The next day Sam and Dean were sitting with Jade in the home of an unfamiliar witch, on the outskirts of the New Jersey suburb. Sam was sitting beside Jade, an arm wrapped around her. She was shaken, but better once they had arrived.
"Here, drink this," the witch said, handing Dean a drink.
"What is this?" he asked, holding up the teacup. It looked like something purple. "Some hippie fruit juice?"
The witch smiled, teeth bright white compared to their dark skin. "No, just a drink that'll make you feel better," they said warmly.
"You can trust them Dean, it's probably just going to make you feel better or something. Ash doesn't make malicious spells," Jade said, taking a cup and sipping the drink. "This is literally blueberry tea, isn't it?"
"Well, it makes people feel better," Ash said, setting the cups down. "I'll be in the basement if you need me."
"How do you know them?" Dean asked, just wanting to be sure that all bases were covered.
"Uh, old friend. They're dating Marlow," she said quietly, reaching over and taking Sam's hand. "Dean listen, Oliver completely lost it."
"No, no, Jade he's possessed. Whatever tried to attack you was not him," Dean said, shaking his head.
"But Dean it's weird, he acted normal then different, like he was fighting for control and didn't even know it," she said, bowing her head. "I'm scared that since he lost, he's gonna be gone forever."
"We'll get him back Jade," Sam assured her, patting her back. "We deal with people like this all the time."
"That's the same thing you said to assure me there wasn't anything wrong with Oliver, isn't it?" she said, voice cool. "It's not comforting Sam, I saw what you did to the poor guy that other demon possessed. You just stabbed him."
"We can perform an exorcism on Oliver, make sure he isn't hurt," Sam said, smiling weakly.
"Why didn't you do that to the other man?" she asked softly.
Neither sibling responded for a moment. "That man was corrupted," Dean said simply. "He was too corrupted, of we exorcised him he would have just died. We would have just wasted time."
Jade nodded, biting her tongue. She still thought they were just making excuses to not have done it. "So, Oliver… when could he have gotten possessed?" she asked, frowning. "I mean he was in a coma, could he get possessed then?"
"Maybe, demons don't really care about asking permission," Dean explained, eyes troubled. "They also aren't subtle, which is why it's so damn weird this only just happened."
"Dean I could tell something was off since he woke up, trust me," she insisted. "I mean he thought you weren't out and started saying that… Oliver is so damn careful about that stuff, he wouldn't have done that if he was himself."
The hunter looked at the ground, thinking back to the date he had gone on with Oliver, the night they spent together. It could have been with a demon and he didn't know. The very thought made him sick to the stomach. "Yeah, you're right," Dean said, voice rough. "Listen Jade, we'll go in, trap him, and perform an exorcism. Easy as pie."
"Right, I'm sure nothing ever goes wrong ever," Jade said, although it was gently teasing, not harsh. "Really though, Oliver will be okay?"
"I promise," Dean said.
"We'll go in tonight, so no one gets hurt," Sam said. "In the meantime we'll get ready, and get some rest."
"You could talk to Ash, they might have some stuff that you can use. They're really good at stuff that changes, like shifts," Jade said, wiggling her hand around in an attempt to demonstrate. "Could help if you wanted to get in without being recognized."
Dean nodded, standing. "Alright then, I'll see what we can do," he said, still not a fan of using a witch's spell in hunting. Still, he went downstairs where Ash was relaxing, or rather a woman who looked very much like Ash. "Excuse me?"
"Hello again," the woman said, smiling. "What can I help you with?"
"Uh, where's Ash? Are you their sister or..?"
The woman laughed a little. "No Dean, still Ash. I just alter myself to be more comfortable sometimes," she explained, gesturing to her body. "Sometimes I look like a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes in between or neither. Whatever feels right. I doubt you came down here to hear all about my gender, what can I do for you?"
"Jade mentioned you're good with magic that changes things," he said, realizing now why she was so talented with it.
"Right, and you need to get in undetected, to a store owned by one of the most paranoid witches in existence, now possessed by a crazy demon," she said, spinning on her heel and looking through some supplies. "In theory I could turn you into a squirrel."
"I know someone who would get a kick out that, but how would I get back? And I am not going to get turned into a squirrel," he said, jabbing his finger in the air near Ash.
"Not a fan of rodents I take it? I could cloak you. He would know the doors were opening and such, but the alarms in his head, and yes that's totally how it works, wouldn't go off unless he sensed humanoid movement," she explained. "So, I could cloak it and make you gave the essence of an animal, like a dog. You would need to go in on all fours though."
"You have got to be kidding me," he said and shook his head. "What else do I have to do, shake my butt and pant?"
"Only if you're into that sunshine," she teased, winking at him. "I'll get it done, but I'll only have one dose. You'll have to go in alone if you don't want anything to show."
That was a less than ideal plan. It was bad enough fighting a demon, but taking one on without Sam to back him up was idiotic and dangerous. They would need a plan. "Got it, I'll see you later then."
He went back upstairs, finding Jade and Sam sitting on the couch, Sam telling some story that was making Jade beam at him.
"He had that in his hair? That's disgusting!" she exclaimed, letting out a small giggle.
"Yeah, and the worst part was he just left it there the entire ride home," Sam said.
"Sammy," Dean said, cutting him for before he could continue. "Can we talk?"
"Yeah, hold on a moment Jade," he said, and she nodded to him. "What is it?"
"Ash said she has a spell that can hide is from Oliver's security, but only one of us," Dean said. "So I'm thinking I go in, set up a trap for it, then you go in to set off the alarm. That way it never even knows what hit it."
Sam nodded. "Sounds good."
"Oh and one more thing. If you tell anyone what I have to do for this spell to work, I will kill you," Dean said, setting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "And I mean that."
"What do you have to do for the spell?" Sam asked, raising his eyebrows.
"You'll see when you see," Dean said firmly. "Just never, and I mean never, tell anybody."
Sam raised his eyebrows and just nodded at Dean. "Sure man, I won't tell anybody."
Dean stared at him a moment longer, and once he was satisfied nodded to Sam and took a step back. "Good," he said.
Sam glanced over at Jade to give her a look, simply communicating that he had no idea what his brother was up to. He went back over to her, looping an arm around her hips and relaxing. "So, we have a few hours, what do you want to do?"
"We could watch some documentaries, some movies, or break the bed in Ash's guest room," she said, looking up at him and raising her eyebrows. "Take a wild guess which one I want to do."
Sam smiled a little, letting out a small surprised noise. "Let's get going then?" he said, grabbing her hand.
"Sounds fantastic," she said and kissed him, feeling blissful for a moment.
"You ready?" Dean asked, loading up the last of what they needed into the trunk of the car.
"Yeah. Are you going to be okay? I know you and Oliver are close," he said, eyebrows knitting together. "I could go in first you know."
"Okay, one, we aren't just close, he's my boyfriend, and two, no. I'm going in first, you second, that's what we planned," Dean said and got into the driver's seat, waiting only a moment for Sam to get in before he took off. He was focused on the task at hand, it would be simple. Things were never simple though. Instead of the usual stabbing they had to perform an exorcism, which seemed to be rarer and rarer as time passed, even if Sam was against it. Something inside of him ached though, at the thought of what Oliver was going through. Possession wasn't enjoyable in the least, and from what he had seen and heard, Oliver was just a sweet guy who turned out to be a witch. A sweet guy he had fallen hard for.
When they arrived he gazed at the shop, taking a moment to absorb all of it. The shop was decorated the way Oliver liked, so it looked complicated and messy with a secret order to it all. According to him it made him seem more ethereal to non magic users. Dean thought he just liked the look of it.
"Let's go then," he said, getting out of the car. He set a small pouch that Ash had given him in his mouth, rolling his eyes as he got down on all fours. He crawled up to the door, thinking of ways he could get back at the witch. He grabbed the door handle, shocked to find that it was unlocked. He opened the door, and the second he was within the bounds of the house he was thrown against the wall. His back hurt. His head hurt. Everything hurt.
"Hello Dean," the demon said, his eyes turning black. "Did you really think that I didn't expect you idiot hunters to show up? I mean you are so fucking predictable! Oh no, your precious little boyfriend is a demon now, just charge in like a dumbass! God you make this all so easy, and you couldn't even figure out when he got possessed could you?" He stepped forward, keeping Dean against the wall.
"Get the hell out of him you asswipe," Dean demanded, an animalistic growl emanating from his throat.
"Oh why would I? It's so fun in here," he said, letting out an almost delighted laugh. "Poor Oliver though, he's almost entirely broken. I mean when I took over he just kept telling me all about how you would save him, but he's quiet now. I don't think he believes in you anymore."
"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus," Dean began.
"I wouldn't do that Dean. You see it was a mess when I possessed this idiot. He cast that spell to suck all his friend's souls out of me, and then you go idiots try to kill me. You see he was dying Dean, and when I jumped into his body I pushed his soul back in," the demon explained, grinning. "We're all tangled up in here, take out one and we both go down, but for your boy toy it's a bit more permanent."
Dean's eyes widened, and his voice trailed off. He was about to speak again, but Sam charged in, likely realizing this was taking far too long. "Dean!" he shouted, then shot the demon in the wrist. Normally it would be to the chest, but they needed Oliver to stay alive. Dean dropped to the ground as the demon released him.
"We need to go! Now!" Dean barked out, running for the door. The demon went to grab him, and missed.
Sam wanted to ask questions, but there was no time to, and it seemed to be only a second before they were driving away from the shop. "What the hell happened Dean?!"
"It knew we were coming," Dean said, gripping the steering wheel. "When I tried to exorcise it… fucking hell man it would rip Oliver's soul out."
"How is that even possible?"
"It went in as Oliver was leaving. It's the damn demon that was trying to become a god," Dean said, shaking with rage.
"Dean you realize what that means right?" Sam said, raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah it means I went on a date with a demon," Dean said, shaking his head.
"It means that spell killed Oliver," Sam said, letting out a long sigh. "Dean we have to talk to someone who knows about demons."
Dean glanced at Sam, confused for a moment, before he realized what he meant. "No! We are not calling Crowley!"
"Dean who else knows as much about demons? It's not like we have options."
They continued down the road, Dean fuming at the idea of having to call on the demon for help. "I mean he's the King of Hell," he said, slamming his hand down on the steering wheel as he pulled into the driveway.
"I know Dean, I don't like it either." Sam got out of the car, walking to the house. As they approached the house Jade opened the door just as they reached for it.
She looked behind them, and Dean looked down. "Oliver didn't… what happened?" she asked quietly.
"I'll explain inside," Dean said, his voice mournful.
It took about an hour for her to understand. When she finally did she said she was going to bed, and Sam went with her, after asking Dean if he would be all right. The two ended up holding each other for hours before falling asleep. When Dean was alone, he cried.