Thanks to everyone for reading and for the awesome reviews!! bambers;)

Chapter Seven

Rowan slid out of the front seat of his sleek dark blue Audi A5 and carefully shut the door so as not to make a sound. With stealth born from years upon years of stalking his prey with deadly precision, he crept upon the man who stood beside the wrought iron fence in front of the graveyard. The man, seemingly unaware of Rowan's presence, casually ran his fingers through his hair as he peered into the darkness beyond the gates. For all intent purposes, he appeared to be alone, but Rowan heard more than just a solitary heartbeat coming from the shaggy-haired man's direction and knew instinctively that he wasn't there by himself.

Like sharpened daggers, Rowan's fangs pierced through his upper gums, pearly-white teeth shifting backwards to accommodate them, and Rowan let out a low hiss of pain. After a very long lifetime it still often surprised him that this was the only pain he'd ever truly felt. To him, it was as if heavy wooden spikes were being nailed into his flesh, and yet somehow he thought it fitting and welcomed the intense searing ache.

He heard the man's heartbeat quicken as the blood surged through his veins, but still the man remained outwardly calm. If the younger man sensed Rowan's presence, which Rowan was certain that he had, the man did not appear to be the least bit intimidated. This determined, Rowan gave up any pretense of trying to sneak up on the man. Long strides carried him the rest of the way there, and sidling up alongside the lean muscular man, Rowan casually draped his forearms between the sturdy iron bars of the fence.

The man's head dropped backward to rest on his shoulders, exposing the veins in his neck to Rowan's view in an almost taunting manner. His eyes shifted back and forth as he studied the heavens above, yet Rowan knew he was looking beyond what normal men could see to what lie hidden within the blanket of clouds and stars.

"Question, Rowan." the man said, turning his head to look at Rowan briefly before he once again retrained his sights on the sky above.

Rowan waited for the question but when the man failed to speak again, he cleared his throat and asked, "And what would that be, my Lord Lucifer?"

Lucifer was silent for several more seconds, his slow steady breathing and the blood coursing through his veins, drowning out all other sounds to Rowan's ears. "Your thoughts on trinities? Perhaps not the holy kind, well, not in the strictest sense of the word, but trinities nonetheless."

"Not sure I understand the question," Rowan said as he looked beyond the gated wall, and detected two more heart beats coming from inside the cemetery. One heart beat faster than the other, and from this he ascertained that one of the two men was doing some sort of physical labor.

"You don't? Huh, thought you were smarter than that." Lucifer glanced in his direction, blue-green eyes shifting briefly to fiery crimson and then back again. "Talking about body, mind and soul or the entities that could make up those three separate and distinct things."

Understanding dawned on Rowan as to why Lucifer was here and also who exactly the two men inside the graveyard were. "Think the mind can be tricked and it is usually the easiest prey of all three."

"True."

"The body although strong can be conquered."

"And the spirit?"

Rowan was quiet for a moment, not liking where the discussion was leading, but knew he had no choice but to answer. "I believe the spirit is the strongest of the three, but if crushed it will destroy the mind and body thoroughly. Does that answer your question?"

"Not quite." Lucifer peered back into the darkness of the cemetery, seeing beyond the grave markers lined in neat long rows, and the trees and shrubs to where Rowan knew Sam and Jax were. With a subtle nod of Lucifer's head, the wind kicked up, an eerie moan following it through the night. "Which would you say Dean was, if you had to chance a guess?"

"Guess I would have to say the body." Rowan hesitated, trying to decided why this all would be important to Lucifer. "Why do you want to know?"

"I have my reasons," Lucifer stated, not elaborating in any details. "And why would you say he would be the body in the trinity?"

Taking a calming breath, Rowan scrubbed his hand across his face as he thought of what he knew of Dean. "Cause he's strong, doesn't know how to quit even if all the odds are stacked against him."

"Then why wouldn't he be the spirit?"

"Think cause he's too easily swayed by his emotions. He cannot survive without Sam and that makes him weak . . . is that what you wanted to hear?"

"So Sam would be?" Lucifer asked without bothering to answer his question.

"Well, if we're talking about a trinity, I would say the mind. However, if we were just talking about Sam and Dean I would probably say he'd be the spirit though."

"Interesting." Lucifer looked back at Rowan. "And why would you change your mind because we're speaking of a trinity?"

"Because to you, Sam has always been easy prey. He leads with his heart, and to you that is a weakness. Without Dean there to watch over him, you believe he can be easily manipulated and I guess that would make him the mind."

"An' then there's Jax?" Lucifer said with a knowing smile, although the meaning was lost on Rowan.

"Not sure I would consider him the spirit."

"Why?"

"From what I can gather, Dean doesn't even know Jax an' from what I can tell, he probably won't like him if he did."

"See, that's where you're wrong. They do know each other."

Rowan raked his fingers through his hair, brushing back his bangs from his face as he thought of Jax. From all the information he had gathered about the younger man, Jax seemed unlikely to be anything other than a common petty criminal, but in the world of angels and demons that meant nothing. He also knew from experience the weakest of men could do extraordinary things if God willed it to be so.

"Jax is special?" Rowan asked, although he already knew the answer without Lucifer having to say a word.

"For nine months, Lauren Callio carried a child." Lucifer raised a single finger as if he needed to emphasize his point. "One child, not two. And yet she delivered two sons, the first being Jax and within ten minutes Nick followed. Jax was never meant to be born, and it always puzzled me as to why he was. That is until now."

"Don't necessarily think that makes him special," Rowan quickly responded with a frown, not liking the idea that he hadn't known about this until now. He'd always been able to determine the existence of a special child before no matter how well concealed from mankind by angels or demons. "Think maybe the doctors might just have missed detecting his heartbeat."

Lucifer quirked a brow and chuckled. "Don't look so put out, Rowan, not even I was able to put all the pieces together until tonight." He paused for a moment to draw in a breath of the chilled night's air, and then continued, "But even back then, I knew Jax had to die. Tried to kill him in so many damn ways." He laughed mercilessly, the sound of it carrying on the breeze, growing louder by the second to fill the graveyard, and Rowan was certain that Sam and Jax had to have heard it. "Put him through a living hell, an' yet, he still managed to somehow survive . . but that's all about to change."

"How?" was all Rowan could think to say, knowing now that if Jax did die, all he'd strived so hard to accomplish would be for nothing.

"Crush the spirit, kill the trinity." Lucifer licked his lips as if in anticipation of his final victory, a sardonic and self-satisfied grin settling on his features. "Jax and Joshua, two hearts beating as one in every sense of the word. Kill Jax, Joshua dies and when that happens the trinity will be irrevocably shattered."

"An' the amulet?" Rowan asked, feeling as if his last hope was burning up right before his eyes.

"Still looking for miracles, I see," Lucifer chuckled, "thought you would have learned by now that you're damned to walk this earth until the day of reckoning is at hand." his smile deepened, yet there was no warmth in it, "then you fall to my domain. An' I gotta tell ya, the fires of Hell have been waiting a long time for you, my traitorous friend."

Rowan steeled himself against the tremor of fear racing through his body. Eyes narrowing considerably, he glared at Lucifer. "Asked about the amulet."

"One by one they will shatter, killing the Guardians who possess them. And with each broken amulet, the world will fall a little more into darkness, until all but the twelfth is destroy. That one is mine, the last bit of hope and humanity to be worn around my neck forever out of reach of mankind."

"And Dean and Sam?"

"Sam will take his rightful place at my side to serve me." Lucifer stepped away from the fence and headed toward the front gates. With one look at the wrought iron bars denying him entrance into the cemetery, they burst wide open as a torrent of white-hot flames shot heavenward, twisting and crumpling the metal as the fire enshrouded them.

"And Dean," Rowan shouted out to Lucifer, not wanting to follow him through the blazing inferno and into the graveyard.

Lucifer swung back to look at him, a lopsided grin settling on his boyish features. "Fallen from grace, he will become my darkest angel . . . killing for my pleasure alone." He stared long and hard at Rowan, then threw back his head and laughed. "An' the first person I plan on sending him after is you. So if I were you, I'd think real hard before trying to outsmart me cause I know exactly what you're planning to do if given the chance."

"I live only to serve you, my Lord Lucifer," Rowan lied, but knew all-the-while that Lucifer didn't believe a word he was saying.

"Not for long, Rowan, remember that. Soon enough, you will be dying only for me." Lucifer strode through the flames, heading in the direction of Sam and Jax, calling back over his shoulder, "But first I have to take care of one minor little detail."

Rowan stood there for the longest time, unmoving, not sure what he should do next. He knew to go after Lucifer would accomplish nothing. He also determined that if Lucifer wanted to kill Jax outright there would be nothing he could do to prevent it from happening. Yet, he really didn't believe Lucifer would murder Jax right away either. There was something about Jax that intrigued Lucifer that much Rowan could tell. And if Jax intrigued him, that meant he didn't understand the full nature of the trinity created by Sam, Dean and Jax, and for now that would work to Jax's benefit.

Dean, on the other hand, was a different matter entirely. Lucifer knew exactly how to get to him, knew how willingly the hunter would give up his soul to protect Sam, had seen proof of it. It was Dean who needed watching over, and Rowan just wasn't certain Michael would give it the full attention it deserved. With that thought in mind, he headed back to his car, determined to find the wayward hunter.