They pulled into a hotel a few hours later with four jugs full of demon blood. Sam had decided that half a pint twice a day was the ideal dosage. It kept him strong enough to kill demons easily without sending his system into overdrive. He'd have to make an exception if they ended up going after someone as strong as Lilith or Alistair, but beyond that, he'd be fine.

Demon blood didn't spoil easy, but he spent the night outfitting the trunk of his car with a recessed cooling compartment he could store the blood in anyway. They left again the next morning. She was getting used to him being awake nights. She kind of liked it. It made him seem more like her. He was more like her, in all the ways that mattered.

They went on like that for weeks — hunting, stopping on occasion to heal, or find the right weapons, or restock demon blood. It was nice.

And then Dean called.


Ruby had known it was just a matter of time. The brothers never stayed away from each other for good. The surprising part was that Sam ignored Dean's first three calls. When he did pick up, the conversation was brief — little more than a "I'm fine, Dean."

Dean called back again when they were on their way to a motel, but Sam let it go to voicemail.

"What did he want?" she asked.

"Wanted to ask me if I knew anything about exsanguinated humans with signs of prior demonic possession."

"Told you we should have burned the bodies."

"It doesn't matter, I'm not hunting with him anymore. What does he care if I'm drinking demon blood again?"

She shook her head. Sam might have been sharper in some ways without his soul, but he was dumb as a stump in others. "He cares because you're still his brother. As far as he's concerned, anyway."

"We'll head out again in a few hours, I just want to get cleaned up and make some stakes. If I'm right about this, there's probably more than one nest of vampires in town."

"Okay." They'd take down the vamps easy. Sam's reflexes were better than ever and with the added power of the demon blood, vampires didn't pose too much trouble. It wasn't the upcoming fight that was making her nervous. It was something about the motel room. She sensed it the moment they stepped inside. "Sam—"

"Ruby?" Dean asked, venom in his voice as he glared at her. "It's you, isn't it? Thought we killed you."

"I got better," Ruby said quietly. She eyed Dean as Castiel stepped up beside him.

"That's how you got here so quickly," Sam said. "Castiel, haven't seen you around in a while. What've you been up to?"

The angel looked at him oddly. "There's a war in Heaven. I've been busy."

Sam nodded, "So why are you here?"

"Dean is worried about you. He said you were drinking demon blood again." Castiel narrowed his eyes. "And he was right."

"Could you two give me and my brother a minute alone, please," Dean said, barely restrained fury making his voice low.

Castiel looked at Ruby and said, "I'll be back. Waiting outside with her would be...awkward."

"Thanks, feathers. Wouldn't kill you to try being polite." Ruby opened the door and stepped outside, leaning against the wall of the motel with her arms folded across her chest.

She heard their voices — Dean's rising and falling, Sam's always steady. It was Dean who left first. He slammed the door and his mouth twitched angrily, but he didn't look at her. He just kept walking across the parking lot until he met up with Castiel again, who'd reappeared near the Vacancysign. They vanished a moment later.

Sam was sitting by the motel table with four stakes and was sharpening one of them.

"So what'd he say?" she asked.

"He said he'd find a way to fix me." Sam shrugged. "I told him what you said, that I didn't have my soul. Not sure if he believed me or not. Doesn't really matter."

"It matters if he figures out a way to get it back," she said.

"Can he?"

She shook her head. "Like I said, nothing I know is powerful enough to pull a soul out of Lucifer's cage. But then again, you two have done the impossible a few times now."

"Whatever. Go shower if you want. I'll take one after and then we'll go track down some vampires when the sun comes up."


"I think you need to assume Dean will find a way to get your soul back," Ruby told Sam a few hours later. She'd had enough time to mull it over, and her gut told her Dean wasn't going to let this go.

"But you said it was—"

"I know what I said, but…your brother is tenacious. He'll figure out something."

"Okay, so what do I do about it?"

"We need to figure out what's strong enough to re-soul you, and make sure we're protected against it."

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Whatever it is would have to be stronger than Lucifer right? That doesn't leave many options."

"No, it doesn't."

She started researching while he showered, and finally convinced Sam the vampires needed to wait a little bit. It was important that they kept Sam the way he was.

He agreed and they spent nearly half the day looking for answers. They didn't find any, but had to take a break to get some really late lunch, or early dinner.

It finally hit her when she was squeezing ketchup onto her plate. "Death could do it."

"What?"

"Death, the Horseman. He could get a soul out of the cage."

Sam swallowed. It was the closest to nervous she'd seen him in weeks. "You think Dean could convince him to do it?"

Ruby took a thoughtful bite of her fry. "I wouldn't put it past him."

"What do we do? How do you…stop Death?"

"You don't." She scoffed. "There aren't a whole lot of things as strong as him." She had a thought, but then dismissed it when she realized it was impossible. Unless…it wasn't.

"There's one other person who could open the cage."

"Who?"

"You. You're Lucifer's vessel. You could set him free again."

"Why the hell would I want to do that?"

"Because if Lucifer walks the Earth again, then all the signs and portents, all the monsters that go hand in hand with him will be at full strength again."

"Ruby, what are you trying to say?" Sam looked annoyed.

"There's a child. A cambion — born of a demon and a human. It would be powerless now, with Lucifer imprisoned, but if he's freed, then this child could—"

"Destroy the entire host of Heaven?" Sam finished. "We met him. His name is Jesse. He turned Castiel into an action figure."

Ruby blinked, dumbfounded.

"He disappeared. Didn't want any part of the Apocalypse. We told him to — it was the only way to keep his family safe."

"That's great. So — you have no idea where he is, then?"

"No, but…he's part demon isn't he? Even if he's powerless?"

Ruby could feel her lips quirk. "You have another map handy?"