Chapter Two

Pages: 6.25

Word Count: 2,166

Note: I'm going to shoot for a minimum of 2,000 words and around six pages per chapter. Hopefully I can keep it up.

The second time he and Ruby cornered a demon he had more success. It only took two tries, a little bit of coaxing from Ruby, and he was able to banish the demon back to hell where it belonged. His head pounded and his nose bled a little bit, but he felt a sense of accomplishment and pushed the niggling voices of warning back to wherever they came from.

Unfortunately the vessel didn't survive and he felt a pang of remorse before they burnt the body and moved on.

As promised, Ruby never left his side. She provided him with the companionship he had missed after Dean's death. Little by little he felt his distrust fade and inhibitions slacken. The voices faded away to nothing. He knew Dean would hate him for this but he felt that he was doing the right thing – Lilith would die and that was all that mattered. It helped that he would eventually get a handle on his powers, so eventually he would be saving people in the process.

As time passed – days to weeks, weeks to months - he listened to Ruby's concerns, and with a little bit of coaxing he completely stopped taking Bobby's calls. He wouldn't return the hunters messages, either. Because Bobby, Ruby told him, wouldn't understand. And Sam agreed, though his heart ached at the loss of his father-figure.

He no longer called other hunters for leads, not that he did much of that to begin with, because he agreed with Ruby that they would more likely hunt him than help him. He steered clear of major cities to avoid being spotted, and took to slumming it in the Impala or places he could sneak in with Ruby.

His powers grew little by little. Ruby would help him find demons and then would help him trap them for him to practice on. He fed from her every three days, like clockwork. Eventually he was able to use his powers to expel the demon without killing the vessel, though he found that it was hard to keep said demon under control while he concentrated on banishing it. A couple of times he almost lost a demon, and Ruby would go shooting after it for him.

As he worked on it more and more he found he was able to just send the sucker right to hell and skip the expelling part of the equation altogether. The first time he did it, he passed out. He hadn't since, and Ruby was pleased that she no longer had to chase after escapees before they could alert the whole demon network as to what they where doing.

Eventually he got to the point where he could use his abilities to locate a demon – it was a pretty nifty thing to be able to do, actually, because it also meant that he could sense when demons where in his presence - and then he could trap it and exorcise it all in one go. No more drawing devil's traps, no more salt and holy water.

Now they where moving up the food chain, so to speak, and onto more challenging hunts. His powers where more than ready to be pushed, and Sam located a whole nest of demons for them to work on. His first multiple demon hunt, and Ruby would only chime in if needed. He pushed all thoughts of Dean aside, almost guiltily.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?' Ruby asked as they pulled up outside an old warehouse. He nodded – he was itching to fight and he was fast loosing himself in the adrenaline and rush of the battle. "Forget it, you are." She smiled at him. "Let's go."

He followed her inside and the snuck around until they located the demons – four of them. Sam concentrated on them until he could feel their power – another useful trick he'd uncovered just recently – and found them to be very weak. This would be a snap, he could tell.

He separated from Ruby and made his way around to the nesting demons. All hell broke loose as he let out an excited yelp and dove headfirst into their midst. There was a scramble of action and Sam happily danced around with the foursome until he grew tired. With one thought he raised a hand and they all froze, fighting against an invisible force. It was amusing to see them moving without actually getting anywhere.

"Winchester!" One of them howled. Sam ignored him and concentrated. One by one the vessels dropped to their knees, mouths oozing black smoke. One after the other the demons where banished to hell, screaming and cussing, and Sam eventually relaxed. He wiped the blood from his nose and Ruby joined him.

"That was good." She pressed against him. "You pushed a little too hard." Sam grimaced. "Eventually the nosebleeds will stop, don't worry." Suddenly she quieted and glanced around. Sam frowned a bit at her edgy behavior and wondered if they missed a demon or something. "We should leave. Now." She said urgently, quietly.

"What, why?" Sam asked as he pulled away to check on the vessels. Every last one of them where alive and he grinned. Ruby quickly pulled him to his feet and urged him to move. "Ruby, what are you..?" That's when he felt a strange vibration run through him. Like he was doused in ice water.

"Samuel Winchester." Sam felt a cold chill ripple through him again and he hesitantly turned towards the voice, which was located somewhere up in the rafters. He heard Ruby swear and he saw her eyes shift to black briefly. "You where warned not to use your filthy powers." His mind shifted briefly to the trench-coat guy he'd left several states back. This was not him, Sam realized as he caught sight of the owner of the voice. This guy was taller, beefier, and black. He didn't look half as friendly, either.

"Sam, we have to go." Ruby whispered. The guy swooped down to stand several feet away from them and Sam stiffened. Suddenly there was a blast of air and they went flying. Ruby cried out in pain and Sam landed heavily on his back, blinking up at the ceiling. The guy stooped over him and Sam gasped as a burly hand wrapped around his throat and pulled him up.

"You cannot be allowed to live." Sam gasped as his airway was cut off and he concentrated. The man grunted a bit but nothing else happened. "You dare use that filth on me, boy?" He shook Sam like a ragdoll and Sam whined deep in his throat. He tried again and the man roared at him and tossed him. He slammed head first into an old stack of boxes and screamed as he felt something sharp slice his face open.

"Sam!" He heard Ruby, but didn't have the energy to lift his head as he gasped for breath. There was a sound of scuffling, some muted cursing, and then a flash of light. He opened an eye to see Ruby standing over him. "Shit. Can you get up?" Sam nodded and let her help him to his feet.

"What was..?"

"No time. I'll explain later. Keys?" Sam shoved a hand into a pocket and fished them out. He staggered along with her to the car, and fell heavily into the passenger's seat with a groan. "We have to get lost, fast." He wanted to protest – only he and Dean could drive the Impala – but he didn't have the energy. He leaned against the door as they peeled out.

He passed out briefly and when he woke up they where parked in the woods. Ruby was gone and Sam looked around until he noticed the trunk was open. Ruby stalked around to his side and opened the door. He flinched away from her touch and he noted that her fingers came away with blood on them.

"This is pretty bad." She said. "I can fix you up a bit, but you have to stay still." She absently put a hex bag on the dash of the car and he gazed at it. "That's so he won't find us again." She commented. He noted dully that she had the first aid duffle at her feet. "Now hold still so I can clean this up."

Sam obediently held still as she wiped at his face, wincing when she rubbed too roughly or hit the wound itself. "I don't know if I should stitch it." She hesitated. Sam sighed deeply and pulled down a visor to glance in the little mirror. He grimaced at his reflection and the gash that ran from his temple to his cheek. He dimly noted that he was lucky his eyes was intact and there was only a bit of a scratch on his lid.

"Stitch it." He mumbled. "Just around the middle where it's deepest." He leaned against the seat as she readied the sutures. "What happened back there?"

"Nothing good." She set to work and Sam closed his eyes, wincing and grimacing every few seconds until she pulled back. "It isn't the best but it'll hold." Sam nodded wearily. "You have some very powerful enemies." She commented. Sam forced his eyes open and stared at her. "How did you piss off the Angels anyway?"

"That was an Angel?" Sam asked as she rooted around and found a flask of whiskey. He took a generous chug of it and passed it to her. She took a swig, poured some on a cloth, and then patted at his cheek.

"Yeah. They're absolute pricks but I don't know why they're after you." She said as she helped him maneuver to the back of the car. "They have friends everywhere so we'll have to be extra careful." She warned.

"Yeah, sure." Sam fell back onto the seat with a sigh.

"So any clue? I gather from what he said, this isn't the first run in you've had with them?" Sam opened an eye to see Ruby watching him, genuinely curious.

"Never met that one, but… there was a guy a ways back that said the same thing. Roughly the same thing." Sam said quietly. "He was a bit nicer though. I guess he could have been an Angel." Ruby snorted.

"Angels are unfeeling douche bags." She said with some malice. "They can be worse than demons – if something they don't like, or something that can threaten them, pops up then they go all smite-happy. They must be worried about your powers – and if they're worried, that means I was so right. You're going to be very powerful." She wrinkled her nose and Sam sighed. "At least demons give you the chance to be recruited, huh?"

"There is that." Sam found himself agreeing. "So what do we do?"

"For now, nothing. Find out why they want you dead, but lay low. The hex bag will ward them off for now but we'll need to stick together. If you take it, they'll find me – if I take it they'll find you." She hummed. "I should probably put another one together so we each have one, and maybe make a back up."

"I'm guessing since you haven't mentioned it yet, that we can't kill them?" Ruby tilted her head a bit, and then shook it.

"Lore says only another Angel can kill an Angel. I've never heard of any person, beast, or demon being successful so I guess it's true." Sam frowned a bit. "Yeah, doesn't seem fair huh?" She grinned ruefully. "Take your complaints to the Man Upstairs, if he'll listen." Sam slumped in the seat and let out a puff of air.

"Let's take a week to just travel." Sam suggested. "I don't know about you but I feel like I was hit by a bus – I could use a few days to just get the hell away from here and rest up." Ruby nodded. "We'll stock up on hex bags and I'll look into researching other ways to hide from Angels."

"Good idea." Ruby agreed, almost sounding tired herself. Sam turned to her.

"I'm sorry I pulled you into this mess. Seems like all I do these days is get people…" Ruby shushed him by putting one finger to his lips.

"Put the puppy eyes away, Sam. I came to you remember?" He nodded. "And you're stuck with me until… well, you're just stuck with me." He voice softened. "Don't worry about me, please. Instead, focus on what's important. Keeping away from them, working on your powers." Sam nodded and she leaned in to lightly kiss his lips. He sighed as she pulled back. "Now, are you okay with letting me drive a while so we can get even further away?"

"Yeah." Sam sighed in defeat, hunching down a bit more. Ruby went about cleaning up the area, leaving no trace that they where even there. Then they where off, leaving behind a cloud of dust.

TBC