia's mother."
Sam watched Ruby for a few seconds. "How do you expect me to trust you when you're in a body of a person whose disappearance affects others I know?"
"She's still alive!" Ruby said loudly. "Alive and fine! Her arm's healed and she's never been shot or stabbed -"
"What about mentally?" Dean cut in. "How is she doing with a demon controlling her? Is she scarred for life because of what you are? Traumatized beyond belief by the things you've already done?"
"Shut up," Ruby said quietly. "I'm only doing what needs to be done so you two come out of this alive."
"Save it," Dean snapped before Sam could say anything. "There's nothing else that needs be said while you're still wearing that girl." He walked over, bent down and ripped a piece of the tape off the floor. "Don't expect either of us to listen to another word you have to say until you find something without a life." He stepped away and glared at Ruby, who glared right back before vanishing.
"That was harsh," Sam said.
"Don't care," Dean replied. "I need a drink." He grabbed his keys, stuffed his wallet in his coat and headed for the door. "Coming?"
"No," Sam said. "Have fun, I guess."
Dean nodded and left the motel, the Impala roaring to life less than 30 seconds later. Sam sighed and slumped into his chair, looking over at his laptop and wondering if Alexia really was all right, or if Dean had been right on the mark. Rubbing at his face, he slid closer to the table and started writing out an email to Roxy, letting her know that he knew what had become of Taryn's cousin.
Unfortunately, things rarely go the way we expect.
Nearly 900 miles south in Provo, Roxy was reading a book in the front room of her home when the doorbell rang. "Coming!" Taryn called out before Roxy could even get her bookmark in place. She closed her book and rose to her feet as Taryn sailed by, reaching the front door and pulling it open.
"Hey," said a female voice that Roxy swore she knew but couldn't place.
A few moments later, Taryn breathed, "Alexia?"
Roxy flew around the corner just in time to see Taryn pulling her missing cousin into her arms. "You're alive! Where have you been? How'd you get home! Oh, Lex, everyone's been so worried about you -!"
Roxy froze as Taryn tried to pull Alexia into the house. Tried, and failed to get her cousin over the welcome mat other their side of the door. Shit, Roxy's mind whispered.
"What -? Lexie -"
"I'm not Alexia," Taryn's cousin said quietly. "Well, not at the moment, anyway."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Taryn asked, stepping back and bumping into Roxy. "I don't understand…"
"She's not your cousin," Roxy said. "Who are you?" she directed at the girl.
Alexia gave Roxy a cold look before her eyes flashed black. "My name is Ruby," she answered. "I'm here to return Alexia's body."
Taryn screamed and tried to back away, but Roxy held her tightly. "You're a demon," Roxy spat out angrily. "Why should I believe a word you say?"
Ruby groaned. "Because Sam and Dean made me come here," she finally answered, sticking her hands out in supplication, eyes back to brown once more. "I swear I tried to give her back a week ago, but I got cornered by other demons and had to run for it before Alexia could get more than a broken arm -"
"I saw you!" Taryn cried. "I knew it!"
Ruby rolled Alexia's eyes and scowled. The expression looked out of place on Taryn's normally-reserved cousin. In fact, her entire outfit looked out of place, from the tight jeans to the leather jacket and boots.
"Yes," Ruby said flatly. "You surely did, Taryn." She returned her gaze to Roxy. "Now, would you let me out so I can get outta this meatsuit and go find something dead to possess?"
Roxy raised her eyebrows as Taryn gasped out "Let you out of what?" in a high-pitched voice that made Roxy think her girlfriend might be on the verge of passing out.
"I still don't see why I should trust you," she finally said. "I'm told most every demon knows the Winchesters, and you must be fucking insane if you expect me to believe that you're some kind of friendly demon. There's no such thing."
Ruby glared at Roxy. "Well, I am friendly," she said shortly. "Call Sam if it makes you feel better, he'll confirm what I've said. Then you can have your precious goody-two shoes back and I can get on with my life."
Roxy stared at the demon for a long moment before reaching into her back pocket to pull out her phone. She selected Sam from her contacts and waited while the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Wanna tell me why I have a demon standing in my entryway?" Roxy asked dryly.
"Wait, Ruby's already there?"
"You know her?"
"Yeah, she's helped me and Dean out a few times," Sam answered. "We told her to find a new body to inhabit, but I didn't expect her to give Alexia back until she'd already found something else."
Roxy stared at Ruby. "How has a demon helped you?"
"She…" Sam sighed over the line. "She's saved our lives a couple times, delivered good intel, stuff like that."
Ruby crossed Alexia's arms and cocked her hip out in a way that Alexia would never have been able to pull off. "How can you trust her?" she finally asked. "She's a demon, you've taught me that they're chaotic and evil and shit!"
"Her emotions are different, Roxy," Sam said after a few seconds. "She's more human-like than any other demon I've come across."
Roxy pressed her lips together. "Are you sure?" she asked quietly. "I mean, if Dani could've fooled you with her emotions -"
"I'm sure," Sam cut her off, voice sharper than it had ever been in her presence. "Let her out of the Trap and she'll stop possessing Alexia, I promise you."
Roxy swallowed and looked back at the demon before her. "All right," she said softly. "Take care, Sam." She shut her phone and released her hold on Taryn.
"Believe me now?" Ruby asked sarcastically.
"Shut up," Roxy said, grabbing her butterfly knife from her purse on the entryway table and bending down to lift up a corner of the welcome mat. She opened her knife and sliced through an edge of the Devil's Trap drawn underneath. "Get out of Lex," she told the demon. "Don't ever come here again, you hear me?"
"Crystal clear," Ruby snarked before tipping Alexia's head back. Black smoke shot out of the redhead's mouth as Alexia screamed and zoomed out the still-open front door, vanishing into the evening light.
Alexia dropped to the floor like a stone. "Lexie!" Taryn shouted, shooting forward and dropping to her knees beside Roxy. "Oh God, please be all right…"
Roxy already had her fingers pressed to Alexia's pulse. "Heart's beating," she said softly, "and she's breathing. C'mon, let's get her to the couch."
Taryn nodded jerkily and helped move her cousin into the front room. Roxy returned to the front door, shutting it and locking it before turning the welcome mat over and glaring down at the cut she had made. "Gonna need a new mat," she muttered angrily, stalking into the kitchen to grab the large bag of rock salt she and Danielle had kept in supply for emergencies such as this. She dragged it back over the front door and laid out a salt line in a semi-circle that would still allow the door to swing open without breaking it. After returning the bag to the pantry before grabbing two glasses of water for Taryn and her cousin and heading back into the front room.
Alexia was still unconscious, Taryn sitting silently beside her with one of her hands clasped between her own. Roxy swallowed hard, setting the glasses down on the coffee table and taking a seat on the lazy boy adjacent to the couch.
There was nothing said for a very long time.
"How long have you been lying to me?" Taryn finally asked, voice devoid of all emotion.
Roxy swallowed hard. "About your cousin, or the fact that demons exist?"
"Either," Taryn said. "Both. All of it."
Roxy closed her eyes and prayed for courage. "I've known about demons since the end of November," she said quietly, opening her eyes and watching her girlfriend as she continued to gaze down at Alexia. "Danielle told me. She learned from the Winchesters maybe a month before that. I've only known that Alexia had been possessed by a demon since earlier this morning, but I didn't know which one until… well, until this."
"Seven months," Taryn said quietly. She slowly lifted her head and fixed her own brown eyes on Roxy. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I wasn't sure you wouldn't think me and Dani were insane," Roxy said simply. "It took me three days to believe Dani when she told me, and I didn't get to see any demon possessions or whatever as proof." She smiled sadly. "I had to take her word on it, and it was hard."
"I thought Catholics believed in demons," Taryn said.
"I stopped going to Mass when I was legally able to make my own decisions," Roxy said with a raised eyebrow. "Dani… she was always more religious than me."
Taryn nodded and looked back down at her cousin. "Tell me everything," she said. "How did Danielle learn about demons? What about Sam and Dean? Does Dani's family know? Am I the only one left out of the loop?"
Roxy blinked hard a few times. "I was trying to protect you."
"Like Dani protected you?" Taryn snapped, turning a glare on Roxy. "She always told you everything, but you couldn't do the same with your own girlfriend? Do I really mean that little to you?"
"No!" Roxy shouted desperately, and Alexia jerked slightly before stilling again. "Dani never wanted her family to know, either, but her dad got possessed by a demon, and the exorcism was loud enough to catch their attention. I refused to let Danielle back into my life completely until she explained the reasoning behind those seven fucking months of shitty behavior, and then I almost didn't believe her when she told me the truth!" She rose and stared down at her love. "It is hard, knowing that there are demons and ghosts and werewolves and shapeshifters and all kinds of monsters out there. It's hard, knowing that Sam and Dean grew up learning to hunt and kill the things that go bump in the night. But the hardest thing is knowing that Danielle fucking died believing that destiny is real, and I don't even know why! She lost Jared to this world, and then I lost her, so can you really blame me for trying to protect the one good thing I have left?"
The silence the followed Roxy's outburst hung between them heavily for several seconds before a sob forced its way out of Roxy's throat. She turned away, covering her face with her hands as she tried to keep it all together.
"I'm sorry," Taryn whispered. "I didn't know."
"You weren't supposed to ever know," Roxy replied, voice breaking.
"I'm getting that," Taryn chuckled wetly. "Do… d'you think maybe you could tell it all to me now, though?"
Roxy sniffed and nodded, forcing herself to turn back to the two redheads on the couch. Alexia was still out of it, but her face was peaceful.
Sinking back onto the lazy boy chair, Roxy took a moment to gather her thoughts before speaking. "Back in 1972, a yellow-eyed demon called Azazel possessed a priest and disemboweled eight nuns at St. Mary's convent in Ilchester, Maryland. We don't know what he trying to achieve, but he learned something that night that led to him finding couples across the country and making Deals with them."
"Deals?" Taryn echoed softly.
"Crossroads Deals," Roxy said, "like, straight out of Faust."
"The German legends?" Taryn said with a frown. "You get what you want, but after x amount of years, the Devil claims your soul and you go to Hell for eternity?"
"You know about that?"
Taryn gestured to Alexia and called her a 'world mythology and folklore major' in a quiet voice. "That's part of why she was in London last month, for a symposium." She took a deep breath. "So, this Azazel guy, he claimed their souls?"
"Well," Roxy said, "Azazel wasn't claiming souls, not exactly." She went on to explain, by way of what had happened to Harry and Lydia Young, what Azazel was doing across the country. "Ten years later, Dani, Sam and a bunch of other kids were all born one month premature in either May or June of 1983. Six months after each child was born, Azazel visited them and fed them all a few drops of demon's blood."
That led to basics about the lives of Sam, Dean and their father after their mother's untimely death, and was followed by what had happened to Danielle. It never got any easier, thinking about how Jared had been taken from Danielle, nor about how difficult the following months had been before Sam and Dean had shown up, hunting down a powerful ghost who's best friend lived next door.
After that came the trip to Oregon, the month of lessons, Roxy's introduction to the world of the supernatural, the Winchesters second visit in January before Taryn moved in, and then she reached the part where Danielle had been taken by demons to join a sick game nearly a thousand miles away.
"Game?" Taryn prompted after a few seconds passed without Roxy saying anything.
"Azazel only needed one of them alive," she said softly, nodding at the horrified expression on Taryn's face. "It was a competition to see who the best was. Ava Wilson was that champion until Dani showed up."
"Danielle killed her?" Taryn whispered with wide eyes.
"That kill was in self-defense," Roxy couldn't help but defend her dead friend. "The other deaths after that…" She had to pause to keep herself from giving into the urge to cry. "Sam got taken there two days after Ava's death with three other psychics. Dani… she controlled a demon and made it kill the others before Sam learned the truth, and he tried to convince her to stop…" She scrubbed at her face. "Dean and Bobby showed up just in time to watch Dani stab Sam in the back, severing his spine and…" She couldn't stop her sob this time. "She kept going on about destiny and saving everyone else but herself and Sam tried to get her to stop -"
"But Sam's alive," Taryn broke in. "Sam's alive and Dani's dead. Roxy, what happened?"
Roxy sniffed and wiped away her tears. "Dean made a Deal," she finally answered. "He's going to Hell next year."
Taryn placed a hand over her mouth in shock. Roxy couldn't help the bubble of dark laughter that escaped. "I know," she said. "Azazel had Dani go to southern Wyoming where a Devil's Gate was kept under lock and key - the key was that gun I mentioned, the Colt - and she opened those doors and let over two-hundred demons free. Sam tried to get her to stop, but she - she said she had to, and I don't know why!" Roxy pressed her lips together and blinked hard once again. "My best friend forced Sam to shoot her because there was no other way to make her stop, and then she died in his arms, talking about seeing Jared again and saying she had fixed the fucking world like God had commanded her to or something, and all I get is a fucking letter saying she had to break her promise and I'll understand why someday -"
And with those words, the floodgates opened and Roxy lost herself in the sea of despair she'd been trying to stay afloat in since learning her best friend was dead. She felt Taryn's arms wrap around her and she clung to her lover tightly, sobbing into her chest as Taryn murmured soft words of comfort and love.
There was nothing fair about life, and Roxy had been a fool to think otherwise at any point. She wished, deep down in her heart that she could forget it all, that she could go back to those more innocent days where the most complicated thing in life was balancing her schoolwork in theater with her job to pay her portion of the monthly rent. But now there was a whole other layer to the world and everything was sharper and harder and five times as likely to bite you in the ass or burn you until there was nothing left and how did anyone actually deal with any of it?
Roxy continued to sob, feeling only the slightest hint of happiness that Taryn was still there and wasn't letting go.
Ruby showed up two days later.
Sam instantly recognized her emotions when he first sensed her demonic presence, and as he approached the door of the latest motel room door (somewhere in Nevada), he realized that there was something different about Ruby this time.
He opened the door to see a blonde-haired girl with blue eyes and a scowl. "Jane Doe," she announced, "comatose, found in the subways of New York, taken off life support and thoroughly dead before I took up residence." Which meant Sam could only sense Ruby in that body, no suppressed soul to bother either of them. Ruby held up actual paperwork from the hospital the body had been in and stepped past Sam and into the room. "You so owe me fries for this."
Sam rolled his eyes and shut the door.
"Where's Dean?" Ruby asked, dropping onto the nearest bed.
"Somewhere getting drunk," Sam said, "most likely with a girl lookin' for a good time. Why are you here?"
"You didn't wanna see my new body?" Ruby asked with mock sadness. "I'm trying to play by your rules."
"Good for you," Sam dead-panned, walking past the demon to sit at the rickety table in the corner where his laptop was up and running. "I'm busy."
"Got a new job?" Ruby asked.
Sam glanced at Ruby. "Vengeful spirit down near Barstow," he finally answered. "We're heading there in the morning."
"Great," Ruby said. "Now, about those fries…"
"I don't owe you anything," Sam said simply. "You say you wanna help, but besides saving our lives once and helping to fix the Colt, you've yet to come through on helping me figure out who holds Dean's contract so I can kill them."
"Her," Ruby said. "But you already knew that. How was the Crossroads Demon you talked to? I bet she loves talking to you crazy Winchester boys."
"I sent her back to Hell," Sam said shortly. "But I know the demon that wants me dead is the same one who holds the contract. Got a name?"
"No," Ruby said.
"Then we have nothing left to talk about."
There was a moment of silence.
"I know about Dean's time trip," Ruby finally said.
Sam looked at the blonde and narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me?"
"Dean's trip back in time," Ruby clarified, leaning back on her arms and smirking at Sam. "The trip that set Azazel's sights on your family and left it cursed."
"We're not cursed," Sam echoed Dean's words from what felt like years ago.
"Look," Ruby said, "I don't know when Dean's going back in time, and I don't know how, but I do know that after Azazel fried your mom that he thought it was best to kill all her relatives so John wouldn't learn about the Colt any faster." Sam frowned and Ruby continued, "There's a library of journals, all written by the Campbells over the many, many years they've been Hunters, and one of them? He managed to get his hands on Samuel Colt's personal records. Azazel couldn't afford to let any knowledge of the magic gun of awesome get out before it was time to open the Devil's Gate in Wyoming."
"How do you know all this?" Sam finally asked.
Ruby shrugged. "Found Derrick, tortured him a little 'til he told me something useful, let him escape, that kind of thing." She grinned. "He wasn't too happy to learn that Tara was dead."
Sam snorted and turned away. "Good to know," he said. "Anything else you wanna tell me or are you leaving now?"
Ruby huffed and rose to her feet. "I'm trying to find out everything I can to help you," she said after a moment, "but you've gotta understand that every demon out there thinks I'm a traitor. It's going to be difficult to find out any information about this demon you wanna kill until she decides to let you know."
Sam nodded and kept his gaze on his computer screen as Ruby let herself out. She paused in the doorway. "Dean doesn't know about his Back to the Future moment, does he?"
Sam shook his head and Ruby gave a short huff of a laugh. "Nice to see you're so open and trusting of your own flesh and blood." The door shut behind her before Sam could think to say anything in response. He groaned and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his face and stretching as he considered what Ruby had said. He trusted Dean, right?
So why was he keeping secrets?
Unable to force himself to deal with these questions, Sam returned his attention to his laptop, pulling up his email to see a new message from Roxy. She reported in simple words that Alexia was awake, coherent, and mostly unaware of her time spent under possession. Taryn now knew the truth about Danielle and demons and the like, and that they were all dealing the best they could with everything that had happened.
So, Roxy was angry, Dean was probably drunk, and the clock was still ticking. Sam gave up on doing any more research and went to bed. The mess their lives had become was only getting worse, and Sam wasn't sure he could do a damn thing to fix it.
Gordon -
The FBI agents have left Utah and returned to D.C. to work on other cases. We need to learn how to subdue a psychic like Sam, and according to that Brady kid, there's a drug out there that should do the trick. I'll send you any research I can dig up on the matter, but in the meantime, this is a list of Sam's known abilities. I think we're gonna need a more recent contact of his to confirm it, though:
- visions
- telekinesis
- super-strength
- electrokinesis
- mind control
- empathy
I'll review everything those agents learned in Utah, see if maybe one of the people they interviewed there is likely to have the answers to our questions. Let me know how things go in St. Louis, OK?
- Finn
Gordon frowned thoughtfully as he shut down the computer in front of him and turned to his latest captive. "Now," he said, "you're sure you never knew your friend was a psychic freak?"
Rebecca Warren glared at him. "One-hundred percent," she said shortly. "Sam never bent any spoons or predicted any disasters in the entire time that I knew him."
Gordon narrowed his eyes slightly. "I believe you," he finally said. "Sam does seem to be rather secretive."
Rebecca shrugged. "He never talked about his family or much of his life growing up. If he's got… powers, or whatever, there's no way he would've talked about it." She tugged at the handcuffs strapping her to a chair in her own kitchen. "You done with the interrogation yet?" she asked.
Gordon chuckled. "You've got quite the attitude, Little Becky." Rebecca glared even harder at him. "Yes, I'm done." He set the key to the cuffs in Rebecca's left hand. "Have fun. Don't tell Sam we talked, or I'll be back and this" - he picked up his gun and waved it in her face - "will be more than just a prop to threaten you with. Do we understand each other?"
Rebecca nodded. "Get out of my apartment."
Gordon let himself out and headed for his car, pulling out his phone as he whistled lightly. It was time to gather the team back together. So much to do, so little time.
He pulled out a small device from his back pocket as he dialed Kubrick's number and pressed the button on it, still whistling as he put his phone to his ear.
A split second later, Rebecca Warren's apartment exploded. After all, it wasn't like he could really expect one of Sam's friends to keep their mouth shut about an unexpected visit, right?
It never once occurred to the Hunter that he had crossed a line that he couldn't go back over again.
TBC...
Chapter Nine
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 Eight: Truths Laid Bare
"You really think Taryn's gonna believe me when I say demons did it?"
- Danielle Palmer, "Journey: Live and Breathe"
According to Bobby, demon-summoning rituals only worked if you knew the demon's name (or at least, whatever name it was going by at the time), or if you had seen it at one time or another. Sam wasn't particularly worried about doing the ritual right.
What he wanted to know was why Ruby had chosen this particular host. She wouldn't be able to say that she hadn't known who she was possessing, because Sam knew she'd been in Utah already, and she had told him repeatedly that she was doing everything she could to keep her body from being damaged. Broken arms were nothing compared to stabbing or torture.
Or being thrown from the seventh floor of a warehouse, his mind reminded him unhelpfully of the girl Meg had possessed before they had sent her to Hell.
"Ready?" Dean asked.
Sam looked down at the table and nodded. He lit a match and dropped it in the middle bowl of their set-up, watching the herbs catch fire in a shower of bright sparks that lasted only a few seconds before going out.
Then they waited.
"What the fuck?"
Ruby had managed to materialize right inside the Devil's Trap Sam had taped to the floor of their motel room.
"I don't think that's the kind of language Alexia would use," Dean pointed out dryly, and Ruby stopped moving inside her confines, slowly turning Alexia's brown eyes on the brothers.
"Excuse me?" she said softly.
"Alexia Fisher," Sam said. "Cousin to Taryn Fisher who is girlfriend to Roxanne Parker who was best friend of Danielle Palmer, a psychic like me."
"Danielle opened the Devil's Gate," Ruby said. "Your point?"
"What were you doing clear out in London?" Sam asked. "And why Alexia?"
"You'd better answer," Dean said firmly, "or you're goin' straight back to Hell the way I've wanted since the get-go."
Sam watched as Ruby narrowed Alexia's eyes, body tense and fists clenched. "I'm from a little town called Dudley," she finally answered. "I had no idea where I was when I first came through the Gate, so I found some waitress at a diner in Cheyenne and got my bearings - and my fry addiction - before heading across the ocean."
"Why go to your home town?" asked Sam with a frown.
"I didn't think demons were the sentimental type," Dean added.
"We're not," Ruby said sharply. "Well, the rest aren't. I just… I wanted to know if my father had actually buried me or not. Most people were usually buried in mass graves back then with the plague goin' on, but I had an actual grave marker." She smiled slightly. "After that, I headed back across the ocean to find you and my trusty knife." She patted Alexia's thigh, where the demon-killing blade was still strapped firmly to her jeans.
"You knew who you were possessing, didn't you?" Sam said.
"Not at first," Ruby sighed. "I was using her laptop to learn more about these modern times and I came across her MySpace page."
"What's a MySpace?" Dean asked with a frown. "No one will tell me."
"Never mind," Sam said quickly. "But why didn't you give her up if you were so determined not to damage her?"
"I figured it out after our first meeting," Ruby said with a scowl, "and by then she'd already been reported as missing. I tried to drop her off in an alley in Salt Lake City, but that's when I got cornered by those demons I told you about and received the broken arm." She looked down for a few seconds. "I think Taryn spotted me along with Alexia's mother."
Sam watched Ruby for a few seconds. "How do you expect me to trust you when you're in a body of a person whose disappearance affects others I know?"
"She's still alive!" Ruby said loudly. "Alive and fine! Her arm's healed and she's never been shot or stabbed -"
"What about mentally?" Dean cut in. "How is she doing with a demon controlling her? Is she scarred for life because of what you are? Traumatized beyond belief by the things you've already done?"
"Shut up," Ruby said quietly. "I'm only doing what needs to be done so you two come out of this alive."
"Save it," Dean snapped before Sam could say anything. "There's nothing else that needs be said while you're still wearing that girl." He walked over, bent down and ripped a piece of the tape off the floor. "Don't expect either of us to listen to another word you have to say until you find something without a life." He stepped away and glared at Ruby, who glared right back before vanishing.
"That was harsh," Sam said.
"Don't care," Dean replied. "I need a drink." He grabbed his keys, stuffed his wallet in his coat and headed for the door. "Coming?"
"No," Sam said. "Have fun, I guess."
Dean nodded and left the motel, the Impala roaring to life less than 30 seconds later. Sam sighed and slumped into his chair, looking over at his laptop and wondering if Alexia really was all right, or if Dean had been right on the mark. Rubbing at his face, he slid closer to the table and started writing out an email to Roxy, letting her know that he knew what had become of Taryn's cousin.
Unfortunately, things rarely go the way we expect.
Nearly 900 miles south in Provo, Roxy was reading a book in the front room of her home when the doorbell rang. "Coming!" Taryn called out before Roxy could even get her bookmark in place. She closed her book and rose to her feet as Taryn sailed by, reaching the front door and pulling it open.
"Hey," said a female voice that Roxy swore she knew but couldn't place.
A few moments later, Taryn breathed, "Alexia?"
Roxy flew around the corner just in time to see Taryn pulling her missing cousin into her arms. "You're alive! Where have you been? How'd you get home! Oh, Lex, everyone's been so worried about you -!"
Roxy froze as Taryn tried to pull Alexia into the house. Tried, and failed to get her cousin over the welcome mat other their side of the door. Shit, Roxy's mind whispered.
"What -? Lexie -"
"I'm not Alexia," Taryn's cousin said quietly. "Well, not at the moment, anyway."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Taryn asked, stepping back and bumping into Roxy. "I don't understand…"
"She's not your cousin," Roxy said. "Who are you?" she directed at the girl.
Alexia gave Roxy a cold look before her eyes flashed black. "My name is Ruby," she answered. "I'm here to return Alexia's body."
Taryn screamed and tried to back away, but Roxy held her tightly. "You're a demon," Roxy spat out angrily. "Why should I believe a word you say?"
Ruby groaned. "Because Sam and Dean made me come here," she finally answered, sticking her hands out in supplication, eyes back to brown once more. "I swear I tried to give her back a week ago, but I got cornered by other demons and had to run for it before Alexia could get more than a broken arm -"
"I saw you!" Taryn cried. "I knew it!"
Ruby rolled Alexia's eyes and scowled. The expression looked out of place on Taryn's normally-reserved cousin. In fact, her entire outfit looked out of place, from the tight jeans to the leather jacket and boots.
"Yes," Ruby said flatly. "You surely did, Taryn." She returned her gaze to Roxy. "Now, would you let me out so I can get outta this meatsuit and go find something dead to possess?"
Roxy raised her eyebrows as Taryn gasped out "Let you out of what?" in a high-pitched voice that made Roxy think her girlfriend might be on the verge of passing out.
"I still don't see why I should trust you," she finally said. "I'm told most every demon knows the Winchesters, and you must be fucking insane if you expect me to believe that you're some kind of friendly demon. There's no such thing."
Ruby glared at Roxy. "Well, I am friendly," she said shortly. "Call Sam if it makes you feel better, he'll confirm what I've said. Then you can have your precious goody-two shoes back and I can get on with my life."
Roxy stared at the demon for a long moment before reaching into her back pocket to pull out her phone. She selected Sam from her contacts and waited while the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Wanna tell me why I have a demon standing in my entryway?" Roxy asked dryly.
"Wait, Ruby's already there?"
"You know her?"
"Yeah, she's helped me and Dean out a few times," Sam answered. "We told her to find a new body to inhabit, but I didn't expect her to give Alexia back until she'd already found something else."
Roxy stared at Ruby. "How has a demon helped you?"
"She…" Sam sighed over the line. "She's saved our lives a couple times, delivered good intel, stuff like that."
Ruby crossed Alexia's arms and cocked her hip out in a way that Alexia would never have been able to pull off. "How can you trust her?" she finally asked. "She's a demon, you've taught me that they're chaotic and evil and shit!"
"Her emotions are different, Roxy," Sam said after a few seconds. "She's more human-like than any other demon I've come across."
Roxy pressed her lips together. "Are you sure?" she asked quietly. "I mean, if Dani could've fooled you with her emotions -"
"I'm sure," Sam cut her off, voice sharper than it had ever been in her presence. "Let her out of the Trap and she'll stop possessing Alexia, I promise you."
Roxy swallowed and looked back at the demon before her. "All right," she said softly. "Take care, Sam." She shut her phone and released her hold on Taryn.
"Believe me now?" Ruby asked sarcastically.
"Shut up," Roxy said, grabbing her butterfly knife from her purse on the entryway table and bending down to lift up a corner of the welcome mat. She opened her knife and sliced through an edge of the Devil's Trap drawn underneath. "Get out of Lex," she told the demon. "Don't ever come here again, you hear me?"
"Crystal clear," Ruby snarked before tipping Alexia's head back. Black smoke shot out of the redhead's mouth as Alexia screamed and zoomed out the still-open front door, vanishing into the evening light.
Alexia dropped to the floor like a stone. "Lexie!" Taryn shouted, shooting forward and dropping to her knees beside Roxy. "Oh God, please be all right…"
Roxy already had her fingers pressed to Alexia's pulse. "Heart's beating," she said softly, "and she's breathing. C'mon, let's get her to the couch."
Taryn nodded jerkily and helped move her cousin into the front room. Roxy returned to the front door, shutting it and locking it before turning the welcome mat over and glaring down at the cut she had made. "Gonna need a new mat," she muttered angrily, stalking into the kitchen to grab the large bag of rock salt she and Danielle had kept in supply for emergencies such as this. She dragged it back over the front door and laid out a salt line in a semi-circle that would still allow the door to swing open without breaking it. After returning the bag to the pantry before grabbing two glasses of water for Taryn and her cousin and heading back into the front room.
Alexia was still unconscious, Taryn sitting silently beside her with one of her hands clasped between her own. Roxy swallowed hard, setting the glasses down on the coffee table and taking a seat on the lazy boy adjacent to the couch.
There was nothing said for a very long time.
"How long have you been lying to me?" Taryn finally asked, voice devoid of all emotion.
Roxy swallowed hard. "About your cousin, or the fact that demons exist?"
"Either," Taryn said. "Both. All of it."
Roxy closed her eyes and prayed for courage. "I've known about demons since the end of November," she said quietly, opening her eyes and watching her girlfriend as she continued to gaze down at Alexia. "Danielle told me. She learned from the Winchesters maybe a month before that. I've only known that Alexia had been possessed by a demon since earlier this morning, but I didn't know which one until… well, until this."
"Seven months," Taryn said quietly. She slowly lifted her head and fixed her own brown eyes on Roxy. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I wasn't sure you wouldn't think me and Dani were insane," Roxy said simply. "It took me three days to believe Dani when she told me, and I didn't get to see any demon possessions or whatever as proof." She smiled sadly. "I had to take her word on it, and it was hard."
"I thought Catholics believed in demons," Taryn said.
"I stopped going to Mass when I was legally able to make my own decisions," Roxy said with a raised eyebrow. "Dani… she was always more religious than me."
Taryn nodded and looked back down at her cousin. "Tell me everything," she said. "How did Danielle learn about demons? What about Sam and Dean? Does Dani's family know? Am I the only one left out of the loop?"
Roxy blinked hard a few times. "I was trying to protect you."
"Like Dani protected you?" Taryn snapped, turning a glare on Roxy. "She always told you everything, but you couldn't do the same with your own girlfriend? Do I really mean that little to you?"
"No!" Roxy shouted desperately, and Alexia jerked slightly before stilling again. "Dani never wanted her family to know, either, but her dad got possessed by a demon, and the exorcism was loud enough to catch their attention. I refused to let Danielle back into my life completely until she explained the reasoning behind those seven fucking months of shitty behavior, and then I almost didn't believe her when she told me the truth!" She rose and stared down at her love. "It is hard, knowing that there are demons and ghosts and werewolves and shapeshifters and all kinds of monsters out there. It's hard, knowing that Sam and Dean grew up learning to hunt and kill the things that go bump in the night. But the hardest thing is knowing that Danielle fucking died believing that destiny is real, and I don't even know why! She lost Jared to this world, and then I lost her, so can you really blame me for trying to protect the one good thing I have left?"
The silence the followed Roxy's outburst hung between them heavily for several seconds before a sob forced its way out of Roxy's throat. She turned away, covering her face with her hands as she tried to keep it all together.
"I'm sorry," Taryn whispered. "I didn't know."
"You weren't supposed to ever know," Roxy replied, voice breaking.
"I'm getting that," Taryn chuckled wetly. "Do… d'you think maybe you could tell it all to me now, though?"
Roxy sniffed and nodded, forcing herself to turn back to the two redheads on the couch. Alexia was still out of it, but her face was peaceful.
Sinking back onto the lazy boy chair, Roxy took a moment to gather her thoughts before speaking. "Back in 1972, a yellow-eyed demon called Azazel possessed a priest and disemboweled eight nuns at St. Mary's convent in Ilchester, Maryland. We don't know what he trying to achieve, but he learned something that night that led to him finding couples across the country and making Deals with them."
"Deals?" Taryn echoed softly.
"Crossroads Deals," Roxy said, "like, straight out of Faust."
"The German legends?" Taryn said with a frown. "You get what you want, but after x amount of years, the Devil claims your soul and you go to Hell for eternity?"
"You know about that?"
Taryn gestured to Alexia and called her a 'world mythology and folklore major' in a quiet voice. "That's part of why she was in London last month, for a symposium." She took a deep breath. "So, this Azazel guy, he claimed their souls?"
"Well," Roxy said, "Azazel wasn't claiming souls, not exactly." She went on to explain, by way of what had happened to Harry and Lydia Young, what Azazel was doing across the country. "Ten years later, Dani, Sam and a bunch of other kids were all born one month premature in either May or June of 1983. Six months after each child was born, Azazel visited them and fed them all a few drops of demon's blood."
That led to basics about the lives of Sam, Dean and their father after their mother's untimely death, and was followed by what had happened to Danielle. It never got any easier, thinking about how Jared had been taken from Danielle, nor about how difficult the following months had been before Sam and Dean had shown up, hunting down a powerful ghost who's best friend lived next door.
After that came the trip to Oregon, the month of lessons, Roxy's introduction to the world of the supernatural, the Winchesters second visit in January before Taryn moved in, and then she reached the part where Danielle had been taken by demons to join a sick game nearly a thousand miles away.
"Game?" Taryn prompted after a few seconds passed without Roxy saying anything.
"Azazel only needed one of them alive," she said softly, nodding at the horrified expression on Taryn's face. "It was a competition to see who the best was. Ava Wilson was that champion until Dani showed up."
"Danielle killed her?" Taryn whispered with wide eyes.
"That kill was in self-defense," Roxy couldn't help but defend her dead friend. "The other deaths after that…" She had to pause to keep herself from giving into the urge to cry. "Sam got taken there two days after Ava's death with three other psychics. Dani… she controlled a demon and made it kill the others before Sam learned the truth, and he tried to convince her to stop…" She scrubbed at her face. "Dean and Bobby showed up just in time to watch Dani stab Sam in the back, severing his spine and…" She couldn't stop her sob this time. "She kept going on about destiny and saving everyone else but herself and Sam tried to get her to stop -"
"But Sam's alive," Taryn broke in. "Sam's alive and Dani's dead. Roxy, what happened?"
Roxy sniffed and wiped away her tears. "Dean made a Deal," she finally answered. "He's going to Hell next year."
Taryn placed a hand over her mouth in shock. Roxy couldn't help the bubble of dark laughter that escaped. "I know," she said. "Azazel had Dani go to southern Wyoming where a Devil's Gate was kept under lock and key - the key was that gun I mentioned, the Colt - and she opened those doors and let over two-hundred demons free. Sam tried to get her to stop, but she - she said she had to, and I don't know why!" Roxy pressed her lips together and blinked hard once again. "My best friend forced Sam to shoot her because there was no other way to make her stop, and then she died in his arms, talking about seeing Jared again and saying she had fixed the fucking world like God had commanded her to or something, and all I get is a fucking letter saying she had to break her promise and I'll understand why someday -"
And with those words, the floodgates opened and Roxy lost herself in the sea of despair she'd been trying to stay afloat in since learning her best friend was dead. She felt Taryn's arms wrap around her and she clung to her lover tightly, sobbing into her chest as Taryn murmured soft words of comfort and love.
There was nothing fair about life, and Roxy had been a fool to think otherwise at any point. She wished, deep down in her heart that she could forget it all, that she could go back to those more innocent days where the most complicated thing in life was balancing her schoolwork in theater with her job to pay her portion of the monthly rent. But now there was a whole other layer to the world and everything was sharper and harder and five times as likely to bite you in the ass or burn you until there was nothing left and how did anyone actually deal with any of it?
Roxy continued to sob, feeling only the slightest hint of happiness that Taryn was still there and wasn't letting go.
Ruby showed up two days later.
Sam instantly recognized her emotions when he first sensed her demonic presence, and as he approached the door of the latest motel room door (somewhere in Nevada), he realized that there was something different about Ruby this time.
He opened the door to see a blonde-haired girl with blue eyes and a scowl. "Jane Doe," she announced, "comatose, found in the subways of New York, taken off life support and thoroughly dead before I took up residence." Which meant Sam could only sense Ruby in that body, no suppressed soul to bother either of them. Ruby held up actual paperwork from the hospital the body had been in and stepped past Sam and into the room. "You so owe me fries for this."
Sam rolled his eyes and shut the door.
"Where's Dean?" Ruby asked, dropping onto the nearest bed.
"Somewhere getting drunk," Sam said, "most likely with a girl lookin' for a good time. Why are you here?"
"You didn't wanna see my new body?" Ruby asked with mock sadness. "I'm trying to play by your rules."
"Good for you," Sam dead-panned, walking past the demon to sit at the rickety table in the corner where his laptop was up and running. "I'm busy."
"Got a new job?" Ruby asked.
Sam glanced at Ruby. "Vengeful spirit down near Barstow," he finally answered. "We're heading there in the morning."
"Great," Ruby said. "Now, about those fries…"
"I don't owe you anything," Sam said simply. "You say you wanna help, but besides saving our lives once and helping to fix the Colt, you've yet to come through on helping me figure out who holds Dean's contract so I can kill them."
"Her," Ruby said. "But you already knew that. How was the Crossroads Demon you talked to? I bet she loves talking to you crazy Winchester boys."
"I sent her back to Hell," Sam said shortly. "But I know the demon that wants me dead is the same one who holds the contract. Got a name?"
"No," Ruby said.
"Then we have nothing left to talk about."
There was a moment of silence.
"I know about Dean's time trip," Ruby finally said.
Sam looked at the blonde and narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me?"
"Dean's trip back in time," Ruby clarified, leaning back on her arms and smirking at Sam. "The trip that set Azazel's sights on your family and left it cursed."
"We're not cursed," Sam echoed Dean's words from what felt like years ago.
"Look," Ruby said, "I don't know when Dean's going back in time, and I don't know how, but I do know that after Azazel fried your mom that he thought it was best to kill all her relatives so John wouldn't learn about the Colt any faster." Sam frowned and Ruby continued, "There's a library of journals, all written by the Campbells over the many, many years they've been Hunters, and one of them? He managed to get his hands on Samuel Colt's personal records. Azazel couldn't afford to let any knowledge of the magic gun of awesome get out before it was time to open the Devil's Gate in Wyoming."
"How do you know all this?" Sam finally asked.
Ruby shrugged. "Found Derrick, tortured him a little 'til he told me something useful, let him escape, that kind of thing." She grinned. "He wasn't too happy to learn that Tara was dead."
Sam snorted and turned away. "Good to know," he said. "Anything else you wanna tell me or are you leaving now?"
Ruby huffed and rose to her feet. "I'm trying to find out everything I can to help you," she said after a moment, "but you've gotta understand that every demon out there thinks I'm a traitor. It's going to be difficult to find out any information about this demon you wanna kill until she decides to let you know."
Sam nodded and kept his gaze on his computer screen as Ruby let herself out. She paused in the doorway. "Dean doesn't know about his Back to the Future moment, does he?"
Sam shook his head and Ruby gave a short huff of a laugh. "Nice to see you're so open and trusting of your own flesh and blood." The door shut behind her before Sam could think to say anything in response. He groaned and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his face and stretching as he considered what Ruby had said. He trusted Dean, right?
So why was he keeping secrets?
Unable to force himself to deal with these questions, Sam returned his attention to his laptop, pulling up his email to see a new message from Roxy. She reported in simple words that Alexia was awake, coherent, and mostly unaware of her time spent under possession. Taryn now knew the truth about Danielle and demons and the like, and that they were all dealing the best they could with everything that had happened.
So, Roxy was angry, Dean was probably drunk, and the clock was still ticking. Sam gave up on doing any more research and went to bed. The mess their lives had become was only getting worse, and Sam wasn't sure he could do a damn thing to fix it.
Gordon -
The FBI agents have left Utah and returned to D.C. to work on other cases. We need to learn how to subdue a psychic like Sam, and according to that Brady kid, there's a drug out there that should do the trick. I'll send you any research I can dig up on the matter, but in the meantime, this is a list of Sam's known abilities. I think we're gonna need a more recent contact of his to confirm it, though:
- visions
- telekinesis
- super-strength
- electrokinesis
- mind control
- empathy
I'll review everything those agents learned in Utah, see if maybe one of the people they interviewed there is likely to have the answers to our questions. Let me know how things go in St. Louis, OK?
- Finn
Gordon frowned thoughtfully as he shut down the computer in front of him and turned to his latest captive. "Now," he said, "you're sure you never knew your friend was a psychic freak?"
Rebecca Warren glared at him. "One-hundred percent," she said shortly. "Sam never bent any spoons or predicted any disasters in the entire time that I knew him."
Gordon narrowed his eyes slightly. "I believe you," he finally said. "Sam does seem to be rather secretive."
Rebecca shrugged. "He never talked about his family or much of his life growing up. If he's got… powers, or whatever, there's no way he would've talked about it." She tugged at the handcuffs strapping her to a chair in her own kitchen. "You done with the interrogation yet?" she asked.
Gordon chuckled. "You've got quite the attitude, Little Becky." Rebecca glared even harder at him. "Yes, I'm done." He set the key to the cuffs in Rebecca's left hand. "Have fun. Don't tell Sam we talked, or I'll be back and this" - he picked up his gun and waved it in her face - "will be more than just a prop to threaten you with. Do we understand each other?"
Rebecca nodded. "Get out of my apartment."
Gordon let himself out and headed for his car, pulling out his phone as he whistled lightly. It was time to gather the team back together. So much to do, so little time.
He pulled out a small device from his back pocket as he dialed Kubrick's number and pressed the button on it, still whistling as he put his phone to his ear.
A split second later, Rebecca Warren's apartment exploded. After all, it wasn't like he could really expect one of Sam's friends to keep their mouth shut about an unexpected visit, right?
It never once occurred to the Hunter that he had crossed a line that he couldn't go back over again.
TBC...
Chapter Nine