Chapter 4

"Well?"

"If you are asking as to my progress it goes slowly."

"Thank you Captain Obvious but you need to speed things up here." Dean threaded fingers through his hair in frustration. "Seriously Cas, what... what do you think he'll do to my brother?"

Dean could barely keep the tremor from his voice as he recalled the hate that Zachariah had displayed to them when he held them briefly in heaven before Joshua had come to their rescue to tell them God's message. He also saw the pity on the angel's face as Castiel stopped preparing the sigils that would help them locate Sam and turned to face him.

"I need to know." Dean's voice was quiet and insistent.

"Purgatory for the soul still trapped in a physical body is adapted to the senses so that they are overwhelmed and laid bare. The fire of Gehenna that purifies and heals as it burns, endless torture, temptation and endurance are common elements of atonement but Zachariah can be very creative. I fear he will weaken your brother until he is unstable… if Lucifer somehow gets to Sam before us..."

"He's gonna torture Sammy in the name of God and not one of your junkless brothers are going to stop him."

Dean wasn't asking but Castiel understood enough of the older boy's anguish not only from his words but from the palpable rage that was vibrating in the air around him. The angel nodded his head solemnly as he reached a decision.

"No they will not raise a hand in defiance of Zachariah to stop your brother from being cleansed… Sam is by all accounts still tainted with the demon blood in his veins. However I am with you Dean and if God will not stand by you and Sam... then I will."

"What changed your mind?" Dean's voice was soft… thankful.

"You did Dean. I see you ready to fight for your brother when you have nothing left, no one standing by your side... and I see the love that is in your heart and soul for Sam even though you try to hide it. I also know that Zachariah is surely acting in the interest of bringing on the Apocalypse."

Dean turned away from the steel blue eyes that suddenly burned through him too knowingly for his comfort. "What can I do to help?"

"Pray."

"What?"

"The fate of those in purgatory can be affected by the actions and prayers of the living... this is one of the rules that Zachariah cannot change."

"Really?" The older boy frowned as he turned back to the angel. "You really think praying makes a difference?"

"I am an angel of the Lord Dean... I may be angry at God but I still believe."

"Yeah... I guess it's like preaching to the choir."

"No... Israfel would not allow me to join the heavenly choir... apparently I do not have enough rhythm."

Dean smiled, suddenly more than glad to have Castiel by his side. "Well balls trump rhythm in my book so... I guess I'm gonna start praying. And thanks for sticking around Cas."

"You are welcome Dean."

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A sharp noise like thunder had torn through the atmosphere and echoed across the wasteland and Tahariel had told him to stop.

Sam obeyed the command without looking around at the angel…it hurt his eyes to look at the glowing brightness of his captor and he also just didn't have the energy to waste.

Sam stood on unsteady legs, the weight of the chains adding to his distress as he looked around the desolate landscape. His breath was hot and ragged and each inhale of the burning air made his lungs ache.

The concept of time was a distant memory… something Sam remembered but had no use for any more. All sense of the moment and its relevance to the one before it or after it was inconsequential because there was nothing to mark its passing or end.

He heard the rustle of wings and suddenly the landscape was darkened, the scorching sun now replaced by a dim grey hue that resembled the dull light of dusk. With the darkness came a chilling coldness and Sam's sweat covered skin broke into goosebumps as his heated flesh was quickly drained of its warmth.

"You will rest here and not move from this place until I return."

The angel's deep voice was followed by another rustle of wings and Sam knew he was now alone.

Sinking to his knees, Sam's long body then folded in as he curled on his side on the ground, seeking what little warmth he could from his own naked flesh.

The young hunter's body shook but it wasn't just from the cold this time as a wretched sob made its way up from his chest to sound out from his constrained and bloodied mouth. Tears coursed down his face in a steady stream and Sam was barely aware of their progress down his face to fall in the dusty earth beneath him.

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Unmarked hours had slipped past but Sam was oblivious to everything except the cold and desolation… and the pain.

He had fallen into a fitful exhausted sleep when he felt something touch his shoulder and he startled awake in fear, automatically trying to move from the touch. Pushing his body backwards with his hands, Sam was too numb to notice the scrape of his skin against the rough ground.

"Sam, it's me."

Sam began to pant in terror and disbelief, squinting his eyes closed and open again trying to make this… illusion… go away.

"Shhh baby… don't be afraid… don't you know me?"

Whimpering in shock, Sam looked at her features as he tried to inch further away. Once blonde hair was now matted and filthy and her naked body seemed shadowed in a darkness that came from her skin more so than the dull semi light around them.

He knew her face even though it was hollowed and bruised and the once blue eyes now seemed to hold no light, no spark of emotion.

Nodding slightly and moving slowly so he was now kneeling, Sam let out a soft groan as his muscles pulled and stretched painfully with the movement. He really didn't know what she wanted… if she was really here… but at least sitting he felt less vulnerable than lying down. Hunter's instincts working like a muscle memory.

"It's okay Sam, it is really me… Jess."

She knelt down in front of him, knees almost touching, and reached her hand out slowly to caress his face. Her fingers trailed down his cheek and then along the bloodied metal that protruded from his mouth before almost tenderly brushing over his lips.

Sam closed his eyes at the contact, her skin felt cold even to him but the way her hand moved, the sound of her voice made him remember who she had been… what they had once shared.

"That's right baby… I'm gonna take care of you…"

His eyes snapped open as he felt her lips press against his own and then her hand slipped around to curl against the back of his head.

"… just like you took care of me."

Her hand suddenly tightened in his hair, reefing his head back and he felt the cruel fingers of her other hand claw along his thigh.

Raising his hands he pushed against her chest, the swell of her breasts just below his hands as he tried to move her away.

She drove at his body then, slamming his back hard against the ground as she quickly moved to straddle his thighs, pressing her weight forward onto Sam's chest and capturing the chain between his arms under her hands.

"You sent me here Sam… did you know that? You shot your filthy demon seed into me and now… well now I'm not good enough for heaven."

Sam struggled underneath her weight, bucking and writhing frantically to dislodge what was left of the women he had once loved… panting breaths and muffled sobs escaping from his torn mouth.

"What? I'm not good enough for you now? Don't want to sink inside me and lose yourself like you used to do?"

Jess' hand pushed between their bodies and gripped Sam's soft cock, squeezing and pumping cruelly.

Throwing his head back against the ground Sam fought harder, blood dripping steadily now from the side of his mouth as he tried in vain to vocalise his pain and revulsion.

Her hand moved slower now up and down his shaft as she began whispering against his ear.

"I loved you Sam… and I didn't want to die. They told me I was unclean because I had loved you, let you fuck yourself inside me but you know what was worse?" She laughed but it was bitter… hateful. "You left your filthy, demon child inside me and when the angels tore it out and killed it… I was glad. My soul felt every single cut and tear but I was glad because I would have killed it myself… like they should have killed you."

The words hurt Sam far worse than her rough hands and his head shook in denial and shock at the details. He had done this to her and never knew… never even guessed he had sentenced the woman he had once loved to a fate of torture.

"I know the way you feel about your brother… always did know." She licked along his ear but Sam had no fight left. "I was just a substitute because he would never let you do the things that I let you do. Just think Sam, if you had fucked your brother like you wanted, he would be here instead of me. Dean would be the one screaming in agony because you loved him and touched him and pushed your cock inside him."

She cocked her head to the side and Sam heard whispers, malignant voices in the distance that were full of hate and want and darkness.

"They are close now Sam and they will help me show you what it feels like to have no hope, no feeling, no end in sight. I hate you Sam and you deserve to be punished… you killed me… YOU DID THIS TO ME!"

Her voice rose to a shriek and Sam's chest ached with the knowledge. It all made sense and he hadn't even given it a thought… Jess didn't deserve this… not after the love she had given him… she was right… and he deserved this."

Sam's body shuddered as he wept for Jess… and the unspeakable agony he had inflicted on her.

The whispering around them grew louder but amidst the growing noise the shuffle of wings broke through, subtle yet drawing their immediate attention. As Sam's eyes squinted open, he saw Jess cringe in the light cast out from Tahariel as she slid off his body and then skittered away in the semi darkness.

He was alone with the angel.

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Sam's body was at breaking point but choice was not an option… he had no say in his fate and the angel that walked behind him was a formidable presence.

Sam was terrified.

He had been walking across the barren and rocky ground for as long as he could remember... there was nothing else... and his feet and body were torn and scraped from walking and falling. The sun beat down on his skin and his blood and sweat were burnt dry on his body. He had just managed to regain his feet after falling again, the chains around his body making most movements awkward and painful, but he couldn't keep going.

Thoughts of Jess swam endlessly in his mind and they only served to weaken him further.

A sound escaped his bloodied mouth, the metal bit distorting any pleading words into nothing more than a garbled sob that went unnoticed like the sweat and blood that covered his skin.

"Walk." The cruel voice of the angel Taharial vibrated through his body as the warrior like being towered over Sam.

The young hunter stumbled another few feet before crashing to his knees, hands then hitting the ground in front of his body in an effort to stop himself falling all the way.

Sam heard the crack of the whip before he felt it slice across his back and across one shoulder blade, the pain taking several seconds before it scorched his nerve endings as it opened skin. The second and third hits came in quick succession, marking his buttocks and side before he collapsed against the stony ground.

Sam curled in a ball as the whip continued to pound his torso relentlessly, the chains that wound along his arms and legs offering a little protection to the skin on his limbs but not nearly enough to reduce the agony. The tail of the whip sizzled across his neck and cheek and Sam felt the blood run along his skin just before an unseen force pushed him to his back and spread his arms and legs as far as the chains would allow.

He shook his head whimpering as the raised arm of the angel blocked the cruel sun for a second before the furious torture continued. Sam face and chest were a bloodied mess as the whip continued down along his exposed body and he writhed weakly knowing even in his pain delirious state what was coming next.

The skin across his stomach was flayed to the muscle and bone protruded from his hips before the first strike landed between his legs, splitting the foreskin of his penis and the muscle underneath. The next lash angled across his thigh and scrotum, rupturing both testicles, blood and fluids pooling on the ground between his thighs as the angel's almighty strength was outpoured through the leather flog.

Sam's eyes rolled fitfully in his head as he convulsed and screamed wretchedly at the agony and terror of being flayed alive and mercilessly being held conscious throughout it all.

Sam's features were barely recognisable when the whip was finally stilled and the only sound was his own grating breaths. He felt his arms drawn above his head by the chains and then his body was being dragged face up along the ground as he was pulled behind the angel as the journey continued.

As rocks and stones pulled more flesh from his destroyed body, something sparked bright and comforting like a soft caress in Sam's frayed mind. He could feel a presence... something reaching out into his consciousness.

It was so out of place amidst the chaos of suffering and horror he didn't understand it at first but then a single reddened tear escaped his eye as realisation dawned within him.

Dean.

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