Fall Part 2
A/N: Hope you enjoy this one, review if you do! Soundtrack:
Wiz Khalifa See You Again
Taylor Swift Love Story
Kiss Crazy Crazy Nights
"...I had three smashed fingers, five teeth out, a broken wrist, nose, cheekbone, collarbone. I had to get 160 stitches. Mugged. The doctor on duty said it looked like I got caught in the Spanish Inquisition." Jeffrey recounted. Dean was on one end of the couch, Lacey on the other, still cuddling the dog.
"And we're the good guys." Dean said, sheepishly.
"They patched me up, mostly. But I lost my job, my health insurance. I just started to drink and drift, and I got lost. Had some kind of mental break. And I started to talk... about what happened." Dean winced.
"Aw, man. Never tell. Never... never."
"I know that now, believe me.
"So, let me guess. Drunk tank to psych eval to 72-hour forced hold to a nice long stay at an institution of their choice." Lacey frowned at Dean's knowledge of this process but didn't say anything.
"Yes."
"It's happened to friends of mine." Dean admitted and Lacey's frown lessened.
"For a long time, I didn't care. The truth was more important than where I was. I was in no shape to cope with the outside world."
"Well, hey, you got out, you know? Holding it together." Dean encouraged.
"And now the demon is back." Jeffrey looked down at his hands.
"Yeah. I'm sorry, man. I mean it – about all of it, you know?"
"You saved my life. I owe you for it. I know that. I owe a lot of people for getting even this far. I... crap." He looked up suddenly.
"What?"
"If he isn't already circling the next woman, Marjorie, then I-I think I might know where he is. He had this special place where he kept souvenirs where he nested." Jeffrey's eyes danced with terror and excitement.
"Why didn't you tell us this?" Dean asked.
"I didn't want to go." Jeffrey admitted.
"You don't have to go. We'll handle it." Dean got to his feet and Lacey followed suit.
"I do. I have to." Jeffrey told them firmly.
Dean drove them out to the abandoned warehouse that Jeffrey directed them to. Jeffrey took the dog round the block for a walk seeing as they would be leaving her in the car. Lacey got out and sat on the hood of the car and Dean walked round and joined her.
"I know you're probably sick of hearing this but, are you sure you're ok?" Lacey looked up at the genuine concern in Dean's eyes.
"My powers are just acting up, they're coming back, that's the main thing." Lacey shrugged. "I might just look like a weirdo, trying to block out everyone's thoughts for a while." She joked.
"Yeah, well, we're all pretty bizarre, some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all." Lacey's head snapped up.
"What did you… we watched that movie years ago, you remember that line?"
"I had this weird dream the other night, I think that movie was in it." Dean screwed up his forehead trying to remember the more specific details.
"Was I in this dream?" Lacey asked, softly.
"Yeah, you were?" Dean frowned even more.
"And Sam was graduating from law school and we had normal lives?" Lacey continued.
"How do you know that?" Dean grabbed Lacey's shoulder, looking straight into her eyes.
"I had that dream too." Lacey told him.
"How… how can we be having the same dreams?" Dean asked.
"I have no idea." Lacey told him just as Jeffrey appeared with the dog. He opened the back door and lifted her inside.
"Good girl. You stay. Here's some jerky. Stay." Dean took out his phone and tried to get hold of Sam.
"Damn it – no service." He watched as Jeffrey closed the door. "Thing's not gonna pee in here, is it?"
"Um, I don't know." Jeffrey admitted.
"So, he'd get you this far, and then he'd shut your lights out, yeah?"
"For some reason, he was very secretive about this place. But after a while, he'd only really sort of cover my eyes when we walked in." Jeffrey told them.
"Okay, you think you can get us back there?" Dean asked.
"I'm gonna walk up the road, see if I can get some signal and let Sam know where we are. I'll follow you in." Lacey told them.
Dean kicked the door open and the two of them walked in, Jeffrey with his eyes covered and holding Dean's shoulder.
"Red door down the hallway." Jeffrey instructed.
"Yeah, there is." Dean pulled out the demon knife and they headed for the door. When they came to a stop outside it, Jeffrey opened his eyes.
"This must be it." They pushed open the door. They stepped into a large empty room, different symbols painted across all the windows.
"All right, stay over here. Okay? You just stay here. Don't move." Dean left Jeffrey by the door and ventured further into the room.
"What the hell?" Dean muttered to himself. At the back of the room a man was unconscious, tied to a chair. "Hey." Dean realised the guys mouth was taped shut. "Hey. Hey, all right. We're gonna get you out of here." Dean bent down and started to untie the guys bond. The man opened his eyes and tried to say something.
"Hey, hey, I'm not gonna hurt you, okay? But you got to stay still." Dean tried to reassure him but seconds later there was a stabbing pain in his neck and he fell to the floor unconscious.
Lacey had walked several blocks but couldn't get any signal on her phone. She head back to the warehouse and followed the path they had taken inside.
"Dean, I couldn't get any signal I…" Lacey came to a stop just inside the room which was dark and appeared empty. "Dean?" She took a few steps forward. There was a scraping noise behind and she turned to see what it was only to get hit in the head with something heavy. She fell to the ground unconscious.
When Dean woke up he was tied to a chair next to the other guy. He groggily looked around.
"Jeffrey?" He looked at the him in bewilderment. Jeffrey was standing by the entrance giving the dog a bowl of water.
"Good. You're up."
"What happened? What's going on?"
"No one asked you to get involved, to save me, to save anyone." Jeffrey accused.
"What?" Dean looked confused.
"Did you ever think that maybe I loved being possessed?" Jeffrey began to wheel a table towards Dean, ingredients for a spell laid out upon it. "Did you? I loved the connection, the power. And I loved him. Love of my life actually."
"Oh, you got to be kidding me." Dean shook his head in amazement.
"He liberated me." Jeffrey continued as he poured lighter fluid into the bowl. "Started me on my true life mission."
"So you're the one with the thing for all those women. Aren't you, Jeffrey? You're a serial killer." Dean realised.
"I was nothing before he found me, a shadow too scared to do what I was brought here to do. Too timid to live up to my true potential." Jeffrey lit a match and threw it into the bowl. The lighter fluid caught and flames rose up.
"So, what happened – redheaded mommy make you stuff birds, put on dresses?" Dean sneered
"You shouldn't trivialize other people's pain."
"So, demon comes along, rides co-pilot in your skull... Teaches you how to kill. The list... that's yours."
"For years, it was just a game I would play. Every time I'd walk by one of them in the street or see one on my mail route... There's a sound that comes from their brains. You know that? Only I can hear it, like an evil, little steam whistle. Every time I saw one, I'd follow her, take down her address. I can hear it from her too." He nodded in Dean's direction. Dean craned his neck and realised Lacey was tied to another chair behind him, the back of his chair facing hers.
"You son of a bitch!" Dean growled. Jeffrey picked up Dean's knife from the table.
"But I was never gonna do anything, not till he came along. He's the one who saved me. And you sent him to Hell." Jeffrey stepped forward, putting a smaller bowl onto the ground by Dean's chair. He took hold of Dean's arm and began to slice into it with the knife. "I like to think I know you pretty well."
"Yeah, how do you figure?" Dean asked, gritting his teeth against the pain.
"I watched you torture an innocent man to get out a demon. Pretty charged situation... revealing. You guys talked about a lot, showed a lot of character. God... you were so desperate to fix the world back then. It kills you..." Jeffrey finished up and picked up the bowl. "...that people keep getting hurt... and you just can't stop it. Or I should say...it's killed you, shouldn't I?" He put the knife into a jar containing some unknown liquid.
"You know what? Screw you."
"Hey. I was there. I was depressed, Dean, because he was gone." He stirred the contents of the jar with the knife. "I was a wreck, an emotional shell, a drunk. I was suicidal." Jeffrey confided.
"I don't usually endorse suicide, but, man, what stopped you?"
"It was Alan, at the house."
"You're kidding me." Dean raised an eyebrow.
"He's a really good rehab therapist. Really helped me focus on my goals, my attitude. I have to say, I really benefited from the whole program."
"Yeah." Dean watched him cautiously.
"A life well-lived comes from the structured pursuit of meaningful happiness." Jeffrey picked up another bowl and the knife. "I realized I was nothing without my demon. Then I decided I have to get him back. I'll be right back." He untied the dogs lead and lead her around the corner. "Hey, there, honey. Come on. It's a bitch of a recipe, I must admit." He called the last part over his shoulder to Dean.
"No. Oh, you sick son of a bitch. Good job she's asleep." Dean muttered to himself. Jeffrey reappeared and placed something into the bowl before pouring in the blood he'd collected. He began to chant in latin and the room around them began to shudder and shake. Dean nudged Lacey through the back of the chairs and she finally began to stir. As the chanting came to an end the room stopped shaking. Dean looked at Jeffrey but he stared back, still the same. Suddenly the guy in the chair next to him broke free of his chains and got to his feet, his eyes a murky black.
"Hello, Jeffrey." He looked around the room, his eyes landing on Dean. "Dean Winchester. As I live and breathe...Again. And the girl too, my, my we have been busy." He strode towards Jeffrey who was sputtering in shock and wrapped him in an embrace.
"Oh! What are you doing?"
"I'm thanking you, Jeffrey." The Demon began to dance around the room with him.
"Well, that's something different to wake up to." Lacey muttered as she regained consciousness.
"What are you doing with this half-dead piece of crap? Come into me." Jeffrey reasoned.
"We had a very special time together, didn't we, Jeffrey? It warms my heart to see you haven't forgotten what I taught you. You built on it. You captured a Winchester. You, Jeffrey... my pupil."
"I don't want to be your pupil. I want to be yours." Jeffrey pleaded.
"But I'm done with you. My work is finished. You can do everything now, all on your beautiful own."
"No." Jeffrey sounded firmer.
"No?" The demon cocked it's head at him before backhanding him across the face. Jeffrey fell to the ground. The demon knelt down beside him. "We don't do "no." Remember, Jeffrey?" The demon turned it's attention on Dean who was trying to saw through his ropes. "Keep sawing away at your ropes, Penelope Pitstop. We can dance standing up if you want."
"So, is this what you do – find postal workers, make 'em go postal?" Dean asked.
"I talent scout. That's all. Looking for the next generation of superstars... Before they get to Hell, like Jeffrey here. "He had all the raw material... just bubbling in there. All I had to do was loosen the lid on his jar, show him some practical know-how."
"Yeah, what about the kid?" Dean asked, indicating the demons current meat suit.
"This one? I don't think. Not much to work with. No natural gift. I'll probably burn this meat off on my way to Vegas."
"Ok, that's quite enough." Lacey tensed her arms and broke the chains binding her as she stood up. She wrenched the back of Dean's as she walked past, leaving him to untangle himself. She began to crackle with electricity and slowly rose off the ground until she was hovering above the demon. She pulled her hands to her chest before throwing them out to the side and let out a scream sending a combination of electricity and sonic waves crashing into the demon, who let out a shriek as he was thrown across the room. As he hit the far wall Sam and Mrs Havelock came crashing through the door. The demon advanced on him only to get caught in a devils trap painted on the ceiling.
"You've got to be kidding me!" It shouted.
"You let go of my son!" Mrs Havelock screamed at it.
"Where do you keep coming from?" The demon smirked at her. Out of nowhere Jeffrey began to advance on the demon, Dean's knife still in his hand. Lacey formed an enormous cherry bomb in her hands and threw it in his direction just as Dean shot at him. Their combined efforts sent him across the room and he didn't get back up.
"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus." Mrs Havelock started the exorcism ritual.
"He'll be back, you know. Back in black." The demon taunted.
"Go to hell." Dean fired back, before turning his back on it.
"Omnis congregatio et secta diabolica, ergo, draco maledicte, ecclesiam tuam, secura tibi facias libertate servire, te rogamus, audi nos!" Mrs Havlock completed the ritual and with a scream, black smoke began to pour out of his mouth. Dean rushed over to Lacey who was still floating in the air, her body still crackling with energy.
"It's over Lace, you can come down."
"I don't know… I don't know if I can." She said through gritted teeth, a pained expression crossed her face.
"It's ok, start by lowering down, you can stop the rest after." Dean told her. She nodded and braced herself before slowly floating to the ground. Dean put out his hands to take hers but she pulled back.
"I'll hurt you." Dean lowered his hands.
"You can do this, just breathe through it." Lacey nodded and scrunched her face up in concentration. Slowly the energy around her began to dissipate. When it finally vanished she collapsed forward into Dean's arms.
"It's ok, I've got you." He told her, taking most of her weight.
They dropped Ms Havelock and her son off before heading back to the motel.
"God. Ugh." Dean muttered as he slumped down on the bed. Lacey followed suit, propping herself up with pillows.
"So, Jeffrey was just pretending to be the victim. Way back in that farmhouse during the exorcism...he was just... acting." Sam sounded drained as he sat down on his own bed.
"He was a psychopath, Sam. That's what they do all the time, is act. Act like they're normal, act like they're not balls-to-the-wall crazy." Lacey snorted at this.
"You going to sleep?"
"Damn straight. Screw consciousness – that's what I say."
"Here, here." Lacey agreed, burrowing further down into the pillows. Dean reached out his hand and Lacey took it as the two of them drifted into unconsciousness.