A/N: I'm really sorry for letting this story slide, and I will do my best not to do it again. With it being Easter today and all, I thought this would fit in quite well. Hope everyone has a blessed day today!

Chapter 10

"What do you mean 'Dean's in worse trouble now'? What haven't you told me yet? What is it she's planning on doing to him?" Sam slung the slew of questions in rapid fire succession at the older man, the story he'd just laid on him hard enough to swallow, but the ominous statement Bobby had just made right after it was an even harder pill to take.

"The eclipse Sam, it was the key to banishing that demon to hell where he belongs. I think it may also be the key to releasing him," Bobby started his answer, then left Sam hanging with a long pause as he tried to dig deep into his own thoughts to remember something, anything, that would be useful.

"You keep referring to the eclipse. How is it the key to releasing him, and what does the eclipse have to do with any of this?" Sam asked yet another question with still no answers to the first ones, his head swimming in a sea of confusion that was just about ready to drown him if Bobby didn't help him come up for air.

"Sam, she said Dean was the key. If she's found a way to bring him back, which it sounds like she has, I can only guess it has to be done the same way, during a full solar eclipse."

"Which happens over North America oh, like, once a decade," Sam retorted, the word 'decade' hanging in the air and eliciting a look in Bobby's eyes that sent a shiver up Sam's spine, and suddenly he knew the direction this was starting to go in.

"Tomorrow Sam. There's one tomorrow, directly over where we are right now," Bobby informed the younger hunter, letting him in on that little bit of information he'd been totally unaware of.

"She said Dean would be the host, she's not saying…" Sam asked, now that the pieces of the puzzle were starting to come together in his own head.

"I think they're planning on him being a Motel 6 for the demonic bastard. What I can't quite figure out is… "

"Having fun catching up boys?" Iliana inquired as she and Ilsa strolled into the room with Isabel silently following right behind, red eyes glaring at both men. "Did you fill Sam in on all the gory details yet, Bobby? Did you tell him what his father did to his brother, tell him how he almost killed him, and for no good reason?"

"No good reason my ass. If John hadn't done what he did, Dean would still be housing that evil inside him right now, and you know it as well as I do," Bobby angrily shot back.

"Housing it, maybe, but possessing it, no. For such a great hunter, you really don't know anything, do you Bobby? John obviously never told you the whole story, did he? Or maybe he didn't really know it himself," she smiled at him as she ran a cold finger across his chin, making him shudder. "Belial only possesses the willing… it's a minor limitation placed on him by, well…that doesn't really matter. All that matters is that Dean willingly gives himself to Belial in exchange for Sam, which we all know he'll do. Once he does that, the eclipse will take care of the rest."

"What's so god damn important about the eclipse?" Sam demanded, still waiting for some kind of answers.

"How apropos a question, Sam. God damn would be exactly right. Do you recall your lessons on the crucifixion, or did Jim leave those minor details out?" She laughed, her eyes going from red to baby blue in an instant, then continued. "And I quote; 'And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.' Luke 23:44-46. Need I say more? Where exactly is it you think Jesus went?"

"Oh my dear god, you can bring him back, can't you?" Bobby said with a sigh, knowing he had no way of stopping them.

Hard laughter erupted from her when she heard Bobby's defeated tone, and it took her a second to compose herself before continuing their torture, the dark red staring at them again. "There you go with god again. God has nothing to do with this. Do you really think he cares what happens down here anymore?" Taunting both men with every word she said, she mercilessly continued. "Yes, Bobby, I can bring him back, and Dean's going to help me do just that. I know what's in store for Sam, and believe me, so does his big brother, his protector. He'll trade himself for Sam with no questions asked, especially when he finds out that we can save Sam from his destiny and from himself. All Dean wants in life is for his baby brother to be safe and secure, and we can give that to him, for a small price."

"A small price? His body and soul is not a small price!" Sam screamed, his heart suddenly filled with sheer anguish at the thought of what could very well happen right before his eyes.

"Not to him it's not." Iliana replied, knowing she was right, and knowing neither man could deny it.

"Just tell us how you plan on doing this?" Bobby had to ask, hoping against hope she would tell him.

"It's quite simple, Bobby," she tossed him that sickly sweet smile again, then with the wave of her arms, all the furniture slid from the center of the room to various corners like Moses parting the Red Sea, leaving nothing but the animal skin rug dead center of the room. She walked up to it slowly, grabbed it by the corner and dragged it away, the revelation of what was underneath making Bobby's eyes nearly fall from their sockets. "Recognize anything?"

Beneath the dead fur cover sat the wooden floor of the partially rotted, ramshackle cabin, still adorned with the devil's trap John had so painstakingly painted on it ten years before. Somehow perfectly preserved, it was also adorned with the blood that had been left behind. Sam could feel the bile rising in his throat when he looked at it; not at the dark stains around the perimeter, but at the large stain in the center. That blood had been neither his father's nor Bobby's. From what Bobby had just told him, that blood had been Dean's, and it made him physically ill to have to see it. Satisfied that the shock of what they were seeing exactly the response she'd hoped for, she turned to face the older hunter again, her hands suspiciously hidden behind her back.

"How…what…" Bobby tried to spit out, but he found himself slightly speechless. He knew now things couldn't get much worse.

"You know, Bobby, I really need to thank you. Well, you and John. In your haste to get Dean to safety, you really weren't very careful with what you left behind, were you?" She grinned from ear to ear, revealing the surprise she still had hidden behind her back, the one last element that was key to the whole thing. "You never could find that one missing dagger, could you, and you never did get that one back that the doctors pulled from poor Dean's nearly dead body either, right?" She buried both daggers deep into the floor at Bobby's feet, leaving him to just stare at them stunned.

'You went back for them?" He'd finally found a voice to ask.

"Of course. I knew I would need them someday. Them, and Dean. That's why I kept the reaper at bay, the one that came for him that day. You see Sam, your father really did kill your brother, and if it hadn't been for me denying Death it's prize, he wouldn't be here anyway, so the way I see it, he's already ours. All he needs to do is say yes…oh yeah, then drive that dagger into his own ribs in that very same spot. It shouldn't be too hard to find, with that scar there and all. We all know he'll do it, once he knows what's at stake."

"Ooh, I think I'm gonna be sick," Sam groaned, pretty sure he couldn't hear or see anymore without losing his mind completely.

"Good, it'll be a nice touch," Iliana said, then addressed the two other women that were waiting patiently for her to finish. "You two know what to do." Then she was gone.

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Dean woke slowly, only vaguely aware of the low, menacing rumble filling the air in the room as he tried prying his eyes apart once he realized the ominous sound wasn't coming from his own chest but from somewhere else in the room entirely. He groggily looked around, his head still somewhat fuzzy from the blissful sleep he'd been in mere moments before. Rolling over onto his side, he tried to find the source of what sounded very much like a growl now that he was a little more coherent, and realized very quickly that he wouldn't have very far to look. With the slight turn of his head, he felt the hot breath on his face before he saw the sharp teeth ready to tear into his flesh, and with a held breath his eyes went wide when they did finally turn to stare back at the monstrosity before him.

"Whoa…Easy there, Cujo," he tried saying in as calm a tone as possible, hoping the ferocious looking beast staring him down couldn't smell the fear suddenly radiating from him or hear his heart pounding hard and fast in his chest. It made no advance on him but continued its terrifying snarl as it bared its teeth even more, like it wanted to show its prey just how sharp they really were before digging them in. Dean swallowed hard as he laid there, trying to summon all of his willpower to remain motionless as he held the animal's gaze, knowing it was only a matter of time before it grew tired of just staring and started ripping him apart.

The longer he refused to move or breathe, the harder it became to control his defiant lungs until he could no longer hold in what was screaming to come out, and the hacking that had built up inside finally burst forward in a very painful, body jerking fit that seemed to last far longer than his body could seemingly tolerate. He'd been unable to stop his fall from the cot to the floor when it started and was oblivious to the whereabouts of what was the biggest, fiercest, hungriest looking dog-thing he'd ever seen, but once his chest quieted and his body finally reduced itself to mere shivering as he lay there half naked and covered in dirt and sweat on the hard ground, he fully expected it to close in for the kill.

Much to his surprise, when he was blessedly able to open his eyes again, he saw that the huge, black mastiff was no longer in its attack stance and ready to tear his throat out, but just eying him curiously instead, but then as if called to by god himself, it turned and ran from the barn into the bright light coming from outside through the still open door. He barely had the strength to move but forced himself to sit up, the frigid outside air billowing in and the cold ground underneath him motivating him enough to climb back onto the makeshift bed and cover himself for protection. He knew he had to close that door, he just didn't have the strength to do it yet. He rested himself on his back and stared up at the ceiling as his brain throbbed in its skull and his mouth went totally dry, waiting for some sort of energy to return to him, and slowly but surely it finally did, enough so that he could drag himself up and start a search for his clothes. The fire burning in the corner had long since gone out, leaving the entire building an icebox, but he thought he remembered Iliana leaving his wet articles of clothing near it to dry them out. 'Iliana, where the hell is she?' He couldn't help but wonder when the realization fully hit him that he was alone.

Staggering over to the corner the stove sat in, he thankfully found exactly what he was looking for, and piece by piece he painstakingly pulled on one garment on after another over his sweat covered body until he was fully clothed, save for his jacket. He couldn't seem to find that anywhere, and damn it if he wasn't still freezing, even being covered. He searched the entire area around the cot, then the stove, then back to the cot before finally seeing what looked like a sleeve peeking out from under a small pile of hay. He pulled it out, shook it off, and slid it on.

"How the hell did that get there?" He questioned out loud, knowing he was talking to himself but not really caring. His head was pounding so hard now that he could barely see, his chest rumbled hard with every breath he tried to take, and his fever was burning so hot he could barely think. Knowing full well it would be like trying to soak up an ocean with a sponge but needing any kind of relief right now, he dug through his pockets in search of the bottle of Tylenol that he knew had to be in one of them, and after finally finding it, popped four into his mouth. As hard as he tried, he couldn't moisten his throat enough to swallow them, and as they slid to the back of his throat and the chalkiness started coating his tongue, he started to gag. With nothing else to aid him, he pulled his flask from his pocket and took a healthy swig of what he dreamed would be a healthy dose of whiskey, but was unfortunately nothing but water. With barely any energy left, he dropped himself back onto the cot and waited.

He'd had no concept of time, but eventually the intense throbbing in his head that made even his teeth hurt finally ebbed to just a dull ache, and with a great effort he tried to stand again. The barn was too cold to his already chilled body, and he had to get that door closed to keep the wind out. He worried about Iliana, having no idea where she could have disappeared to, but he had no strength to go searching for her at the moment. He dragged his feet to the door and made to shove it closed until something caught in his blurry vision just outside. He didn't need to see it up close to know that it was a blood stain, and he watched it trail from the pool in the snow back into the barn, pooling again just inside the door.

"Oh shit…I know that's not mine," he'd said, again to himself as he finally forced the door closed. Turning in the direction the house should be in, he pulled back the covering on the window and peered outside, his stomach falling even farther to the floor when he saw the unmistakable pick-up truck sitting at the side of the house. "Double shit!"

With his head still aching, his fever still burning and his body still shaking, he sucked it up and made a decision. He had to go into that house, because now not only was Sam in it, but Bobby and Iliana were probably there too, and by his estimate, he didn't have a whole lot of time to do anything about it.

End Notes: Sorry for the long delay in updating, but some things just blocked this story from my mind for a while. I hope everyone likes this one, and I really hope I didn't leave anything important out. Oh yeah, and Happy Easter again!