Alex's head bent upwards slightly as she studied the things used to bind her. Maybe if she just tapped into her other half she'd be out and free, able to get what she wanted and find someone for the night to hole up with. Meld bodies together and waste time under the sheets with only the sounds of skin against skin and moans for music.

No. Schooling her face, surfacing as much as she could muster, she pressed back the ardeur. She was so close to actually doing it...

"Please..." she pleaded in a breathy whimpered whisper.

The female hadn't realized she had said anything until it reached her ears and she noticed a few sets of eyes flicker to her. She needed to be free from this.

What you need is a good fuck. Virgins tend to die hard because of their longing for sex. Dean can give that to you, wouldn't you have someone experienced at the wheel? The thought rolled through her head.

The ardeur didn't care who could give what to Alex, as long as she got something. Alex however was willing to hold off, no, trying to hold off as best as she could. A desperate want to maintain control herself without deviating to a personality that she wasn't. She wasn't an animal. She didn't have casual sex. She was Alex, bitch galore. Why couldn't it stay that way? "Please."

"Sorry sweet heart, you're staying put till we figure this out," Dean winked at her, "so get comfy."

Cause this may take a while.

He peered over at the symbol, scratching the stubble on his jaw, "Could be a spell of some kind," he suggested.

Von thought about it and nodded, "It's possible, we need to figure out who though and why."

"Why?" Dean asked, he didn't really care about the why, just so long as they found the son of a bitch and stopped them.

"Why this town, why go after women and make them like this," Von expanded.

"I'm still thinking it's an Incubus," Dean rolled his eyes in aggravation and chucked his thumb over to Alex. "Do you have anything to shut her up? She gets any louder and someone's gonna come to the door and I don't think any of us want to explain why we have one of us chained to the bed."

Which is another reason among many that I wanted her out of here, Von thought as she stared at the screen.

"I might have something," she stood and stiffened her legs to keep them from shaking while she walked towards her duffel. Rummaging through her things she procured a small blue bottle. Von stood at the side of Alex's bed and shook the bottle to mix the ingredients. She watched Alex with guarded eyes as she squirmed in her restraints.

"Bitch, if you dare, I swear I will empty a clip of ammo into your ass and sew it up to retain it," Alex growled, closing her mouth tightly so then they'd have to try and force the stuff down her throat.

This is why you should let me jump in. I could get you out of here easily. If you don't I'm sure the ardeur will.

Her eyes grew wide at hearing that, the thing inside her squirming just at the suggestion with glee. Fear and pain filled her blue orbs as she shook her head, trying to keep the bottle away from her as well as to fight off the ardeur. Her struggles, pulling on the restraints. When she stopped, she breathed heavily, black and blue eyes turning to look at Von.

One quick jerk of her wrists and ankles and a loud snap of chains and ripping of cloth came. She stood in one fluid motion and whipped her arm at Von, knocking her down as she ran towards the door and out. Freedom was hers at last and she wanted to celebrate.

Alcohol and men anyone?

888

Sam had enough time to stand and take up to four steps when he heard and saw what happened, but he didn't make it in time. "Shit," he cursed, staring at the open door, hearing her footfalls going down the hall before the main door opened and shut with a jingle of the bell.

Going to where Von had fallen, he knelt down and helped her up, his arms directing her to the vacant bed and sitting her down as he lightly touched the bloody lip and a red blotch where a bruise would soon form.

"Are you okay?" He paused, sighing and glancing at his brother and back to the red head in front of him. "What do we do now?"

Von licked at her lip, green eyes seething with rage. Who's naive now?

Von pushed herself up ignoring her injuries, a snarl escaping her lips when Sam tried to stop her. "We go after her," she replied in a low angry voice and without waiting for either of them and was out the door after Alex. She had seen Alex's eyes, on top of everything was she possessed too, or was it something else entirely?

Out the door the cool September wind tousled her auburn hair and she could see Alex running down the street. Von's eyes shimmered violet and she clenched her fists to keep her hands from shaking. The glass in the nearby windows crackled but did not break, remaining a solid mosaic of tiny shards. Sorcha was at her side and the two raced down the street after the brunette aware that eyes were watching them.

Alex knew she was being chased; it thrilled her, scared her, and even made her angry. Why couldn't they just leave her alone? That made her falter in her steps. Now she was thinking like she did when she left them all those years ago. Picking up the pace, to gain back the extra distance she had lost in that one moment, Alex continued on. Hunted, she was being hunted and that meant she'd have to resort to fast food on the way or better yet ditch them as best as she could.

Von could smell blood in the air, while they had been hiding in the motel; the monsters had been out killing. She knew them being there wouldn't stop them. They weren't going to wait around until they left and then strike. From what the Succubi could see of the four they had nothing to fear. The genuine articles weren't living up to their names. It was disappointing to say the least.

Von growled as the gap between her and Alex widened. Von's system was flooded with adrenaline and the wracking pain she had felt before was a memory as her long legs pumped. She closed the gap again and turned sharply down another street after the brunette hunter. Sorcha growled low as she raced a mere four feet ahead of Von. Others were coming out of the wood work, impeding Von's progress to the point she had to slow down. Which Von didn't like at all.

"Von," one of them purred and stepped forward, "we've heard so much about you."

The woman smiled and the other followed making soft crooning noises. The woman shrieked and her head snapped back, her keening howl filling the air. Her body convulsed and seized, blood spouting out of her mouth in a magnificent fountain that sprayed the sky crimson. Her arms flailed out at her sides and a sticky wet zipper noise was the undertone to her screaming as her spine slowly emerged through her chest, jutting out like a spiny serpent.

"I don't have time to talk", Von said maliciously. Those that didn't flee screaming were thrown back like rag dolls to smack and crack into buildings and lamp posts. "Don't get in my way again," she warned them and started off after Alex once more.

Alex had to stop running. She couldn't keep going forever, and there was no way that they would stop just because their damn feet got tired. When Von's footsteps stopped coming to her ears, it didn't comfort her in the slightest when all she heard was the pitter patter of dog paws.

"Stop!" she yelled, halting immediately and nearly teetering forwards before she turned to face Sorcha behind.

Preparing for impact she watched and waited, her body shaking in order to keep standing there, to disobey the wants and needs of the damn things within that seemed to have joined forces. 1. 2. 3. When paws met her chest, pushing her down and tackling, she didn't expect to react to the attack by vaulting the animal over and back, with Alex ending up on her knee and one foot. Ready to continue on.

Her head cocked to the side without consent as she was met with the sight of Von walking towards her. "Makes me think if you would have done this a long time ago when I left. Chased after me, hunted me down till I was just another monster to catch. Don't pretend you give a shit about me and just leave me the fuck alone!"

The words weren't hers, but that didn't mean that what was within didn't know how to drag up the sore spots and use them to their advantage. Her eyes never changed back to normal, but she transferred the pleading into them to tell Von that she wasn't in control, wasn't using the joystick to play the game. Alex was the joystick.

"Eistedd i lawr," Von commanded and Alex's legs buckled under her and she sat like she was told to. Von looked to Sorcha who was shaking herself off hardly damaged from the tussle. Von knelt down next to Alex, angry green eyes mingling with violet, or perhaps that was the bright sun playing tricks.

"I don't catch monsters," she corrected ominously. Von's hand went to Alex's head, pushing her palm into her forehead. "So," she paused tilting her head to the side, licking at her left canine like a hungry wolf. "I think you have some explaining to do, you can't run away this time, so tell me," she licked the blood slowly off her lip. "Why you have those eyes when you're not possessed?"

Blood. She craved it. Could smell it everywhere. That sweet coppery taste thick on her tongue, dripping warm off her fingers. If she could only get a hold of some. Just a little taste.

888

Dean was on his feet in a shot and with the two women gone he now stood staring at his brother, "That went well," he quipped and grabbed his gun and his favorite Bowie knife as well as his shotgun, "C'mon Sam haul ass, we gotta help her."

He stepped out into the hallway and waited for his brother. They should have had Von whip up some kind of binding seal in order to keep Alex in check. It was inevitable that she would have found a way out. And now they had to run out there where there were more of them waiting for their meals on legs to show up.

Nothing like a good time, Dean grinned wryly.

Alex was turbo charged and it would take all three of them to take her. That is unless Von's witch powers had grown over the years which Dean didn't doubt. And if that was the case, maybe they'd have to get there to save Alex's ass instead of Von's.

Sam ran beside his brother after the three before them and he hated being out in the open like they were. Meat on display, watch them run kind of ordeal. Taking a long stride in the rush he felt the asphalt hit his chest and hands as he went down. Something had him by the leg. He was flipped over instantly and was facing the blond from earlier at the Morgue he thought he had killed.

"Dean!" he shouted, pointing his gun at the woman.

Sam stared down at his brother as he carved up the woman. Seeing it made him scared, made him wonder what had really happened to Dean in Hell. Normally Dean killed close to this, but the look on his face as he did it lacked sorrow with a glimmer of a smile in the green eyes, or was that his imagination? Shaking himself mentally he nodded, reaching into his jean pocket and pulling out the lighter, handing it over to Dean.

The pain finally registered in his brain and he glanced down at his chest, it was deep, but it wasn't too bad, maybe a few stitches to close the small trails. Looking around he found the road empty...the wind not silent as it carried a scream to his ears. Alerting him down the way they were heading and where Von, Alex, and Sorcha had gone.

"We need to get to them fast. I don't know if that was one of them, but I'm worried about Alex and Von," Sam said.

He knew what he saw in Alex's eyes before, thinking it was a trick of the light, but something within said otherwise. Something that made him anxious and needy. He'd need to see Ruby again soon or either take a drink from his stash. As soon as the heart was set a light, the brothers were ready and going down the road.

Dean had wiped his knife off on the woman's shirt and sheathed it while he stood. When Dean turned the corner he stopped dead in his tracks, lowering his gun. The carnage splayed out along the street was like. It was like Hell. Bodies strewn and wrapped around metal so tight that their skin was splitting like cracked leather. There was a strawberry blonde lying in the street that looked like something had come along and stuck its hand in her. She was split open like an alien had burst out of her and her slick red spine shone in the sun.

Dean had no words. He only stared, listened, smelled. He walked slowly past along with Sam. Now they knew who was screaming. Dean scanned ahead and picked up his pace again when he saw Alex sitting in front of Von, slowing down cautiously as he got closer. The energy crackling off of Von was tangible and it made Dean's skin tingle.

"Smart. I'll give you that," Alex spoke, her head forced to look at Von from the palm on her forehead.

Her own hand went to Von's and squeezed, power radiating from that one touch, not only was it coming from the red head but from her as well. The ardeur was mingling with what little of Alex's demon half had sprung out. Knowing they were no longer alone, Alex flicked her eyes towards Dean and Sam, grinning when she saw their expressions to how she looked and the given situation. "Not everyone has to be possessed in order to have black eyes sweetheart," she finished.

Standing, feeling the power of words that made her sit in the first place press down on her. Alex was strong, maybe not stronger than Von, but she was definitely as strong and to that she didn't know why. What was Von?

Witch.

Apparently there were things...big things...that they had been keeping from each other for a long time.

The tall hunter watched the scene, saw the play of Alex grabbing Von and standing, almost as if she was standing in front of a god and defying their word. Something poetic, bone chilling, and incredibly awing to his mind. When Alex spoke about her eyes, it cleared up so much for him on whether it was figment of imagination or real. Turned out it was real. If Alex wasn't possessed... technically what was she?

Besides becoming a succubus. Meeting Dean's eyes he asked silently whether they should interfere or not. It seemed like a bad and good idea, but so far the answer was unclear as to which path to take. If they did, chances were that they'd get some brunt of the power and not in a way likable. If they didn't, Alex or Von would suffer. He could tell just from the air that something was emanating from the two women. A level of same and a written law of difference that didn't make sense.

Von wrenched her hand from Alex's. She grinned wryly, "I can see that." Von wielded her knife from behind her, nicking Alex's arm in the process, the wound sparking golden red. Piled on top of everything was the feeling of betrayal. But did she have the right to feel it? She had kept just as much if not more from Alex. Who was she to have a right to know anything about Von though? Von wondered if she managed to send the demon half back to Hell, or kill it, if Alex would go too. Did she dare risk it? No. Maybe there was hope for her humanity after all. Maybe.

They had to do something. What. They had to. Had to do what? Dean shared Sam's thoughts. Should they intervene, step between the two titans? Or should they watch it unfold, watch them tear each other apart? They couldn't see Von's face, but they didn't need to. Mini tremors shivered up and down Dean from the energy the two women were giving off. It was making the air vibrate. It scared him. He was confused and frightened.

The hole inside him opened up wider because one more thing he had thought he had known, relied on, had been pulled out from under him. Who were these people in front of him and why were they wearing the faces of his friends? He had been pulled out of Hell to be brought into another. Which one he preferred he would never say.

With a tentative step forward and gun still lowered but ready at a hair's breadth his mouth opened, "Stop it," he pleaded and was shockingly relieved on how well it worked, at least on Von's part.

Von's eyes dimmed to their natural green but energy continued to shiver around her. Von's arm cranked back and she swung down hard into Alex's black eyed face, causing her head to snap back and knocking her off balance. An angry bruise was sure to follow. She dove down on top of the brunette, words streaming out of her mouth at an impossibly fast level. A binding spell, her strongest, which could not be broken.

Blood dribbled out of her mouth as she finished, leaving Alex immobile and Von choking for air. She fell off of Alex and rolled onto her back away from her, clutching her knife to her chest while she coughed up trace amounts of blood. Sam had stepped up next to Dean and even began to move a bit closer to where Alex and Von lay. He didn't know which one to assist, the brunette or red head.

"Dean, you carry Alex. I'll carry Von," he finally decided.

Going up to Von, he slipped his gun into his waistband, arms sliding underneath her knees and her back, bringing her up and against him in a princess carry. She was as light weight, tired, and fragile as a child in his grasp and he smiled thoughtfully down at her, before looking at Dean with Alex in his own arms and they began to head back to the motel, wary of every single alley, corner and street until they finally arrived. Setting Von onto their bed, he headed into the bathroom, grabbing a cold washcloth and coming back, tending to the blood from her mouth as well as the busted and bruises now forming.

From where Alex lay on her bed, unable to move she could feel spikes of pain pulsating through the marrow of her bones, the veins in her limbs, but there was nothing she could do to release it because of the binding spell.

"Fucking hurts," she bit out harshly, what she was feeling inside from the ardeur echoed in her eyes as she stared at Dean, mingling with hate, need, and apology.

What else was she supposed to say to them? That she was half demon? Yeah and then what would they do after they save her or would they even save her? They could try everything they knew about demons and nothing would work, that was the downside and bright side to being half human as well. The human part kind of thwarted that concept of demon knick knacks.

A groan escaped her lips as she squeezed her eyes shut, another twist inside causing it. If it continued for hours or even a few days she'd be screaming her head off, that much she was sure, didn't matter if they gagged her or not. At the moment she was biting her bottom lip to keep it inside, thus the groan.

Von's breathing was shallow and sticky sounding, like her airways were clogged with mucous. More blood dribbled from her mouth and Sam was there to wipe it up. She looked at him, eyes glassy with pain. Her eyes fluttered closed and she fought to keep them open, needed to keep them open. She felt cold and Sam's body had been so warm against her. She wanted him to wrap her in his arms again, to feel his warmth, to smell him. She needed it.

Von tried to lift her hand to reach him, to make sure that he would stay but she couldn't make it and it dropped listless to the comforter. A plea in her fever bright eyes not to leave to stay with her because she was frightened and in pain. Von needed that touch, something to hang on to. Had he seen her though, how she really was inside? Would he shun her, was he afraid? She was at their mercy and if they had decided to kill her she couldn't have stopped them. And perhaps she wouldn't have tried.

Dean was silent. He wouldn't exactly call it inner reflecting but it was something like that. Alex wasn't possessed. What did that mean? Dean knew, but he didn't want to admit it to himself, not right now. There was too much. And Von, what about her?

She has some powerful mojo going on, hope she makes it out ok.

And what about Alex?

I hope Alex does too.

His heart was heavy with the fact that Alex was somehow demonic. His instincts and training were saying to kill but something deep inside was holding him back.

Is it because of what I did? Can I honestly be okay with this? Definitely not.

Dean stared at the far wall and sniffed, scrubbing a hand down his weary face, "How's she doing Sam?" Dean asked dropping into the chair next to the bed that he and Alex had shared.

"She needs to rest. She's barely coherent," Sam answered. "I think it might be best if we all try and get some rest in, but you and I take shifts. I can take first one if you like?"

He questioned it, unsure, did he want to? The look in Von's eyes telling him to stay with her made him want to take the later going and tearing his eyes away he found Dean silently telling him there was no need for him to offer. Dean was going to cover it anyways with or without argument.

Meeting Von's eyes once more he removed her shoes and jeans, and pulled back the covers, helping her underneath them before he went to do his own shoes. Remaining in his clothes he joined her. He could handle sleeping in his jeans, but he didn't know if Von could, they were uncomfortable to endure when all you wanted to feel was the sheets and not something so rough as denim. He hadn't even realized that he was still in his torn shirt.

Unconsciously, he laid a protective arm underneath her neck and wrapped it around her shoulders so then her head rested on his chest, fingers running through her hair to soothe her. Sam didn't even see the expression on his brother's face as his eyes was closed, realizing how tired he truly was when he got into bed.