Mirror on the Wall

The hunters had to track down Astaroth and Beelzebub, although they had a pretty good idea where they were waiting. No doubt the Prince of Pride would be in the House of Mirrors; it was the perfect trap to confuse the hunters, home field advantage where he could play all the games his heart desires.

They had ten minutes and, getting out of the theater and into the centre of the labyrinth, they realized they would probably waste those ten minutes just trying to get to the House of Mirrors. Valkyrie was certain they would have to go to plan B; fight Astaroth and let whatever Archangel fight Beelzebub while hoping he nails the bastard.

They had to push through the crowd that seemed so much thicker than before. Valkyrie kept glancing at their eyes to see if they'd glow; she was certain the remaining Princes of Hell were trying to stay alive for another day, just to torture the hunters by crushing their hopes of ending this with the help of an Archangel.

How stupid; they were relying on an angel. They weren't worth relying on to start with, but as irritated as Valkyrie suddenly felt, she knew they couldn't take on two Princes. They were the last two and they'd probably fight with all their strength to keep it that way.

As they were getting through the crowd, they somehow formed a convoy; Dean took the lead, Valkyrie and Adam were in the center with Sam behind them. They were almost getting cut off from each other. There were a group of women that momentarily separated Valkyrie from Dean, but he cemented himself in place so she could rejoin him. Another was almost losing Sam; if it wasn't for Adam shouting, they wouldn't have known they were leaving Sam behind.

Once they approached the House of Mirrors, entitled "Mirror on the Wall" with a poster of Beelzebub on the windows, the words "The fairest of them all" splashed around him, Valkyrie couldn't help but feel repulsed. There was a time she found Beelzebub and Crowley to be quite similar, but now she realized he was worse than the King of Hell.

"Two minutes." Sam said and Valkyrie felt surprisingly hopefully. Two minutes wasn't much, but they might have the chance to separate the last two Princes of Hell. She wasn't sure what the brothers were planning once they were in the circus of mirrors, but she was sure the best was to fight Astaroth and leave Beelzebub to the Archangel.

Without talking any further, the hunters walked into the building. As soon as they were past the entrance doors, entering a large lobby with four different corridors, the lights extinguished and ultraviolet lights took their place, fluorescent markings appeared as well. It seemed the house of mirrors has become a disturbing rave party. The markings on the walls were like little demons dwelling in the fires of Hell while roasting and torturing humans. There were also scary faces painted on the walls and large arrowed pointing to the corridors like they were in Wonderland with the whole "Go here", "No, go here".

"Don't split up." Valkyrie said, gripping Sam and Adam by their shirts. She wasn't worried about Dean; he'd be sure to stay with her. She didn't bother glancing at the two brothers, but she knew they were looking at her hands, then at her, taken by surprise.

"Not a problem." Adam said and Sam let out a little laugh.

Dean took charge and chose a corridor. It was dark besides the fluorescent paint, and as the hunters walked down, it seemed to narrow. Everything about this hallway screamed "trap" and "danger".

The worse was at the end of the corridor where all Valkyrie could see was darkness. It was like staring at the abyss of a large monster's mouth. It's not that she was afraid, but she didn't like it. She wanted to walk about of the nightmare known as the labyrinth of sin and sleep, hopefully with Dean. Hell, if she could sleep with all three brothers, it was a delicious idea… But Dean was definitely at the top of the list; she had felt attracted to him for a while and, shit, after having sex with Crowley, she owed him that much.

With mixed emotions of eagerness and dread, they reached the end of the hallway, peering past the darkness and seeing the mirrors awaiting them. The walls, the ceiling and the floor were all mirrors. There was a small sign on the wall before the mirrors, asking to remove all footwear as to not scratch or break the mirrors.

"Unreal." Valkyrie mumbled.

"We're keeping our shoes on." Dean said and they all defiantly walked in with their footwear. They weren't going to listen to Beelzebub, let alone respect his stupid hall of mirrors. Not only that, but without their shoes didn't give them a quiet and sneaky advantage, not with mirrors everywhere to give Beelzebub different angles to view his visitors before they show their faces.

As they walked in, they had to touch the walls to know exactly where to go. When they could no longer feel the mirrors, they knew the corridor was taking a turn. There were also some lights illuminating the hallway and reflecting in the mirrors, but it was difficult to pinpoint where they were located. Besides walking into a death trap set up by a Prince of Hell, this hallway of mirrors actually seemed cool and fun. Valkyrie never had a childhood; most of her life was spent as Dean's subconscious mind and then as a real woman like Pinocchio, minus the blue fairy. However, she sort of felt like a kid now, forgetting that she might die at the end of this hallway.

"Does this ever end?" Dean asked, narrowing his eyes like his patience had just run out. He didn't seem to take into account that they walked slowly as to not run into mirrors every few seconds; of course it felt like time slipping through their hands, stretching on endlessly.

Valkyrie had to admit; this wasn't what she was expecting. When she heard a house of mirrors, she was thinking the mirrors that make you seem tall, another that makes you seem short and chucky and so on. This was much more fun than looking deformed and laughing at your own expense.

They turned another corner and Valkyrie saw something peer out. It only occurred for a second and she wasn't even sure what it was. She reached out and pulled on Dean's jacket sleeve. He turned and glanced at her, arching his eyebrow at her frown of confusion.

"I thought I saw something." She said and Dean analyzed the hallway of mirrors. "I don't know what it was." She said, as if trying to accredit her claim, but Dean definitely believed her.

"We'll move forward with caution." Dean replied, taking slow steps as he readied his knife. Valkyrie did the same and caught of glimpse of Sam and Adam glancing behind them, prepared for an ambush. This hallway of mirrors really felt like a trap now.

As they moved forward, Valkyrie was starting to think she had imagined whatever it is she saw, but she couldn't believe that. Not with Beelzebub and Astaroth still alive.

"An angel should be here any time now." Sam said, making Valkyrie aware that she forgot all about their countdown. If an angel did manage to break out, it sure was taking its time to help them fight the remaining Princes of Hell.

Typical.

As they turned the corner, they could see the end of the corridor of mirrors. The room that awaited them wasn't any better. It was difficult to describe from afar, but it looked like it came out of a circus, which was fitting since this all felt like a circus.

Valkyrie began thinking that it was possible someone was peering around the corner, waiting to ambush them once they exited the corridor of mirrors. She tightened her grip on her knife and glanced at Dean, ready to strike along with him to kill another Prince. Once this is all over, it's gonna hit her how amazingly Dean and her can kill just as good as the Colt because of his supposed fate to be Lucifer's vessel and her once having been his subconscious mind, now a soulless woman.

It made her sound like she was on an acid trip, but only as a hunter did it seem like a typical day at work.

They reached the end of the corridor and glanced inside the room. It was mostly all decorated in red and there were a few creepy clown posters on the walls which made them all uncomfortable, especially Sam.

There was only one door and that was to the right. Besides the horrible red furniture and clown posters, there was no one in the room.

"I'm tired of games." Dean said and Valkyrie was about to agree, until she heard a faint sound like something hard crashing to the floor. The sound didn't come from behind them and the only way was forward. She walked out from behind Dean and approached the door to the right. She hesitated touching the doorknob, but she was really just trying to listen for more of whatever she had heard.

"What?" Dean asked and Valkyrie heard it again, only this time it was louder and she heard a grunt. She turned the doorknob and pulled the door open so quickly that Dean held it open, watching as she took large strides without fear in an unfamiliar corridor leading straight to what sounded like a fight.

As they entered what looked to be like a torture chamber, they were ambushed as Valkyrie had anticipated. They were people with glowing eyes of a color that she hadn't cared to really pay attention to observe. Beelzebub and Astaroth were using them to hold the hunters back and make them watch as more of their goons were beating up on an Archangel. From the looks of it, Sariel wasn't putting up much of a fight.

"C'mon." Valkyrie said, getting Sariel's attention. "Throw a punch already." She added, receiving a confused stare before he defended himself against his human attackers under the power of the Princes of Hell. When she encouraged him to fight back, she really meant for him to use his angelic powers to strike a blow at the Princes of Hell. If they can separate Beelzebub from Astaroth and Sariel takes down Pride, they can kill Sloth and call it a day.

However, nothing always goes according to plan.

"I'm glad you could join us, although it took you a while." Beelzebub said as he glanced at the hunters. He snapped his fingers and his puppets seem to grow stronger, taking Sariel down and making him look like he pissed off a few wrestlers; his nose was bleeding, the corner of his mouth was dripping blood and one of his eyes already looked purple and swollen.

"What are you waiting for?" Dean asked, but the Princes ignored him.

After a few more torturous seconds, Beelzebub snapped his fingers and his minions stopped beating Sariel. He now looked like he was baring surviving after a vicious bar fight. He was knelt down on the ground, not moving, breathing hard and clutching his gut. More blood dripped from here and there, making the ground look like it could be a murder scene if he wasn't still alive.

"You won't win." Sariel said in a weak tone of voice, glaring up at Pride.

"That's where you're wrong." He replied, pulling out the Colt from the inside pocket of his nice suit jacket. He looked at it with admiration and a hint of intimidation, aiming it at Sariel as if unaware of its trajectory while being dazed by the Colt's craftsmanship. "Heaven has been reduced to an unsupervised nursery. It's now the age of Evil and once you're all out of the picture, the world is mine to make in my image." Beelzebub said and just as Astaroth glanced at him with slight confusion, Beelzebub pointed the Colt at him and fired.

In that moment, taking them all by surprise, there was one remaining Prince of Hell and that was exactly his plan.