(Disclaimer: Don't own anything except the following story)

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Armageddon.

Chapter Eight.

Jay woke with a scream as the memories of what happened in the Church came crashing back. She felt arms tighten around her and a voice whispering quietly in her ear, a voice she hadn't heard in over a year, a voice she had longed to hear. He'd come, like he said he would. He pulled her against him, his whisperings getting softer as he lay gentle kisses down her face, finally finding her lips. She held him to her and everything was forgotten; all the pain, all the horror of the last couple of weeks, forgotten. She was back where she belonged.

Dean had been sound asleep, his dreams strange ones; ones of an upcoming battle, a battle that surrounded him, a battle fought on desolate plains; legions of soldiers laid out before and behind him. A war was beginning and he and Jay were in the middle of it. He saw Sam and Zeke on one side, sitting astride horses, swords at the ready while he and Jay circled on their horses in the middle of the armies, looking from one side to the other…confusion, indecision etched clearly on their features...

He was jolted out of the dream by a scream and he felt Jay jump in his arms. He pulled her against him, whispering quietly, talking her out of the nightmare, re-assuring her that she was alright, he was here now and everything was gonna be alright. He forgot all about the dream as his lips found hers, forgot about being angry with her as she slipped his t-shirt off and forgot about everything when he was finally naked against her. She was back, back with him and this time, he would not let her go.

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As Jay and Dean were sleeping, Sam and Zeke were cursing them. Sam was sure that Jay had rung and Dean had high-tailed it out of there without so much as a word to either of them. He knew Dean hadn't caught the scent of a demon and was off doing scary fucking shit to it, he'd have left his bag if he was. No, he'd done a runner…just like Jay. And just like Jay, he wasn't answering his phone.

"Well this is fucking brilliant!" said Zeke as he paced the motel room, his long legs making it almost comical….three steps, turn, three steps, turn. "Now they've both gone missing and I can't reach either of them and …and…" he turned to Sam "you get 'the chair' for fratricide right?"

"We'll try not to kill them in Texas" said Sam and he tried Dean again…voicemail…"Dean…PICK UP YOUR GODDAMN PHONE AND GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!" he slammed the phone shut and threw it onto the bed before the urge to throw it against the wall overtook him.

"Alright, we have to calm down and think this through rationally" said Zeke and he took his phone from his jacket and dialled "Jay…if you don't answer your phone, when I catch up with you…I'M GONNA MIND-FUCK YOU TIL YOUR EARS BLEED!"

Sam looked at Zeke and laughed "Oh, dude…that whole rational thing? You got that down pat"

"Do you have any idea how annoying it is having her as a sister?"

Sam raised an eyebrow "Aaah, yeah, spent a month with her at Georges. And Dean's not much better either, remember?"

"Shit, they freakin' well deserve each other!" he started to pace again, muttering under his breath "goddamn pains in the arse the two of them, think they can do shit like this alone, kill 'em, that's what I'm gonna do, kill the both of 'em..."

"Okay, there's no way they're coming back here. Let's get moving, I've a contact about two hours from here that might be able to help"

Sam grabbed his phone from the bed and followed Zeke out to the Chevy. The tyres spun as they sped out of the parking lot, heading to the main highway and hopefully towards someone who could give them some answers, both of them completely unaware that Dean and Jay were only three towns over.

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Sam and Zeke shuffled their feet as they stood on the porch of the cabin, their hands in their pockets in the vain attempt to keep them warm.

"It's almost three in the morning, Sam…" whispered Zeke as he hunched his shoulders.

"Doesn't matter…I can…" the door opened, stopping Sam mid-sentence "Bobby"

"Get your asses inside, it's freakin' freezing" he stared at Zeke as he walked in. He knew who this was but he wasn't what he'd expected. He'd seen the photo, but the man that had walked past him had almost doubled in size. He followed them into the main room "Sit"

Sam made the introductions "Bobby, this is Zeke Thomas. Zeke, Bobby Singer"

"Meetchya" said Bobby as they shook hands.

"Pleasure"

Bobby sat back in the armchair "Took you long enough to get here, Sam. Thought you and your brother would have been here at least a week ago" he looked at Zeke "See you got a brother with you, just the wrong one"

Sam gave a half-hearted smile "Yeah. Jay's been on the run for almost two weeks and we're pretty sure Dean's with her now. Did a runner a few hours ago"

"I take it neither one's answering their phones then" Zeke and Sam shook their heads. Bobby looked at Zeke "The boys explained your…gift to me…well as best they could…"

"Can't reach either of them. Can reach Sam but not Jay and Dean"

"Headaches?" asked Bobby.

Zeke frowned "Yeah, the both of them. Jay's had hers for at least six months…same as Dean"

Bobby nodded and sat deep in thought "You two notice anything else strange going on?"

"You mean the storms and tornado's …yeah…lots of weird shit. But we're kinda concentrating on finding Dean and Jay" said Sam.

Bobby leaned forward in his armchair "It's all linked Sam, can't you see that?" he stood and went to the kitchen and came back with three beers "Dean and Jay aren't the only hunters that have fallen off the radar…"

"Jay isn't exactly a hunter" said Zeke.

"She kill demons?" asked Bobby and Zeke nodded "She's a hunter. Call her a fancy name if you like, but she's a hunter just the same…she's just more…specialised is all"

Zeke looked at Sam "You told?"

Sam shook his head "He knew from the necklace Dean was wearing, the one Jay gave him"

"I'd have known if I'd have met her, son. I can spot a 'Banisher' a mile away"

"Is that right?" said Zeke angrily.

"Yeah, it is" he paused "Those two are in a heap o'trouble. More than I think even they realise"

"The headaches" said Sam.

"Those aren't exactly headaches, Sam" he paused and looked at both the men in front of him "They're a 'summoning'"

"Summoning? What the fuck are you talking about Bobby?" asked Sam.

Bobby stared at Sam incredulously and shook his head "For the Battle, Sam"

"Battle?"

"The battle you've all been preparing for" said Bobby. Sam and Zeke just stared at him and Bobby sighed "'The Apocalypse', boys…and Dean and Jay are being called to the other side"

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Dean woke as he felt Jay shift against him and settle back to sleep. He kissed her forehead softly and closed his eyes, he knew he should get up, get organised, find out what Jay had been up to these last few weeks but he was happy just being here, in the moment with no thoughts of anything. He drifted off to sleep again, holding the woman he loved against him.

He was back in that desolate landscape, he and Jay on the horses as legions were spread out around them. This time he felt the confusion, the indecision…he didn't know which way to turn, which army he should be fighting with. He heard a soft whispering in his ear, promises of a life fulfilled, promises of anything his heart desired. He was shown flashes of possibilities…money, fame, women…but he turned from those and looked towards his brother before turning round again…it shouldn't be a difficult decision, he should be fighting with his brother, with Sam. He turned again, saw Jay and smiled…he was shown another possibility…another temptation, one that held Jay and he stopped his horse and watched …

Jay nestled against Dean, her mind only partially awake as she took in his familiar scent, his arms around her and it soothed her back to sleep …and into a strange dream. She was on a horse in the middle of a stark landscape, legions of soldiers surrounding her…her and Dean. She was turning from one …army, they were armies laid out in front and behind her; and she had to make a choice but she didn't know what she was expected to choose. She saw Zeke and Sam on one side of her and she figured that was where she should be…but she wasn't sure. She turned to the other army and wondered why she thought that one held possibilities; then she was shown the possibilities, none of which she found at all tempting. She wasn't one for material things so it didn't interest her. She turned and caught Dean smiling at her and she smiled in return…and she was shown another possibility…one that made her stop and watch…

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Bobby laughed softly at the look on Sam and Zeke's faces "You two have been so caught-up in finding Dean and Jay that you don't know what the hell's been happening with the world" he got up, grabbed a stack of newspapers from a nearby table and sat back down.

He threw the first newspaper down on the coffee table "Tornado's, floods, earthquakes literally tearing the country apart" he threw the next newspaper down "China and Russia at War" the next newspaper "Tidal wave that destroyed pretty much all of Indonesia" next newspaper "Bangladesh no longer exists" next newspaper "same with the south island of New Zealand" next newspaper "the middle-east conflict, escalated again" the next three newspapers "most of Africa can't feed it's people so civil wars have broken out all over the place" another newspaper "Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland back at it again" he looked at them "want me to keep going? 'Cause domestically, the rise in mass-suicide and mass-murder has sky-rocketed these last few days; not to mention the destruction and desecration of Churches and murder of priests and the like"

Sam and Zeke reached over and picked up newspaper after newspaper. They'd had no idea. They didn't listen to the radio and they never watched tv.

"Fuck me…" said Sam.

"You got that straight, Sam. Everyone's worried. You got the crazies out there spouting 'end of the world' crap as usual and no-one's paying them any mind and for once the bastards have actually got it right"

"So why are Dean and Jay having the headaches and Zeke and I aren't?"

"Because we've had demons in us…well you have, Sam and I've been in your head so their lies won't work with us…we're kind of immune" said Zeke.

Bobby nodded "That's what I'm guessing"

"Dean and Jay are too sensible for that. They'd know" said Sam.

"I think Jay has an idea of what's happening…that talk she had with Ash…she saw the beginnings of it"

"So why run? She'd have been better off staying with you…why didn't she ring you after Lucas was killed? Shit…" he took out his phone and flicked through the menu "Bobby, take a look at this, found it at a place where Jay had done a 'banishing'" he passed the phone to Bobby.

Bobby studied it, his face knitting into a frown "This isn't a 'banishing' symbol…it's…" he looked at Zeke "that Lucas person….his body missing?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Because 'The Seal of the Left Hand Path' is carved into it"

"Yeah, saw that" said Sam "What's it mean?"

"Trouble" he looked at Zeke "You and he close?"

Zeke nodded "So are he and Jay"

"What the hell does it mean, Bobby?"

"It opens the path to Satan himself" he sat forward in his seat "Look, you understand that when you die, you go either three ways…up, down or somewhere in the middle while you sort yourself out…"

"Purgatory" said Zeke.

"That's one word for it. There's a belief that before you go either way, you're shown a path…a pathway to 'Heaven' …" he looked at Sam "you make one Zeppelin remark I'll kick your ass"

Sam gave a small smile "That's more Dean's domain"

"You said that in the singular, Bobby"

He nodded "Most of the time it is…unless the 'Seal of the Left Hand Path' is opened, then you're shown both paths. Now that's some dangerous mojo, cause while the path upstairs deals only with the soul, the path downstairs takes you completely, body and soul"

"So the 'left hand path' isn't always shown?" asked Sam.

"From my understanding, no. And it's not just limited to the dead either. Seems the big guy downstairs is selective…but there could be other things in place…shit, look I don't completely understand how the whole up or down thing works…but if your friend is missing, his body is missing…he's taken the left hand path"

Zeke shook his head "No, no way. Lucas isn't like that, he'd never go to Hell, especially after what happened to me"

"Listen carefully, son. He didn't just skip merrily down a garden path, he was tempted down one, he was shown something, something was promised to him to make him choose that path. The Lucas you know is dead, the one that's in Hell is his shell but he has all his memories and once they figure out his link to you four then who do you think they're gonna send after you?"

"And if Dean and Jay are having the headaches…" started Sam.

"Then the pathway is already open and you boys need to find them before Lucas does"

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He crept slowly out of the depths of Hell; he had a mission now. He was beginning his service to his 'Master', he had purpose again, he was doing what he was born to do…he was back on the hunt.

To be continued…