Chapter Twelve

Dean turned around to start getting ready to leave when he exclaimed a curse in surprise. "God, Cas! Quit doing that!" he shouted before taking in a deep breath.

"Sorry, but it is urgent. You must leave this house now," Castiel spoke in his monotone voice. Violet looked nervously at Sam then Dean before returning her gaze to Castiel. He handed Dean a knife with peculiar markings on it. "You may need this. Now go." Sam went to grab the upholstered chair. "Leave it! You must go now. You are in danger," Castiel demanded. He had been talking about the whole group when he said the last sentence, but his eyes were trained intensely on Violet.

She blinked and suddenly he was gone. "Whoa," she murmured, her brow furrowing before Dean grabbed her arm to drag her out the door, as she hadn't been moving.

"I'll make sure you don't fall," he said, quickly grabbing the two shotguns he had brought up. Sam swiped his from its spot by the entrance and they all filed out of the room. Violet tripped and her head almost collided with the wall, but Dean heaved her back up. "Screw this," he muttered and hoisted her onto his back. "Sorry princess, but you can't walk worth crap."

They thumped down the stairs, making their way to the exit as quickly as they could. Just as they were about to reach the front door, however, Violet suddenly screamed in Dean's ear and he felt her weight get lifted off of him. He only had time to turn his head before he got launched backwards against a wall. His back slammed into it and he felt pain creep up his spine. He gritted his teeth against it and peered around as much as he could to see that both Violet and Sam were pinned the same way he was.

Slow, clacking footsteps met their ears as they saw a particularly tall red head walk out of the room that Violet had shot at earlier. A smirk was curled into her lips as she tapped forward towards the three trapped humans. She blinked once and her entire eyes went black as tar and Violet gasped.

"Demon." "Hell-bitch."Sam and Dean breathed simultaneously, almost groaning. Violet's mouth was agape as she watched the lady glide forward, coming very close to her.

"Bingo," the woman answered, smiling and blinking again, her eyes suddenly back to normal as if she had simply wiped away the blackness.

"What do you want?" Dean asked – practically demanded - in a gruff, take-no-crap tone. The lady smiled again, an evil, greedy smile and it made Violet scared. The red head's eyes flickered to Violet and the look she gave her made Violet think that she wanted to eat her, just gobble her up.

"The girl," she replied smoothly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Oh and that pretty little knife you like to cut my brothers up with. I'll be taking that, too," she added, clacking over to Sam. She brought up one finger and caressed his cheek, running it down his jaw and underneath his chin. "You two are a handsome pair. I would hate to have to carve you up and waste those pretty faces," she hissed, stepping back from Sam who was trying to get away from her touch, his face twitching is disgust.

"If you decide that you won't let me have her and the knife willingly, I'll kill you, take her by force and slip that knife from your dead bodies. But, if you decide that you want to keep your souls for a little while longer and hand her over without a fuss, I'll let you live. Oh and I won't harm a hair on her head." She raised her eyebrows, examining Dean's face closely. "Deal?" she asked, but it was more of a strong suggestion than a question.

"Why her?" Dean asked. The lady's eyes narrowed and the humans could see the little patience she had beginning to burn up, reaching its limit.

"Because. She's special."

Violet's brow furrowed and Dean and Sam looked over at her. "Anyway, the boss wants her ASAP, which means now. So, deal or no deal? Answer quickly, I haven't got all day," she commanded, her eyes scanning all three of their faces.

"No," Dean replied with confidence and simplicity all rolled into one short syllable. The red head's eyebrows rose.

"Oh? What was that, Winchester? Did you just say what I think you did?"

"Did I stutter?" he replied smartly to her question, asking one of his own.

"Hm. Dean, Dean, Dean…" she sighed with mock sadness. "When will you ever learn that you won't always win? You're helpless now, all of you. There's no possible way you can get out of my grasp, so why try to fight me when you can't?" She walked over to Violet and she flinched away from the red head's touch. "Hmmm…" she thought aloud, tapping a finger on her cheek as she caressed Violet's. "Maybe Dean just needs a little…prodding," she finished, an evil smirk creeping across her lips once again.