Dean, already dazed from Benny's death even though he shouldn't be, even though he'd told himself this was what had happened, listened in stunned silence as somebody told him about Anna. They hadn't found her in time. And she was dead now, just like Adam. He blinked his eyes.
He needed to grieve, but the hairs on his neck stood high and he couldn't, he couldn't crawl into bed now and cry because there was still danger, because there was still people who needed to be saved, and that is what his father had taught him and it still bowled him over that he needed saving from him, even before he was possessed by the demon Azazel with the yellow eyes.
He was twenty-two years old, for god's sakes, and he was still haunted by the ghosts and demons that had plagued him as a teenager.
But Ruby roused herself from Sam's arms when Victor said the radio was out. "We're saved."
"What do you mean, we're saved?" Sam said. His fingers looped Ruby's hair into twisted ponytails.
"The sheriff would have been in communication with the mainland. There's an impending investigation. The sheriff will need to keep the mainland updated or else they'll send backup. All we have to do is wait for them to show up, and then we can leave the island."
"Tuck our tails in like cowardly dogs?" Abbie sneered, popping her knuckles. "I don't fucking think so."
Kevin raised his head from his arms. "Hey, don't diss Courage."
Meg burst out laughing that she quickly silenced, but Abbie burned a glare so deep towards Kevin's direction that he glanced away.
"Chill out," Dean said dully.
Abbie swung on him, her fist half raised. "Don't tell me-"
"Chill," Gordon said.
Tamara laughed behind her. "It's funny that you don't want to run-my experience with demons is that they're cowards. What have you got to be angry about anyway? You've been living the life up here, safe and without fear."
Abbie's mouth twitched but she must have taken stock of the hunter surrounding her, and she kept her lips shut.
That was the best way Dean liked her.
"Okay-so we wait for the coast guard to show up? How long will that take them?"
Ruby leaned back against Sam's shoulder, her eyes half closed. "I don't know. Tomorrow at the earliest, I think. The sheriff didn't give me a time frame."
Dean jerked his eyes to Ruby. "You talk with her?"
Meg and Ruby smiled at each other over Sam's broad shoulders. "We had an arrangement-or didn't you know." Ruby rolled her eyes, but her smile was coy, her voice reassuring. "Don't worry, I'm sure she didn't trust us more than you."
"Maybe we should get some ice for that burn," Meg said.
Tamara snorted. "I'm glad you have time for these raspberry flavored zingers during a time like this. Makes you wonder whose side you're on."
"We're on our side," Meg said. "I thought that was obvious."
"All too clearly." Tamara slid a knife out of her scabbard and began to whet it with a stone, the smooth slide of it rasping the room, curling Dean's flesh, making his spine crawl.
"I'm going for a walk," Dean said. "I can't take this."
Mike moved to join him, and Sam pushed Ruby out of his lap. "You shouldn't go alone," they both said breathlessly.
Dean looked at them. "I'm going alone, okay? If someone jumps me, I'll be sure to scream real loud."
"What," Sam said, his lips pinched over his teeth, the fine muscles twitching. "Like Adam did? Look where it got him."
"I need to be alone," Dean said, and with that he left them, slamming the door for emphasis. He prayed to god they'd leave him alone because he just needed some space to breath and he'd be fine, just fine, except he wouldn't be.
He leaned against the banister that framed the veranda porch, his eyes squeezed shut against the prickling tears. He'd felt like this earlier-when Bobby and his mother had been taken, before the sheriff had taken him and treated him as her own. But that hadn't been unexpected, the whole town had joked that Jody Mills was his second mother.
There'd been even rumors that Jody and Mary had been-lovers-and he'd always wondered if that had been why John had gone after Mary, but had never had the courage to ask Jody. Figured she'd tell him in her own time if it was true.
But that was before-before Jody'd had sent him away.
Mothers weren't supposed to do that to their kids, biological or not, just like fathers weren't supposed to go on murderous rampages, almost killing their entire family in the process.
The hurt had never healed, and it pained now more than ever.
"Dean?"
He raised his head, not quite believing-
"Dean? I can see you on the porch-it's me-it's Jody-can you come here please?"
"Where are you?" he said, his danger sense prickling because why did he have to go to Jody when every time on this island Jody had come to him to tell him to leave or to ask him what he was doing.
"At the gazebo-" and this time her breath did shake and Dean knew without even thinking about it really that she was going to be the next victim.
and he couldn't take that, not this time.
He leaped over the banister, without wasting time looking for the stairs, and headed off at a sprint towards the gazebo. The sheriff was standing on the top of it, a thick rope around her neck. He followed the line of it-saw that it was tied to a thick limb from a nearby tree that reached out over the roof.
Dean skidded to a stop, spraying up soft mud and chunks of green grass. "Mom?" He wondered if she knew about Adam yet-wondered if he should tell her now or after he talked her off the roof. He knew he'd want to know now, but he and the sheriff were different.
"Hey baby," she said, smiling at him for the first time since he'd been back.
And that wasn't fair to smile now at him now, not like this.
"Mom, what are you doing?"
She looked down at the heavy rope around her neck, at the noose man's knot settled tight against her throat. "This isn't what it looks like-"
"Mom," Dean said, voice rising in fragile desperation as he took a step towards her. "What is going on?"
"I made a deal, Dean," Jody said, her eyes misting over. "They wanted you Dean, they wanted you and Sam. So I saved you, and I sent you away-but it was already too late for Sam. They had him, already, were already grooming him for Lucifer, for him to be Lucifer's vessel."
Dean rocked back, brain stumbling to catch up. "But Lucifer's dead-"
"They broke the pact-as it is in heaven, so shall it be on earth. It's not called an apocalypse for laughs, Dean. I wasn't just trying to save you, and everybody I could, and that's why I had to let Sam go. But you-you were safe. Michael hadn't gotten you to say yes yet-"
"Michael?" Dean frowned. He remembered how Lucifer had gone by Luke, and then- "Mike?"
Jody nodded. "Yes, Mike. Archangel Michael, predestined to destroy Lucifer for the second and final time-and as Sam was Lucifer's vessel so were you to be Michael's, and then you would have fought, laying the earth to waste in their wake-human, monster, demon, angel."
"I would have said no," Dean said, "just like Sam."
"And now you never needed to be tempted," Jody said, "because of what I did. I was protecting you. It was Azazel who raised the devil with the first sacrifice-and it was the price of releasing Azazel from the devil's trap that let the deal be." She laughed weakly. "It's funny-isn't it? We never even knew it was a demon because we all knew who your father was, what he could do, what he did do? It's like, even possessed, it was him, and I still don't know what to make of that-do you?"
But Dean didn't and he couldn't answer her and maybe he wasn't supposed to answer because she kept on talking.
"Even Eve, mother of monsters, got on board because how could they hunt and slaughter if all the humans were gone and destroyed?" She laughed, wildly. "It should have worked, Dean, it should have worked. I did everything I could."
"Do you know what this sacrifice is raising?" Dean said, stepping closer. "Who's coming next? Who could be worse than Lucifer?"
The sheriff shook her head, the tears falling even faster. "I don't know. This wasn't supposed to happen."
Dean hid his shaking hands in his pocket. "You shouldn't have done this."
"I was just doing what I thought was best."
"You should have told me-you should have told me the truth. You didn't have to do this alone. You didn't have to send me away like I was nothing!"
Jody's eyes flashed. "I was doing this for you, Dean!"
"I didn't ask you to. I thought you had abandoned me. I thought you didn't love me anymore, and the worst thing is, I didn't know why. I was a just a kid when you sent me away!"
Jody shook her head. "I'm sorry, baby, I just-I needed to keep you safe. I needed to make sure you were safe so that I could keep the promise I made to Mary."
"You should have told me the truth," and Dean wiped his eyes with his wrist. "I don't understand how Michael even allowed that to happen at all if I was supposed to say yes. Kind of hard to do that when he's here and I'm in LA."
"A loophole in the deal," Jody said, and she coughed out a laugh. "And I exploited it and they couldn't say shit because it was still fair and square."
Dean took another step closer. "It's not funny. You don't treat people like that. You don't treat people like they're your ace in the hole."
Jody took deep breaths. A shadow in the gazebo moved. "I'm sorry. I have no excuse other than I thought it was best, and I guess I was wrong. I hurt you, and I thought that was an acceptable sacrifice-but I should have asked you. Dean -"
Dean stepped closer. "Mom, take off the rope-" He noticed, for the first time, how awkwardly her arms were held against her torso, almost as if her hands were bound behind her back.
"Baby-" and her voice broke with tears - "don't look, okay? Don't look-"
A shot rang from the gazebo, blowing the roof that Jody stood on to pieces, and she dropped like a stone, her neck snapping instantly from the pull of gravity and the pressure of the knot.
"No," Dean sobbed, falling to his knees in the grass, clutching his stomach with his hands. "No, no, no, no."
A heavy hand fell on his shoulder, and Dean leaned into it, thinking it was Sam. And he needed to be there for Sam too-because-it was like she had been his mom, too-
"It's alright, my son, my good and faithful servant."
Dean knew that voice-it felt like a bladed whisper in his ears and he jerked away, cold sweat soaking his shirt as he stumbled to his feet, eyes locked on John Winchester wearing the yellow eyes of Azazel.
"You killed her," he said numbly, "you killed her. Why? Why the fuck would you do that?" He found himself pummeling John's chest, like he could do anything with his weak fists, like it'd do anything more than make him angry.
Strong arms gripped Dean's wrists and bent him to his knees.
"Hello, Dean," the figure said. "Surprised?"
"More like revolted-" but the insult sounded weak, even in his ears, and Dean cursed his shaking, traitorous voice. Dad had always said that real men didn't cry.
If John or Azazel-Dean was never sure whom he was speaking to-noticed, they let it slide. But they'd probably bring it up again-unless, and the thought buzzed in his brain like it was the voice of god itself-he killed them both, killed them for real, it was possible now, because of the spell.
This was his chance.
He gripped the gun he'd tucked into the back of his jeans, the gun he'd started carrying because this island was forcing him to be a hunter again.
John Winchester tsked. "Is that any way to greet a father? Do you think your brother, my other son, would treat me in such a way?"
"What?" Dean asked, confused. "I don't have a brother."
"Are you sure? Your mother separated you, you know, separated you away from me, and away from your brother. How about that, huh? Couldn't save you both so only saved the one she could-"
"-are you talking about Sam?"
They laughed together through John Winchester's mouth. "Talking about Mary, Dean. Jody made her deal and Mary made hers. Guess we all know who her favorite is. Whose Jody is too. How does that make you feel, son, knowing how many people have died because of you?"
Dean ignored the last part even though it wormed into his soul. "Who is my brother?" Dean said. "If it's Sam then tell me it's Sam!"
"All in good time," John said. Then he nodded and Dean felt a splitting pain in his head before he knew no more.
Sam had brought in Dean's unconscious body and had said something about Jody swinging from the tree over the gazebo. He figured that whoever had attacked Dean had also killed Jody-maybe John himself, and his voice had been high pitched, tense.
Victor listened in silence, and then had gone to cut down Jody since Sam had just left her there like some kind of asshole. He carried her body to the basement to lay it beside Benny's, Adam's, and Anna's. He sucked on his bottom lip, considering the mounds under the white sheet.
He felt numb to the sadness-he didn't really know these people well, but that didn't mean he didn't care-that their loss, their brutal deaths, hadn't hurt because nobody deserved that.
Nobody deserved to die like this-these deaths were meant to hurt not just their victims, but the living too.
Ruby was right.
This was personal.
And he'd personally like to kill the man who did all this because he'd die first before he let John Winchester get away again.
And this time-he could kill Azazel too. Would kill him.
He pulled his gun from the side holster neatly tucked under his arm. He made sure it was loaded, checked the safety. Bullets were blessed and salted and carved with devil traps. If anything could take him down, it would be these.
Once the spell was lifted, it would be these.
He would prefer that justice take him, but he wasn't sure he could wait that long. Wasn't sure the system could handle someone like John Winchester as he was possessed by Azazel too. But it wasn't right gunning someone down in the name of the law.
Looking at the row of corpses though-and these only the bodies they had recovered and not the whole of the missing persons supposed to be dead-he reckoned that John Winchester wouldn't give him much choice.
It would be defense.
That suited Victor just fine.
Meg and Ruby sat together on the sofa, tucking their bare feet under each other's thighs. Meg stared at Ruby's bare shoulders, a tank top loose against her freckled skin, leather jacket folded up in her lap.
She hadn't spoken much, not since Anna's death.
Ruby had known Anna better than she did.
They were losing everything. Everyone.
It was hard being a demon, Meg knew this. Ruby knew it too. They'd both been pupils under Alastair. The way he'd rip them of their bodies, then their hearts, then their souls, and made them thank him for it until they actually meant it.
It was easier, looking back on it. Being topside, forming relationships outside of Alistair (at least Castiel had been useful for that) had-had allowed her to see it what it was. It wasn't her thanks that had come out of her voice-it had been his, it had always been his.
Her fingers curled in her purple shirt, and she looked out the window.
This was something that Alistair would do-only he would have made them do it, and he would have told them how proud he was of them, like he was their father now.
She breathed heavily, tried to clear her mind from the memories by counting the freckles on Ruby's bare shoulders.
"You okay?" Ruby said.
Meg smiled. "Of course, I am."
No what's black and white and red all over for this death, Meg realized. Did it hurt when she fell? Ruby probably used that line on Anna, especially when she found out she had been an angel. Anna wouldn't have picked up on it-she hadn't known when she'd first met Ruby. Maybe they had laughed about it later. Had Anna had one night with Ruby? Maybe-maybe not since Sam was so resolute she not be there.
Ruby's eyes flashed to black coals and burned. "That bastard is going to pay."
"Why the red cord though?" Meg said. "It's-extravagant."
"He rigged a spade to a chandelier." Ruby's voice was tight. "It was art. Torture. Dying like that." She glanced her gaze from Meg, looked at the ceiling. Maybe she was counting the cobwebs. "One of us. A student of Alistair."
Meg shook her head. "No," she said. "I don't believe it. This is from someone who hates us, who-"
"Anna wasn't a demon," Ruby said. "She was an angel. She wasn't like other angels."
Meg laughed like she'd been stabbed. "She always said you weren't like other demons."
Ruby's face tched, and Meg wished she hadn't said anything.
"We'll figure it out," Meg said. "Don't worry."
Ruby met Meg's eyes again, and held them there. "I'm not worried. That's the good thing about more bodies. More clues. And this time-" she glanced at Dean's prone form on the couch, still out like a light. Meg didn't blame him if he never woke up. "We have an eye witness."
Bela and Sarah sat away from each other. "This is stupid," Bela whispered.
"What is?" Sarah's hand brushed up against Bela, but Bela ignored it.
"I'm afraid." Bela's eyes were downcast, and she edged away from Sarah.
"That's okay," Sarah said. "I'm still hoping that Lilith will be the next target-aren't you?".
"I should be braver," Bela said. "How am I going to survive hell if I'm not brave?"
"Bela-"
But Bela just shook her head, and Sarah fell silent.
Madison joined Gordon, who was sitting by the door, hands on his knees, back straight as he watched the window. She sat next to him, beside his boots. "I feel like our alliance isn't bringing the unified front I was hoping for," she said, forcing a laugh. "I thought that unity would keep us more protected, but so many have died and-" she let her hands fall open in her lap, fingers still sore from the transformation, her nails healing from the split. She missed wearing nail polish.
"That's funny," Gordon said in his slow, southern lilt. "I thought it was going pretty well. Haven't felt in fear of my life once in your presence."
"Wow," Madison said. "In this environment of everyone being suspicious of the others I'm freaking honored." She pushed herself against the wall, eyes closed. "But I couldn't even find Anna in time."
Gordon glanced down at her before reverting his gaze back to the window. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Madison smiled weakly. "Nothing, I guess."
Gordon shifted so that he could look down again at Madison sitting on the floor. "I figure the time is coming where our alliance will be the difference between life and death. I'm trusting you with my back, Madison."
"And mine with yours," Madison said. She shivered, crossing her arms over her belly. "I don't like this spell. I feel weak. Vulnerable. Anybody could kill me now."
"Anybody could kill you before with a silver bullet," Gordon said.
"I know. But-it's different now. I'm supernatural-and not. It's like-being human again, but I'm a wolf too." She held her head in her palm. "It confuses me all over again."
Gordon looked back out the window. "Well it looks like our resident witches are hightailing up the drive, so maybe this little problem will be resolved soon." He cast her a reassuring smile, his eyes warm and brown as she held out her hand and he helped her to her feet.
Pamela and Missouri breezed in like they owned the place and shooed Ruby and Meg off the couch so that they could sit on it inside.
"Go fetch them water, Ruby," Lilith said lazily. "They look quite out of breath."
Victor kneeled beside them. "What's going on?"
"The spell- we know it's blood magic."
"Well we already knew that," Victor said.
"We just need to know the components," Ruby said, "so that we can come up with a counter spell."
Missouri and Pamela glanced at each other. "Well, we know the components, but we can't help you with finding a counter spell."
Gordon bent his head to Madison. "But watch the demonic duo come up with one in a hot minute. Just watch. This might not be their doing, but it is their flavor of evil. We shouldn't trust them."
"I like to consider it toleration as opposed to trust," Madison whispered back.
"If you two are quite finished," Missouri said. "Pamela?"
Pamela leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, her blind eyes empty of their white seer glass and bare of sunglasses. Madison had never seen her-had never seen her without the decorations to hide the mutilation she'd suffered from John Winchester's hands. "It's blood sacrifice in a nutshell. There's been a deal-a truce on this island binding hunters, demons, angels, and monsters alike. We know about this-" she said, nodding at Madison and Gordon sitting together - "and we've abided by it, if sometimes reluctantly. I don't know the details of the deal but by slaying a demon, a hunter, a monster, and an angel, the spirit of the truce was compromised, allowing the entire island to become vulnerable, essentially becoming the anchor of the spell that was used to kill Lucifer. It created a hole in the supernatural veil that layers this universe-rendering the supernatural basically natural. The spell can be reversed-it actually will reverse naturally within a week or two as the balance reasserts itself."
"We don't have a week or two," Lilith said. "We need to stop this thing now. We need to protect ourselves now."
Gordon shifted beside Madison, and she steeled herself against what he was going to say next. "Why? The way I see it-as a human-the playing field has never been more even."
"You mean," Lilith shot back, "now that we're easier to kill. You know the killer isn't us, right? He's human-that's why he's done this so that we're easier to pick off one by one. You should want this spell reversed now, so that your allies will be stronger." She looked pointedly at Madison.
Gordon thumbed his knife. "You're not my allies. In fact, demons have killed plenty of my friends. And I'm a hunter who hunts monsters, because they slaughtered my friends and family, and strangers' friends and family, picking off the weak because that's the easiest. Now that the tables are turned? I've no interest in giving up our advantage."
Madison moved about a foot away from him and glowered.
Ruby and Meg rolled their eyes, and turned back towards each other. "So, to reverse the spell, more blood would need to be shed. The caster of this spell did sloppy work-or else the spell would be permanent, the victims chosen with more care and less haste. A sacrifice of the pure of heart would probably work best, combined with the appropriate prayers and-"
"Excuse me," Victor said, "but did you just say a blood sacrifice?"
"We don't do that," Missouri and Pamela said together.
"Then run along home," Ruby said, standing and looming over them, "and let the bad girls get to work in order to save all our skins."
Gordon didn't let it lie like the dead horse it was. "Your skins."
"My skin," Madison shot right back.
Gordon said nothing.
"Fine," Missouri said. "I just hope you do the right thing. If you murder someone, there will be no forgiveness." She held up her hands. "But I won't stop you."
"And how exactly does standing by and watching it happen absolve you?" Gordon said.
"Because I believe you'll do the right thing." Pamela flashed them a grin. "As it has been foretold."
Meg showed them the door. "You haven't been the first person to say that to us. We know there is no forgiveness from God even if he were still in the picture for people like us."
"Allow me a moment," Gordon said, "to cry you a river."
Madison couldn't help it, because even though his eyes remained dry because of course Gordon would never cry for a demon or a monster, she couldn't help but remember the old song, as I went down to the river to pray-
Maybe they were right. Maybe there really was no salvation from this. No baptism clean enough or pure enough or sure enough.
No hope of a comeback.
Maybe she didn't need her wolf-strength back. Maybe it was selfish to want it back.
But she also wanted to survive-but not at the cost of someone else.
Why couldn't there be another way to feel safe again?
"Absolutely not," Dean said.
Ruby folded her arms over her stomach. It was easy to forget she wasn't exactly human when goose bumps dimpled her skin. "Really? Not even if they volunteer? C'mon, Dean, who are you to call the shots?"
"I agree with Dean," Gordon said. "We shouldn't lower ourselves to this kind of Blood Magic. An innocent of pure heart will not be sacrificed. We may all have blood on our hands, but we're not like them. We don't murder people, even if they're asking for it."
Madison threw her head back and laughed. "What if she didn't have a pure heart? Would she be worthy of being sacrificed then? This kind of bullshit magic." She snarled around her blunt, human teeth.
"That's exactly what it is," Gordon said. "Bullshit. We're not doing this, only so that the demons and the angels can feel a little safer." He bowed, his arms lifted like Jesus. "Welcome back to humanity."
"Well," Meg said, pushing herself from the wall. "The good thing is you're not in charge. Lilith should get final say."
Gordon laughed. "I never voted for Lilith."
"Nor did I," Tamara said, standing beside Gordon. A chorus of other negatives joined them from around the room as Meg stepped towards the center of it.
She smiled, sly as a fox. "What gave the you impression this was a democracy? We're basically demon aristocracy, so shut up and get used to it. We call the shots-we have the power and we've lost the most. So, Lilith," she said, not turning but keeping her eye on them. "Give us your judgment."
Dean surged forward, but Victor held him back. "Wait," he said. "Let's not make a problem before there is one."
Dean went limp and turned to Lilith, who still sat calmly on the sofa.
Ruby went towards her, hand outreached, but stopping before actually touching her. "Lilith?"
A pool of red seeped from her white dress, staining the cream cushions and sliding down her legs. Ruby gasped, before rising and looking at the back of the couch. Garden sheers plunged through the soft back of it, through the softer belly of Lilith.
"Who did this?" she said, her voice, quiet, dangerous, thin as a knife's edge. "Who did this in sight of us all?"
"And how the hell did they get away with it," Meg said, shock still twitching in her cheeks and lips as she struggled to compose herself.
The congregation were already fleeing from the room.
Behind them, Abbie unleashed a howl as she smashed her way through the room, breaking tables and chairs so that the she could fling herself at Lilith's dead feet. As he ran out the door after the rest of them, Dean heard her pledge her vengeance and, for a brief instance, he pitied the killer once Abbie sniffed them out.
They had made it to the withering garden before Bela skidded to a stop. She thought she would have felt lighter, that she would have felt the debt fall from her soul like some terrible burden. But she felt the same: scared, terrified, small, alone-but also, relief, right there, rising under the layers of rage and resentment and fear.
It was done. It was over.
Lilith was dead, her debt released over her dead body, and she was free.
"Sarah," she whispered, and she could see Sarah working it out too, could see it in the small o of realization and the dawning smile. "It's done-we did it."
They'd been working for this moment for so long, for freedom, that it could be hardly believed that they were here, now, finally at the end of the line, together.
Bela gathered Sarah up in her arms, and they kissed each other, ignoring the streams of running, frightened people behind them, kissed each other with an urgency she couldn't remember ever feeling with Sarah because they wouldn't only have a year, then months, then weeks, then hours to be together-
But now-they had years. They had a lifetime.