Battle of Evermore

Sharp Shooter - Pony

Prologue; Flirtin' With Disaster

Disclaimer; I own nothing.

Tree branches whipped across his face, caught on the ripped knees of his jeans, but he didn't notice. He'd been chasing the damned thing since the parking lot, and he was determined to catch up. The parking lot … Dean was still there, bloody and only half conscious. Damn demon. If only he'd known, they could have been more prepared. No time for thinking, have to get it. His eyes strained in the darkness to see the figure of the possessed man running in front of him, spotting him not too far ahead on the trail. If it would just break its stride for a mere second he could reach it - there was his chance! He tackled the demon to the ground before it could even straighten itself from the fumbled it made over a fallen tree limb.

"Got'cha, bastard!"

The demon groaned under his weight, but still managed a strained laugh. "Thought you'd never catch up, Johnny."

He ignored the comment. Keeping one arm locked around the demon's neck, he used the other to reach into his back pocket and pull out a flask of holy water. It wasn't until the demon hissed with pain at the touch of the stuff that John Winchester let a smile cross his face. "Guess you thought wrong." Not missing a beat, he started right into Latin chant.

The demon writhed beneath him, just managing to spit out the words," I wouldn't do that."

John faltered, pausing in the middle of the memorized exorcism ritual. This wasn't the first time a demon had tried to persuade him to stop mid-chant, but the way this one spoke, it sounded like it meant business. John humored it," And why's that?"

"Got a friend in Georgia, knows a thing or two 'bout you wife."

"You sonuvabitch." John gritted his teeth, pressing down harder on his shoulder so it dug into the demon's wind pipe enough to cause it pain without doing too much damage to the possessed body. "Do you think that's gonna get you out of this? You got a one way ticket back to hell, so if I were you, I'd shut the hell up."

The demon wheezed as it continued to talk, ignoring John's warning," Sh-she can do something … Something about your wife."

John started chanting again. He barely heard the demon's final pleas to be released; anger pulsing through him so much all he could focus on was the words to the exorcism. The words, being said through clenched teeth, finally ended, and a gush of smoke rushed out of the body the demon had been possessing, black hatred disappearing in a cloud, screaming painfully as it went. John watched it leave, than got off of the man who was now shaking and questioning 'what the hell is going on'. John led him out of the woods, calming him along the way and only half explaining what had happened to him and what had been inside him.

When they reached the parking lot, John made sure the man made it safely to his car. He then got into his own car, checking on Dean, who was sprawled across the back seat, and who managed to flash a thumbs-up sign at John. With everyone essentially okay, John took off down the road, headed back to the motel where Sammy was waiting for them to return.

All the while, John's one thought was – Georgia.

He spent that night, after patching Dean up and making sure he didn't have a concussion from the impact with the black top earlier, planning and researching. He spent the next two days doing just about the same, until he felt prepared enough, and sure enough about what he was heading into, to tell his boys they were hitting the road again.

Dean was driving right now, something John only let him do because he needed some shut eye, but found his mind still stuck on what he was going to do. For you Mary, I'll do it. He just hoped he was making the right decision.

A/N: So? Good, bad? Let me know either way.