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The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.
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Winchesters in Hell
Chapter 12
Lucifer Ascendant
From Chapter 11
Sam and Dean made their way back out of Loma Linda. At the chained front doors they paused.
"What was that about Castiel going to Hell, Sam?" Dean asked.
"Don't' worry, Dean." Sam answered. "I spoke to Castiel a little while back. I asked him to get permission from the host to be Heaven's ambassador to the Hell Plain. Nothing bad is going to happen to Castiel, I promise."
Dean laughed. "Well, if it's going to turn into a family habit perhaps I should go with you to Hell, too. You know, just to find out what it's like."
Sam leaned into his brother and they rested their foreheads together. "Thanks, Dean. That makes me very happy." The Boy King kissed the Hunter softly.
Chapter 12
What was that for, Sam?" Dean pushed out of Sam's embrace.
"Just a little reward." Sam smiled back at his brother. "We've had your hunt now. I'm sorry if you are disappointed that you didn't get to kill a fugly. "
"That's OK, Sam." His brother shrugged. "Some days just work out that way. We got rid of a ghost. We got rid of it by sending it to heaven but still, objective achieved." Dean put his shotgun over his shoulder. "If I'm not deceived though there were a bunch of suspicious looking shadows lining those halls; do you think we should go back in and make sure the place is clean?"
Sam looked back into the dark, dim hallway. "Those shadows are the aftertaste of fear. Death walked those halls all too often. Sorrow lives in every corner. The only thing that will wash this place clean would be complete destruction; either by fire or, perhaps by bull dozer. When the building falls the shadows will rise and drift away like smoke. Unless you feel like a little evening of arson we should move on to the next purpose of my visit."
"What do you want to do next, Sam?" Dean grinned. "Dinner, a movie, or maybe visit a bar? Whatever you want, baby boy, I'm there with you."
Sam laughed. "No, we've covered your Hunt. Now I think we need to Hunt something completely different. " Sam placed his hand on his brother's shoulder next to the gun and turned serious. "Dean, you know that Hell runs on the souls of humanity. My Kingdom needs to be fed. Somewhere out there is a soul that deserves Hell. We're going to find it."
Dean's smiling face changed in a moment. "Sam, are you saying we have to hunt a human? I really don't know if I can do that. All of our lives the rule was that we can kill the supernatural but humans we leave to the law."
"I know, Dean. I know." Sam pushed open the double glass doors, the chain hanging free with only a touch of Sam's finger. "I'm going to find you a human that you will agree deserves time in Hell. Come with me. "
Sam threw up his head like a hunting dog scenting the breeze. He closed his eyes and seemed to be listening to something that Dean could not hear.
Dean re-chained the doors to the defunct hospital and came to stand next to his brother. There was a sensation emanating from Sam's body. To the still human man it felt like the tingle of static electricity. There was a smell of ozone in the air but also, faintly, the smell of sulfur.
"What's going on, Sammy? What are you doing?"
"I am scenting the odor of evil but I am also hearing the cries of the innocent. I can taste fresh blood in the back of my throat. Somewhere near a hell worthy soul is planning to commit an unforgiveable horror."
Sam reached out and pulled his brother close. Midnight black wings spread from Sam's shoulders, the feathers reflecting the moon in their oily sheen. Dean shivered at an unnatural drop in the temperature. He did not want to look up at Sam, worried that he would see not his baby brother's face. He was fairly sure he was being held now in Lucifer's embrace.
The tripartite Lord of Hell picked Dean up like a bride and held him close. With a powerful sweep of those raven black wings the pair rose into the air, circling the building below. Another few wing strokes and they were moving over the face of the city; skimming above the lights; crossing the face of the moon.
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There was something else out hunting that night. Aaron Reese stood under a flickering street light, applying a match to his cigarette. The flare threw his face into wicked relief; shadowed eyes set deep into his skull, a foxy, pointed nose and almost no lips at all. His mouth was a crimson gash.
Flicking the spent match away he considered his choices for the night. His lamp post was located at the open gate to the city park. He had watched the women passing in, gathered in small groups for whatever safety they could offer each other.
Every prostitute in the city was well aware of the danger that had been stealing other women away in the night. All of them wished they could stay home, stay safe, but hunger called. There was hunger for food, hunger for drugs, and hunger for companionship, friendship and possibly understanding. Desire to provide perhaps for children left alone at home and the urgency of keeping a roof over those children's heads and hers. There was the desire to stay off the cold, comfortless streets and out of the reach of the useless and vicious police.
There were a hundred different paths that had led them to the park. All of those paths had brought them here, the very bottom of their society. Each woman had a story, a reason, a time in their lives when selling their bodies was all that they had left to offer fortune.
Aaron Reese hated them all. He hated their laughter on the night air; he hated their flesh calling out to him. He hated himself and them almost equally. He also hungered. He craved the release that he could only achieve through the suffering and death of another.
He justified his habit under the banner of morality. His God told him to clean the streets; that he was doing good work in tearing the flesh from their bones; in carving the smiling faces away. His reward however, was not in Heaven. His reward was in the rush of blood over his hands and the peace that arrived after he spent himself over the flaccid dead.
He moved from hunting ground to hunting ground. Picking those to destroy that would be ignored. Always moving to a new place at the slightest sign of interest by the civil authorities he had learned as long as the body was nameless and hidden no pursuit would be mounted. After all, didn't they all desire death? They only value of these creatures was to provide release for either those that could pay or someone like Aaron who would take what they needed.
He stood under the light with his hands thrust into his deep pockets and tried to decide which one he could lure away. His eyes glittered in the light of his cigarette, the smoke rising and swept away by the cold air. His fingers caressed the blade of his hidden knife.
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Dean in the devil's arms was circling high above a winter stripped park. Bare trees with branches stretched upward like the fingers of skeletal hands threw stark shadows on the ground. People were wandering these pathways and Dean knew he had watched a scene like this before.
Long ago the brothers had hunted in such a park, nerves stretched tight, looking for a creature with fangs that feasted on human flesh. He looked for the women on benches or leaning on the tree trunks as men strolled the paths like they were shopping the produce isle of the nearest grocery store.
This was a scene repeated in every city or town and the Hunter wondered who Lucifer had marked as prey. Anyone of them, the Hunter thought. He really didn't know Hell and its lords well enough yet to judge who was worthy of Lucifer's attention. According to the never-ending bleating of the radio preachers they were all sinners destined for Hell. Dean was of the opinion that the preachers were first in line. He didn't know if Lucifer agreed.
Lucifer turned and dropped down closer over the head of a man standing at the entrance to the park. There was an aura about the still figure. Dean caught a whiff of brimstone and sulfur but it could have been Lucifer cutting a fart. He could not tell if perhaps it was drifting off the man below. When the man started to move Dean recognized immediately the swift swing of a predator spotting its prey.
A woman had come down the walk, moving to sit on a bench that was closer to the park entrance. Her thinking was painfully obvious. She was hoping to be first choice for any new visitors. She was now first choice for the man approaching too swiftly to be a customer. There was a glint of moonlight reflected from the blade of a knife. Dean braced. He knew that if he could reach his gun he would shoot the guy without a second thought.
"Good, Dean." Lucifer's voice rumbled. "Thank you for confirming my choice."
Lucifer folded his wings and dived directly into the man's path like a hunting hawk. The woman on the bench only saw the back of her savior and the huge black wings of something she could not comprehend. She screamed and ran unaware of how close she had come to suffering a degrading and horrible death
Hell's King landed lightly in front of Aaron Reese. The touch down was almost delicate. Still the man dared to look after the fleeing woman, his mind perhaps rejecting the proof of his eyes. Dean slipped from the devil's arms and got his feet back on the ground.
Aaron Reese waved his knife at the advancing nightmare. Lucifer laughed and his voice cut through the air like a much larger knife. The King spread his midnight wings to their greatest extent.
"Aaron Reese, you belong to me. You must have thought I would come someday. Today is the day. You have more than earned your way onto Hell's racks."
Lucifer stepped forward and swept the man up into his arms, knocking away the flailing knife with the merest flick of a clawed finger. Dean wondered why he had not noticed the claws when he had been carried in Lucifer's arms. Perhaps Lucifer had manifested them for Aaron Reese's benefit, the Hunter thought.
Aaron Reese squalled like an animal being led to slaughter. Over the screams Lucifer spoke to Dean. "Stay here, Hunter. After I have delivered Hell's newest citizen to Belial's threshing floor your brother will return for you. I believe you are due for a visit to the throne room. My trip won't take long. You will barely have time to get cold."
Dean watched as Lucifer lifted off with strong stokes of those giant wings. As he rose higher and higher the image of a bird of prey was carved into the star studded sky.
