A/N: So I was going to post a chapter of this and a chapter of Dark Paradise, but then I realized Dark Paradise's chapter was a bit ahead and therefore I had to post 13 & 14 of Devil in Me and the next chapter of Monster II: Dark Paradise will be coming soon!

xoxo
Kuraki-chan

14: I Went Tumbling Down Trying to Reach Your High.

"Oh, yeah. Possessive boyfriend was an animal. Bro came at him like, "what?!" and he was all like, "wh-a-a-at?" "say my name! Say my name! Say my name." And there was a lot of blood."

Sam and Remiel stared at the clerk with mixed expressions. "Right," the hunter started. "Um… When the guy, uh - when - "possessive boyfriend" came in, did he… say anything?"

"He came busting in the door for the chick like he'd been watching from outside."

"So some guy comes in, kills another guy in your store on your watch, and you just - you what? Just keep on keepin' on?"

"You mean when possessive boyfriend was stabbing the other guy to death 10 feet in front of me, and I was having a total code-brown moment in my favorite freakin' pants because I thought I was next, did I conduct a field interview? ...No."

Remiel tried to offer a small smile. "Why exactly do you refer to him as "possessive boyfriend", Mickey?"

He shrugged. "It was pretty obvious. I mean, it was hard to see before that other guy pulled off her hood. But she had hickeys like all over her. And she pulled that gun and then he came running in like they were Bonnie and Clyde. Oh, hey. Uh, can you do me a solid? Found this wedged under the T.P. I think it's the dead guy's phone, and, uh, if you're heading back to the station…" He handed Sam a cell phone.

"So Dean and Zarya are some sort of item now," Remiel commented outside. "Sam, can you tell me honestly if you know of any strong emotions your brother felt towards Zarya before he became a Knight?"

Sam straightened up and stopped momentarily as he was scrolling through Drew Neely's phone. "I swore to my brother I'd never say anything. It's something we're taking to the grave."

"Don't you suppose Dean already did that? I need to know, Sam."

"Why? Because of the Mark of Cain?"

"Yes, actually. It mirrored onto me because I loved my brother too dearly. I was a part of him as he was of I. The night Saskia came into this world he passed the Mark to Cain. My technical daughter had children of her own with the Mark bore into her flesh as it had mirrored from Cain. If Zarya is as possessively marked as Mickey in there said she was then I fear that Saskia no longer seeks your brother's attention."

"You think it transferred its way onto Zarya…"

She nodded solemnly. "Our curse is temptation of the darkness. The Mark of Cain gave Dean back as a Knight of Hell. It's essentially walking darkness. Tempt the girl that watched you die with some human vices and she too succumbs to the Mark. So tell me honestly, Sam. Did Dean have feelings at all for Zarya while he was human?"

Something still just didn't sit right with Sam. "What does it matter how Dean felt if Zarya's the one being tempted by his darkness?"

"The Mark can only mirror itself onto one's other half. The other person compatible to their soul. The Mark will only transfer from Saskia to Zarya if there's a stronger bond between Dean and Zarya than there is to keep the Mark on Saskia."

Sam sighed and rubbed his mouth and chin. "They've always… he…"

Come on, Sam, the angel though impatiently. You have nowhere to go but to admit it to me.

"Alright, fine," he gave in dejectedly. "Dean's in love with Zarya. And he's going to murder me when I cure him and he finds out I said something."

"How long?" She asked softly with a hand on his shoulder.

"Since we put Lucifer back in the Cage. He only admitted it to me after they were trapped in Purgatory together. She had really nasty night terrors for months after because of the separation. But, ah," he smiled a little at the memory, "Dean would curl up right beside her or cradle her and she'd sleep right through the night. He trained her in the field, how to be a hunter. Then she chased after him when he went to kill Dick Roman and the both of them ended up in Purgatory for about a year."

"Purgatory is meant for monsters when they die."

"Yeah, they had to fight every second of each day they didn't know was passing. When they found their way home I could tell, if it was possible, that he loved her even more."

"Why did he never act if he felt so strongly about her?"

"I still don't even know everything that happened that year in Purgatory, but he keeps telling himself he can't. She never chose to get tangled up in the supernatural, Lucifer business especially. He wants to make sure she gets the best chance at life the way she wants to do it. Not the way she's supposed to. He never wanted to make anything difficult or confusing for her."

"What do you think curing him will do, Sam? He'll know what he did; what they did. What do you think he will do then?"

Sam ignored her question and called the number that had texted Drew about Dean's location. "You're dead," came Crowley on the other end.

"Nope. Just using a dead man's phone."

"Moose. Took you long enough. Your brother and I were beginning to wonder if you'd hit another dog. You know?"

"I know Zarya is with you both now, Crowley. And the, uh, Abaddon supporters you've been sending to kill my brother, how does Dean feel about that double-cross?"

"If that's what you think is happening, then you're more out of your depths than I thought. As for the little Vasile, I assure you it was no intention of mine. But it turns out your brother will barely let the girl out of his reach."

"I am going to find you, I am going to save my brother and Zarya, and then I'm going to kill you dead, Crowley."

"Well, that's the operative phrase, isn't it? "Find you." good luck with that."

Crowley hung up and Remiel thought that was the end of it until Sam's phone chimed on the hood of his car. It had been just enough time to track his location right to North Dakota.

"You sent those demons after Zare and I," Dean stated when Crowley joined him at the bar.

The King noticeably stiffened. "To keep you sharp. I hadn't planned on the little Vasile joining us. Guess they don't care for the family. How'd you find out?"

"Daciana, actually," came Zarya's voice. He looked and found her hidden beside Dean at the bar. "You're not the only one with eyes around."

"I needed to keep you sharp for our future, about which we need to talk."

"Our future?" Dean scoffed.

"Our professional future. How to put this? If I have to spend one more night in this fetid petri dish of broken dreams and B.O., I will cut off my own face."

"Get cutting then," came a dark tone out of Zarya's mouth.

Crowley looked shiftily between the two, taking a careful step away. "Oh, did I forget to mention I spoke to moose earlier?"

"What?" the ravenette hissed, getting out of her seat. Dean held his arm out and stopped her before she passed him.

"Yes. Uh, apparently, he's been tracking us for some time now. He got my text from the cell of that demon that you stabbed in blah, blah, blah. It was - words were spoken - emotions. I realize, in retrospect, perhaps too many words, too many emotions." The King shrugged.

"He traced the call," Dean concluded.

"My bad. I guess he'll be here by morning - the latest."

Darkness swirled in Zarya's dangerously emerald eyes, a low growl emitting from deep in her throat. "A-ta yamlik nihil ḥāsabi ma vos āle factum!" She hissed with venom.

Crowley took a larger step back away from the girl. The words that came from her mouth made his skin crawl. She was getting darker. He needed to find out if Saskia still bore her mirrored Mark or not. Without another word he vanished, glad to be away from Zarya quite frankly. He was storming his way down the halls of Hell when one of the demons caught up to him. It hadn't been news about Saskia, but even worse than that.

"S-sir, I have word that Remiel has taken use of her former vessel again. Runa Vasile."

He stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the demon. "Bloody Remiel walks the Earth?"

"Y-yes, sir. But that's not quite all…"

"Unless somebody has found Saskia Vasile-"

"It's Lucifer, sir. He's got a tether outside of the Cage like when he latched onto Zarya Vasile. In a way, he is also walking the Earth…"

"Tell me you know who bloody Lucifer is puppeting around in."

"Auriel Cressida. The rogue Moore witch."

"Alright," Dean finally spoke after they'd been driving for a little while. "Let me see your arm."

Zarya groaned and rolled her eyes. "You too?" She grumbled, staring out the window into the dark of the night.

"Let me guess, Daciana earlier?"

She yanked off her jackets and flannel and showed him the reflected Mark of Cain on her arm. "She needed to see it on me before she broke her brother's compulsion. I saw it this morning when I woke up."

He smirked as he stared ahead at the road. "Guess you're really stuck with me now, Zare." His phone started to ring, breaking the silence in the car. They both read Sam's name across the screen. He answered, the phone loud enough for both of them to hear. "I left you an open tab at the bar. Knock yourself out."

"Well, hell, I just may take you up on that." A voice that was not Sam's spoke.

Both of them made a face when they didn't hear Sam's voice. "And who is this?" Dean questioned.

"Me? Well, I'm karma, brother."

"On my brother's phone?"

"On your brother's phone."

"Is he dead?"

Look at that face, Zarya, her mind told her. Look at the way it doesn't express concern for Sam's life. Can you honestly look into those eyes that can turn black and keep calling him Dean?

"No. Not yet. And as long as you show up where I tell you to show up, your brother will be just fine."

"And how do I know he's still alive?"

Why did you have to look for us, Sam? She thought, looking away when she heard Sam get hit for proof of life. Why couldn't you have tried for your happily ever after this time?

"Got a pen?"

"No." Zarya's attention whipped to Dean suddenly. "You listen to me. There's no trade. There's no meet-up. There's no nothing - except the 100% guarantee that, somewhere down the road, I will find you, and I will kill you."

The line was quiet for a moment. "Well, that'll be a cold comfort to your dead brother."

"I told him to let me go. So whatever jam he's in now, that is his problem."

"Yeah, well, I'll be sure to pass that on to him as I'm slitting his throat."

"Yeah, you do that, 'cause he knows me. And he knows damn sure that if I am one thing, I am a man of my word." He ended the call and tossed the phone onto the dash, not removing his eyes from the road.

Zarya looked up to him with pain in her eyes. How could we have fallen so far, Dean…?

Sam called Cas as soon as he got away from Cole. "You need to get to Beulah, North Dakota - now."

"I do?"

"Yes. Crowley and Dean were there. They have Zarya and she might have the Mark of Cain mirrored on her arm like Saskia did because if Zarya does then Saskia doesn't anymore."

"Sam, slow down. Zarya was with Dean and Crowley?"

"Yeah, it's not looking good. Cas, listen. I know you're not feeling so hot, but this is kind of an "all hands on deck" situation here, so…"

"So... I'll meet you there. Where is Remiel?"

He sighed as he stared at the road. "I… I don't know. When Cole got the jump on me she vanished."

"The angels are looking for her. Word has spread that she took Runa as her temporary vessel once again. The hunt is on for Remiel and Zarya. The angels… they will not allow Remiel to have her true vessel. They will kill her and Zarya without hesitation."

Sam scoffed. "Don't worry, it doesn't look like Dean has any intention on allowing anyone to lay a finger on Zarya."

"What was the other thing you mentioned about the Mark of Cain on her?"

"Apparently when Lucifer had it, it mirrored onto Remiel because of how attached they were. She didn't tell Runa about the Mark on her when she took refuge in Runa the first time. Saskia was born the night Lucifer passed his Mark to Cain. Saskia found Cain and took the Mark mirrored on herself. When Dean took the Mark from Cain, he left it open for Zarya to be able to absorb Saskia's mirror with the right circumstances because who, at this point, doesn't realize they're in love with each other?"

Cas was still and quiet, realizing what Sam meant. Even he, as oblivious as he generally was, had known for sometime about Dean and Zarya. "Sam, this is more serious than we thought. If the Mark mirrors itself onto Zarya then the same rules will apply to her; she will need to kill and feed the Mark. I will be there as soon as I can."

"Dean, where are we?" Zarya asked with increasing nervousness.

"I made a call," he answered, leading her through a warehouse. "Crowley wants to send demons for me to kill because the Mark of Cain requires it. Welcome to the club, Zare." He smirked at her. "Kill or the Mark wears you down to death."

She turned to argue with him but remained quiet when he tossed her a machete. Her machete. She started to hear snarling coming out of the shadows of the warehouse. "Dean," she pleaded quietly. She knew better. She knew that would be the final straw. The final chain to break before she was spinning and speaking in tongues all the time. "Don't make me do this. Tell me that you'll stop. Tell me that you can stop."

He reached out and touched her face gently. He smiled at her, but she could see the darkness in it. "I will never stop, Zare."

Zarya heard the snarling growing louder. Vampires. It must have been an entire nest. She closed her eyes as they started to well with tears, flashes of the demons Lucifer had her kill coming back to her memory. Her arm started to tingle and burn. She knew it was the Mark. Her time was running out and she had already long since lost the will to fight.

"We're comin' to get ya, little girl! And we're gonna enjoy tearing ya apart!" One of the vamps in the darkness shouted.

She inhaled a deep breath, hand tightening around her machete. When her eyes opened, they glowed magenta passionately. "You just try," she breathed.

She had been off in a flash, dodging their grabbing hands and starving fangs. One by one heads rolled across the floor. Blood splattered across the entire warehouse, drenching Zarya from head to toe. She hacked each one until there were no vampires left in the entire warehouse. When it was finally quiet, Dean looked up at her. She literally dripped with blood, from her hair and off her hands. It splattered across her face like war paint. A smug grin spread across his face, proud of what he had done.

Zarya couldn't say she was terribly surprised to end up back at the Black Spur with Dean once she'd gotten cleaned up. They were closed, but the bouncer remembered the two and let them in for some peace and quiet. She wasn't sure when he ended up at the piano and she laid across the bar. He just sat there and tapped a key occasionally. "Can you play the piano, Zare?" He finally found himself asking.

She stared up at the ceiling with vacant eyes. "I never learned, so I don't assume I do. Nova does though. She's apparently some prodigy."

"You can sing though."

She almost hadn't heard him. She wanted to let the comment make her smile but she just couldn't find the strength to. Every inch of her was numb like she was high.

"Hiya, Sam."

Zarya found the will to sit up then, meeting gaze with the hazel eyes she hadn't seen in months. "Sam," she spoke in a soft murmur.

The younger Winchester noticed the way a shred of light tried to spark again in her eyes when Zarya saw him. He knew it had been hope. Zarya knew they were able to cure demons. She knew somewhere in her that Sam was there to save them both. That they could all go home again. "Your, uh, pal Crowley… Sold you out."

Dean shrugged and stood up from the piano bench, grabbing the First Blade from the top. "Sounds like him."

Sam took a cautious step backwards. "Dean, hold on a second. You don't have to do this. Look, we know how to cure demons. You remember that?"

"Little Latin, lot of blood. It rings a bell. Did you ever stop to think that if I wanted to be cured, I wouldn't have bailed?"

"That was Crowley."

He smiled arrogantly. "It really wasn't."

"It doesn't matter, all right? 'Cause whatever went down, whatever happened, we will fix it. You were the one to find Zarya yourself, weren't you? What made you do that then?"

"Simple - she's mine. End of story." Sam noticed the surprise that flooded Zarya's face when she heard it as well. "And there's nothing to fix. 'Cause right now, I'm doing all I can not to come over there and rip your throat out… with my teeth. I'm giving you a chance, Sam. You should take it."

He looked between his brother and Zarya. She really did look terrible. Her hair was entirely out of place, looking like it hadn't seen a brush after a shower. Her eyes were exhausted and devoid of almost all of her spark. She wore ripped blue jeans, a tight black tank top that didn't even cover her stomach, and one of Dean's flannel shirts. He could see a couple of hickeys still bright against her skin and what almost looked like a hand print having started to bruise on the sides of her throat.

"I'm gonna have to pass."

"Well, I'm not walking out that door with you. I'm just not. So, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna kill me?"

Zarya's nails reactively dug into the wood of the bar.

"No," Sam answered quick.

"Why? You don't know what I've done. I might have it coming." Dean's eyes flicked over to Zarya for a second before looking his brother in the eye again. "I really might."

You know, she thought as the light fought to return into her eyes. You know what you've done. What we've done. You are still in there, aren't you, Dean…?

"Well, I don't care. Because you are my brother. And I'm here to take you home."

Dean started to laugh and mocked his brother. "'You're my brother, and I'm here to take you home.' Yeah, what is this, a Lifetime movie? Huh? With your puppy-dog eyes? Oh, thanks, Sammy. I needed that." The hazel eyed brother pulled out handcuffs engraved with sigils on them. "You really think those are gonna work?"

"There's one way to find out."

Zarya jumped off the bar to jump between them before they could start to fight when a tear gas bomb flew into the bar. Sam and Zarya started to cough and wheeze. Dean hastily slid the First Blade into his belt and grabbed the ravenette into his arms. When she started to breathe right with the fresh air he set her down on her feet. She saw Cole behind him first. "Dean," she panted, still catching her breath and pointing behind him.

"Wow. It's really you," he told Dean when he turned around.

Dean took a couple of steps toward him. "We met?"

"Talked on the phone."

"Right. Right. You're the guy who's supposed to put a bullet in Sammy's brain. Did you miss?"

Zarya bit her lip and ducked around the corner in search of Sam. When she felt someone behind her, she whipped around with her revolver drawn. At the end of barrel stood a pink haired Riel. "Riel," she breathed with relief at first, gun starting to lower. Then the ravenette saw something in her eyes all too familiar and everything clicked. Her gun went right back up. "Riel…"

"Come on, sweetheart, we both know everything just came together for you. I have been in that scattered mess, if you recall."

"How?" She hissed through grit teeth, refusing to lower her gun even though she knew she'd only kill Riel. "How did you get her to say yes?"

"You see, Rya, that's the fun part: I didn't have to. Auriel here owed me a debt. I called upon that debt. I gotta say though," she looked at her hands with pride, "it's a change being in control of a rather powerful witch. She's a Transmutation specialist you know." Her hair began to lighten until it was snow white, eyes lightening to grey. "She constantly changes her appearance at will."

"What are you doing here?" Zarya asked quickly, her finger shaking on the trigger.

"Oh come on, Rya, put that thing down. We both know if anybody is going to murder Auriel it would be Dean. If only you could get his attention before Sammy gets him." Her appearance began to change, features contorting. Zarya took a couple of fearful steps back as Riel became taller than her. Even the clothes changed. When it was finally done, she was staring back up at Nick's eyes that Lucifer had taken again. In one swift movement he knocked the gun from he hand and pulled her tightly against him. Something malefic danced playfully in his dark blue eyes.

"They aren't coming to save you this time, Rya."

In a flash, they were gone without a trace. Except Zarya's revolver on the ground.

After notes:

A-ta yamlik nihil ḥāsabi ma vos āle factum - You have no idea what you have done - Hebrew Arabic Latin Amharic Hebrew Latin Amharic Latin