To my unnamed reviewer: I promise you that you have not seen the last of Alex. There is a method to my madness when it comes to plotting her death. It may be a little bit, but it is all building to what I hope you will find as a wonderful ending. Thanks for the review.

I do not own Supernatural or any of the original characters found there in. Alex and the Mayfair mythology are my own.

Chapter 35

Bobby sent the boys to River Pass, Colorado after receiving a very garbled phone call from Rufus. The town name was one of the only things the hunter was able to make out. Other than that there was only one word. Demons.

Dean brought the Impala to a stop at the edge of a collapsed bridge. "This is the only road in or out," he said.

Sam pulled out his cell phone and held it up in search of a signal. There was none to be found. "No signal."

"Rufus was right. Demons got this place locked down."

The boys looked around for a moment to see if they could find some way to get across. Jumping the car came to mind for Sam, but that wasn't an option. Dean would probably kill him for suggesting it for starters. Making the jump would hard enough with a ramp. They didn't have one so the chances of them actually making the 25 foot jump were slim to none.

"Looks like we're hiking in," Sam said.

"And the hits just keep on coming."

They boys quickly moved to the trunk and grabbed a few extra weapons before beginning the trek into town.

The streets were completely deserted. Cars were parked on either side of the road, but there was not a soul in sight. A blue two-door sedan was even overturned in the middle of the road. Sam leaned down to check the car. It was empty. Music could be heard in the background; growing louder the farther they got into town.

Sam found the source of the music, a tan car on the right side of the street. The driver's side door was open while the engine was running. They readied their weapons, but the car was just as empty as the others they had seen. Sam turned off the engine. Silence descended over them.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw a woman in a red dress standing at the end of the street. He quickly turned his head to call out to her, but nobody was there. He started turning and looking around for her.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Nothing. I just thought I saw someone."

They continued on with their investigation. Dean stoped to appreciate a cherry red classic Mustang. It was empty, so they move on. There was a blood stain near a silver minivan. Whoever had been there lost a lot of blood. A gun cocked behind them. Dean whipped around, leveling his shotgun as he turned. Seeing their attacker, the boys lowered their guns.

"Ellen?" Sam asked.

"Hello boys." She lowered her own weapon.

Dean asked, "Ellen, what the heck's going on here?"

She splashed Dean in the face with holy water and raised her gun again. Dean closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he let the water drip off of him. "We're us." She lowered her gun yet again and began leading the boys towards the church.

A devils trap was drawn just inside the door, and a line of salt stretched across the threshold. As soon as they were all inside, Ellen turned to the boys. "Real glad to see you boys." She embraced Dean tightly before pulling back and slapping him. "The can of whoopass I out to open on you."

"Ow!"Dean exclaimed as her rubbed his head where Ellen had hit him. Sam tried not to laugh at his brother.

"You can't pick up a phone? What are you, allergic to giving me peace of mind? I got to find out that you're alive from Rufus?"

"Sorry, Ellen."

"Yeah, you better be. You better put me on speed dial kid."

"Yes, ma'am."

There was a pause before she turned to Sam. "Rufus told us about Alex." Sam swallowed a lump in his throat as Ellen embraced him. "She was a good girl. Good hunter."

"Yeah, she was," he managed to choke out.

A man in a suit walked quietly up the stairs to the bell tower where he found her waiting. She stood with her back to him and her arms crossed as she looked out the window, the red halter dress hugging her shapely figure. Even though she did not turn to acknowledge him, he could tell she knew he was there.

"The Winchesters are here," he said.

She never even turned to face him. "Bring the younger one to me," she said. " I don't care what you do with Dean, but bring Sam Winchester to me. I will deal with him myself."

"As you wish."

"What's going on Ellen?" Dean asked.

"More than I can handle alone." Ellen was leading them through the church to the back room everyone was hiding in.

"How many demons are there?" Sam asked.

"Pretty much the whole town, minus the dead people and these guys." She paused at the door and turned to the boys. "So this is it right? End times?" They cast knowing glances at each other.

"Seems like it," Sam said.

Ellen nodded. "Well at least they didn't get Alex. Things would be a whole lot worse if they had."

The words were like a dagger in Sam's side. They had gotten her, but she had been so hell-bent on saving him that she'd died before she could take her place as the Mayfair. The image of her bloody body assaulted him again. Every time someone mentioned her he flashed back to the moment she died.

"Sam?" Ellen was looking back at him as she held the door to the towns "safe room" open. "You okay?" she asked.

Her voice snapped him out of the memory. He nodded before following her into the room.

Ellen introduced them. "This is Sam and Dean. They're hunters. Here to help."

A young man named Austin spoke up. "You guys hip to this whole demon thing?"

"Yeah," Dean replied. "Are you?"

"My wife's eyes turned black," said a man in a suit and glasses named Roger. "She came at me with a brick. Kind of makes you embrace the paranormal." He brought his right hand up to his chin, contemplating his ring.

Dean turned to Ellen. "All right, catch us up."

"I doubted I know much more than you. Rufus called. Said he was in town investigating omens. All of a sudden, the whole town was possessed. Me and Jo were nearby..."

This surprised the boys. She had always been so against Jo hunting, claimed her daughter couldn't handle living that kind of life. If she was going to hunt, Ellen hunting with her meant that at least she could keep an eye on her daughter. That hadn't gone so well. Jo was out there somewhere with the enemy. Now they had to get her back.

The survivors had once numbered twenty. Now it was just the ten in the room with them. Roger sat in the corner playing with his ring. Others were looking at the floor contemplating their fate. A pregnant woman startled slightly but tried to stay calm.

"Well," Dean said, "there's three of us now."

"You don't know what it's like out there," Ellen said. "Demons are everywhere. We won't be able to cover everybody."

The pregnant woman kept getting more nervous as they discussed made plans to go look for Jo and find a way out of town for the others. They were going to go to the sporting goods store to get extra guns and munitions to help protect themselves when they made a run for it.

"All right," said Sam. "You stay. We'll go." Ellen tried to ask them about the other two hunters in town, but Sam cut her off. "If Jo and Rufus are out there, we'll bring them back."

Austin opened the door for the boys. As soon as they were outside Dean stopped his brother. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Hold on. Why don't I just go?"

"What? Alone?"

"Well yeah. Somebody's got to stay here and start giving them Shotgun 101."

"Yeah. Ellen." Sam started to go up the stairs, but Dean reached out and stopped him.

"No no no. It's gunna go a lot faster if you stay and help, okay?"

This was ridiculous. There was no way Dean was going to be able to carry everything on his own. That would be hard enough; no way he could do that and look for the others. Then it suddenly hit him.

"You don't want me going out there," Sam said.

"I didn't say that."

"Around demons."

"I didn't say that."

"Then what is it, Dean?"

"You can't watch my back if you're distracted?" Sam looked at him in confusion. Dean sighed. "You're heads not in the game here Sammy."

"What are you talking about?"

"Alex." Sam stared at his brother in shock while he tried to fight back the pain the mention of her name brought up. "Every time something reminds you of her you go to some other place and stop paying attention to what's going on around you." Sam tried to protest, but Dean stopped him. "I get it I do. Hell I miss her too., but I can't have you rushing off to join her."

Sam was stunned. Did Dean really thing that he was in a hurry to meet Alex in the hereafter. "Dean, I'm not… I don't what to die if that's what you think. I just… I loved her, Dean. She was like a part of me, and I… I can't imagine my life without her. I'm sorry if I haven't been on point lately. Really, I am. Dean, she made me happier than I even thought was possible. When Jess died I thought that was it, but she showed me how wrong I was." He paused to take a deep breath and try to get his out of control emotions back under control. "It's just going to take me a while to get over this, hell maybe I never will, but… but I can't just do nothing. Hunting makes me feel better. It makes me feel like she didn't die for nothing. Dean… if I stop… then it was all for nothing, and I… I can't let her have died for nothing."

What Sam said hit Dean hard. He could understand where his brother was coming from. Alex had meant a lot to all of them. Not having her there had left a huge hole in all of their lives. It only made sense that they would want to fill it. Bobby was pouring over lore for clues as to where the demons would strike next. Dean had been spending more time in bars, and Sam was constantly trying to find another hunt. They were all trying to deal with her death. They just all had different ways of doing it.

"All right," Dean said. "Let's go."

They left without another word.

Splitting up was the fastest way for them to get everything they needed. Dean went for the weapons while Sam got supplies. He was filling plastic bags with cans of rock salt when he heard the door chime. Thinking it was his brother, Sam paused his packing and stood. What he saw was not his brother. Two demons entered. One carried a baseball bat, the other a backpack. Sam ducked out of sight and used a mirror to keep an eye on them. Shit, he thought when he realized that his weapon was out of reach. He tried to reach it without drawing their attention, but he failed. A fight ensued.

Sam soon found himself slammed into a group of shelves with a hand around his neck. He started to say the exorcism ritual as he clocked the demon with a can of rock salt. It barely phased the monster. It knocked the can out of Sam's hand. The demon was so focused on the salt that he missed Sam's other hand going for the demon knife. Sam drew the blade and plunged it into the demon's chest.

He looked around for the other demon. It jumped him from behind before being stabbed in the neck. His eyes did not flash like most demons, but Sam didn't notice. He was staring at the blood dripping from the blade to the floor. It mesmerized him. He ran his thumb along the blade and studied the red liquid.

The door chimed again. Sam quickly took cover and watched the mirror. This time it was his brother. Dean called out to him as he came around the corner. His throat tightened when he saw his brother surrounded by his poison of choice and instantly assumed the worst.

Ellen couldn't help but notice the tension between the boys when they returned with the supplies. Barely two words were spoken the entire time they dispersed the weapons and showed the others how to use them. Now that they were back out searching for Jo she couldn't keep it to herself any longer.

"So what's up with you and Dean?"

Sam looked over at her briefly before turning his gaze back to where they were headed. An ambush was the last thing they wanted. He didn't respond.

"It was hard not to notice, how different things are between you guys these days." Sam still didn't say anything. "Lot of bad road there, huh? What happened? It got something to do with Alex getting killed?" Sam stopped and looked at her. The look on his face spoke volumes, and made Ellen immediately regret what she said. "I'm sorry, Sam. I shouldn't have said anything. I know you loved her. We all did."

"Just," Sam tried to restrain his emotions at the mention of his loves name, "stress of the job. You know how it is." He quickly tried to change topics. "Kind of surprised, you and Jo hunting. Weren't you always saying she couldn't hack the life?"

"She can't. But if she's gunna do it anyway…"

"You want to keep an eye on her." Ellen nodded. "We're gunna find her, and once we do don't… just keep her close. You don't want to take for granted that she'll always be there."

The meaning of his words were loud and clear. It was obvious to Ellen that he was talking about Alex. She placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. He gave her a half smile before turning his gaze back to the horizon. There was smoke rising from behind the tree line.

"Hey," he said as pointed.

"Is that a chimney going?"

"Looks like it. Come on."

They moved forward as quietly as possible. There was indeed a house with smoke coming from the chimney. It looked like they had found the demon's base camp. There was just one problem, demons don't get cold.

Sam started to move around the corner as Ellen was grabbed from behind. Sam whirled around and slammed his gun into the black-eyed demon. Another demon appeared and pinned Ellen to the wall with a gun of their own. Jo was suddenly standing in front of Ellen. Her gun trained on her head.

"Don't move, you evil skank!" she yelled.

Sam continued to fight a losing battle against the demons. The one holding Ellen moved to help restrain Sam. Jo pressed her mother up against the wall with her own gun as her eyes went black.

Ellen's heart began to race as she stared down the barrel of her daughter's gun. "Don't you hurt her, don't you…"

"Give me my mom back you black-eyed bitch!"

Ellen shoved Jo away and slammed the butt of her gun into her. She could hear Sam yelling at her to run. He was losing his battle quickly. "Run." That's exactly what she did.

He walked into the room and saw her standing with her back to him yet again. Her arms were crossed over her chest just as before while she looked out at the town. "Well?" she asked.

"They have the younger Winchester," he said.

"Then where is he?"

"I have a plan. I can't bring him to you just yet."

Her eyes darkened. "You're not going to disappoint me are you?"

The man in the suit gulped. "No ma'am."

"Good. Let me know when it's done, and remember. I want Sam brought to me alive."

Sam groaned as he slowly came too. Blinking twice, he looked around the room to find a fireplace with a lit fire nest to him. The last thing he remembered was Rufus standing over him. He tried to move, but he was tied to the chair. As he tried to get his bearings he heard a voice say, "Uh-uh. No way you're getting out of those." It was Rufus. "Did you up myself. You're stuck right where I want you, you evil son of a bitch."

Pain exploded across the side of Sam's face as Rufus' fist made contact with his head. He looked to his assailant and found Rufus and Jo standing before him, their eyes black. Before he could speak, Jo splashed him in the face with water. She looked perplexed by his reaction before reaching for a canister of salt.

Sam suddenly realized what was going on. They think I'm a demon. He tried to get them to see reason. His pleas fell on deaf ears as his head was forced back and salt poured down his throat as Rufus started to recite the exorcism ritual.

Sam screamed, "Stop! Please!"

Dean paced the floor restlessly as he waited for Sam and Ellen to return. The pastor constantly reciting "The Lord's Prayer" was starting to get on his nerves. With everything they had learned about Heaven and Hell, angels and demons; he knew that nobody was listening. Cas may be looking for God, but Dean didn't expect him to find the deity.

Someone pounded on the door. Dean strode purposefully over and pulled back the peephole. What he saw surprised him. Ellen entered the room alone.

"Where's Sam?" Dean asked.

Ellen just shook her head as she sat down and gladly took a bottle of water from the young woman next to her.

Some of the other's in the room instantly began to panic. If the demons could take down one of those sent to save them, what chance did they have?

Dean assured them that they were safe in the room before grabbing a shotgun and heading for the door. "Everybody sit tight. I got to…" He paused with his hand on the doorknob. He was about to say he had to go after his brother, but something stopped him. He turned and looked at the faces of the dozen or so people that were counting on him to save them. Sonofabitch! "Okay," he said. "We need to get a plan together. Tell me everything."

Sam continued to beg and plead with Rufus and Jo. "Look! Something's not right! Do you see that?" Jo threw more of what could only be holy water on him. He spat a mouthful of the liquid out and tried to reason with them again.

Jo moved to the side enough for Sam to be able to see the door. Roger was standing in the doorway turning the ring on his right hand. Sam's eyes darted around the room. When they reached the celling he saw that he was under a rather large and elaborate devil's trap.

"Listen!" he cried.

Jo and Rufus huddled in the corner trying to figure out what was going on. Every time they looked at Sam his eyes were black, but nothing seemed to be working on him. "Look, listen to me, something's not right! You can see that. Please. Please. Just listen to me."

Ellen and Dean sat talking about what had happened when she and Sam had gone searching for the others. The female hunter suddenly paused as something occurred to her.

"It called me a bitch," she said, referring to what was once her daughter.

"Bruise a little easy, don't you think?" Dean asked.

"No that's not what I meant." She looked the younger hunter square in the eye. "It called me a black-eyed bitch." Dean's brow furrowed as he thought about what she said. "What kind of demon's are these? Holy water and salt roll right off. My daughter may be an idiot, but she's not stupid. She wears an anti-possession charm. It's all kind of weird right?"

Dean agreed. "The whole thing's off."

If they were going to get to the bottom of this they would need to know how it all started. Ellen told Dean about the water omen Rufus had come to town to investigate. It had all started on the same day Lucifer was freed.

"Anything else?" Dean asked. "Anything?"

Austin spoke up. "Maybe, but it's pretty random."

"Good. Random's good."

"Shooting star… does that count?" The two hunters looked at each other. "Real big. Same night. Wednesday."

"That definitely counts," said Dean.

He stood and moved to the bookshelf. He searched for a moment before pulling a book from the shelf and returning to the table. He quickly sat the Bible down and found the passage he was looking for. He read aloud, " 'And there fell a great star from Heaven, burning like a torch, and if fell upon the river, and the name of the star was wormwood. And many men died.' "

The preacher was the next to speak. "Revelations 8:10. Are you saying that this is about the apocalypse?"

"You could say. And these specific omens, they're a prelude to what?"

"The Four Horseman," he said with a gulp.

Dean remembered the cherry red Mustang he saw on the way into town. "And which one rides the red horse?"

"War."

It made sense. If War was indeed in town, he would be looking to start a fight. What better way to do that than to get everyone thinking that the others were possessed.

Sam was alone in the room. The ropes tying him to the chair were starting to dig into his skin. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and saw Roger walking towards him.

"Who the hell are you?" Roger took off his glasses. "What are you?"

"You caught me," he said. "Popped in to watch. I can hustle like that, besides I need to make sure they don't do any permanent damage to that hide. Orders and all that."

The real Roger was buried in a ditch just outside of town. This "man" that Sam was looking at was not all he seemed to be. "So who are you?"

Roger smiled. "Here's a hint." He started to list the places he had been. It wasn't until he mentioned his three siblings that Sam suddenly realized who he was, War.

"I know who you are. There aren't any demons in town, are there?"

"Nope. Just frightened people ripping each other's throats out. I really haven't had to do too much. Take out a bridge here, lay in a little hallucination there, sit back, pop some corn, watch the show. Frankly, you're really vicious little animals, Sam."

"No. You're doing this."

War smiled. "Please. Last week, this was Mayberry. Now these people are stabbing each other's children. You and your brother showing up was just icing on the cake. Start another battle, and bring the Queen what she wants the most. It's a two for one special."

Sam was suddenly confused. "What do you mean? What queen?"

"The Queen of Hell," War said. "She's the one calling the shots while Lucifer finds his vessel."

She's the general, Sam thought. Whoever this queen is, she is leading the demons.

"You aren't going to win," said Sam. "We'll find a way to stop you."

"Oh please," said War. "You can't stop anything. I can see inside your head and man it is one-track city in there. Alex, Alex, Alex. Guild. Sorrow. Alex. Same as always. You used that little girlfriend of yours as an excuse to do everything you know you shouldn't. It was all for her, to save here. And look how that turned out. You got her killed." Sam looked down, unable to meet the horseman's eye anymore. "Good intentions – quick slide to Hell, buddy boy. You feel bad now? Wait till you're thigh deep in warm corpses. Because, my friend, I'm just getting started." He stood and put his glasses back on. "Showtime for the meatsuits. Watch this."

War twisted his ring, and blood began to flow from his forehead. He kicked over his chair before falling to the floor screaming. The others, hearing his distress, came running in.

"He did it!" War screamed. Sam protested his guilt. "He said they're coming! He said they're coming to get him, to kill us! We can us him as bait to draw the others in and then kill them all. We won't be able to leave as long as they're alive." Even as War said these things, he was planning a way to free Sam and take him to his mistress. She only said he was to be unharmed, and with it coming down to the wire, well. . . it was probably best to get him out of the line of fire.

Sam could sense Rufus and Jo's moods changing. They believed what the horseman said. He had to try to get through to them. "No stop! Jo, Rufus, he's lying! No!" Rufus told him to shut his mouth, but he kept protesting, earning him a backhand to the face.

Convincing the survivors in the church that there were no demons and War was in town was proving to be quite difficult for Dean. It wasn't helped when War himself came pounding on the door telling them all the demons were going to kill them.

"They know we're trying to leave," he said. "They said they're gunna pick us off one by one."

"Wait wait wait. What?" Dean asked. It wasn't possible. There was no way that some random guy would hear a demon's master plan and get away.

"I thought you said there were no demons."

"There's not. Where did you go?"

War was clever. He knew the eldest Winchester would be hard to convince. Lucky for him, he did not need to convince the hunter. Only the survivors needed to believe him, and they were so terrified that they were ready to believe anything. As they argued, he held up his right hand and twisted his ring before pointing at Dean and Ellen.

"Look at their eyes!" he yelled. "They're demons!"

To all in the room, the two hunter's eyes appeared black. Gasps and screams filled the air as the pastor raised a shotgun. Dean yelled for Ellen to go as they both turned and ran, shots just missing their heads.

The queen stood in the bell tower and watched the hunters flee the church. Her patience was growing thin. Relying on War to bring her Sam Winchester was not her first choice. He enjoyed his little games far too much.

Sam had already been captured. Why he had not been brought to her already was beyond her. Patience was not her best virtue. The sooner the younger Winchester was in her clutches, and the sooner they could move to faze two of the plan the better.

True, she could just march down there and take him herself, but that would expose her to the others. It was too early for that. Introductions would be made all in due time. For now, she would just have to wait and watch. She'd get her day in the sun soon enough.

Sam continued to try freeing himself from his binds, but it was no use. They wouldn't budge. "Aaaah!" he screamed in frustration. With War on the loose, there was no telling what was going on out there or if Dean was even still alive.

The sound of an explosion caused Sam to freeze. It was close, too close. He could hear fighting going on. The battle had finally found him, and he was stuck in a chair. He flinched slightly as the door flew open to reveal his brother.

"Dean," he said. "It's not demons."

The brothers spoke in unison. "It's War."

"I just can't figure out how he's doing it," Dean said.

Sam had the answer. "The ring."

Dean thought about it, and it made sense. Every time something happened War had turned his ring. If they could get ahold of it, they could end this.

"Dean," Sam said. "The general, it's the Queen of Hell."

"What?"

"I talked to War. He said he was under orders."

"Well than who's the queen? I thought that was supposed to be Alex. She's dead, so who's pulling the strings now?"

At the mention of Alex's death, Sam had to fight the all too familiar flashback that threatened to draw him in again. He shut his eyes against the image and swallowed the lump in his throat. "I don't know," he said in a strained voice.

"We got to move," said Dean as he finished untying his brother. "Come on."

They walked from the living room into a warzone. Rufus was screaming for people to stop firing, but nobody seemed to listen. Off to the distance Dean could see War trying to sneak away. He grabbed Sam's arm and pointed out the horseman.

War walked up to the Mustang and looked over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't followed. His plan had worked perfectly. The stupid humans would kill each other, and once they were all dead the Queen could walk into the house and greet Sam however she pleased. He didn't know what she had planned for him, but he was sure that it wasn't pleasant.

He reached for the door, but found himself thrown against the vehicle by the Winchesters. He laughed.

Dean held him down while Sam drew Ruby's knife.

"Whoa," said War. "Okay. That's a sweet little knife. But come on. You can't kill war, kiddos."

"Oh we know," Dean said as Sam slammed War's right hand against the Mustang and cut all four of his fingers off.

The horseman screamed in pain as his ring clinked against the pavement. The visions of demons vanished as did War himself. Dean picked up the ring. The sound of clicking heals could be heard. Sam turned his head in the direction of the sound, and for a brief moment, he thought he saw a woman in red at the end of the street walking away from them. He blinked, and she was gone.

Everything was silent once again as the two brothers sat at a picnic table on the edge of town. Dean was the first to break the silence.

"So, pit stop at Mount Doom?"

Sam remained silent for a moment. His face scrunched slight as the thought. "Dean…" he began.

"Sam let's not."

"No listen." Sam took a deep breath before continuing. "This is important. I know you don't trust me." Dean looked away. "Just, now I realize something. I don't trust me either." Dean was a little surprised by his brother's statement. "For the past few days I can't stop thinking about… I tell myself it'll be okay and I'll get over in in time. It feels true, you know? I… I started all of it to keep Alex safe, to keep her alive, but…but I got her killed. Every time I…" his voice broke, "every time someone mentions her name or I think about her, I... I can feel her lying in my arms while she bleeds to death." A tear rolled down his cheek as he shut his eyes against his recurring nightmare. "I can still see her Dean, lying there. It was all my fault, and… and I can't blame the blood or Ruby or… anything. The problem's me. How far I'll go. There's something in me that… scares the hell out of me, Dean. I… I just couldn't live with myself if I was the reason something happened to you too."

"So what are you saying?" asked Dean.

"I'm in no shape to be hunting. I… I can't keep focus. I need to step back, 'cause I'm dangerous. Maybe it's best we go our separate ways for a while."

Dean considered his brother's words. "Well, I think you're right."

"I was expecting a fight."

"The truth is I spend more time worrying about you than about doing the job right. And I just, I can't afford that, you know? Not now."

It was the truth. Both of them knew it. That didn't mean that Sam wasn't surprised at how easily his brother had accepted his decision. He had spent the past several minutes preparing himself for Dean's retorts. Thinking about logical arguments he could make to convince him, but none were needed.

"I'm sorry, Dean."

"I know you are, Sam." Dean watched his brother rise from the table. It hurt to see his little brother go. "Hey, do you, uh, wanna take the Impala?"

The gesture was not lost on Sam. He knew that Dean loved that car. Offering it to him showed him that no matter what, he was still his brother. He still loved him.

"It's okay," Sam said. "Take care of yourself Dean."

"Yeah, you too, Sammy."

Dean didn't watch his brother collect his things from the car. When he heard a truck stop, he raised his head and watched his brother walk to the passenger seat, climb into the vehicle, and drive away.

"I told you to bring me Sam Winchester," the Queen bellowed. "Instead, you let him and his brother take your ring and walk away."

War held his bloody hand as he sat on his knees in front of his queen. Her eyes burned with such fire that he was unable to look at her as he spoke. "I'm sorry. I thought that they were taken care of. I…"

"I did not want them taken care of! All I asked of you was one simple thing. Bring Sam Winchester to me unharmed, and you, ha, you couldn't even do that. Tell me, why should I even keep you around?"

He chuckled. "With all due respect your majesty, I'm not a demon. You can't kill me."

"That's true," she said. "You're one of Lucifer's… special little friends. You are a Horseman. One who has lost his ring and therefore no longer has his powers. You are nothing." War looked at her with something akin to horror on his face. "Your power is gone. You will never again walk freely on this earth." She gave him a wicked smile. "Now leave." He did not move. "Go! Before I cut off the rest of your fingers myself!"

The horseman did as she asked and vanished from her sight. She turned back to look out the window and watched the storm roll in. She grabbed the pendant at her throat and held it in an attempt to calm herself as she watched to storm clouds roll in. A clap of thunder could be heard as she released a breath she di dnt know she was holding as a raspy voice behind her caught her attention.

"Your majesty."

She turned, a pleased smirk on her face. "Hello my friend. Tell me. Are you ready to begin your journey?"

He gasped for breath as he spoke. "I'm still too weak."

"Tell me. What is it that you require to grow stronger?"

Slow evil smiles grew across their faces as they looked at one another.

I hope that wasn't too disappointing. So, there is a new big bad in town. I wonder what she has in mind for Sam. ;) All reviewers that allow me to send them a message will get a special look at the next chapter.