Chapter 2

Everything had gone to hell in a hand basket in a heartbeat. By the time they'd been able to break into the bar, by backing Bobby's car through the front doors, fighting off demons with holy water, and Dean managing to throw the original demon they'd been tracking into the Devil's trapped trunk – Isaac was dead. A victim of the demons. Tamara was understandably hysterical and Laney who had never been in such a large group of very powerful demons who were all focused on killing them, had trouble regaining her equilibrium. They'd made it back to the house Tamara and Isaac had been squatting in and were trying to piece together the next steps of their plan, which basically involved just making sure no one else got killed.

Laney was researching for answers on what they were facing. She focused her mind and went over the texts they had available. Whatever those demons were, she had to figure it out and fast. Their captured demon was tied up and secure as he was going to get, but she was thrown off her game by how powerful he and his friends were; powerful in a different way than Yellow-Eyes had been, and in many ways, much more terrifying.

"I'm going back to that bar!" Tamara yelled.

"No, you can't go back there." Sam tried to reason.

"I'm going with her," said Dean.

"That's suicide!" shouted Sam.

"What difference does it make? I'm dead already," Dean said, flatly.

Laney wasn't so absorbed in what she was doing that she didn't catch Dean's remark. She could do little to react or think about it. She swallowed the hurt and shoved it down. Now wasn't the time.

"And what are you going to do? How are you going to kill them? You can't just stab them. You can't shoot them and they're not just going to stand in line and wait to be exorcised," said Sam.

"I don't care!" shouted Tamara.

"You don't even know how many of them there are!"

"Yes, we do," interrupted Laney, coming to stand between Sam and Dean. "We do," she breathed out again. The puzzle pieces had fallen together. "There are seven of them. You won't believe who were are up against."

"Who?" asked Dean.

"The Seven deadly sins; live and in the flesh."

Laney felt everyone's emotions in the room like a scream, the tension became like a tight cord around her neck and she had to mentally adjust for it. As it was, she was humming with the power of the demon in the other room. Her whole body felt like electricity was running through her veins and the ever present headache was elevated several notches, her body aching down to her bones.

Dean made a totally inappropriate comment and Laney slammed the book she'd been holding into his hands.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Bensfield's Classification of Demons. In 1589 he identified the seven deadly sins and not just as human vices but as actual devils," said Laney.

"That family, the one at the house, they were touched by sloth," Sam realized. "And the shop?"

"Envy," said Bobby. "Our customer in the next room."

Laney nodded. It was no wonder that the intensity of her senses had been off the scale. These were no ordinary demons.

"And Isaac," continued Bobby. "Touched with an awful gluttony."

"I don't give a rat's ass if they're The Three Stooges or the Four Tops. I'm going to slaughter every last one of them!" yelled Tamara.

Bobby stalked up to Tamara. "We already did it your way. You rushed in their half-cocked and guns blazing and look what happened. These demons haven't been topside in half a millennium. We're talking medieval, dark ages. We've never dealt with anything even close to this. So we're going to take a breath and figure out what our next move is!"

Tamara stilled her in spot. Contrite, but in horrible emotional pain. Laney could feel her grief rolling off her in waves. And she really felt for her. Despite Sam's resurrection from the dead, his loss was still very fresh.

Bobby's voice softened. "I'm sorry for you loss."

After a moment Tamara walked away and sat in a chair, head in her hands. "So what now?"

Laney took a deep breath. "We can question him."

"And ask him what?" asked Dean.

"What they want here, what they're after?"

Dean shrugged. "As good a question as any, I guess."

Sam nodded in agreement. "Let's do it."

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"So you know who I am huh?"

"Yes and we're not impressed," said Bobby.

"Why are you here? What are you after?" asked Sam.

"He asked you a question," snapped Dean, pulling the cap off his flask of holy water. "What do you want?"

The demon laughed. Dean threw a faceful of holy water at his face. Laney smiled at the hiss of the water making contact. Her degree of hatred for demons had shot up a few million in recent weeks.

"We've already got what we want," said Envy.

"What's that?" asked Laney.

"Freedom. We're out now. We're free. Thanks to you, my kind are everywhere. So me, I'm just celebrating. Having a little fun."

"Fun?" asked Sam.

"Yeah, fun. See some people crochet. Me, I like to see people's insides on the outside."

Tamara stepped forward. "I'm going to put you down like a dog."

"Give me a break," laughed Envy. "You really think you are better than me. Look at you Dean. You're practically a walking billboard of gluttony and lust."

Envy turned to look at Laney, his eyes narrowing, smirk growing. "You though, I can't read. Very interesting that all the gossip making the rounds is true."

"What gossip would that be?" asked Laney, moving forward. Dean grabbed her arm to pull her back.

"That's for me to know," he laughed. He then turned to Tamara.

"And you," said Envy to Tamara. "All that wrath. It's the reason you and Isaac became hunters isn't it? It's really easier to drink in all that rage than to face what happened all those years ago."

Tamara snapped and attacked the demon, throwing several punches. Bobby, Dean, and Sam moved forward to restrain her. Laney stood back, silently cheering her on.

"She just proved my point. You're all animals and you'll be slaughtered like animals. The others, they're coming for me."

Dean stepped forward. "Maybe, but they're not going to find you. Cause we're sending you straight to Hell." He straightened up. "Someone send this clown packing."

"With pleasure," said Tamara. She took the book from Bobby and began reciting the Latin that would send Envy back to Hell.

Laney wanted to stay and watch but decided this victory belonged to Tamara. She followed her brothers and Bobby into the next room.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about hunting them," said Bobby.

"What do you mean?" asked Sam.

"I think this joker is right. They're going to come gunning for us. They won't quit easy."

Dean nodded. "Well, why don't you guys take Tamara and head for the hills. I'll hold them off, buy you some time."

"Are you crazy?" snapped Laney.

"Yeah, Dean, you're insane, forget about it. It's not going to happen," said Sam.

"They're right," Bobby said.

"There are six of them. We're outmanned, we're outgunned. We'll be dead by dawn," said Dean.

"Hey, at least these guys can't use their powers on me. We can use that to our advantage," said Laney, thoughtfully.

"No way," said Dean. "If you're not going to let me head them off alone, we're sure as hell not going to use as some kind of secret weapon."

"Why not?" asked Laney, defensively.

"Listen," said Bobby. "This isn't helping. The fact is, there is no place for us to run that they won't find us."

"If we're going down, we're going down together," said Sam.

"Sam's right," said Laney, with a sigh. "One for all, all for one, or some such crap."

"Isn't that the Three Musketeers?" asked Dean, with a smirk.

"Dean!" Sam admonished.

"Okay, okay. Sorry. We're fighting then...let's not make it easy on them."

Just then Laney felt the Envy's power go out like a switch had been flipped. The electricity in her body snapped through her like a swift current and left her feeling oddly hollow. She sagged a little in her spot and took a step back.

"You okay?" asked Sam, putting a hand on her back.

"I'm good," she said as Tamara walked in.

"Demon's gone."

"The guy?" asked Sam.

"He didn't make it."

Right, the guy, thought Laney. She forgot that there were actual people whose bodies were being hijacked. There wasn't much she could do about. Collateral damage. She was learning to accept the dark side of hunting easier than she had before. She'd lost a lot. Stood to lose more. It was hard to wallow in the gray areas of their profession.

"Well, let's batten down the hatches then," said Bobby.

They all got to work.

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Laney and her brothers sat in the front room of the first floor of the house, stocking holy water in every container they could find and arming themselves in every way they could.

"Stick with Sam," said Dean. "Whatever happens, you stick with Sam."

"Where are you going to be?" asked Laney.

"Don't worry about me."

"Dean, seriously. They can't do anything to me."

"Maybe not with their powers, but they're still strong. They could take you in hand to hand you know."

Laney's shoulders fell with a sigh. "Just don't do anything stupid."

Dean half-smiled. "I'm not going to – what?" he asked. Laney's face had paled considerably in the span of three seconds.

"They're here," she said, just before the radio in the room fileld with static and the lights began flickering.

"All of them?" Dean asked.

Laney nodded. "Oh yeah," she said, taking deep breaths. "And they're pissed."

She closed her eyes and mentally built her walls as best she could. It was different then the cemetery. All those escaping demons had been mostly background noise, interested in escaping and not paying her any attention. But these were focused, hunting, and unbelievably powerful. Their energy filled her up to the point she felt like she was going to burst with pressure.

Dean shot his sister a worried look as he got to his feet. She didn't look too hot. But her eyes were still alert and focused and that was the best he could ask for, because they all had to be on their 'A' game if they were going to make it out in one piece.

"Okay then," said Dean. "Here we go."

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It was a bit of a daze after that. A demon possessing the body of Isaac pleaded for Tamara to save him. She knew it wasn't him – not really – but she burst through the front door anyway, breaking the salt lines and letting the remaining sins inside the house.

Bobby managed to get one – Sloth – immediately trapped under a Devil's trap.

Dean drew one upstairs, unfortunately leaving another three on the loose and after Sam and Laney, who found themselves cornered in one of the larger rooms.

Sam pulled his sister behind him, although Laney resisted. She relented when she saw how many demons had followed them. They couldn't use powers on her, but Sam had the height, weight, and muscle advantage over her. They were backed into a corner, when one of the demons, in the body of a tall man, stopped suddenly.

Laney silently cursed. He'd spotted the Devil's trap on the ceiling. Using his powers he cracked the ceiling causing it to crumble and the trap to be rendered useless. Laney felt herself grow heavy under the assault on her senses.

"Come on, you really think something like that's going to stop me? Me?"

"Let me guess, you're Pride?" asked Sam.

"Yes, the root of all sin. And you must be Sam Winchester – boy king – the prodigal son. I've heard of you. And now that the yellow-eyed demon is dead, you're fair game now. Thanks by they way," he added with a nod towards Laney.

Sam grabbed his sister's hand and pulled her to stand against him.

"You have quite a following Delaney. And I don't mean that in a good way," he sneered and then he bolted forward grabbing Sam and easily throwing him to the floor.

"Sam!" Laney shouted.

Another demon advanced on her and Laney immediately went into the defensive mode, for all the good it did her. One of the demons – a female – punched Laney good and hard sending her crashing into the wall and slamming her head to the floor.

She heard Sam's choked shout of her name and that was about it. She hovered in between darkness and light, making out the far away sounds of a struggle, screams, panting breath, the scuffing of shoes on the old rotted hardwood floors. She couldn't do a damn thing. The pain in her head throbbed with her pulse and Laney never wished harder that she would just pass out.

It didn't happen.

After an indeterminate amount of time passed Laney felt herself being lifted and cradled in strong, unyielding arms. She made a vain attempt to push free.

"Laney, it's Sam, it's okay now."

She immediately stilled and turned into Sam's embrace. He tightened his hold and began moving. She let herself drift. Sam was alive and she could still feel Dean and Bobby. They were alive too.

That was all she needed to know for the moment.

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Sam ran into the hallway, sister bundled in his arms, and nearly ran right into Dean.

"Laney?" he asked, gruffly. "What happened?"

"It's okay Dean," she said, voice wobbly.

"Yeah, you sound great."

"I just got my bell rung," she said, voice still slurred.

"Are we secured?" asked Sam.

Dean nodded. "Yeah, we're good. Got some exorcising to do, but we're good. What happened to you?"

"You'll never believe it."

"Hold that thought," said Dean. "Come on let's get her downstairs."

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Sam laid Laney down on an old beat up couch that had seen better days. She hurt so bad at the moment she didn't mind the mildew smell coming from the upholstery. She closed her eyes to combat the spinning of the room and took several deep breaths.

Dean knelt down beside her to do a cursory medical examination. He opened her eyes and shined a penlight into them despite her grumpy protestations.

"It's okay Dean," she repeated. "Knock on the head, no concussion. I'm not seeing double."

She kept one eye open and caught Dean's frown. "Yeah, well I'm no letting you sleep for awhile. You need to stay awake."

"I know the drill," said Laney.

Dean patted her hand. "If you wanted to get out of cleaning up this mess you could have just let me know. Didn't need to go and get knocked around."

Laney snorted. "Yeah, stupid me."

"Just relax here. Take it easy – and don't go to – "

"Sleep, I know," she said. "Here, help me," she added. She reached out a hand to her brother. "It's better if I'm sitting up."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

Laney waited for the room to stop spinning before she opened her eyes again to find Sam looking very concerned. She smiled at him. "Go on, do what you need to do," she said. "I'm just going to sit her for awhile and wait for the fireworks to stop going off in my head."

He ruffled her hair and kissed the top of her head.

Laney listened as Bobby performed an exorcism in the next room. Sam and Dean came down the stairs after a moment, hauling a body. She heard snippets of their conversation about a demon killing knife and a mysterious savior.

If Laney didn't feel like such crap she would have demanded a full story. But as it was, it was an effort to remain sitting upright.

The men continued working, Laney caught glimpses of Tamara here and there. She'd exorcised the demon from Isaac's body and had been sitting with him for a couple of hours. Laney had time to contemplate what Pride had mentioned about her being popular but to watch her back and also how Sam was fair game now. She didn't need him running around with a target on his back, while she was trying to save Dean, who was already marked for Hell.

It never ended.

It was just after dawn when her brothers tiredly walked back into the house. "You ready to go?" Dean asked.

Laney nodded, wincing at the movement.

"You okay?" Sam asked softly.

"I'm fine," she muttered.

Sam reached out a hand and pulled his sister to her feet. He held onto her elbow as he lead her outside. She followed them to a pit full of the dead demon hosts.

"Any survive?" she asked.

"Yeah, the big guy and the girl," said Bobby as he looked at the pit of corpses. "Lifetime of therapy bills…"

Laney glanced across the yard to see Isaac's body on a pyre ready to be burned by his wife.

"That's more than I can say for these poor bastards," said Dean.

"Bobby that knife – you ever heard of a knife that could kill a demon?" asked Sam.

Laney's eyes narrowed and looked at her brother. "What knife?"

"I'll fill you in later, " he said.

"Before tonight, I would have said no such thing existed."

"Yeah, who was that masked chick?" smirked Dean. "And a better question would be why could a girl fight better than you?"

"Ha, ha Dean. Three demons at once and our little sister to protect."

"Hey, whatever gets you through the night."

Laney didn't know what she was missing but it was big, but there were still bigger issues. "I've got a troubling question for you," she said.

"What's that?" asked Dean.

"If we let out the seven deadly sins, what else did we let out?"

"Yeah, that is troubling," said Dean. He struck a matchbook and threw it into the pit, watching the corpses burn.

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Laney got up from the bed and stretched her sore body. Dean had demanded she take the bed, more cause he wanted to keep an eye on her during the night. She'd been too tired and sore to argue, but she'd scooted as far away from him as humanly possible without rolling off the bed.

She hopped into the shower and let the hot water work the soreness from her muscles. The roar in her head was down to that ever present dull ache, and her blood sugar was in the basement. She hadn't eaten much over the last few days. With a promise to remedy the situation as soon as possible, she scrubbed off the grime from the last job and washed her thick hair twice. By the time she re-entered the room she was clean, refreshed, and feeling semi-human. Dean was awake and flipping through channels on the television. Laney was about to question the absence of their brother when Sam came walking through the front door, balancing drinks and a couple of plastic bags.

"Just what the doctor ordered," said Laney. She grabbed the bags from him and began pulling containers out of the bag.

Sam smiled. "You look like you're feeling better."

"As soon as I eat, I'll be good as new."

Dean walked over to the table yawning. "Good."

They all dug into the food in a quiet and comfortable silence. Everything felt heartbreakingly normal. It was a little much to bear for Laney. But she kept her mouth shut and tried to enjoy it. How many more of these moments would they have? Dean's year was slipping away and they weren't any closer to a solution.

"So where to next?" asked Dean, after he finished off a mound of bacon.

Sam chewed his omelet a moment before he looked up. "I was thinking Louisiana, maybe."

"Little early for Mardi Gras, isn't it?" asked Dean, with a smirk.

"I – uh- I was talking to Tamara and she told me about this voodoo priestess outside of Shreveport that might be able to help us out – you know – with your demon deal."

Dean shrugged his shoulder. "Nah."

"Nah? What do you man "nah"?" asked Sam.

"Yeah, Dean, we've got to follow every lead we can get," said Laney.

"Guys, it's a wild goose chase. No hoodoo spell's going to break this deal."

"We don't know that," said Sam.

"Yes we do. We're not going and that's that. How about Vegas?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"Yeah, well you know what? Laney and I have been busting our asses trying to keep you alive Dean and you act like you couldn't care less," snapped Sam.

"It's like you've got some kind of death wish," said Laney.

"It's not like that," said Dean.

"Then what's it like?" asked Sam.

"Guys – just forget it."

"No Dean, tell us."

Dean sighed heavily. "If we trap the crossroads demon or try to welch out of the deal in any way – you die Sam. Okay? You die."

There was a sharp intake of breath from Laney.

"Those are the terms of the deal," continued Dean. "There's no way out of it. And if you two try to find a way, so help me God, I'm going to stop you."

"How could you make that deal?" asked Sam, eyes growing glassy.

"Cause I couldn't live with you dead. I couldn't do it."

"What you did was selfish Dean."

"You're right. It was, but I'm okay with that."

"I'm not," said Sam.

"Me neither," said Laney, barely croaking the words out, because she felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her again.

"Tough," said Dean. "After everything I've done for this family I think I'm entitled. Truth is I'm tired. And it's like there's a light at the end of the tunnel."

"That's hellfire," said Sam.

"Yeah, well whatever. Whatever. The two of you are alive and well. I feel good - for the first time in a long time. I got a year to live and I'd like to make the most of it. So what do you say we kill some evils sons of bitches and raise a little hell?"

"You're unbelievable," said Sam

"Very true," said Dean, with a smile.

Laney couldn't fathom it. Dean was smiling, like it was all a big joke, as if he'd just commented on the state of the weather. Laney felt everything inside her, the grief, the anger, the pain, boiling in the pit of her stomach, all of it reaching critical mass.

Dean's deal was unbreakable? Save one brother, lose the other. She didn't know how she was supposed to be okay with that, how she was supposed to live with that.

"I'm glad this is funny to you," said Laney. "I'm so sorry I've made your life so hard that you can't stomach another year. I'm so sorry we've driven you to that." She jumped up from her seat and began pacing the floor, her face furious. "What about my choice Dean? You didn't bother to give me one. And I'm supposed to just live with this and not doing anything. I lose Sam once and now I'm going to lose you and I'm just supposed to stand by and let it happen?"

Dean felt a bit contrite. Maybe his delivery of the news had been a little flippant. He hadn't allowed himself to think about what his siblings were feeling. He just wanted to make the most of his year left.

"Yeah, you are," he said, softly.

"Fuck you, Dean!" Laney shouted. And with that she stormed out the front door, slamming it behind her with everything she had.

Dean made a move to follow, because he couldn't remember ever hearing his sister sound so angry, but he stilled himself. He hadn't wanted to make her feel like he was leaving her because he was tired of her. That wasn't it at all. He just, he was dealing as best he could and what came out of his mouth wasn't always what he'd intended. He had absolutely no words to say that were going to make anything better, so he let it go.

Sam looked at his brother, mouth agape.

"Let her cool off," said Dean. He walked into the bathroom to shower.

Laney didn't go far. She walked down to the edge of the parking lot where there was a row of vacant picnic tables. She sat down and ran a hand through her still damp hair, pulling her phone out of her pocket and dialing.

It was answered on the first ring. "Hello?"

"Gavin? It's Laney. I really need you."