Chapter Eleven
"Adam." Every muscle in Dean's body turned to putty. He couldn't believe it. The kid was right there. Dean slid from the Hellhound's back, his boots hitting on solid rock.
So this was Lucifer's Cage? All bright and shiny and so elastic looking, it amazed him that such thin transparent walls could keep the two most powerful Archangels in existence imprisoned.
"Little Sammy Winchester." A ruddy-faced demon walked towards his brother with several more demons at his back. "You've got large ones to come back down here. And look." His black eyes tracked toward Dean. "You brought us a snack."
All the demons laughed, perched on the balls of their feet, muscles bunching in preparation to leap.
The hounds moved in front of Sam and Dean, growling low in their throats.
"Easy." Dean patted Alfred's side and felt the deep vibration humming through the animal's lungs.
Sam lifted the scroll. "I've every right to be here."
Wary, the demons shifted back, glancing one to another. Murmurs rolled through them.
As though they were beneath his notice, Sam turned his back on the horde to face the flowing box. Dean wondered if anyone but him noticed how Sam fisted the scroll so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"Lucifer!"
Within the Cage, the Archangels turned as though this was the first they noticed anything outside the box.
Adam stopped dead still. He looked from Sam to Dean, disbelief and hope warring across his young features. All at once he started trembling.
Lucifer sauntered toward the wall, robe flapping behind him like dark wings.
Sam's throat worked. Coming face to face with his constant nightmare would unnerve anybody. Dean saw the twitch in his jaw, the tightening of muscles in Sam's arm, the little sway as Sam fought the urge to retreat back.
Moving quickly, Dean went to Sam and stood arm to arm at his side. This is what he was here for.
So slight no one else would notice, Sam nodded once. His chest expanded with resolve and he lifted the scroll higher.
"I challenge you, Lucifer, for Hell's throne. By law, I claim my right as King of Hell."
The demons roared. Dean couldn't tell if the sound was triumphant or horrified. Probably a mixture of both. More and more demons appeared. Coils of smoke buzzed across the air, solidifying into mock representations of smoky humans as the cavernous space filled with the inhabitants of Hell.
Dean swallowed, knowing however this went down, getting out of here was going to be a bitch.
Abruptly, the demons quieted. A piercing whine shrieked upon the air. The Hellhounds whimpered, rubbing forelegs across their ears as though flicking away flies.
The whine pierced the center nerve in Dean's skull. He covered his ears and saw Sam do the same.
The ground rocked. A second time. And a sharp crack splintered the air.
Blinding light spilled through the cavern. The demons screamed. Coils of smoke sped away.
Dean's shout for his brother was torn away in the cacophony. He looked up to see the Cage rippling. Light and energy poured from long jagged cracks.
A thunderous boom washed over them, knocking Sam and Dean off their feet.
The light blinked out.
The ground and air settled. Dean wrenched his head up.
And the Cage was . . . Gone.
Lucifer strode forward and dragged Sam off the ground.
"No." Dean shouted though it came out as a mangled hiss.
"Sam!" Adam's voice struck louder. The blond Archangel, Michael, pulled the kid back, restraining him from rushing to Sam.
Lucifer held Sam up by his collar as easily as if he were a child. Sam's feet dangled above the ground. "Thank you, Samuel." Satan almost looked amused. "I must say, I never expected to see you again. And certainly not issuing a challenge for my throne."
"It was the only way to get Adam out of the Cage." Sam didn't even bother to lie. But then after hundreds of years playing the serpent's games, Lucifer would spot a lie in a second.
"Ah." The dark angel set Sam back on his feet and dusted Sam's shoulders off like the coating of sulfur and who knew what else on the kid offended him. "But a challenge? Really? When I can break your neck with a snap of my fingers?"
Dean pulled slowly to his feet, his heart lodged in his throat and looked around for something, anything to help Sam.
"I demand a fair fight, brother." Michael stepped forward, pulling Adam with him.
Lucifer swiveled. "Fair?" He laughed. "I'm the strongest of all beings. Should I not use any angelic powers, I still have endurance the boy will never have. He will never have a fair chance and well you know it." He turned back to Sam, true concern etched in his expression. "Sam, rescind your challenge. Remain here with me. I'll be kind."
"The challenge has been issued. It has to be met." He shoved the scroll at Lucifer's chest even as his hands shook.
"Don't force this, Sam. Believe it or not, I've missed you. I've missed our time together. I'll make it easy on you, Sam." Satan cocked his head and took the scroll. "Rescind the challenge, stay here with me willingly and I'll allow one of your brothers to leave. I'll even let you choose which one."
Sam slanted a helpless glance toward Dean. Dean held it. I'm with you. All the way.
"It's a good trade." Lucifer reached out and ran a lock of Sam's hair through his fingers, lingering at the ends by Sam's neck. "The alternative is that I win, and I get all three Winchesters as my pretty playthings for eternity. "
A tremor rolled through Sam, but he lifted his chin. Dean had never felt more proud or more terrified.
"No," Sam whispered.
Lucifer tapped his lips. "Can't say I'm surprised. Especially since I know you plan to ride the Hellhounds out. But you forget, once I win, I'll be the master of the hounds. They won't listen to you anymore."
Dean stiffened. Oh crap.
"Sam," Satan's tone was placating, almost gentle. "I'm an Archangel. You know you can't beat me."
"I know." Sam looked to Dean again. "But right this second, the hounds still listen to me. Alfred! Get Dean and Adam out of here. Never bring them back!"
Before Dean understood what was happening, his shoulder was in Alfred's mouth and they were soaring across the swollen expanse of Hell. Dean pulled at the oversized jaw to get free, to just drop anywhere in Hell and he'd fight his way back to Sam, but the hound only clamped down harder. Alfred would probably tear through his muscle if that was the only way to obey Sam's last command.
"Alfred, please. Take me back, take me back," Dean plead against the muzzle, staring into the red eyes.
The walls and passages blurred around them in a nauseating rush. Dean tried to find Adam among the phalanx of bunching and stretching muscle, but the speed they traveled made it too disorienting to lift his head and look at anything beside the large mutt's shiny rolling coat. The nausea grew worse as the pack passed through rock and impossibly dragged them with them up through layers and layers of stone and earth. Dean's teeth rattled. He was on the barest edge of remaining conscious when all at once the pressure ceased.
Like a switch had been flipped, sensations shifted. The world no longer moved around him or tried to suffocate every cell in his body. Warm air blew across his skin. The honking of a car alarm sounded from a distance. His palms and knees pushed n dirt, so sensitized he swore he could distinguish larger granules. Bright daylight stretched his shaky shadow across the ground.
Gritting his teeth, Dean pushed up and ignited a headache that chiseled behind his eyes. Someone retched behind him.
Sam.
Dean swung around so fast the chisel at his skull went on overdrive.
Not Sam. Adam. The realization crashed into him like a tsunami wave and Dean didn't think he'd ever resurface.
On his knees, Adam wavered, about to take the plunge into his own waste. Crawling, Dean got to him and hauled the kid back. They were in an empty unpaved parking lot in the back of a bricked building. Not a Hellhound in sight.
"Sam," Adam wailed. "He's still in there." He lunged sideways and started clawing in the dirt. "We have to get back there."
Dean wanted to howl and start digging with him. Instead he grabbed Adam's arms, shook him. "There's a million tons of rock between us and Hell. The Hellhounds are the only way to get through it." Jagged pain lanced through his heart at having to say those words.
Adam shoved him away and kept digging. Dean sat back on his heels and let him expend his energy.
When he had a hole up to his elbows Adam sagged back. "He stayed behind to get us out." His entire body shuddered. He lifted tear-filled eyes to Dean. "Why would he do that?"
Because that's exactly what he would have done. Unable to voice it, Dean simply shook his head. He dug through his pockets to find his phone, vaguely wondering if riding into Hell would've had any effect on the life of its battery.
Bobby barked when he answered. "Where the Hell have you been? You dumbasses up and disappear. No Hellhounds around—"
"Bobby," Dean croaked and the old man instantly quieted. "I need you to come get us."
His fingers tightened as he realized that the "us" didn't include Sam.
TBC
One chapter left. Can you believe it?