A/N: I'M BAAACCCKKKK!

Hope you enjoy this chapter, and please review! All of you rock and make me so happy! Special thanks goes to my boy Josh on this chapter since he helped me out with it! Thanks Boyfriend! 3

Chapter Fifty Five

I was sick of the silence in the car. It was nearly deafening. Dean started stoically out the window, focusing all his energy on driving. For awhile, I wasn't even sure he was awake. I mean, he was even going the speed limit. Dean never, ever went the speed limit. He always had to get everywhere as fast as possible. Sam on the other hand stared moodily out the passenger window, letting out frustrated sighs every now and again. Eventually he picked up my father's journal and started leafing through it.

I leaned towards the front of the car, watching both of them up close for awhile. Dean's eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. He smiled at me almost apologetically. I leaned back and sighed. Dean sighed as well, pulling into the upcoming rest stop. "Gotta pee," he stated, getting out of the Impala.

Sam and I watched him go, both of us silent. "Lexie," Sam said after a moment. "We have to break Dean's deal."

"I know, Sammy," I stated. "And we will." I put my hand on his shoulder. "We have to."

"I don't even know where to start," he admitted, sighing. He put his head in his hands in defeat.

"You think I do?" I scoffed. I paused with a short sigh. "Why don't we head to Bobby's for now? Maybe his library of random knowledge will help."

"We could mention it to Dean," Sam said, nodding. "Try to get him to agree."

"Let me talk to him," I said, opening the car door. I could see Dean over by the coffee machine, staring at it. I gave Sam a wish-me-luck glance and then headed towards him.

Dean looked up at me, his expression cold. "If you can here to talk, I'm not in the mood for any of your chick flick moments."

I shrugged. "I just came for some M&Ms," I said. I ignored him and looked into the vending machine thoughtfully.

"Good," Dean replied, going back to the coffee. "Because I don't feel like putting up with your and Sam's crap."

"I'll make note of that," I nodded. I pressed the button, grabbed the M&Ms and opened them. I ate a few and then held out the bag to Dean. "Want one?"

"No," he said. He looked back towards the car where Sam was staring at us. As soon as Sam realized Dean was looking at him, he abruptly looked away. Smooth, Sammy. Dean turned back to me. "What were you and Sam talking about?"

"Oh," I said, chewing. "Just about how we thought maybe we should head to Bobby's for a few days. You know, head up, look for some hunts."

"Uh-huh," he said, narrowing his eyes.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Plus I personally thought that I wanted to go get some R&R after being thrown into hell and all." I popped some more M&Ms into my mouth and looked up at him expectantly. He had this pained look on his face like I slapped him.

"How was that?" he asked, nervously. Neither Sam nor he had actually mentioned it to me yet since I got out. They'd both been avoiding it. Not only that, but Dean's deal kind of took the front seat.

"Like frolicking through a field of flowers," I remarked.

Dean glared at me. "That's not funny; I thought…I thought you were a goner."

I passed, looking at my feet. "I did too."

"You told Yellow eyes to kill you," he accused. "I heard you say it."

I blinked at him. "I guess we're all martyrs in this family."

Dean said nothing to that, but instead abruptly looked away. "Fine," he said. "We'll go to Bobby's."

"Whatever you think is best," I said, a small smirk lighting up my face. I threw out the empty M&Ms bag and walked behind him all the way to the car.

Dean got into the car and looked over at Sam who was conveniently pretending to be engrossed in his papers of random crap. "You think we should head to Bobby's for a few days?" Dean asked him. Sam shrugged, with a small sigh. "Well we are," Dean said, glancing at him. He put the car in drive and mumbled something under his breath.

I rolled my eyes and went back to staring out the window. A couple hours later we were pulling into Bobby's salvage yard. Bobby was already waiting at the front door. Dean immediately got out of the car and went inside without much of a word to Bobby. Bobby looked bewildered as Dean sped past him. "What's up with him?"

Sam scoffed, also walking past Bobby. "He doesn't want to talk about it," Sam stated.

I walked up slowly. "Oh good," Bobby said to be, noting my sour expression. "I'm so happy to see you all in a good mood."

"Hey," I said, with a small smile. "Ignore them, they're idiots."

"I know," Bobby said, shaking his head. "How're you holding up?"

"Fine," I shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Bobby gave me this long look, like he was scanning my mind or something. I slinked away from it a little bit, wondering why he was doing that to me. "I helped to pull you out of hell," Bobby said, still glaring at me. "You tell me why you wouldn't be all fine and dandy."

"I'm fine," I repeated, going inside the house. "I'm exhausted though. You mind if I—"

"Go get some sleep," bobby said, looking past me to the living room where Sam and Dean were ignoring each other. "I can handle them for a few hours."

"Thanks," I sighed, and went up the stairs. I closed the door behind me and fell onto the bed. I sank deep into the mattress. My eyes wouldn't close. They were super glued open, focused on the ceiling in a panic. Every time I closed my eyes all I saw was Hell.

Clawing, ripping, and tearing of flesh….redness and blood…

I groaned and blinked rapidly to get the visions to go away. I was at Bobby's. I was okay.

The bedroom door opened and Dean peeked in. "Hey ankle biter, you get some rest?" he asked. He leaned on the door frame and glance behind him.

"Yeah, just woke up," I lied, sitting up. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Dean said. "I'm hiding from Sam. You hungry?"

I smirked, nodding. "Starving."

SPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPN

Dean and I snuck away from the house, taking the Impala into town. He pulled into some nicer joint, and I raised my eyes at him in surprise. "Hey I'm dying," Dean shrugged. "I wanna eat steak."

"Not funny," I stated, shaking my head. "So not funny."

"C'mon," Dean smirked, opening the car door for me. "It was a little funny."

I sighed and followed him into the restaurant. We got a table, and I sat across from Dean, playing with my silverware. I was fidgety. I wanted to talk to him about his deal so bad, but I knew he didn't want to talk about it. Therefore, I kept my mouth shut.

"So I saw your grades the other day," Dean said, staring at me sternly. I raised my eyes in shock. I hadn't even thought about school work in…a long time. "You're failing three subjects."

"Oh," I said, with a nervous laugh. "Um, sorry?"

"Yeah, you should be," Dean said, shaking his head. "You've let them slip, and now you're going to have to work your ass off to bring it up before the semester ends in a month. So there's no fun stuff till then."

"Really?" I asked, with a sigh. "Dean, that's—"

"Not fair?" he asked, with a small smile. "Yeah sucks for you." He took a long sip of his beer. "Maybe you should've thought of that."

"In my defense," I stated. "I was a little busy being taken by a Djinn and then losing my brothers." His face fell slightly and he cleared his throat. "Really?" I asked, annoyed. "Are we just going to avoid the subject forever?"

"I thought you were cool with it," Dean sighed, as they served us the food.

I glared at him. "Cool with it?" I asked. "You thought I was cool with you selling your soul? With you going to hell?" Dean just stupidly stared at me like he had no clue what I was talking about.

I just shook my head and stood up. Dean tried to grab my arm to stop me. "No," I said, wrenching out of his grip.

"Alexis," he said, getting up to follow me.

"No, Dean," I said, turning on him. "You think I don't care? Fine, I don't care okay? I don't give two shits about you. Now leave me alone."

The look of absolute pain on his face scared the crap out of me. I stopped for a few seconds, watching him, and then walked out the door. I started on the long walk back to Bobby's, ignoring Dean's protests from the door of the restaurant.

It was nearly a half an hour later when I was still walking to Bobby's and heard the roar of the Impala behind me. "Get in the car!" Dean yelled out the window at me.

"No," I scoffed, walking faster. Dean groaned and followed me with the car up the street. "Dean, I can walk there without an escort."

"Get in the car!" he yelled again. He swerved the car slightly, making me have to dodge over out of the way. Damn these back roads with no sidewalks.

"Dean!" I shouted, stopping. He only stared at me. I angrily got in the car and slammed the door. He drove off, and I just sat quietly in the passenger seat. I didn't want to talk to him, heck I barely wanted to look at him. I let him drive me back to Bobby's in a tense silence.

As soon as we were back, I ran inside the house and nearly ran Bobby down. "Right," Bobby sighed, as I passed. "You Winchesters are great at dealing with your issues."

"Sorry about that," Dean sighed, stopping for Bobby. "She's just mad."

"We're all mad," Bobby said, walking inside after me.

SPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPN

One week later, Bobby was so annoyed with us that he very nicely suggested that we leave the house for awhile. Dean happily obliged, already talking about how he had one year to "make the world less virginated." So, we headed out into nowheresville hoping to find something that would help us with Dean's deal. Sam had taken this huge book with him that he spent about three quarters of the day reading. I swear, he did nothing else except eat and bathe.

I was currently in the car, while Dean was in the motel room with some girls. I looked over at Sam annoyed, and ate another fry. "Sam, why are we letting him do this?" I asked, as Dean came to the window of the motel room and gave us excited thumbs up. Sam just shook his head at Dean, and sighed.

"Because," he replied, and I knew what he meant even though he didn't explain it. He meant that Dean had given him his life back, literally, so there was nothing he could do. Which sucked. His phone rang and he picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Sam," I heard Bobby say on the other end.

Sam sighed, "Hey, Bobby."

"What're you doing?" Bobby asked.

"Oh, same old, same old," Sam sighed.

"You buried in that book again?" Bobby asked. Sam paused, not wanting to tell him the real answer that yes, he was still reading it. "Sam, you want to break Dean free of that demon deal, you ain't gonna find the answer in no book."

"Then where, Bobby?" Sam asked.

"Kid, I wish I knew," Bobby sighed. "So, where's your brother?"

"Polling the electorate," Sam stated.

I snorted. "What?" Bobby asked.

Sam shook his head at me, rolling his eyes. "Never mind."

"Well, you boys better pack it up. I think I finally found something," Bobby said, and then abruptly hung up the phone before Sam could respond.

Sam sighed, and looked to me. "I gotta tell Dean," he stated, glancing at the motel room. He stared for a moment, and I shrugged.

"You don't want to go in there, Sam," I said. "Don't do it, just wait."

"But—" He looked back at the door. "I'm going in."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," I sighed. I watched him walk up to the door and knock. The door opened slowly, and then Sam nearly slammed the door before running back to the car.

The look of pure horror on his face was all the confirmation I needed. "Why did you let me do that?" he asked.

A few minutes later, Dean came barreling out of the motel room with a huge smile on his face. "Sam, that was amazing," Dean sighed, getting in the driver's seat. He started the car and took off at full speed.

"Let me see your knife," Sam said, grimacing.

Dean frowned. "What for?"

"So I can gouge my eyes out," he replied.

Dean shook his head. "It was a beautiful, natural act, Sam."

"It's a part of you I never wanted to see, Dean," Sam said.

I winced. "Please, god, no visuals," I complained. "I told you not to go in there."

Dean chuckled and slapped Sam on the leg. "Hey, I appreciate you giving me a little quality time with the Double mint Twins," Dean said.

Sam nodded. "No problem." I just kept my mouth shut.

"Really? Well, I got to say, I was expecting a weary sigh or an eye roll, something," Dean said, looking at him.

"Not at all," Sam shrugged. "You deserve to have a little fun."

"Well, I'm in violent agreement with you there," Dean laughed again. "What's Bobby got?"

"Not much," Sam said. "Crop failure and a cicada swarm outside of Lincoln, Nebraska. Could be demonic omens."

"Or could just be a bad crop and a bug problem," I sighed, leaning forward.

"Yeah, but it's our only lead," Sam replied.

"Any freaky deaths?" Dean asked.

"No, nothing Bobby could find - not yet, anyway," Sam said.

Dean shook his head. "It's weird, man. I mean, the night the devil's gate opened, all these weirdo storm clouds were sighted over how many cities?"

"Seventeen," I sighed.

"Seventeen," Dean repeated. "You think it would be "Apocalypse Now," but it's been five days and bubkis." Sam looked a little surprised. "What are the demons waiting for?" Dean asked.

"Beats me," Sam said.

"It's driving me crazy. I tell you, if its gonna be war, I wish it would just start already," Dean said.

"I don't know, man," Sam said. "Be careful what you wish for."

"We're going to be driving all night," Dean said, looking at me and Sam. "Why don't you two catch some zs before we get there?"

"Fine," I said, lying down. Sam shut his eyes too. I stared at the top of the Impala, wondering when it all started to go wrong. Was it when dad disappeared? Was it when he died? Was it even before Sam left for college? That seemed like forever ago, but it really wasn't.

Soon my thoughts changed into a vision of hell. There were demons and fire all around me, burning and clawing and killing….

"Lex?" Dean said, shaking me awake. "You okay?"

I woke up to tears on my face. "Yeah," I said quickly. "I'm fine, get off of me." I sniffled and got out of the car. "Where are we?"

"Lincoln," Sam said, looking at me worriedly.

"Right," I said, wiping my eyes. "Awesome, let's go." I let Dean and Sam follow me to the farmhouse that we were parked at.

"Hear those cicadas?" Sam asked, motioning around him. The noise was almost deafening.

"That can't be a good sign," I stated. I looked at Dean, whose mouth was full of hamburger.

"No," Sam said. "No, it can't."

Bobby walked up, frowning at Dean. "So, we're eating bacon cheeseburgers for breakfast, are we?" he asked.

"Well, I sold my soul. Got a year to live," Dean stated. "I ain't sweating the cholesterol."

"So, Bobby, what do you think?" Sam asked, changing the subject. "We got a biblical plague here or what?"

"Well, let's find out," Bobby said, walking towards the house. "Looks like the swarm's ground zero."

Dean pounded on the door. "Candy gram!" he shouted. There was no answer. I picked the lock and let Dean and Sam go in first. I followed Bobby, going around through the kitchen.

As we got farther into the house, it started to smell really bad. "Ew, this is worse than Sam's feet," I remarked, looking at Bobby. He shrugged. He kept walking until we got to what seemed to be the living room. The stench was even worse in here, since right in front of us were three dead people.

Sam and Dean were already standing in there, shocked. "Bobby, what the hell happened here?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," Bobby replied.

"Check for sulfur," Dean said, looking around.

"Yeah," Bobby agreed. We all broke up and took different corners of the room. I found nothing in mine, and that was when I heard a noise. Dean looked over and nodded. He started towards it. I circled around the side, gun out and ready.

I watched as Dean cautiously exited and rounded the corner. A black man immediately took his out, knocking him to the ground with a shotgun. Bobby immediately ran out, as did I. "Isaac? Tamara?" Bobby asked.

"Bobby," the one whom I assumed to be Tamara said. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same," Bobby scoffed.

"Heya, Bobby," Isaac said.

Dean waved around pitifully. "Hello. Bleeding here," he stated. I rolled my eyes and reached down to help him up. "Thanks," he said, and I waved my hand dismissively. I was still sort of annoyed with him.

"Why don't we go back to our place where it's safe to talk?" Tamara suggested, pointing to the cars behind her.

"Great idea," Bobby said, as Sam rounded the corner and looked confused at all of us. I patted him on the shoulder and helped Dean to the car.

SPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPN

"Jenny! That is a beautiful name," Dean said, smiling into the phone. "That's my sister's name, actually." He smirked at me, and I shrugged.

"Honey? Where's the Palo Santo?" Isaac asked his wife.

"Well, where'd you leave it?" Tamara asked, sounding tired.

"I don't know, dear," Isaac said, with a dramatic eye roll. "That's why I'm asking."

"Palo Santo?" I asked, having never heard of the stuff before.

"It's holy wood, from Peru. It's toxic to demons like holy water," Tamara explained, opening the drawer to look for it. "Keeps the bastards nailed down while you're exorcising them." She pulled out a stake and handed it to Isaac with a smile.

"Thank you, dear," Isaac smiled.

Tamara shook her head. "You'd lose your head if it wasn't for me."

"So, how long you two been married?" Sam asked.

"Eight years this past June," Tamara answered happily.

"The family that slays together..." Isaac sighed.

"Right. I'm with you there," Sam snorted. "So, how'd you get started?" I shot Sam a look. Sometimes he was so stupid. "Oh, you know... I'm sorry. It's not - that's none of my business," Sam stammered stupidly.

"It's - it's all right," Tamara sighed.

"Well, Jenny, if you look as pretty as you sound, then I'd love to have an appletini," Dean said, giving me a look of disgust. "Yeah. Call you." He hung up the phone. "That was the coroner's tech."

"And?" I asked, curiously. We had turned over the body's of course, and I was wondering what the heck happened to them since they had no signs of struggle there.

"Get this - that whole family, cause of death? Dehydration and starvation," Dean said. "There's no signs of restraint, no violence, no struggle. They just sat down and never got up."

"But there was a fully stocked kitchen just yards away," Bobby stated.

"What is this, a demon attack?" Sam asked, confused.

"If it is, it's not like anything I ever saw, and I've seen plenty," Bobby said.

"Well, what now?" I asked, since no one seemed to be saying anything. "What should we do?"

"Uh, we're not gonna do anything," Isaac said, motioning to the entire room.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, offended.

"You guys seem nice enough, but this ain't "Scooby-doo," and we don't play well with others," Isaac replied, bluntly.

"Well, I think we'd cover a lot more ground if we all worked together," Sam shrugged.

"No offense, but we're not teaming with the damn fools who let the Devil's Gate get opened in the first place," Isaac stated.

"No offense?" Dean asked.

"Isaac. Like you've never made a mistake," Tamara said, uneasily.

"Oh yeah, yeah," Isaac nodded. "Locked my keys in the car, turned my laundry pink. Never brought on the end of the world though."

"Well we like to make mistakes on a big scale," I stated, not amused.

"That's enough," Dean said, glaring at me.

"Guys, this isn't helping," Sam said. Dean took a step towards them. "Dean –"

"Look, there are couple hundred more demons out there now," Isaac explained. "We don't know where they are, when they'll strike. There ain't enough hunters in the world to handle something like this. You brought war down on us - on all of us."

"Okay. That's quite enough testosterone for now," Tamara said, grabbing Isaac's arm. She pulled him into the other room and shut the door.

"That was rude," I remarked. "They really think we just let the door open? That we didn't try to stop it?" Dean put a hand on my shoulder and I shrugged it off. "Just leave me alone," I stated, sitting down.

"Maybe we should head out of here?" Bobby suggested, getting up and going to the door. "Just go back to the motel room for awhile?"

"Right," Sam sighed, pushing me off the chair. He pushed me off the chair and pulled me with him to the door. I groaned in annoyance and hopped in the car. This case was turning out not so well.

Hours later in the motel room, Sam was flipping channels when he came across the news. "A murder over a pair of shoes?" the anchorman questioned. "That's what seems to have happened downtown today—"

"We should check that out," Dean said, getting up immediately. Sam and I exchanged a look, but followed, grabbing Bobby on the way.

There was blood on the ground where the woman had killed the other one. I entered the store and glanced around. There were some nice shoes in here. "What happened outside makes you realize how fragile life really is," Dean sighed, talking to the store clerk. "You got to make every second count."

Sam came in and pushed me away from the shoe rack I was staring at. "What?" I questioned, as he glared at me. "I like shoes…"

He cleared his throat at Dean, who was smiling sadly at the witness now. "Excuse me a minute, would you?" Dean asked, glaring at Sam.

"Dean, what are you doing?" Sam asked.

"I'm comforting the bereaved," Dean scoffed, like it was obvious. "What are you doing?"

"Workin'," Sam shrugged, rolling his eyes. "Dead body, possible demon attack - that kind of stuff."

Dean gave a pathetic cough. "Sam, I'm sorry. It's just; I don't have much time left, and...Got to make every second count."

Sam stiffened. "Yeah, right. All right. Sorry." I gave him a shocked look.

Dean gave him a broad smile. "Apology accepted."

Bobby entered in a suit and his hair all slicked back. I mean, he had actually brushed it. "Whoa," Dean said, and whistled. "Looking spiffy, Bobby. What were you, a g-man?"

"Attorney for the D.A.'s office. I just spoke to the suspect," Bobby said, ignoring him.

"Yeah? So, what do you think?" Sam asked. "Is she possessed or what?"

"Don't think so," Bobby said. "There's none of the usual signs - no blackouts, no loss of control. Totally lucid. Just, she really wanted those shoes. Spilled a glass of holy water on her just to be sure; nothing."

"Maybe she's just some random whack job," Dean stated.

"If it had been an isolated incident, maybe, but first the family, now this?"Bobby asked. "I believe in a lot of things. Coincidence ain't one of them. Did you boys find anything around here?"

"No sulfur, nothing," Sam said.

"Well, maybe something," Dean said, nodding at the security camera in the ceiling. "See? I'm working."

We went up to the security room and Sam sat in the chair and looked over the cameras. "Anything interesting?" I asked after a few minutes.

"I don't know yet," Sam stated. He stopped on a guy. "Might just be a guy..." he trailed off. He approached the woman who killed for shoes. "Or it might be our guy." I watched as the girl followed the other woman who had the shoes she wanted.

"Ew," I remarked. "Those aren't even cute shoes." Dean shot me a look. "What, they're green! They won't even go with anything!" All three guys groaned at me and walked out.

SPNPNSPNSPNSPNSPN

Sam and I had gone to go find out who the man in the video was. We got the name of the guy and then met Dean and Bobby outside of the bar he was known to frequent. I smirked at Sam as he walked up stealthily to the car and then pounded on the window, making them both jump a mile in the air.

"That's not funny!" Dean complained as we got into the backseat.

"Yes it was," I scoffed, slapping him on the shoulder.

"Yeah," Sam laughed. Bobby shot him a look. "Uh, all right, so - so, John Doe's name is Walter Rosen. He's from Oak Park, just west of Chicago. Went missing about a week ago."

"The night the Devil's Gate opened?" Dean asked.

"Yep," I sighed.

"So you think he's possessed?" Dean asked.

"It's a good bet," Sam replied.

"So, what, he just walks up to someone, touches them, and they go stark raving psycho?" Dean asked, shaking his head.

"Those demons that got out at the gate - they're gonna do all kinds of things we haven't seen," Bobby stated, a little worriedly.

"You mean the demons we let out?" Sam asked.

"Guys," I said, pointing to where the man we had looked up was walking into the bar.

"All right," Dean said happily. "Showtime."

He went to get out of the car but Bobby stopped him. "Wait a minute," He said.

"What?" Dean asked impatiently.

"What did I just say?" Bobby asked. "We don't know what to expect out of this guy. We should tail him till we know for sure."

"Oh, so he kills someone and we just sit here with our junk in our hands?" Dean scoffed.

"We're no good dead!" Bobby replied bluntly. "And we're not gonna make a move until we know what the score is."

"Hey, Bobby, I don't think that's an option," Sam said.

"Why not?" I asked, confused.

Sam nodded towards the other car in the lot. Isaac and Tamara got out and went into the bar. I looked at Bobby surprised. "Damn it!" he exclaimed.

We waited a minute to follow. When we got to the door however, it was bolted shut. "Shit," Dean remarked. He and Bobby started slamming into the door to get it to open.

I looked behind me. "Guys," I said. "Car?"

They all stopped and we ran to the car. Bobby got in the driver's seat and we belted it to the building. We burst through the door and I jumped out, Holy Water in hand. I flung the water into the crowd of demons. I was shocked when I looked down and saw Isaac dead.

"Come on, we got to go! He's dead!" Sam shouted, pulling Tamara to the car. "Get in the car!"

I turned to help her into the backseat of the car. When I looked back I saw Dean still in the fight. "Dean, come on!" I shouted.

Dean overpowered the redhead who killed the woman with the shoes and stuffed him into the trunk. I jumped in the backseat with Tamara. "Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!" Dean shouted.

We raced back to Isaac and Tamara's house to get our bearings straight. Dean put the man in a chair under a devil's trap. Tamara was freaking out, wanting to go back for Isaac. "I say we're going back - now!" Tamara argued, walking to the door.

"Hold on a second," Sam said, cutting her off.

"I left my husband bloody on the floor!" Tamara shouted.

"Okay, I understand that, but we can't go back," Sam stated, calmly.

"Fine," Tamara said, angrily. "Then you stay. But I'm heading back to that bar."

"I'll go with her," Dean said.

"It's suicide, Dean!" I shouted, getting annoyed with all this.

"So what? I'm dead already!" Dean shouted back,

"How you gonna kill 'em?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest. "Can't shoot 'em. You can't stab 'em. They're not just gonna wait in line to get exorcised!"

"I don't care!" Tamara yelled.

"We don't even know how many of them there are!" Sam countered.

"Yeah, we do," Bobby said, walking in. "There's seven." We all sort of looked at him confused. "Do you have any idea who we're up against?" He asked.

"No. Who?" Dean asked.

"The seven deadly sins, live and in the flesh!" Bobby exclaimed.

"What's in the box?" Dean asked, laughing to himself. I had no idea what he was talking about. "Brad pitt?"Se7en"? No?" he asked, shaking his head. Bobby rolled his eyes and tossed a book at him. "What's this?" Dean asked.

"Binsfeld classification of demons." In 1589, Binsfeld ID'd the seven sins - not just as human vices but as actual devils," Bobby explained.

"The family - they were touched by Sloth," Sam said, in realization. "And the shopper..."

"That's Envy's doing - the customer we got in the next room," Bobby said, pointing behind him. "I couldn't suss it out at first, until Isaac. He was touched with an awful Gluttony."

"I don't give a rat's ass if they're the Three Stooges or the Four Tops!" Tamara shouted annoyed. "I'm gonna slaughter every last one of them!"

"We already did it your way," Bobby said angrily. "You burst in there half-cocked and look what happened! These demons haven't been topside in half a millennium! We're talking medieval, dark ages! We've never faced anything close to this! So we are gonna take a breath...And figure out what our next move is!" By the end of his rant, Tamara had tears in her eyes. Bobby grew quiet. "I am sorry for your loss."

I slowly followed Bobby back into the other room where the demon was waiting. "So you know who I am, huh?" Envy laughed.

"We do," Bobby remarked. "We're not impressed."

"Why are you here? What are you after?" Sam asked.

The demon said nothing, looking interestedly from one of us to the other. "He asked you a question. What do you want?"

The demon only chuckled. Dean opened a flask of holy water and threw it on his face. The demon screamed in pain. "We already have what we want!"

"What's that?" Dean asked.

"We're out," He stated. "We're free. Thanks to you, my kind is everywhere. I am legion, for we are many. So me, I'm just celebrating. Having a little fun."

"Fun?" I asked.

"Yeah. Fun," Envy replied. "See, some people crochet. Others golf. Me? I like to see people's insides... on their outside."

"I'm gonna put you down like a dog," Tamara sneered.

"Please," Envy laughed. "You really think you're better than me? Which one of you can cast the first stone, huh? What about you, Dean? You're practically a walking billboard of gluttony and lust. And Lexie here, with all her lies, and greed, and violence. And Tamara. All that wrath. Ooh. Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's the reason you and Isaac became hunters in the first place, isn't it? It's so much easier to drink in the rage than to face what really happened all those years ago."

Tamara took a deep breath and then smacked him hard across the face. She went to go do it again, but Dean and Bobby pulled her off. "Whew!" Envy laughed, amused. "My point exactly. And you call us sins. We're not sins, man. We are natural human instinct. And you can repress and deny us all you want, but the truth is, you are just animals. Horny... greedy... hungry...violent animals. And you know what? You'll be slaughtered like animals, too." He stopped and grinned widely at us. "The others - they're coming for me."

"Maybe. But they're not gonna find you... 'cause you'll be in hell," Dean smirked. "Someone send this clown packing."

"My pleasure," Tamara said spitefully. She smiled. "Exorcizamus te, Omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica..."

We walked out of the room as the demon started screaming. "I don't think we're gonna have to worry about hunting them," Bobby sighed.

"What does that mean?" Sam asked.

"I think maybe this joker's right," Bobby explained. "They're gonna be hunting us. And they're not gonna quit easy."

"You guys, why don't you take Tamara and head for the hills?" Dean sighed. "I'll stay back, slow them down, and buy you a little time."

"You're insane, Dean," Sam said. "Just forget about it, okay?"

"Sam's right," I said, "You're dying in a year, not tonight."

"There are six of them, guys," Dean complained. "We're outmanned, we're outgunned. We'll be dead by dawn."

"Maybe, but there's no place to run that they won't find us," Bobby said.

"Look, if we're going down, we're going down together, all right?" Sam said, looking at each of us.

"Then let's not make it easy for them," Dean smirked.

Envy gave a huge scream from the other room and the candles went out from the wind. Tamara entered the other room. "Demon's out of the guy," she said.

"And the guy?" I asked, even though I had a feeling I already knew the answer.

"He didn't make it," she replied coldly.

I nodded slowly, grabbing the shotgun on the table. I started to fill it with salt rounds and then moved on to blessing water. Sam filled flasks. My head started to pound as the candles in the room flickered. I moved to the window, but Dean pulled me back. The radio played some old country tune. "Here we go," Dean stated.

From outside, I could hear a faint voice getting louder. "Tamara! Tamara!" Isaac called. I looked over at Dean in shock. "Tamara! Tamara! Help me! Please!"

Tamara and Isaac talked back and forth, but I couldn't make out what they were saying until Tamara started shouting. "You son of a bitch!" she screamed.

"Tamara, no!" Bobby shouted. She ran out into the night. I watched her jump on top of the now demon and stab him with one of those Palo Santo stakes.

When I turned around, I saw one of the demons standing behind me. I gasped in surprise and backed up into the wall. "Hey Lexie," he grinned. "How's it hanging?"

"I'm pretty good," I choked out with a small laugh. "But I think we should cut the small talk and get to business." I pulled out the flask of Holy water that I had hidden behind my back and flung the water on him.

He backed up and sputtered to himself. I cleared my throat. "Exorcizamus te, Omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica—«

He launched himself at me with an angry roar. He had me pinned to the ground in mere seconds. "You really think highly of yourself don't you?" he asked. "You want everything you see; you always want what you can't have. You want to be normal? You'll never be normal."

He put his hands around my throat. "You'll die for your greed."

I could barely even gasp for air. I was going to pass out. I put my hands on his hands and my head started to pound. It hurt so badly. It was like a jackhammer. "Get….off…" I coughed, pushing him. His eyes widened as I pushed him off of me, and, out of nowhere, he started choking.

He grabbed at his throat, but I didn't let go of him. I was too confused and stunned to do anything. He glared at me and then let go, and was sent back to hell. I wiped blood from my nose. "What the—"

"Lex!" Sam shouted from the other room across the hall. I ran in just in time to see a blonde woman exiting the room.

"See you around, Sam," She smiled and left the room. Sam ran past me into the hall, but she was already gone.

"Who was that?" I asked. "Demon?"

"I have no idea," he admitted, looking dumbfounded.

"Well she's gone now," I shrugged.

Sam picked up my chin. "What happened to your nose?" he asked, noting the blood. "You don't look like you got hit…"

"I—I don't know," I lied. "Let's go find Dean."

SPNSPNSPNSPNPNSPNSPNSPNSPNS

I poured salt over the dead bodies as quickly as I could. I wanted this to be over with so badly. I was exhausted. "Think she's gonna be all right?" Sam asked, pointing back to where Tamara was burning Isaac's body separately.

"No," Dean said shaking his head. "Definitely not." Bobby walked out of the house looking exhausted. "Well, you look like hell warmed over," Dean remarked.

"You try exorcising all night and see how you feel," Bobby scoffed.

"Any survivors, Bobby?" Sam asked.

"Well, the pretty girl, the guy Lex was with and the heavy guy, they'll make it. Lifetime of therapy bills ahead, but, still..." Bobby sighed.

"That's more than you can say for these poor bastards," Dean said, pointing to the bodies in the pit in front of us.

"Bobby, that knife - what kind of blade can kill a demon?" Sam asked, talking about what that girl had done again. She had killed those demons with some sort of knife according to Sam.

"Yesterday, I would have said there was no such thing," Bobby sighed.

"I'm just gonna ask it again - who was that masked chick?" Dean asked. He paused. "Actually, the more troubling question would be, "how come a girl can fight better than you?""

"Hey," I said, with a smirk. "Don't bash girls, Dean; you'd be lost without them."

"Amen little sister," Dean sighed.

Sam looked serious. "Three demons, Dean. At once."

"Hey, whatever it takes to get you through the night, pal," Dean said in surrender.

"Yeah, well, if you want a troubling question, I got one for you," I said, looking around a little bit at the sky.

"What's that?" Dean asked.

"If we let out the seven deadly sins, what else did we let out?" I asked. I looked to Dean and Sam for an answer I was sure they didn't actually have.

"You're right. That is troubling," Dean stated. He took out a match and threw it on the dead. The bodies lit up and started to burn away.

I watched for a little while before sitting in the grass a little ways off. Dean came and sat next to me. "I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head.

"For what?" I asked, not looking at him.

"For being an ass to you," he said. "For thinking you could handle this when you shouldn't have to."

"I just—"I paused for a moment. "I care Dean. I care a lot."

"I know," he said, "I know."

My cell rang and I picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey," Dylan said back. "How's it been hanging?"

"Fine, I guess," I replied, as Dean walked away. "What's up?"

"Nothing I just—"He paused. "I just wanted to ask if you guys have gotten any more hits on the new demon army thing than I have."

"Not really," I said. "We took out a group but still. What else is out there, you know?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "Well I'll see you around. Call me if you guys need, you know, me for help or something."

"You know I will," I smirked to myself. "See ya later, Dill."

"Bye Lex."

I looked over to see the fires slowly burning down finally. "See you gents around," Tamara said with a sigh.

"Tamara?" Bobby said. "The world just got a lot scarier. Be careful."

"You too," Tamara smiled. She got in her car and took off.

"Keep your eyes peeled for omens. I'll do the same," Bobby stated.

"You got it," Dean replied.

"Wait, Bobby," Sam said. He looked uneasy. "We can win this war, right?"

Bobby stood still for a long time before answering. "Catch you on the next one," he said, avoiding the answer.

"So, where to?" Dean asked, walking away.

"Uh, I don't know. I was thinking Louisiana maybe," Sam suggested.

"Little early for Mardi Gras, isn't it?" Dean chuckled.

"Yeah," Sam scoffed. "Listen, I was talking to Tamara, and she mentioned this hoodoo priestess outside of Shreveport that might be able to help us out. You know, with your - with your demon deal."

"Nah," Dean said after a moment.

"Nah"? What does that mean,"nah"?" I asked, confused.

"No hoodoo spell's gonna break this deal. It's a goose chase," Dean said.

"We don't know that," Sam stated.

"Yes, we do. Forget it. She can't help. We're not going, and that's that," Dean said. He shrugged. "What about Reno, huh?" he asked.

"You know what?" Sam asked. "I've had it. I've been bending over backwards trying to be nice to you, and...I don't care anymore."

"Sam…" I sighed.

"That didn't last long," Dean remarked.

"Yeah, well, you know what?" Sam asked. "I've been busting my ass trying to keep you alive, Dean, and you act like you couldn't care less. What, you got some kind of death wish or something?"

"It's not like that," Dean said.

"Then what's it like, Dean?" Sam asked.

"Guys," I said, trying to stop them.

"Sam –"Dean started.

"Please, tell me," Sam pleaded.

I looked to Dean expectantly. "We trap the crossroads demon, trick it, and try to welch our way out of the deal in any way? You die. Okay? You die. Those are the terms. There's no way out of it," Dean said in one breath. "If you try to find a way, so help me god, I'm gonna stop you."

Sam sighed. "How could you make that deal, Dean?"

"'Cause I couldn't live with you dead," Dean said. "Couldn't do it."

"So, what, now I live and you die?" Sam asked.

"That's the general idea, yeah," Dean nodded.

"Yeah, well, you're a hypocrite, Dean," Sam said. "How did you feel when dad sold his soul for you?'Cause I was there. I remember. You were twisted and broken. And now you go and do the same thing. To me. What you did was selfish."

"Yeah, you're right. It was selfish," Dean admitted with a shrug. "But I'm okay with that."

"We're not," I stated, when Sam said nothing.

"Tough," Dean said. "After everything I've done for this family, I think I'm entitled." He sighed. "Truth is, I'm tired, Sam. I don't know, it's like there's a light at the end of the tunnel."

"Its hellfire, Dean," Sam said, exasperated.

"Whatever," Dean said. "You're alive, I feel good - for the first time in a long time. I got a year to live, Sam. I'd like to make the most of it. So what do you say we kill some evil sons of bitches and we raise a little hell, huh?"

"You're unbelievable," Sam replied, defeated.

"Very true," Dean grinned. He headed to the Impala and opened the door for me and Sam. I got in silently.

"Lex?" Sam said, as Dean loaded the trunk. "I'm still trying. I don't care if it kills me." I said nothing, confused and hurt. "Lex?"

"Okay, Sammy," I said, "I heard you."

I heard him loud and clear. But that didn't meant I was going to listen.