Demon Blood
Chapter Ten: The Invitation
Bobby was out working on dismantling an old truck for parts requested by a man across town when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He slowly pushed out from under the junker and took in the sight of a tall girl with plain brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She seemed pretty enough, but the way she stood there watching him made him more than a little suspicious.
"Can I help you?" he finally asked when it became clear the girl wasn't going to say anything.
"No," the girl said. "I'm the one here to do the helping."
Bobby rose to his feet, wrench in hand. "What's your name?"
"Rachel," the girl said. "Are the Winchester's inside?"
"What do you want with them?" Bobby asked at once, now feeling more than a little certain that this girl was indeed possessed by a demon.
Rachel smiled slightly. "You're pretty protective of your friends, aren't you, Mr. Singer? Don't worry, though, I'm not here to hurt anyone."
"How do I know I can believe anything you say?"
Rachel's eyes flashed black and the smile became a smirk as Bobby took an automatic step away from her. "I guess you don't," she said, her hands remaining oddly loose by her sides, "but it's the truth. I'm tired of doing everything I'm told to do, and I'm sure Sam's tired of it all, too."
Bobby heard the back door open. "Bobby?" It was Dean.
"Over here!" Bobby called out, not taking his eyes off the demon. A few moments later, Dean came into view and immediately stuttered to a halt upon seeing the girl.
"You look familiar," he said after a moment.
Rachel smiled. "It's Rachel Nave," she said calmly. "You were already done with high school, but I think we managed to meet once or twice before Prom."
Dean's brow furrowed as he seemed to think. Then a look of realization crossed his eyes. "Weren't you Sam's Prom date?"
Rachel nodded. "She's possessed by a demon, Dean," Bobby bit out, and Dean instantly tensed.
"I'm seriously not here to hurt anyone," Rachel sighed. "I know you're looking for your brother, and I know exactly where he is."
"And how do you expect me to believe you?" Dean hissed. "How long have you been possessing that girl?"
Rachel grinned. "Azazel had me in here a month before your family came along and I met your baby brother. I've stuck around ever since."
"Why?" Dean asked angrily.
"Why?" Rachel shrugged. "I was pulled from Hell to act as one of Sam's guides while growing up. You and Daddy never once realized that I was here. Hell, you never recognized any of the others. We're really good at blending in, it's why we were chosen."
The idea that Azazel had been putting demons into people Sam had known to "guide" him made Bobby sick to his stomach. He glanced at Dean and saw he didn't look much better.
"You have no idea how strange it's been, acting like a normal human," Rachel continued. "I mean, I know I was human a very long time ago before selling my soul, but after a few centuries in the Pit, you lose your humanity and become a creature of chaos and, well, darkness." She shrugged again. "I love being free, and I'm not here to get sent back to that prison." Her eyes hardened. "I tell you where your brother is, and you do nothing to me. Do we have an understanding?"
Bobby had almost lost track of what Rachel was saying after the "I was human a very long time ago" bombshell. He supposed it should have made sense; after all, there were plenty of humans who sold their souls or were horrible enough in life to head straight to the Pit after their lives on Earth ended. How many demons had been human once?
Bobby's eyes narrowed as he reevaluated the girl before him. "Why are you offering to help?" he asked, and Rachel let out a massive sigh.
"Do you know why Sam liked me so much?" she asked Dean. "It's because I was normal with just enough of an independent streak to catch his attention. I was supposed to push him to fight back, to make him want to go against your father's militaristic lifestyle. It never really suited him, you know," she added with a coy smile. "Sam's never been as good at hiding his emotions as you and John, and you know it. We, and I mean everyone Azazel pulled from Hell to guide your brother's path, were supposed to prey upon every insecurity and every emotion, just to make sure he was the right person for the job."
"And what is the job?" Dean barked out.
"Damned if I know," Rachel answered. "Azazel keeps his cards close to his chest, but I know he needs soldiers and an army. That's still a ways off, though," she added after another moment. "Anyway, back to my point," and she grinned. "Sam never knew normal — well, not in the sense of white picket fences with a loving mother and father, so we pushed him to find any normalcy he could manage in the life you Winchester's led. Spending Thanksgiving with a normal family was amazing to him, even though the girl who invited him had a massively awkward crush on him. Remember the time he ran away for two weeks in Flagstaff? We made him feel you and Daddy were too overbearing, made him want to escape."
Bobby remembered that one. Dean and John had made many frantic calls as they tried to discover where the youngest Winchester had gone, only to find the kid had been living off of soda and candy bars in a small hotel room. John had been livid.
"Of course, that desire to escape led to college, of all things," Rachel added thoughtfully. "We didn't quite plan on that. You wanna know why Azazel liked Sam so much, put so many of us in his life?"
Dean's hands were clenched at his sides and Bobby was pretty sure he was grinding his teeth into oblivion.
"John trained him," Rachel said after a moment, "raised him to be a warrior. He may not have been suited to the exact lifestyle you embraced so fully, but that never meant he wasn't good at it, or that he wasn't leader material. Your baby brother has got quite the destiny ahead of him, I'll tell you that."
"I don't believe in all that destiny crap," Dean snapped. "Now why the hell would you want to tell us where Sam is?"
Rachel smiled again, and it chilled Bobby to his bones. "I like Sam," she said. "And honestly? I think Sam needs you more than you know." Her smile suddenly warmed and her eyes softened. "I hated pretending to be something I'm not just to get Sam to like me, but he's in pain right now. He's lost, Dean, and no matter what lies ahead, I don't think he'll make it there in one piece without you. And that," she emphasized with a firm gesture of one hand, "is why I'm here."
Dean stared at Rachel. He couldn't say he trusted her at all, but if she could tell him where Sam was…
"Where is he?" he finally asked.
"I need a map of the Los Angeles docks," Rachel answered. "And don't tell me to come inside, I know you've got Devil's Traps in there and I am not taking my chances. I show you where your brother is, tell you what to expect regarding other demons, and I walk free. You'll never have to see me again."
Dean wanted to send the bitch straight to Hell, but if she really had been possessing that body for as long as she said she had, then chances were the body was probably dead already. "Has Rachel suffered at all?" he asked.
The demon shook her head. "I won't lie and say she likes being possessed by me," she finally said, "but I've never tortured her or this body. My mission was always about blending in, and that's exactly what I've done. Regardless, I'm not leaving this skin and going back to Hell." She crossed her arms protectively over her chest.
Dean didn't like this at all. "Fine," he finally bit out. "Bobby, find Dad and get a map."
Bobby met his eyes and he knew he was making an insanely hard decision, but the fact remained that Rachel had done nothing to either of them, and he knew they were running out of time and options.
When John and Bobby emerged from the house a few tense and awkwardly silent minutes later, Dean was unsurprised to see John looking nothing short of angry. Bobby stepped to one side with Rachel, map in hand, while John pulled Dean out of earshot. "Why the hell are you trusting her?" he asked without preamble.
"I don't trust her, Dad," Dean said, "but I can't wait for enough demonic signs to just pop up on Ash's radar. I have to believe that she's telling us the truth."
"Fine, but why are you letting her just walk out of here?"
"Her demands," Dean answered. "She helps us out, and she walks free, no strings attached."
"She's possessing that poor girl, Dean," John snapped. "We can't just let her walk away in that body."
"She's been possessed since before Sam even asked her to go to Prom with him," Dean snapped back, and John's face went slack with surprise. "Bobby… he didn't tell you?" he asked after a moment.
"No," John replied softly. "That long?"
Dean sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face before nodding and dropping the bombshell. "Azazel's had demons possessing people that were close to Sam in one way or another for years. I got no idea how many, but apparently they were the ones pushing Sam's rebellious side to the extreme."
Dean already felt like he'd been sucker-punched by the news, so watching as his father turned away with wide eyes and stared blankly at the nearest junker was no surprise to him. Hell, he already felt like he'd let his brother down by never realizing that there had been multiple demons influencing his life. Some Hunter I am, he thought, unknowingly echoing Sam's reaction to the news.
"You think Sammy knows about this?" John finally asked. Dean shrugged.
"I imagine he might, just based on the fact that demon girl's here, giving us all the recon we need to find and save him," he answered after a moment.
"This still doesn't sit right with me," John said after another long moment had passed, "just letting her go."
"Yeah," Dean agreed, "but she said the whole point to her existence was to blend in. I think that, given we had no idea she was even possessed when Sam took her to Prom, should be telling us how good at it she is."
"And that's what bothers me the most," John said. "I mean, apart from Sam's experiences with Meg, I've never known a demon to blend in."
"Me neither," Dean said with a shrug. "Hell, I remember Sammy saying nothing about Meg's existence until she suddenly showed up back in Chicago. And even then, we didn't know she was a demon until she called about the Colt."
John's cell phone suddenly went off. He pulled it out, stared at the ID for a moment, then flipped it open. "This is John," he said, turning away and listening intently to whatever the caller was telling him. "Hang on a minute, I'm gonna have you talk to my friend Bobby, he's got a map." John quickly headed over to Bobby and Rachel, passed over the cell phone, then returned to where Dean still stood.
"That Ash?" he asked, and John nodded. "I guess that's the confirmation we need to know Rachel's telling the truth."
"Looks like," John sighed, "but the timing?"
Dean nodded his understanding. The timing was too close to be a coincidence, which meant Azazel knew the game was up. "He's inviting us in." He shook his head, watching Bobby and Rachel. "I really don't like this, Dad."
"Well," John sighed, "we don't got much choice at this point. If the locations do match up, then we have to assume the numbers she gives us are right, as well."
"Yeah," Dean mumbled, turning away and passing a hand through his short hair. After a moment, he heard the sounds of his father moving back to Bobby and Rachel. He tuned out what they were saying and allowed his feet to carry him further into the salvage yard.
When he got right down to it, Dean found he was incredibly bothered by Rachel's presence in the yard. Hell, he was bothered by the fact that she had been one of many demons who had made Sam as rebellious as he had been growing up. Of course, that didn't mean that other, normal people hadn't influenced the youngest Winchester, as well, but knowing that Azazel had purposely worked to push Sam apart from Dean and John made his blood boil.
He was vaguely aware of soft footsteps approaching him and knew it had to be Rachel. "Azazel sent you here, didn't he?"
"No," Rachel responded quietly, "he didn't. I only came out of the woodwork to talk to Sam on his orders. Coming here was my own choice."
Dean thought she might be telling the truth on that one. "How did my brother react to you?" he asked after a moment, turning to face Rachel. "He try to use his powers on you or somethin'?"
"No," Rachel replied, "he was still pretty wiped out from sending Vashta back to Hell yesterday. Honestly, I think hearing the truth freaked him out quite a bit. I'd bet he's feeling completely uncertain as to what choices were really his own growing up and what choices were influenced by demonic control." Rachel's smile sent chills down Dean's spine. "Truth is, though, that Sam's always been different. More sensitive, more understanding, a hell of a lot smarter —"
"You can shut up and leave now," Dean cut in.
"Oh, did I hit a sensitive spot, Dean?" Rachel said with a fake pout. "I'm so sorry."
Dean rolled his eyes. "Sammy's a walking encyclopedia, but he and I? We work well together on kicking demonic ass and stopping all kinds of evil. Helluva team, we are." He took a step closer to Rachel. "So don't you dare go presumin' you know anything about Sam, or me."
Rachel stared up at him for a long moment before nodding. "I think I get it, now," she said, turning away.
"Get what?" Dean asked, suspicion jumping to attention in an instant.
"Why Sam needs you more than he needs John," Rachel answered, stopping and looking over her shoulder at Dean. "I mean, not that he doesn't need you both, but you matter more to him." She smiled again, but this one was more sad than scary. "Good luck, Dean. You Winchester's are gonna need it." She walked out of sight, and Dean figured she was gone.
"Not that he doesn't need you both, but you matter more to him." The words were filled with an unpleasant sense of foreboding, and Dean began to wonder just what lay ahead on the quest to save Sam, and just what sacrifices they would be required to make.
John dragged a hand over his mouth as he stared at the map and Bobby's notes on the intel they had gotten from Rachel. The fact that Ash's work matched perfectly with Rachel's was good, but it didn't make him worry any less about the days to come. Sam was in a lot of trouble, and John was terrified of how the demon blood could have affected his youngest.
"So," Bobby said, "what's the plan?"
John looked over at Bobby. "There's no way to kill any of them, so we're gonna have to rely on either knocking them out or exorcizing every demon we come across in there. And the number's aren't pretty."
Dean chose that moment to wander over, looking faintly disturbed. "Have another talk with that Rachel girl?" Bobby asked.
Nodding silently, Dean leaned over John's shoulder to stare at the information they now had. "Twenty demons, not including Azazel," he said. "That sure makes me wish there was some kind of awesome demon-killing blade we could use to take them out."
"Yeah," John agreed, "that'd be real nice. We're gonna have to take our time getting down there, make sure we get enough rest so we're at our best. Otherwise, Sammy's never leaving that place in one piece."
"I don't think any of us are gonna make it in one piece," Dean said, and this really caught John's attention.
"What'd that demon say to you?" he asked. His son sighed and looked away.
"She actually wished us good luck," he said. "A demon, Dad. I get the feeling there was a helluva lot more that bitch knew she wasn't telling us. This whole situation is just… wrong."
"I know," John said, clasping one hand on Dean's shoulder. "This whole thing could easily go south, but Sammy's counting on us to get him out of this, and you know that's exactly what we're gonna do."
Dean nodded with a small smile. "I know we are, Dad. I just wish the odds weren't so badly stacked against us."
"We'll make it through this," Bobby said. "You'll see, son."
John nodded his agreement, gently shook Dean's shoulder, and then turned back to the map. "Okay, so here's what I'm thinking…"
Tara silently let herself out of the warehouse, making sure to keep to the shadows as she headed for the docks. Sunset was fast approaching, and she still had one more thing to take care of before setting things up for John and Dean Winchester's inevitable arrival, as per Azazel's orders.
As she approached the docks, she spotted Rachel, leaning against a wooden pole along the water's edge. "Rachel," she called out.
"Hey, Tara," Rachel replied, standing up straight and moving forward. "I did as you asked. They know what to expect."
"Good," Tara said. "And Dean?"
"I dropped your hint," Rachel replied with an easy shrug. "I doubt he really expects just what's coming, but I know I pushed his mind in the right direction."
Tara nodded her approval. "Bobby Singer's planning to come with them?"
"I never heard them say it for certain," Rachel said, "but it was easy to read from their body language that they're definitely planning to work as a unit. We do know they've got a long history together."
"That they do," Tara said with a frown. "How soon can we expect them?"
"Two or three days," Rachel said. "They don't wanna screw up their chances."
"No, I wouldn't expect anything less," Tara said. "Good work, Rachel, you really came through for us."
"I'm so glad," Rachel said dead-pan. "Can I go back into the woodwork now?"
Tara chuckled. "What, you're still scared of the frontlines?" she asked.
"No," Rachel said, rolling her eyes. "I'm just not willing to get sent back to Hell. That's what the frontlines get you, and you know it."
Tara nodded. "I do know that," she said, smiling. "You're a smart one, Rachel Nave. Take care of yourself."
"And you," Rachel replied, and then she was gone.
Tara stared out across the bay at the setting sun. The next few days were definitely going to be interesting. She'd make sure of it.
TBC...