Thank you Shadowhuntingdauntlessdemigod for beta'ing and VegasGranny and Ncsupnatfan for pre-reading.
Chapter Nineteen
Sam was standing outside the open cellar doors, waiting for the sound of Clark's truck to portend his arrival.
It was a cold night and he was only wearing sweats and a hoodie, his sockless feet in sneakers, but he didn't want to go back into the house to get a coat. Though Jim was probably sleeping, and Ruby was almost certainly locked away inside the demon again, he felt that he had to stay close to protect her.
He stamped his feet to warm them and then froze as he heard the front door open and Jim's voice calling his name. For a moment, he didn't know what to do, to go into the cellar and avoid facing the man he wasn't sure he could see without attacking, or to stand and face him. The thought of going back into that place with that pathetic and abused demon was abhorrent and that made the decision for him.
"I'm here."
Jim jogged around the house and then skidded to a halt as he saw Sam standing in front of the open cellar doors with the light pouring from within. His face drained of color, becoming ghostly in the moonlight, and his hands flew up in front of him as if warding off a blow.
"Sam…" he said weakly.
Sam's jaw tightened and he spoke between his teeth. "You're a monster."
"No! Let me explain. You will understand if I do, I promise." He walked toward Sam and stopped just out of range of his ability to swing a fist.
Sam crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. "Talk."
Jim took a deep breath and said, "It's only a demon, Sam, and I…"
Sam stepped into his space and punched him so hard that he collapsed back onto the ground and spat blood.
"It's not just a demon!" Sam shouted. "It's a person being possessed, too. She had a family, she had people she loved and that loved her. She was going to get married. She was loved and missed!"
Jim didn't ask how he knew so much, he just babbled on with his defense as he scrambled to his feet. "But that person was already doomed. I wasn't the one that hurt her. I didn't possess her."
"No, you didn't possess her. You just trapped her in the cellar for twenty years! You drank her blood!"
"I had to. It was the only way. It made me strong enough to hunt. I saved lives because of it."
Sam's hands fisted and he wanted to throw another punch.
Jim perhaps saw the danger in him as he backed away and raised his hands again.
"My family save lives," Sam said. "And they do it without any kind of special powers. You didn't need the blood. You weren't using your powers. Any demon would have recognized what you were doing, and Azazel would have heard about it. Any demons you faced—apart from that poor soul in the cellar—were exorcised with Latin. You were thinking of no one but yourself and your addiction."
"I didn't want this," Jim said. "I was an innocent like you. It was done to me, to us. I was infected when I was a baby and then I was dragged away from everything I knew, trapped in that town, and fed the blood. I didn't choose any of this. The addiction wasn't my fault."
"No, it wasn't," Sam agreed. "It was done to you, you went through hell, but going back to it was your fault. You were clean when you came out of that hospital. There was no reason for you to ever touch the blood again, but you did. You have been drinking it for twenty years because you wanted to."
Jim's face formed into a look of defiance that made Sam's blood rage through his veins.
"Stopping would have killed me!"
"Then you should have died!" Sam bellowed. "At least you would have died human!"
Jim laughed, a strange mocking sound. "I'm not human, Sam, and neither are you. What happened to us as babies changed us. We're both so much more than human. We're freaks! We're cursed. We have nothing good left for us now."
Sam shoved his shoulders, knocking him down again and bowed over him. "I'm human! I have my family and friends. They're all the good I need."
Jim's lip trembled and Sam saw how pathetic he really was.
He wasn't the hunter, the dangerous man that had almost scared Sam. He wasn't the good man Sam always believed he was, the kind and gentle person. He was a junkie that had turned himself into a monster and had destroyed a woman's life. He could have exorcised her, let Ruby go home, but he had trapped her and used her as blood bag.
"You went through hell," Sam said again. "I know that. But you were freed from it and you were clean. You made a choice to go back to the blood, and that's what's made you a monster. The hell you put Ruby through was so much worse than yours."
"I had no choice," Jim whined. "It was done to me."
Sam turned away. "You did this to yourself and to her."
"I won't let you take her."
Sam spun around again and saw that Jim was on his feet. He looked angry now, and also scared. He was seeing that the access to his drug was going away and he was terrified of it.
"I have already called him," Sam said. "The woman you have was in love with a man. He's my friend, a hunter, a real one not a monster like you. He's coming to save her. You need to be gone before he gets here, or he will kill you. It's time to run, Jim. When that demon gets to Hell, she's going to tell them all what she'd seen, the man that drank her blood, and Azazel is going to find you."
Jim staggered back. "No, Sam, please. You can't do that to me. You owe me. I will stop drinking the blood. I will kill the demon. You know I can. She will be at peace and she will not tell anyone about you or me. We'll be safe."
Sam laughed. "The fact you think I will let you do that after what I told you means that you never learned a thing about me and just how different we are."
Jim tried to shove past him to the cellar, either to take another hit or to kill, Sam didn't know, but he wasn't letting him do either. He flung out a hand and slammed him with power, sending Jim flying back to hit the side of his house, two dozen feet away. Despite the distance, he hit hard, and his head made a sick cracking sound that Sam felt momentary regret for until he heard the sound of an engine approaching.
Sam looked around and saw the truck skidding to a stop and Clark jumping out and flying at Sam.
He didn't pay the man pinned to the wall a moment's attention; he just ran at Sam, his eyes wild and his breaths coming quick. "Where is she?"
Sam held out a hand. "You need to see first. Look."
Clark grabbed his hand and clutched it between both of his own and then his eyes became distant as he saw what Sam had seen through the medium of his gift. He dropped Sam's hand with a gasp and ran into the cellar and down the steps without a word.
Sam dropped his hold on Jim and followed him down.
Clark was standing at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes wide and breaths coming fast as his stare fixed on the demon in the trap, the demon wearing the face of the woman he loved with black eyes.
Sam stepped down beside him and placed a hand on his arm, feeling the solidness of his bunched muscles.
"It's okay," he murmured.
Clark nodded stiffly.
"Clark!" the demon said, her voice confused. "You've changed."
"You have no idea," Clark growled.
"How long has it been?" the demon asked.
Clark took a measured step forward. "Twenty-two years."
The demon flinched but her voice was steady as she said, "Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. What have you been up to?"
"Hunting you," Clark said, taking another step forward.
"And now that you've found me, what are you going to do? Can I expect a one-way ticket downstairs?" She didn't even attempt to conceal her eagerness. She wanted this more than anything.
"I am going to send you to Hell," Clark said.
"Great. Go ahead."
Sam moved with him closer to the trap, standing close at his side and brushing his arm against Clark's, while he opened his mouth and then faltered.
Sam thought he understood what Clark was struggling with. He wanted the demon out, the woman he loved back, but he had spent over twenty years hunting it with a view to causing it serious pain for what it had done to him and Ruby. He could hurt it now, but that would slow his reunion with Ruby, leave her trapped inside even longer. Sam couldn't even begin to understand how torn he must feel.
As Sam had known it would, his need for Ruby won out. Clark stepped close to the edge of the trap and said, "I will find you again after this, and I will make you pay. The moment you drag yourself out of Hell, I am going to be waiting for you and you will suffer."
The demon laughed. "Sure. You'll still be alive by the time I get out."
Clark nodded. "I will."
Sam brushed his arm again and said, "Do you want me to do it?"
"No. It's my job." Clark fixed his eyes on the demon and began. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus…"
The demon beamed and lifted her face as if basking in sunlight. Everything she had hoped for was happening at last, and her joy was obvious.
Clark continued the exorcism, moving to the very edge of the trap as he finished, "Ecclesiam tuam securi tibi facias libertate servire, te rogamus, audi nos!"
The demon's head flew back, and smoke poured from her mouth. Sam's eyes followed its path into the air and then down through the floor, but Clark's attention was wholly on Ruby.
As the last of the demon left her, she collapsed, and Clark caught her in his arms and lifted her against his chest.
She stirred and her breaths came in a gasp as she said, "Clark?"
"I'm here, baby," he said in a gentler voice that Sam had never heard him use before. "I've got you."
He turned and carried her up the stairs and outside, not even seeming to see Sam as he passed. Sam followed them up the stairs and across the grass into Jim's neat garden. Jim was gone but, whether he'd fled or was hiding in the house, Sam didn't know or care.
Clark set Ruby down on the grass among the flowerbeds and cradled her in his lap.
"What happened to you?" Ruby asked. "You look so old. How long has it been? How long was I—"
Clark stopped her words with a kiss and whispered. "It doesn't matter now. I've got you."
She nodded weakly and smiled. "I missed you so much."
Clark drew a shaky breath. "I missed you, too. I love you so much."
"I love you, too."
Clark began to cry, heaving sobs that shook him and Ruby both, and he pressed kisses to her face as she soothed him with gentle words. "It's okay, baby. I've got you, too."
Sam noticed that her voice was weak, and when he looked, he saw her lips were tinged blue. Clark seemed to notice at the same time as he lifted his face and said, "Sam, call an ambulance."
Sam already had his phone in his hand, but Ruby's voice stopped him dialing. "No," she whispered. "It's okay."
"You're hurt," Clark said, his voice a moan.
She stroked his cheek. "I'm dying, baby."
"No!"
She wiped the fresh tears the slipped from his eyes and said, "Yes. I can feel it. But it's okay."
"You can't leave me," Clark sobbed.
"I don't want to, but it's going to happen, and I don't want people hurting me by trying to help." She looked up at Sam. "Please, don't call them."
Sam hesitated and lowered his phone when Clark nodded and said, "Okay. No one will hurt you."
Ruby relaxed and rested her head against Clark's shoulder, looking up at the sky. "Stars. Look at them all. I haven't seen them in so long."
Clark drew a shaky breath. "I know."
"Do you remember the night we named them?" she asked.
Clark made a choking sound. "You named them all Clark."
"I did, and you named them Ruby, but you saved two, didn't you?"
"For our children when they came," Clark said, his voice breaking. "We were going to have two."
She laughed weakly. "You always knew what you wanted." She drew in a breath and made a pained sound that Clark kissed away and soothed.
She looked up at Sam and said, "You have to stop him."
"Stop who, baby?" Clark asked.
"You," she said. "You can't find the man that did this. I saw his face sometimes. I know what he did to us. I felt it. You can't hurt him; you can't kill him. I can see it in your eyes. Don't be a murderer because of me."
Clark moaned. "I've hurt so many people, Ruby, I changed so much after I lost you."
"I know, I can see that, too, but that doesn't matter. You can't kill him. Not in my name. I don't want my legacy to be murder. I want it to be love."
"Love," Clark said, his voice hitching.
Ruby nodded and her eyes drifted closed before opening slowly and with what seemed like a lot of effort.
Sam knew she was fading, and he stepped away, wiping at his face to clear it of the tears of pain for his friend that were falling.
It was such a waste, what was happening behind him.
Sam's whole life had changed when he lost Jessica and then the changes had snowballed when his powers presented properly and his place in The Demon's plan was revealed. But there were people to pick him up again and hold him steady. Clark hadn't had that and now he was losing the one person that could have healed him.
Sam knew this could either be the saving of the man Clark had once been or the death of the final vestige of it.
He could make it out of this with some part of himself intact, take a different view of life with Ruby's requested legacy, or he could lose himself completely and what he had kept of the man Ruby had first loved.
Sam wondered if Clark would let him help him to cling to the former or want him to embrace the latter alongside him.
One thing he was sure of was that he would have a place in whatever choice Clark made.
A howl of pain came from behind him and Sam turned to see that Ruby's chest had stilled and her eyes slid closed. Clark's head was thrown back and he was screaming his pain to the sky. As Sam watched, Clark buried his face against her neck and began to sob, his entire body heaving.
Sam walked back to him and knelt down, placing his hand on Clark's shoulder and saying, "I'm so sorry."
Clark didn't reply, he was still letting his pain, but Sam felt him leaning into his touch and he thought all might not be lost.
"Sam?"
The voice came from behind them, and they both turned to see Jim standing a dozen feet away. He was pale and his lip was swollen and bloody from where Sam had punched him. Sam didn't know why he had come, what he was hoping to gain, but as the feral roar broke from Clark, Sam knew he was going to regret coming.
Clark laid Ruby down and got smoothly to his feet, advancing on Jim with his hands fisted.
Sam knew a moment of indecision—should he let Clark have this or obey Ruby's last wishes?—but his body reacted automatically, raising him to his feet and putting a hand on Clark's shoulder as Clark threw the first punch.
Jim staggered back and placed a hand to his jaw where a red welt had appeared. "Let me explain," he said hoarsely.
"I will kill you," Clark said, a statement not a threat.
Jim held up his hand, but Clark ignored the defensive gesture and flew at him. His fists slammed into Jim over and over, landing blows on his face and chest, and when Jim fell, he began to kick him.
Sam grabbed Clark and pulled him away, but Clark struggled, and his grip slipped. He landed two more blows on Jim's gut before Sam was able to haul him away. He shoved Clark against the wall and held him pinned with his hands on his heaving chest.
"Not this, Clark," he said. "Ruby didn't want it."
"He killed her!" Clark shouted. "He took all that blood for all that time. She didn't stand a chance."
"I know," Sam said, his voice breaking as he thought of the woman that lay dead behind them. "And he will die for it, but not by you."
Clark stopped struggling and frowned. "You're going to kill him?"
"No. The Demon will do it. That demon is back in hell now and she'll tell them all about the man that trapped her and drank her blood. Azazel will find out it was him and he'll make him pay. You're not a murderer, you never killed the meatsuits, you set them free. If you do this, you'll break Ruby's heart."
"Her heart has stopped!" Clark growled.
"I know," Sam said miserably. "But when you see her again, she'll know."
Clark opened his mouth to reply but Sam rushed on.
"Heaven, Clark. I know you don't believe, but I do. When you see her, you need to be able to look her in the eye without shame. Let The Demon kill him. He can make it so much worse than either of us can."
Clark stared at him and drew a breath through his nose. "Yeah. Worse. Okay."
Sam searched him for a sign of a lie, checked his aura, but all he saw was blue so dark it was almost black that Sam knew was his extreme pain. There was no muddy pink of deceit.
He released him and Clark staggered back to Ruby and knelt beside her. Sam went to Jim and looked down at him. He was struggling for breath and his face was swollen and darkening with bruises. Sam thought for a moment Clark might have killed him after all, but when Jim's eyes opened, they were burning with life.
"You were attacked by a robber," Sam said, kneeling down and holding Jim's swollen chin tight so he couldn't turn away. "They were masked so you didn't see who they were. I will call you an ambulance when Clark is gone. You can run and hide or stay and face your fate; I don't care which. You will never tell anyone what happened here though, do you understand?"
Jim's chin jerked in his hand as he tried to nod.
Sam pushed it to the side and got to his feet. He looked back at Clark who was cradling Ruby to his chest again and then walked into the house. He went to the living room where there was a blue handmade blanket covering the back of the couch. As little as he wanted Ruby to be touched by anything Jim owned, it was all he had on offer. He picked it up and carried it outside to Clark.
"Here," he said.
Clark took it and wrapped it around her body, tucking it under her chin and then stood and lifted her into his arms.
"Where are you going to take her?" he asked.
"There's a place in Michigan we liked to go camping," he said. "By a lake. I'll bury her there."
"Do you want me to come?"
Clark shook his head. "No. Stay here and make sure that animal is picked up. I want him to get the help he needs so he lives. I want him ready when The Demon comes for him."
Sam nodded. "I'm so sorry, Clark."
Clark stared at him for a moment and then said, "I'll come back for you. You and me, we're going to find that bastard that's got your friend Brady and then, when that one is back in Hell, we're going to find the demon that killed Jessica, too." His eyes hardened. "I don't get my revenge, but we're getting you yours. Understand?"
Sam nodded again. "I'll be ready for you when you call."
"Good," Clark glanced down at the woman in his arms and then walked away, cradling her against him, to his truck.
Sam watched him go and then went to the cellar. He would extinguish the light and padlock the door. Hopefully, no one else would ever step into that place of so much pain and misery again.
It was and always would be cursed.
So… I needed to take a deep breath when I finished editing this chapter. I have been waiting for it for so long, preparing for it, but I have no idea if I pulled it off or now. It's down to you guys to tell me. Was the emotion there? Did you care what happened to Ruby and Clark? Did you want Jim to suffer?
Until next time…
Clowns or Midgets xxx