The Bringer – 26

Dean was the one who recognized the signs of a vision. He had never been successful in bringing Sam out of one before, so he squatted next to Sam's chair, put his hand on Sam's shoulder, and prepared to wait it out. Sam's response was…surprising.

The youngest snapped upright and seemed to stare straight through John. Sam grabbed the half-empty bottle, flipped it so that he was holding it by the neck, and swung sharply. Shards of glass and bubbling beer shattered against Rezzy's temple and knocked the giant out. At nearly the same moment, Sam reached behind him for his gun, which he then proceeded to cock and aim between John Winchester's eyes.

Dean landed on his butt, staring at Sam in shock.

"Dude! What the hell are you doing?"

Dean stood and tried to push Sam's gun hand down to get their father out of the line of fire. When Sam shook him off, Dean said sternly, "Sam, put it away, or you might hurt Dad."

"That's not Dad."

Dean trusted Sam's visions, so he whipped around and also pointed a gun at the thing with his father's face.

"A shifter?" asked Dean.

"No," said Sam. "A god."

The John Winchester façade broke and with a shimmer of darkness the God of Love appeared. A mad smile graced the lovely man's features as he said, "Very good, Sam. I'm impressed. How did you guess?"

"The wendigo scar. It's on the wrong side of your face. Shape-shifters keep the same skin patterns."

"And the only things that flip features are demi-gods or gods," finished Dean. He thought back to seeing their father at the lodge door. Dean pushed closer to Eros, forcing the gun between the god's eyes.

"Where is our Dad? He was here. He was the one who cooked for us."

Eros eyed Dean and said, "He's in the cellar. We switched places when he went to get the ritual text. Nice, Dean. You're not as stupid as I thought."

Dean was embarrassed. And when he was embarrassed, he tended to strike out at the things around him. It felt really good to punch Eros right in that lying mouth. The little bitch had totally played him. Eros had fed off of Dean's desire to protect and desire for Sam and had used it for…what?

"Go ahead, Dean. Ask. I know you want to." Eros' eyes flicked to Sam. "Sam's already figured it out. Nobody really expects you to pick up on these things."

Sam saved Dean the humiliation of asking his tormentor anything by explaining, "He's jealous, Dean. Eons of being the most honored of Chaos' children, the most revered. Now I come along. A simple human who will never really know, never even see, any of the Old Ones, especially Chaos. Suddenly, he's not the favorite anymore."

Sam stepped to within inches of Eros' face and said in a child's sing-song voice, "And he caaan't stand it."

Eros' face flushed with fury, and his eyes glittered with hate, fierce and endless. Dean grabbed Sam by the collar and pulled him roughly away. Dean placed himself firmly in front of Eros and said, "Now, Sammy. Don't taunt the crazies. Dad raised you better than that."

Eros' head exploded in a deafening blast.

Sam and Dean turned stunned faces to the figure in the doorway holding a sawed off shotgun.

"He's right, Sammy," said John Winchester. "I did."

Snort! Snarfle! Hahahahha!

I'm mean. John is totally a good guy! Rezzy gets a beer shampoo! Eros is the real a-hole here.

Another mini chapter, but I got back early, so I decided to send this out as is.

Brenda – you are indeed my crazy stalker. Love the reviews – keep 'em coming. (Umm, is it wrong to encourage this type of thing?).

Phx – I hope you're sticking with the story. Apparently, my brilliant foreshadowing techniques need a lot of work. You are one of my absolute favorite authors, and I treasure your feedback.

More tomorrow! Or maybe Saturday. Naaaaah!

Tomorrow.