Chapter 2

Sam struggled to maintain his concentration, his arm extended before him to help him focus, pain piercing his head like a hot knife, stabbing him over and over and over again. Something warm and thick trickled down from his nose, but he barely registered it. Instead, he continued to exert his will over the demon inhabiting the body of sixty year old Martha Dexter, willing it to come out. Black spots crowded before his eyes as his pain spiked, yet the dark smoke, the corporeal form of the demon, oozed as he wanted out of the woman's mouth to pool about the edges of the pentagram she was being kept in. With a wrench he willed the smoke to be gone.

It thrashed like a snake on the floor then flared red from the inside before burning to ashes and disappearing. Another demon gone.

Sam gasped as he released his hold on the power he had siphoned through him and fell to one knee. The hot knife was gone but his head still pounded as if a thunderstorm were raging inside it. He felt like his cranium might explode at any minute and splatter his brains all over the room. A moan escaped him before he could reel it in.

"You all right?" Ruby was suddenly at his side, half holding him up.

He tried to focus his eyes but they wouldn't cooperate. He wiped away at the blood on his upper lip only managing to smear it around rather than clear it away. "The woman?"

"Didn't make it. Sorry."

He felt his heart lurch. So far, when he could get this to work, he'd only been able to save a little over twenty-five percent of those possessed. Too many of them had been under the influence for too long or been ridden too hard. Still, one fourth was more than he could ever have saved using the knife. But he needed to do better. Must do better.

"This one…was tougher…"

Ruby helped him up to his feet. He swayed for a moment, but thought he would make it. She let him go.

"Yeah, well, we're not all created equal. Even more of a reason to get stronger, Sam."

He nodded and instantly regretted it, setting off the headache to a higher raging pitch than before. He stumbled. Though he towered over her, Ruby bravely wedged herself under his arm and kept him upright. If not for her demon strength he was sure the two of them would have ended up tumbling to the floor.

"It will get easier." Her voice was unusually gentle. "I promise."

"If it doesn't…kill me first…" He touched his brow as if his hand could somehow help hold his insides in. He could have sworn the pounding was getting worse instead of better. It was more painful than the visions used to be and those were no picnic. Made it so hard to concentrate.

"I'll get rid of the body, you just rest and I'll come back for you." She leaned him up against the inside wall of the long storage shed where they had laid the trap for this particular demon. Before he realized what she was going to do, she swept her lips over his then ran her tongue over his blood smeared skin, licking it away. He was too stunned to do anything but stare, even as another part of him twitched in response.

"I can taste the power in it. Your power. You can do this, Sam." She pulled away from him and moved toward the body on the floor. She grabbed a hand that had fallen outside the circle and dragged the body out of the devil's trap drawn on the floor.

Sam gingerly slid down to sit on the concrete, every little movement setting the thunder in his head to greater levels of excitement. Until he got the headache under control he'd be pretty much useless. It'd been the one major drawback so far of using his powers but Ruby insisted that would grow to be less of a problem the more he used it.

She came back long enough to put down a lukewarm Coke next to him then stood up. "I'll be back in a jiff." Ruby picked up the woman's body as if it weighed nothing and headed for the door.

Sam used the end of his shirt to wipe at his face wondering if what she said was true. Could she really taste his taint? Heckles rose on the back of his neck at the thought. He was a freak, pure and simple, but it didn't mean he had to like it.

Trying not to think about it, he dug out the bottle of aspirin he'd taken to carrying everywhere with him and dumped out four tablets. He quickly swallowed the pills and begged them to hurry. Resting his arms on his knees, he let his head hang between them trying to move as little as possible.

Yet he knew his pain was probably nothing compared to what his brother was being made to suffer through. He'd asked Ruby once what she thought would be done to Dean in Hell and she refused to tell him anything, other than it would be unpleasant. As unreserved as she normally was, her lack of an answer had hit him hard. He was as capable as anyone of reading between the lines.

His discomfort would never compare to his brother's anguish – anguish he suffered on Sam's behalf. The weight of Dean's amulet dragged at his neck – his companion, his reminder of better times, the herald of his unfulfilled and broken promises.

Yes, Dean wouldn't be happy about what he was doing, and yes, Sam had promised him he wouldn't use his powers, but there really just wasn't any choice. He couldn't survive out here doing this on his own. Not for long. Lilith still wanted him gone and by any means necessary. Ruby had bragged more than once about the bounty on his head in the demon world and that it was growing. He had no choice but to try to get them before they got him. No choice but to try to fix what he had done when he'd ignored the Devil's Gate for the sake of his revenge on Jake.

But most of all, he had to stop Lilith. Whatever her plans were, they couldn't be allowed to happen. She must be destroyed. And she would pay, and pay dearly for what she'd done to his brother. He would make her regret it if it was the last thing he ever did.

Sam grabbed onto the glowing ball of hatred buried deep inside him and let it buoy him while he waited for his massive, self induced headache to subside.