Hey everyone I'm back from vacation! I had a really nice time and I was also able to right some of the chapter every night, so that's why you're getting this update now. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 24
Sammy, he's back.
When Alastair appeared, Dean knew this was the end. He had failed to kill Heather and the demon had made it clear that this was his final chance.
Alastair was going to kill him with the knife he had taken from Dean. Sam had been so close but Dean had failed to stall his tormentor for long enough. He was going to be gone for good, never see his brother again. What would become of Sam?
He hoped his brother could move on, that he could still be happy, even if he didn't have his soulmate to share his life, and then afterlife with.
I'm sorry Sammy.
No! Don't you give up Dean! I'm not waiting for any signal, I'm coming in right now. You keep fighting, do you hear me?
It was with Sam's words that Dean realized...he wasn't content with dying. Even if by some miracle Sam would be okay without him...Dean didn't want to stop living. He hadn't fought to get out of Hell and adjusted back to life on Earth for nothing. He had been having fun, he had been happy, something he originally thought a demon could never be. His life wasn't something he was going to give up easily.
He was going to fight. For his brother and for himself.
So when Alastair approached him, demon-killing knife in hand, Dean prepared himself for combat.
He may not stand any chance, but it was better than nothing. It could buy Sam some more time.
"This is really too bad," Alastair seethed, walking closer. "I gave you endless opportunities. Your life would have been spared, and your brother's...now, you're both going to die, all because you refuse to become a real demon."
Alastair really believed there was some switch in Dean that he could just turn off and become some malicious and careless murderer. Was that how most demons were? He couldn't understand the complexity of Dean's mind, of his soul. He would never understand why his plan failed so horribly.
"Well then come and get me already," Dean taunted, hoping to draw Alastair into some conversation.
But it seemed the demon was too fed up to do even that. "In a minute Dean, wait your turn." He turned toward Heather, causing the woman to scream.
Should he attempt to stop the demon? It could be the perfect opportunity to fight back, or it could cause Alastair to plunge the blade into him sooner. Should he sit and wait, hoping that Alastair would get caught up in torturing Heather before he killed her?
The woman screamed again and Dean made his choice. He lunged at Alastair's back, wrapping his arms around the demon's neck, ignoring the searing pain in his broken one.
If he did get out of this alive, Heather was one other person that now trusted him. He couldn't afford to have any possible allies dying when they were hard enough to come by.
Dean's attack attempt didn't last long. Alastair reached out with his powers and flung him off, causing him to smash into the far wall at an incredible speed. It had been so powerful that his vision blacked out, if only for a second. He shook it off and stared up at the approaching demon, whose eyes had gone completely white.
Even if Dean didn't have the room somehow blocking off his powers, he wouldn't have stood any better of a chance. Demons couldn't use their powers against other demons, unless the one being attacked was held captive by a devil's trap, or if the demon in question was extraordinarily powerful, like Alastair.
"Got more fight in you than I thought, just for the wrong purposes." Alastair shook his head, staring down at Dean with an intense hatred. "Such a shame."
"You know me, I was always gonna go down swinging."
Alastair's expression changed into an evil smirk. "You didn't when you were sobbing in Hell, begging for your little brother to save you. You were desperate and weak and I'll make sure you see that before I end you."
Dean blinked and did a double take. What? He watched as Alastair placed Ruby's knife on the table and picked up a power drill instead.
Oh. He was going to torture him. He didn't want Dean dying thinking that he was brave. It would be some sort of small victory for Alastair to prove that he was right in how weak Dean was. If he couldn't get him to snap and go evil, at least he could reduce him to a quivering mess before he killed him.
Dean should have figured that the torture would be too tempting for Alastair to resist. Dean had a hard time with it himself sometimes, but Alastair? He was the king of torture, it was who he was. Even though he had attempted the mental manipulation, the pull of causing physical pain was too hard to deny.
But this was a good thing. Alastair was getting too caught up in wanting to hurt him, even at the expense of being able to kill Dean quickly. It could all be over in a second, but Alastair wanted to make it last, wanted to harm the being that caused him so much frustration.
"Oh don't worry, this won't be the same old technique." Alastair chuckled darkly. "I've learned quite a bit since our last session.
Dean would just have to hold on and hope Alastair would be entertained in the torture for long enough until Sam got here.
Dean swallowed, trying to put on a brave face, and smirked. "Well then, bring it on."
As soon as Sam heard that Alastair was back, he knew he couldn't wait around any longer. He needed to act now, no matter if the exorcism was completed or not.
It was the only chance of saving Dean.
"Dean's in trouble! We have to go now!"
"But the exorcism...we haven't seen any demon clouds get extracted...," Ellen mentioned.
I'm sorry Sammy. Dean's hopeless words echoed through Sam's mind and the younger brother felt like he wanted to scream. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be the end, he just needed a little more time!
No! Don't you give up Dean! I'm not waiting for any signal, I'm coming in right now. You keep fighting, do you hear me?
"Sam, what's going on? You have to tell us boy," Bobby was speaking to him. "Our plan was to..."
"Yes! I know!" Sam shouted, waving out his arms in exasperation. "We were supposed to wait until the demons were extracted! But Dean just told me Alastair's back! He doesn't have much time! If we wait any longer..."
"Sam." Ellen was shaking her head. "Walking in there now...with all those demons...it would be a death trap."
"She is correct," Castiel agreed. "Those demons would immediately destroy your human friends and I am afraid I am not powerful enough to defeat them all."
Sam glared at them both, readying his weapons. "Maybe. You don't want to go in there? Fine. I'm going to go save my brother or die trying."
"Just hold on a minute Sam..." Bobby spoke up.
"Hold on?" Sam turned around to face his friend. "For what? For Dean to die? This was a stupid plan anyway. What if Mindy can't perform the exorcism on her own? The demons are bound to try and stop her as soon as they hear the chanting start. We could be sitting here waiting for nothing. We need to try and get in and create a distraction so the demons don't stop her."
"I'm going in." Ruby suddenly spoke up, shocking everyone. She grabbed an iron bar that they had brought with them, able to hold it from the gloves that she wore.
"What?" Sam questioned. Ruby had seemed reluctant about most of their plan and only concerned about her own safety the entire time. Now she was willing to charge into a building full of demons that wanted to kill her, while the rest of the group was too afraid to do so?
"You'd be going through the east entrance right? I'll teleport just inside there, start beating up on some demons. If I embed this iron bar into their brain, it might blind them, right? I'll be able to clear a path for you guys to get in and I'll be a distraction."
"Why are you willing to do this?" Bobby asked, obviously thinking the same as Sam. "They'd want to capture you just like they did Dean."
"No," Ruby huffed. "They'd want to kill me. But if we don't save Dean and Alastair kills him, I'm as good as dead anyway. And so are all of you. This is the last chance we have." She glared across at the hunters in the room. "You all so owe me," she hissed and then vanished from sight.
"Now! Let's go!" Sam called out and sprinted out of the door, toward the library. He didn't bother to see if anyone had decided to follow him on his rescue mission, or if they still believed it was a lost cause. It didn't matter. He would save Dean with or without them.
But soon, he could hear the pounding of footsteps behind him. Sam risked a quick glance backwards, he needed to check if it were demons or Croats...or even the controlled monsters, that were following him.
Instead, he saw everyone, Bobby, Ellen, Jo, Castiel and Carl, running to catch up with him.
Sam hated that they had started reconsidering the mission, turning their backs on Dean. But they had really only been worrying about their lives. And they never had actually stated that they were giving up on Dean. It would have been a death trap and it made sense that the group had wanted to plan things out.
If they didn't care about his brother, they wouldn't be following Sam right now.
Sam made it to the entrance in under a minute, encountering no obstacles along the way. While he waited for the rest of the group to catch up, he tried to reach out to his brother. He knew Dean was still alive, because he could sense their connection, but who knew what was happening to him right now?
Dean? You with me? We're about to come in.
There was silence for a moment, before Dean's voice came through, sounding extremely pained. Sam was on edge immediately, his ever-present concern for his brother skyrocketed.
Sammy...don't worry...I'm delaying him...
Delaying him? What the hell did that mean?
Dean, you're in pain! What's going on? What's he doing to you?
You know...torture...but it will keep him occupied for a while so it's...ahh! It's all good!
Sam heard the yelp of pain and flinched. If Dean couldn't hold back his pain, what Alastair was doing had to be terrible, most likely unimaginable.
A cloud of anger filled Sam upon imagining his brother's condition. He was sick and tired of Dean, who was trying so hard to hold onto himself and doing such a good job, constantly getting harmed. If he could take down Alastair, it would be one less thing his poor brother would never have to worry about. Dean could at least be at peace with knowing his torturer would never lay a finger on him again.
"Sam." It was Bobby, who was laying a hand on his shoulder. Sam hadn't even noticed him approach. "Are you ready?"
Sam didn't answer, kicking open the door that Ruby must have disarmed, and stepped inside.
I'm coming Dean. You just hold on big brother.
"About time!" Ruby's annoyed voice filled the hallway that the group had entered. It looked to be a janitorial area, dank and dark, closed off from the main library. A few rooms ran along the hallway, containing cleaning supplies and storage, with one being a break room. Only a few dim lights kept the area lit up enough so they could see in front of them. Sam was glad that the demons seemed to always use generators in their hideouts, it made things easier for them to get to Dean.
Five demons lay on the ground, bleeding from their heads. Ruby had another one pressed against the wall, the iron bar lodged in its skull. She pulled the bar out and let the demon drop to the ground. Sam wouldn't have stood a chance fighting off demons in this small enclosed area if he had gone in alone.
"What happened?" Sam asked, stepping over some of the bodies and kicking the others out of his way.
"They're not very loyal. Surprised a few, fought with the others that ran out from the break room and I got the upper hand. The iron to the brain did knock them out. When they woke up blind, they all scrammed, took off out of their hosts."
As if to prove her point, the demon at her feet began to stir and panic. After a few seconds, it opened its mouth, allowing its soul to escape and rapidly zip out of the building.
Part of Sam was surprised that Ruby fought off six demons, but she was an excellent fighter, and these demons, while they had strong powers and hosts, didn't mean they were actually skilled in hand to hand combat. Sam knew this from experience from the number of demons he and Dean had been able to take down in the past.
Ahhhh Sam!
Sam startled at the sound of his brother's voice. He hadn't remembered hearing Dean in so much pain since the two times the hellhounds had torn him apart.
Dean! Dean, are you okay? Sam panicked, but received no response. Did Dean even know he was calling out to him? Or was it like one of those rare times their subconscious contacted the other when their emotions were out of control?
Dean must be in extreme distress. He would have never wanted Sam to know how much he was hurting.
"Dean's being tortured right now." Sam told Ruby sharply, his tongue felt heavy in his throat and he tried to blink back tears. Now wasn't the time to show weakness. He needed to take his brother's yells of pain and use them to fuel himself into action. He moved forward. "We have to find the PA..."
A heavy door opened at the end of the hallway that was only ten feet away from Sam. He turned around and held his ground, holding his gun out in front of him and also tapped into his powers...
It was a werewolf, like the ones that had been guarding the apartment building with the human slaves. Sam should have figured that clearing out the demons didn't mean they were safe! They had feral monsters to fight off as well.
Sam reached for his knife, the one that was silver, preparing to fight...
The werewolf took one look at them, the controlled animalistic expression changed to one of recognition and it stepped to the side, passive.
What the hell?
Sam didn't drop his knife, staring the creature down. "Why are you letting us through?"
The werewolf didn't answer, staring straight ahead, it's stance ridged, but calm.
"It's still being controlled, isn't it?" Ellen ordered for Jo to stand back near Castiel and walked closer to Sam, looking at the unresponsive monster. "But...why would it be told not to attack us?"
"Eve...the one who is controlling it...must know we're here and want us to win...sending out orders for the monsters not to harm us," Sam supplied. "She must be using us to kill Alastair. I knew these two huge sources of power were planning to betray the other...looks like she is going to come out on top."
"But even with Alastair dead...she's still around. Who knows what she has planned once she doesn't have to work with him," Bobby pointed out.
"Well the first thing she'll do is send the monsters to attack us as soon as he's dead, she's only keeping us alive to kill Alastair for her." Sam shook his head. "We can worry about her later, that's a whole separate problem that we can't tackle right now."
Sam stabbed the creature in the heart anyway as they passed it, one less enemy for them to deal with when they made their escape.
As they were sneaking their way down the staircase, Ruby taking the lead, a static sound filled the air, screeching a few times before getting quiet.
Sam could hear an intake of breath echo through the building and then... "Exorcizamus te..."
Dean tried to dodge Alastair's attack with the iron bar, missing it by inches this time. Heather screamed in protest, yelling pointlessly for Alastair to stop. The demon was having fun torturing the woman by making her watch this mess. Just hours ago she had been terrified of Dean himself, now she wanted his pain to stop. Funny how things turned out.
Alastair had brought his own supply of torture tools with him, all of them objects that would poison demons. Dean had tried his best to fight back, but without his powers, he was no match for the white-eyed demon. All Alastair had to do was grab onto his bad arm to bring Dean down.
At least fighting back had proved to waste some time. Alastair thought it was hilarious and had taunted Dean, having fun in watching him fail miserably every time.
Dean reached up to grab at the bar when Alastair swung again, the palm of his hand sizzling in pain when in came in contact with the poison iron.
"That all you got?" Dean grunted, his teeth clenched.
He expected Alastair to taunt and insult him some more, but instead it looked like he was growing tired with Dean's game. It was only a matter of time before it happened, Dean had just hoped it wouldn't be so soon. The demon grabbed Dean when he charged at him and twisted both his good and bad arm behind his back, tying them together with rope and then doing the same with Dean's thrashing legs.
With Dean having none of his demonic strength, he couldn't even pull his arms out of the stupid rope.
Alastair laughed. "Once again, just more proof on how weak and pathetic you are."
Thirty minutes later, Dean sure felt that way.
Now he was subjected to all of Alastair's physical attacks, all of his torture techniques. He couldn't do a thing but sit there and take it. The evil bastard had been pissed off when he tried dousing Dean with holy water and even though steam came from his skin, Dean hardly even flinched.
"Building an immunity?" Alastair had questioned, seething. "At such a weak level? Didn't think demons as young as you could do that. This will come in handy for strengthening my army."
He had then proceeded to try numerous way of poisoning him, trying to see how much Dean could take, and if he were more advanced than other demons of his rank.
It was painful as...or maybe even worse than Hell. In Hell, his soul...which had worked like a body, wouldn't heal. Injury after injury would add up, and after a while, it all kind of blended in. The pain became a constant and eventually...there would be nothing left of him and his 'body' would reappear, only for the process to begin again.
But here...on Earth...he was in a real body...a body that kept trying to heal itself. Every time it started to, Alastair would attack him again. The pain was even worse on skin that was trying so desperately to put itself back together. Dean was in shock over how much more real this felt over Hell. And he had thought nothing could feel as bad as it did down in the pit...
Even though he tried to remain stoic and calm through the torture, inside he was screaming. He knew it was only a matter of time before Alastair became bored and picked up Ruby's knife instead of the iron bar.
He was fucking terrified and wanted nothing else than to make Alastair feel the pain he was suffering through right now.
"Heard an iron bullet to the brain took away your sight." Alastair chuckled. "Wonder what five would do? Oh, and how about one to the heart?"
The demon picked up a gun, but before he could shoot, the most wonderful sound could be heard over Heather's crying.
It was Mindy, over the PA. She was chanting the exorcism. She was reading it slow as hell, but at least he might stand a chance at getting saved.
"I told you he'd come for me." Dean coughed out some blood.
Alastair looked flustered for just a moment, but quickly recovered.
"That doesn't sound like little Sammy to me."
Dean growled at the use of Sam's nickname. "You know he's here. And you know he's strong enough to stop you."
Alastair looked at Dean with mock sympathy. "Oh Dean, I'm completely prepared for your brother's powers, unlike Lilith. All I have to do is shoot him before he can concentrate. He is only human, after all."
The demon picked up the iron bar again, walking toward Dean menacingly. "I kill Sammy, bring his soul to Hell, you snap at losing your brother and I gain you on my side...then eventually I'll gain your brother as well. Look at it on the bright side! If you start to show promise, I might even allow you to be the one to torture him, turn him into a demon!"
Dean couldn't help it, he willed his broken and battered body upwards, trying to lunge at his enemy.
Alastair brought the thick iron bar through his stomach and smashed it into the plaster of the wall.
Dean let out a blood curdling scream, yelling out his brother's name. The four foot long bar had actually gone right through him! One end was stuck in the wall and the other stuck out about a foot in front of his stomach.
Dean panted, trying not to pass out as the poison spread throughout his body. Alastair walked closer, twisting the end of the bar upwards so Dean couldn't slide his body out of it.
He was trapped, pinned to the wall by this poison object and even if he didn't have the toxic iron weakening him, the wards in this room had completely dulled even his demonic strength.
Alastair laughed manically. "Sammy will take one look at your condition and freeze up while I put a bullet into his skull."
With the exorcism started, Sam finally allowed himself to feel some sort of relief. Ruby flinched slightly at the words being spoken. Sam knew the pain would get worse for her as the exorcism continued, but she would be okay with the lock ward she had tattooed on her body. However, with her senses dulled, Ruby wouldn't be as much of a help without being able to focus clearly and fight off any approaching danger.
"That bitch better hurry the hell up," Ruby grunted, walking down the hallway a bit slower. Sam got impatient and pushed past her. He could hear the shouts and groans of demons panicking now. It sounded like there were a good amount in this area, but they would hopefully be too overcome with pain to overpower the group.
Sammy!
Sam gasped and bit his lip at Dean's horrific scream. He tried not to think of what was happening to his brother and instead, on the fact that he needed to save him as soon as possible. He opened the door to find himself near the reference section. Demons were scrambling and buckling in pain, a few of them choosing to leave their hosts and flee the library if they had the strength to do so.
One of the demons turned and noticed him, but collapsed to the floor in anguish instead of chasing after him.
"Alright, come on!" Sam called to the rest of the group that it was okay to emerge from the hallway.
Mindy was halfway done with the exorcism and Sam figured that not all the demons were overcome by the pain it brought on. Some had to be stronger, or bound by the lock ward, and would be heading to Mindy to stop her.
"Over there!" Jo pointed toward a group of three demons sprinting toward the center of the library.
Sam took off after them, only to hear a yell from behind him. He turned around to see that a demon had attacked Jo, pushing her to the floor and landing on top of her. She swung the iron rod, hitting it in the head and stunning it, allowing herself to push the demon off of her.
Ellen hurried to help her daughter up but the demon was already rising.
Sam held his hand out, focusing. The demon began to panic, but Sam already had a hold on its soul. Before he could push past the barrier of the lock ward to send the demon back to Hell, Castiel shoved the angel blade into its stomach.
"Thank you," Jo breathed, looking between Sam and Castiel. It was a good thing they had the angel blade with them in case Sam wasn't there to exorcise a demon with his powers.
The slow reading of the exorcism suddenly paused, and Mindy's scream echoed over the PA. Sam could hear the demons' yells turn into groans. They would be getting up and regaining their strength if the exorcism wasn't completed.
But when Sam had turned around to help Jo, he had lost sight of where the demons had been running to.
"It's probably by the main desk!" Carl told him, taking the lead as everyone followed him. "I used to go here a lot back when I was in high school."
They reached the large wooden desk and Sam saw a door that probably led to a few small offices behind it. The PA must be in there somewhere! Just as he went to hop over the desk, a fallen demon grabbed his ankle, trying to pull him down.
A gunshot filled Sam's ears and he looked over to see Bobby pointing the Colt at the demon's head.
"I'll hold them off! Me and Cas will kill 'em. You go inside, hurry!"
"I'm coming too," Carl followed Sam, leaving the Harvelles with Bobby and Cas to try and stop the horde of demons that were going to regain their strength and try to stop them. Sam prayed that they would be okay. It wasn't like Ruby was much help, leaning against the wall out of breath.
The two men entered the small hallway behind the desk to hear commotion happening to their right. They ran down to see two rooms. Carl opened up one only to reveal a room filled with books stacked up on some tables.
That meant Mindy was in the other room, along with some of Alastair's most trusted minions that would stop at nothing to kill them.
"Get ready," Sam told Carl and threw open the door.
A demon had Mindy pinned to the ground and Sam hurried to latch onto its soul before it could kill the woman. Another demon came charging at Carl, and he whacked it in the head with his iron bar.
Sam didn't have time to pull the demon's soul to Hell, as the third one ran toward him and knocked him off balance. Shit! Sam pushed out with his powers and sent both demons flying into the wall.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Mindy grab onto the handheld PA speaker.
"The spell! They tore it up!" she cried, looking over at a piece of shredded paper on the ground.
"Quick throw it to me!" Sam called out to her, reaching his hand out.
Mindy tossed him the speaker and Sam turned it on, beginning to chant right where Mindy left off. The demons ran at him, they weren't as affected as the ones Sam had seen stumbling around, and must be stronger. He held out his hand, pushing a demon down while he continued the exorcism.
Carl charged at one of them and Sam was grateful. He couldn't concentrate on sending the demons to Hell while also reciting an exorcism. The most he could do was push them away or freeze them in place, so having Carl here was necessary.
Mindy started throwing objects at the demons to distract them. One of them stood up and held it's hand out towards her, ready to attack. Sam hurried and shifted his attention to stop the demon where it stood, leaving Carl to fend for the other two.
But Carl wouldn't have to for long...Sam was almost done...just a few more words...
"...fortitudinem plebi Suae. Benedictus deus. Gloria patri!" Sam bellowed and even though he couldn't see it, he could feel the rush of dozens of demons leaving their hosts and getting sent back down to Hell.
The shock of it even caused the three warded demons to freeze for a moment, and Sam wasted no time before grabbing onto one's soul, sending it back to Hell. As he did so, he held out his other hand to freeze the second demon. It struggled in Sam's grasp and he glared at it.
"You'll have your turn," he hissed. "Be patient."
Carl had been able to get the upper hand on the third, whacking it over the head over and over with his weapon.
Sam then shifted his powers on the second demon, repeating the process until the third was back in Hell as well. He felt a bit dizzy, never using his powers so much in such a short time, but he had to shake it off and recover. He needed his powers to be strong when he went in to face Alastair.
"Sam, you okay?" Carl asked, and Sam noticed that he had been panting. "We can take a breather..."
"No." Sam shook his head vehemently. "We can't afford that. We need to get to Dean now." He couldn't afford any weakness, especially not at the time when he needed his strength the most. "The basement, we need to find out where it is!"
Mindy followed the group and Sam handed her an extra iron dagger he had. "You going to stick around and help?" he asked.
"Of course. Gotta make sure Alastair dies, if not, I think Crowley would kill me out of frustration."
Sam understood then. Mindy wasn't in this to save Dean, like she had told him in the beginning. She was doing this to save her own life. It shouldn't have come as such a surprise. Even though she wasn't a demon, she had lived around them for centuries. She was sure to have developed some demon-like tendencies.
Nevertheless, it didn't matter. She was one more set of hands to help save his brother.
But what did that say of Sam? Of the way he was regarding people as devices that could help rescue Dean, rather than individuals that he should be protecting?
Sam brushed that thought off. Dean came first, he always would. And Sam would do anything to save him, no matter how far off from his morals he may have to go.
"I've been in there once." Carl said, referring to the basement as they made their way back to the rest of the group. "There's some conference rooms and computer labs down there. I took a coding class. It was near the fiction section if I remember correctly."
Meeting up with the rest of the group, Sam was relieved to see that they didn't seem any worse for wear.
"Everyone okay?" Sam wanted to make sure.
Bobby nodded. "We held them off and all but a few were exorcised. Me an' Cas killed those that were left. We haven't seen any more."
"Alright. Carl said the basement is by the fiction section. Let's..." Sam was cut off by the shock of all the lights in the library suddenly turning off.
Everyone gasped. With it being in the middle of the night, they were left in pitch black. There were still warded demons in here, and one of them had pulled the plug on the generator in an attempt to slow them down.
Sam began fumbling for his lighter. He hadn't brought a flashlight, not assuming he would need one. Hopefully someone else in the group...
At the same time, both Ruby and Castiel created a glow of light. Ruby had a flame above her hand, similar to what he saw Dean create when fighting off Jody. Castiel's light was a soft blue glow that emitted from both his eyes and hands, a sharp contrast to the harsh light of Ruby's fire.
Before they could use the newly created light to guide them to the basement, a demon jumped out of the shadows and pounced on Bobby. The colt he had been holding fell to the ground and slid somewhere out of site. Sam could see a few other demons emerge from hiding and he turned to Castiel.
The angel seemed to finally be able to read his expression. "I will take care of the demons. You take Ruby with you to lead you to Dean."
Sam didn't have to be told twice. He located Ruby and grabbed her arm that wasn't creating the fire, dragging her over to the shelves.
"Get your hands off of me!" she growled, sounding just like Dean when Sam would manhandle him.
"Then help me find the fiction section, come on."
They didn't have to look for long. They followed the signs and before Sam knew it, there was one hanging overhead with an arrow pointing toward some stairs. 'BASEMENT: Conference rooms, computer lab, children's area' it read.
"Shouldn't there be demons guarding? Alastair's minions?" Sam questioned, not liking how clear their path seemed.
"They probably came running to stop the exorcism." Ruby shrugged.
"But still, wouldn't it be more important to guard the area where Dean is at than to save the rest of the demons from going to Hell? Why would Alastair order them to abandon their post?"
"Maybe he wants you to come down there. If you're gonna die, he probably wants to be the one to do it, right?"
Of course. Alastair was greedy and overconfident in himself. His pride had already been damaged when he couldn't break Dean, again and again. No way was he going to miss this opportunity to kill Sam.
Sam chuckled to himself. Alastair had no idea who he was messing with. He didn't get to take away his brother, capture and torture him, and get away with it.
"Okay then, let's go." Sam marched down the steps with Ruby, who shone the light of her flame near the rooms that lined the basement hallway.
It didn't take long to realize which one Dean was trapped in. The door to one of the meeting rooms had a large sigil painted over it.
"I've seen this before," Ruby whispered. "It robs the demon trapped inside of all its powers, also preventing it from leaving the room that it's in. The sigil needs to be painted with the blood of the captured demon."
Upon closer inspection, the sigil was made of blood. And there was a lot of it. Alastair had cut open his brother to make this.
The thought had Sam fuming, he went to reach for the door handle, knowing that Alastair would be waiting eagerly.
"Wait a minute you idiot!" Ruby hissed quietly. "Break that sigil first! We have to give Dean his powers back."
Of course. How stupid could Sam be?
Sam pulled out his pocket knife, scratching the blood and breaking the sigil. The smell of the dried blood travelled up his nose, familiar. It definitely was Dean's blood.
Before Sam could turn the doorknob, Ruby jumped in front of him.
"What..."
"Shut up." She glared at him, talking as quietly as possible. "Let me throw him off."
After a moment, Sam understood. With Ruby walking in first, Alastair would get thrown off his game. Whatever attack he had planned for Sam, it would hit Ruby instead.
There was little chance the attack would be fatal to her, but still, she was risking herself and Sam was in shock because of it.
He couldn't wait to tell Dean how everyone had banded together to save him.
Ruby nudged Sam, letting him know she was about to walk inside and he mentally prepared himself to use his powers.
She turned the knob and stepped inside.
Immediately, a gunshot rang out and Sam could hear Dean scream...a noise that made it sound like his life was over.
And if Dean thought it had been Sam that was shot...then it would have been.
Ruby fell to the floor and then the room filled with light, nearly blinding Sam.
Get down! Dean's voice echoed through Sam's mind and he ducked, just in time for another gunshot to whiz past his head.
Sam was disoriented, he turned around, trying to sense Alastair's location in the room, blinking to clear his vision and get used to the brightness around him.
Ruby suddenly teleported behind him, and another bullet hit her. Sam turned around to see Alastair lunging at her, this time with the demon knife.
With all the energy Sam had, he pushed out his powers, sending Ruby flying to the side and then grabbed onto Alastair.
The demon froze in place, but Sam also felt Alastair holding him hostage as well. They were both using their powers on each other in a battle to see who was stronger.
Alastair began to struggle madly, stuck in Sam's hold. Sam almost lost his grip but he clenched his fist, locking Alastair in the location that he was at, just mere inches away from Sam.
Now, he just had to break free of Alastair's grasp. Dean had taught him this long ago, on how to fight a demon's powers so they couldn't control you. Sam practiced on Dean numerous times.
But Alastair was much more powerful than Dean. Sam had to really try to focus on freeing himself without letting go of Alastair's soul in the process.
White eyes locked onto hazel ones, and Sam glared in hatred at the creature that had caused his brother so much unbearable pain.
"Won't be able to hold on for long," the ugly demon sing-songed. "And that knife won't kill me."
"Don't worry," it was Ruby who spoke up and suddenly, she vanished from the room.
"Looks like your buddy has betrayed you. That's what you get, working with demons..." Alastair's mocking was cut off by Ruby's quick reappearance.
She was holding the Colt that she must have gotten from the group upstairs. "Think again," she smirked, walking over to Sam and placing it in his free hand.
You got him Sammy. Dean's weak voice was heard in Sam's mind. You're stronger than him, just focus.
Sam did focus. He focused on the sound of his big brother's voice. He could do this and he would save Dean. He wasn't about to let him down, not again.
Sam took a deep breath and backed up, breaking free of Alastair's powers while keeping his fist clenched. The demon struggled more, but Sam's grip remained steady. He walked around the room, noticing Heather tied up, tears and snot dripping down her face. He did a full circle and...
And saw Dean...blood dripping from his mouth and a thick iron bar impaling him through the stomach into the wall. Dean's head was tilted to one side, like he lacked the strength to hold it up, but his black eyes were open, staring straight at Sam, and a small smile formed on his bloody lips.
"Ruby, get him out," Sam said, his throat closing up at the sight of his brother and the numerous other severe injuries that he was sporting. He felt his hold waver for only a second, but he was prepared and latched back on when Alastair began to fight back. He wasn't going to waste any more time. Alastair needed to die, now.
"This is for my brother, you son of a bitch," Sam growled, pointing the barrel of the gun at Alastair's forehead, at the demon who continued to smirk, even when faced with death.
Sam felt Dean hobble towards him, and suddenly, the desire to kill this creature was outweighed by another. He turned to his battered brother, who could hardly remain upright, and placed the Colt in his good hand.
The younger brother turned back around to face Alastair and smiled. "Your one failure is now going to be the death of you. How does that feel?" He steadied his trembling brother so he could get the shot off clean.
Dean deserved to be the one to end this miserable excuse of a demon's life. To kill the one that tortured him for so long, that tried to destroy him in every way possible.
Alastair actually had the guts to scream in denial.
"Nice try," Dean croaked. "But I win."
With a single shot, Dean sent a terminal bullet into Alastair's skull. The soul sparkled and fizzled, exploding in a way only demons, and Sam, could see. It was so magnificent that Sam became distracted. He didn't pay attention when the body fell onto the floor, the demon knife clattering to the ground next to it.
Before Sam knew it, Dean was on his knees, Ruby's knife in hand, stabbing the body over and over and over again, blood spraying from the body all over Dean...
"Dean!" Sam gasped, falling on the floor and grabbing onto his brother's chest, trying to pull him away. Blood pooled onto Sam's arms from Dean's gaping wound where the bar had pierced him.
For as weak as Dean was, he was using all of his adrenalin to power his actions right now. Dean stabbed the body in the skull, in the heart, anywhere he could reach, screaming obscenities at the now deceased Alastair. His curses quickly morphed into feral yells and growls of anger. Dean had gone ballistic, blinded by rage.
It was understandable, but it was scary as Hell.
Sam tightened his hold on Dean as much as he dared without trying to hurt him. "Dean! Dean, he's dead! It's over! Stop, you're safe! Dean, please!"
Thanks so much for reading. I'm really curious to know what everyone thought of this chapter. Please leave a review with a few thoughts of you have the time. I'm eager to get to work on the next chapter and I hope you are eager to read it as well.