Chapter Four: Sinner's Prayer
"Stay there," Dean said to Cas as soon as he was seated on the edge of the bed. He grabbed a sawed off from the shelf as he bounded out of the room. He rounded the corner, and slammed back against the wall in shock. This thing was the size of a Hummer and it was taking up most of Bobby's living room. Its giant bulbous form stopped a foot shy of the ceiling, and its head lumped out from its body toward Dean, its teeth circling an opening in its face about the same circumference as Dean's torso.
"Dean!" Sam shouted.
"How do we kill this son of a bitch, Sam?" Dean yelled back. "Give me some good news!"
"I got nothing, Dean," Sam replied. "Just hack and slash and hopefully something works!"
"No news is not good news, Sam!" Dean yelled as he fired a shot into the thing's mouth.
It hacked a little, and then its eyes narrowed on Dean. He fired again, and it swiped one giant stub of a front leg toward Dean. He wasn't entirely sure how he wound up slumped against the wall, but he was thrilled when he took in a lungful of air and tried to cough off the after effects of having the wind knocked out of him.
He forced himself to his feet just as the thing took a swipe at Sam. His brother dropped to the floor, so the Devourer only managed to take out a giant hunk of wall. Dean caught Bobby's eye through the newly formed hole and saw he was planning something. "Hey, ugly!" Dean yelled. He shot the thing in what he assumed was its butt. "We weren't through!"
It turned, almost disinterestedly, and took another swipe at Dean, who dropped, but instead of taking out the wall, the Devourer changed tactics and smashed down. This time, when Dean managed to choke air back in, he choked back out blood. He tried to force himself to get back up, but his legs wouldn't move. In fact, he couldn't feel them. "Son of a bitch!" he yelled and flipped himself onto his back, dragging himself and the sawed off toward a wall. He couldn't even sit up properly.
"Sam!" Dean heard Bobby yell. "Catch!"
Dean smiled a little when he saw what was in Sam's hand. "Eat this," Sam told the thing and threw the Molotov into the Devourer's mouth. Dean's smile evaporated when the monster clamped down on Sam's arm. His brother cried out in pain, and Dean began firing his weapon at the monster until it was out of bullets.
"Hey, ugly butt."
Dean turned to see Cas standing in the doorway to the living room. His insults still sucked, but he was getting better. Sort of. The monster inhaled and turned immediately to the fallen angel.
"You've been looking for me, haven't you?" Castiel asked. "Well, I have some bad news for you. You picked the wrong meal. My name is Castiel and I am an Angel of the Lord. Not a Prophet. Not an Archangel. I can see you. I can fight you. So, if you have any desire to keep on existing… I suggest you run. I don't take kindly to anything that hurts my friends."
Dean's eyes shot to the monster. It wasn't doing anything. He started to drag his useless legs to his brother. He hoped it was his own blood he was smelling, but knew it couldn't be. Cas was talking to the monster again, but Dean wasn't listening. He had to get to Sammy. His brother was bleeding. "Sammy!"
There was no response. "Dean, get some towels from the kitchen," Bobby called out to him.
No time for that, Dean thought. He finally reached his brother and pulled off his jacket. Dean tried really hard not to vomit. Sam's arm was almost gone. He wrapped it around the stump, taking over for Bobby, who was holding the artery. "You're going to be fine, Sammy," Dean promised. "We're going to get you to a hospital and-"
"Shut up, Dean," Sam whispered. "I'm not five anymore."
Dean felt like he'd been stabbed. "You don't have to lie for me," Sam said again, in that horrifyingly weak voice.
"Who said I was lying for you?" Dean asked with a self-deprecating smile and a tear rolled out of his eye. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat. "Stay with me, Sam."
He whirled around at the sound of Castiel's body crashing across the room. The angel's head rose from his chest, looked at Dean in a disoriented way before finding the monster on his other side. It stalked toward Cas, slavering in anticipation, and Dean had no idea what to do.
Suddenly Cas looked back at Dean, at Sam. Then he turned his gaze to the ceiling. He was whispering something and Dean couldn't hear. He turned back to his brother whose eyes were rolling back into his head. "Sam-" Dean wavered. "No, no, no, Sam. Sam. Sam!"
The Devourer roared and lunged for Castiel who was yelling words Dean could not understand. Just as his brother's eyes closed, a bright white light began to fill the room.