A/N: This story picks up after Even Heroes Need a Hero. It mentions things throughout that are more easily followed if you read that story first. It is the first of three that I am working on that tie directly in to that story. I hope everyone enjoys and reviews are welcome and greatly appreciated even if I can't reply to every one. Just to let you know I still own nothing but Kira and her involvement with our favorite guys. Kripke owns the rest (sniffle). Oh, and I am the proud owner of a new character in this story. You'll meet her a couple chapters in. Let me know if she should stay or go. That's still up in the air. Ladies and gents let me introduce you to Andreana (a.k.a Drea.)

A/N2: Any Latin in this story was picked up either from bits and pieces taken from the show or from an unreliable internet translator and therefore a load of crap made up to make the story flow better. Don't pay too much attention to it. It probably doesn't make any sense at all, especially if you know Latin. The entire ritual is made up and to my knowledge nothing like it exists. It is all pulled either from my overactive imagination or somewhere else.

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Sacrifices of the Heart

Chapter 1: Love and Heartbreak

"What do you mean dangerous, Bobby? How can this thing be dangerous? The ritual reads like I'd just be asking the Demigod for a favor."

"Yeah, Sam, you're asking the thing for a favor at a huge cost to the asker! The ritual must be performed in the spirit's realm. It's turf. You have to connect with the thing through the spell and talk to it. If it finds you worthy it'll grant your request, sure, but then the thing takes what it wants from you as payment."

"What?"

"Sam, that damn thing rips the soul from your body and picks over it, taking what it wants. It can take your abilities or your life, whatever it wants more! Only one person has ever survived. That was the monk who originally came up with it. The Demigod took the monks psychic abilities as payment."

"I'd give up my abilities if I could save Dean. No qualms about it."

"Sam, dammit would you jus' shut up and listen for a minute! The monk was left with nothing. His abilities were based in the use of his senses. That damn thing took his sight, speech, touch, everything! It took his humanity from him in return for the favor it granted. The guy was left in a world of darkness. He was catatonic for the rest of his life! Dean'll kill you if he finds out you're even thinkin' about this. Hell, I should kill you!"

"So Dean won't find out, Bobby. Besides what do I have that that thing could want?"

"Damn you Sam! You're still not frickin' listening to me! If for some reason it can't find some ability it craves it just takes your life! You are the most powerful psychic left alive. It'll take everything from you, you know that!"

"It's still worth it. Anything is worth it for Dean." Sam said quietly before hanging up on Bobby.

"What is worth it for Dean, Sam?" Kira said as she came into the bedroom and walked up behind Sam. She saw the tension in his back and shoulders and couldn't help but reach for him. He flinched.

"Kira…" Sam let his voice trail off, not sure how much he could tell her before she went to Dean. He couldn't risk having his big brother find out what he had planned. He decided evasion was the best course and cleared his mind before Kira could pick up on his thoughts.

Kira had had enough. Sam wasn't telling her something. She slammed the screen down on the laptop and spun him in the chair with more force than necessary.

"What has gotten into you? Baby, talk to me, please."

"Bobby and I were just talking about that ritual that he pointed out to me." Sam said, still evading Kira's gaze. He knew she was angry that he was holding back.

"And what is worth giving up for Dean? This ritual is really dangerous isn't it?" Kira sat on the edge of the desk and reached for Sam. He pushed away from the desk and paced across the room, forcing a hand through his long, chin length hair.

"Isn't it, Sam?" she inquired again, standing from the desk and taking one step towards him. She faltered at his silence. Suddenly he turned from the window and the darkness outside, and crossed the room pulling her into his arms.

"Yes. It can be dangerous, depending on what the Demigod decides to take from me as payment. I don't have any say in that."

"You mean it could take your abilities?"

"Yes."

"Or your life?"

"Yes."

"Sam, answer something for me. Are you doing this for Dean or for yourself?"

"Honestly? I don't know. I do know that I have to try."

Kira squeezed Sam tightly and buried her face in his muscular chest. "I know you do. I just wish I wasn't so scared for you."

Sam released her from his death grip and moved back a couple inches so he could grasp her head with both hands and raise her sparkling chocolate brown eyes to meet his. "Hey, I know this scares the hell out of you, especially now that we've moved ahead with out lives, but I have to do this Kira. Dean has less than five months left and I can't let him go. I have to do anything I can to try and break this deal. I need to do this before we go further with our lives. If something happens to me…"

"Sam, no!" Kira pulled out of Sam's grasp as she interrupted him in the middle of that awful sentence. She stalked to the window and stared out into the night. Sam could see her reflection in the glass and saw the tears in her eyes that she refused to let fall. He moved towards her in quiet strides. He wrapped his strong arms around her from behind and bent low, kissing her on the neck.

"Kira, you have to hear this. I know it's not something you want to think about but you have to." He squeezed her tighter. "If something does happen to me with this ritual I want you to promise me that you will move on. Forget me. Forget hunting. Find someone and have a normal life. Dean will need you though, so please don't forget him."

She leaned back into Sam. "How can you ask me to do that?" She was no longer fighting the tears and they streamed unchecked down her face, breaking Sam's heart as he watched her reflection. "To forget you and what I've become? I know how you feel every time Dean asks you to forget about helping him. You can't ask me to do that if you can't do it yourself. Sam, I can't. I won't."

He reached a hand up to where the tears streamed down her face, following the reflection in the pane of glass that separated them from the night. He wiped them from her face with a large hand. He used a gentle pressure to turn her face towards him. She arched as he kissed her tears away, turning her face more towards his as his lips brushed the paths her tears made down over her cheekbones. She tried to turn around in his arms but he tightened them as his mouth kissed its way to her lips. The hand that had followed her tears now found its way to her neck and lower as they locked themselves together. Kira felt Sam's heart speed up where her back was pressed against his chest. Hers jumped to match his rhythm perfectly.

I can't forget you. You're my life, Sam. You will get through this. You'll save Dean and we'll get married. We'll have kids and grow old and go wherever, together.

I love you. And with that Sam spent the rest of the night showing her how much.