"In your life, you seem to have it all. You seem to have control. But deep within your soul, you're losing it." –Tantric

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It was an uneventful journey home from the bar for Devon, aside from the hyperventilating, vomiting and overwhelming sense of panic. It was late, or very early morning, but she needed to pack a bag and go to her mother. Maybe it was the alcohol or maybe it was the paranoia, Devon didn't care the reason why she had the sudden urge for the visit. She just needed to go.

Growing up as the daughter of a single mother had been fine, until her mother snapped. It wasn't a gradual decent into madness. She had gone to visit her mother and found her standing over a body, blood covering the floor. Her mother had been calm, not an eerie calmness but a rational calmness. It had been Devon that called for the police while her mother changed clothes and sat on the couch. The same couch they had had for Devon's entire life.

The buzzing of her phone snapped her into action once more. Ignoring the call, the now-sober woman packed a bag full of a change of clothes, her laptop and charger, and a few bottles of water. Once last glance and she was gone, hoping that she could still find a taxi that wasn't shuttling drunks home. She started walking, her steps hurried as if the faster she walked, the faster the sick feeling would leave her.

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The sun was fully risen by the time Devon was walking the near-empty halls of the security hospital. Moans and screams could be heard from behind some closed doors, giving off the feeling of misery. Her own mother's screams often joined her neighbors, more often as Devon was walking away. But this morning was different. No matter how Devon tried to convince herself, something had changed. Praying that it wasn't her mental state, Devon tried to be patient as the staff member unlocked the door. She wanted to yell at him, to tell him that her mother had once been sane and good and didn't deserve this. It would do her no good, and would just waste her time.

When the door opened and Devon entered, her mother became silent. Like a scene from a horror movie, her mother's eyes snapped open and focused on Devon. Silence fell over them for another moment, before a smirk fell across her mother's lips. It was not a look her mother had ever given, it was a look that Devon could only describe as demonic. The description became more accurate as she watched her mother's eyes change to be covered in complete blackness. She wanted to scream, but Devon made no sound. She wanted to run, but before she could act the door slammed shut on its own accord as the staff member was thrown against the wall behind her. The thud of his body against the ground was followed shortly by the snapping of restraints holding her mother. No, not her mother. The demon.

"Finally, we get to meet face to…" her mother's voice spoke the words, the light and cheery tone sticking out amongst the surroundings. "Meat-suit? I suppose it's not my face you see."

"Meat-suit?" Devon's own voice was no more than a choked whisper. She couldn't have heard correctly or seen correctly or be even awake for this madness. It was all too much to mentally grasp, and she felt as her brain began to shutdown from panic. Her heart raced, the pounding so loud in her ears that sounds had become muted. She saw the creature's lips moving but only could catch a few words. Scion. Cage. Sacrifice. Nothing made sense. Everything that had happened since midnight seemed like a dream. A terrible insanity-induced dream. A tear slipped from her eye as her nightmare continued even as she prayed to be awaken.

The pounding in her ears increased and only when her mother, or the creature that had taken control of her mother, looked over Devon's shoulder did the woman realize that there was someone pounding on the door as well as in her head. Devon watched her mother's mouth open and could not look away as she seemed to vomit black smoke. It lasted for what seemed like hours before her mother's mouth closed and her boy collapsed onto the floor. In that same moment, the door burst opened behind her followed by a string of curses and someone calling her name.

She paid no attention as she took one step towards her mother's unmoving body. The next step followed, with the next steps falling quicker until she closed the distance to her mother's side. Devon fell to her knees, shaking her mother with a loud chorus of 'mom' falling from her lips.

"We have to get out of here, Sam. That demon being here sure as he'll was not a coincidence."

"Dean… give her another minute." Sam looked to his brother, the obvious retort on Dean's lips. The girl's voice being the only thing holding his brother's tongue. She was nearly screaming at her mother, violently shaking the elder woman's body. Sam could practically feel the desperation rolling from the girl. Sam knew that particular feeling of desperation all too well. The girl began to quiet, her hands stilling. Sam took his chance and crouched down near her, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder as he spoke. "I'm sorry, Devon. You probably have questions, and we will answer them. But not now, not here. We can go someplace safe-"

"Safe. Right." Devon nodded but she wasn't really listening to the gentle voice of the stranger. She closed her eyes, the tears she had yet to shred falling slowly down her cheeks, as he guided her to stand. She had to crane her neck to look at the stranger's face. His brow was taut with worry, for what Devon did not know. Movement near the door caught her eye and when she looked, her own eyes widened in recognition. "The bar…"

"Yup." Dean held up a hand, stopping her from saying anymore. "Look, you have questions and we've got the answers. Let's just get the hell outta here right now and have a nice long game of 'what the hell just happened later."

"But…Mom…?" Even to Devon, her small voice sounded pathetic. Once the shock had passed, she swore she would stop being a weak fool. But right now, weak was all she could be as she was pushed from the room and down the hall. Everything seemed to have dulled, the sun's rays had dimmed, colors were muted. She did not look back as she was taken through the maze of halls and stairways.

She continued to fight the urge to take one last glance as she slid into the passenger seat of the men's car. She lost the battle and watched the building grow smaller in the side mirror, the familiar feeling of loss overwhelming. A brief thought passed through her mind, reminding her that she was at the mercy of the two strange men in the car. Men that said they had answers, but could in fact be lying murderers that would slit her throat in the blink of an eye. Nothing made sense. Every thought hurt. She closed her eyes, allowing exhaustion to consume her as she sent out a silent prayer for her mother's soul.

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"She prayed. All of Heaven could have heard it. Her prayers may be genuine but they have a… unique feel… to them." The diner was loud enough from the vigorous lunch crowd that he felt free to speak. It was much better than the minutes of tense silence that they had all been sitting in. Castiel regarded the silent woman seated next to Dean in the booth. From the information he had been given, Lucifer's essence was passed through the males from the original Scion. So much of the matter was unknown that it worried him to even be sitting in her presence. "Stop praying unless you want to be tracked and hunted."

"Whoa, Cas. No need to put the fear of God in her. I'm sure she's freaked enough as it is."

"It is Angels she should fear more than God."

"She's still sitting right here." Devon gently set down the mug she had been drinking from on the table in front of her. Three sets of eyes shot to her face, she could feel their stares even though her own eyes remained locked on the small bit of coffee she had yet to drink. "Do I have any other rules besides 'no praying'?" She knew her calm nature was putting them on edge, the tension in all of their postures betraying their steady voices and steady hands.

"Maybe we should start with giving you some answers." Everyone seemed to agree with Sam's suggestion. They waited for her to ask them one of the questions that they knew had to be burning in her mind. It was always the same, the questions that followed the discovery of something dark and nasty. But usually they explained to people the different threats that existed. This time they had to explain these same things to something that was potentially included in that category.

"Alright, how did you find me? At the hospital?"

"We went back to the bar and the owner gave us the name if the bartender that was working last night." Dean's voice was relaxed as he spoke, but it sounded as if he had practiced what he was going to say. Or he had known exactly what she was going to ask. "He didn't know you, but he knew your friends."

"Coworkers." Devon couldn't help but interrupt. When she offered no explanation for the interruption, it was Sam that continued.

"From your… coworkers…we were able to track down your name and address. When you weren't there, a quick search and we found your mom's name and the hospital. Figured that you might be there and…" The hesitation leaked into Sam's voice the further he continued. Most of the time he would blurt out the truth, but if Devon truly was Lucifer's scion then she was their only hope getting to the Cage. Besides himself, of course. "There might be trouble."

"One drink in the last three fricken years and all of this happens to me."

Devon listened as Sam and Dean answered her questions, none of them simple. She refrained from asking questions about her mother and focused more on the men and their new involvement in her life. They were honest with their answers, some were short and guarded while others were long-winded. They informed her of what they deemed she needed to know, telling her of demons, demonic possession, angels, The Darkness. They continued on for an hour, seemingly pleased that she was receptive to what they had to share.

If not for seeing her mother possessed by a demon, Devon would have thought they were insane. If not for their reassurance that she was not in the throws of insanity herself, Devon would have probably just checked herself into a mental health ward. Throughout their conversation Castiel, the one they proclaimed to be an angel, remained mostly silent. His stare made her skin crawl and nearly distracted her from listening. When he broke his silence, his whispered voice was almost too soft to hear.

"Dean, they are coming."

Those words were all it took for the men to shift into action. They were not casual or slow about their movements, Dean grabbing Devon's arm with more force than he meant. In an instant Castiel was gone before her eyes and Sam pulled a knife on his own hand. The blood dripped onto the table and he started swirling his fingers through it, a painter fully confident in his work. Devon was too entranced in his hand movements that she missed the entrance of four men and two woman, all dressed in business suits of assorted color.

Dean's ever tightening grip on her arm brought her attention away from the blood and to the weapons that the newcomers carried. The blades were like nothing she had known existed, so beautiful yet dangerous. The diner's other occupants noticed the entrance, many of them screaming at the menacing sight. Chaos erupted around them, people running over each other to get away from the threat. Sam did not stop in his hurried actions and Devon saw that he was making some sort of symbol.

"You Winchesters need to keep out of Heaven's affairs."

"You dicks need to stop being such…dicks." Dean watched as his words angered the angel that had spoken. It was one of the little joys he had left, and he's be damned if he didn't take it. "Every time you try to interfere and every time you fail. Just give it up already."

"You will give us Lucifer's scion."

"Nope. We won't." Sam spoke the words as he brought his bloodied palm down onto the table. The effect was instaneous, the light blinding as it drive the angels from the diner. Sam and Dean did not wait for any more threats to walk through the door and were dragging Devon with them back to the impala. The diner was well behind them when Devon dared to ask them a question about what she had just witnessed.

"What the Hell is Lucifer's Scion?"

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