(1/18/2021) I'm not QUITE sure I'm happy with what's going on these past few chapters, but a comment or two letting me know would be excellent.

Anyways, things can't get any worse, can it?

Thank you BaDWolF89, Sage of Wind Dragons, SeanHicks4, thedarkpokemaster, Maverick5000, and the 3 mystery guests for the reviews!


"Dude, come on. Wake up."

Dean slapped Angel a few more times with increasing strength. Finally, the vampire stirred. "What…?"

"Found you on the floor bleedin' out. Got you bandaged up at least. What the hell happened?"

With a wince the vampire slowly pushed himself up from where Dean had laid him down. "Faith."

The hunter's brow furrowed. "What do you mean, 'Faith'?"

"I think… whoa." Angel put his hand on his forehead and staggered.

"You all right?"

"Something with the knife. Didn't feel right."

Dean sat down next to Angel on the vampire's (now bloodied) couch. "You're sayin' Faith did this."

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Fan-fucking-tastic." The eldest of Buffy's brothers sighed and glanced downwards. "He's quiet."

Angel fought through another wave of dizziness to reply. "He'll go back and forth. He was… He was talking to your mother earlier." The vampire frowned and looked over at the basement door. "Although this is a little too much quiet."

The pair exchanged an alarmed glance before shooting up from the couch and sprinting for the basement. Angel fumbled a bit with the lock on the barred door before throwing it open. Inside they found Sam on the floor in the midst of a seizure, unsurprising considering the circumstances. However, when Dean took a step forward, Sam flew up under the effects of a malevolent invisible force. His back slammed into the wall.

Both man and vampire rushed forward as Sam was thrown to his front, his face smacking harshly onto the steel. "What the hell is going on?" Dean yelled as he took two handfuls of flannel and pulled.

"It's the demon blood. Restraints, on the cot."

With a monstrous growl the vampire yanked Sam from the wall. As he moved the struggling hunter towards the makeshift bed, something fought him. It seemed angry, wanting to fling Sam around for having the audacity to let it be starved of sustenance. "That don't make no sense," Dean said through his brother's cries. He quickly grabbed a flailing wrist. "Sam's got it in his own blood. Why would it be doing this now?"

Angel grabbed one writhing ankle and began wrapping a buckled strap around it. "Because he ingested it. It's working its way out of his system just like any other drug."

Nauseated, Dean held his brother down by his shoulders and let Angel work in silence. The eldest of the siblings was no stranger to substance abuse. After all, their father had drunk alcohol more often than water, and Dean was more apt to fall asleep inebriated than not. But this…?

The last strap was tightened, and though Sam continued to struggle he was locked down into the cot. "Dean," Angel said gently, "you can let go now. Dean. Dean!"

Shocked out of his morbid musings, Dean quickly backed away from his brother. "Sorry."

The vampire stood, his arms and legs shaking slightly. "It's all right."

"Dude, you okay?"

Angel put his hand on his forehead. His vision swam momentarily before righting itself. "Yeah. Blood loss, maybe."

Dean buried his apprehension and held out his wrist. "Need a refill?"

"No. We better go tell the others about Faith."

Up the stairs they went, careful to lock and bar the basement door once they'd crossed the threshold. Dean gave a heavy sigh as he stared out at the garden, his fingers running through his hair. "Is there anything else you can remember about—" A loud thump had the hunter swiveling around. "Shit."

Angel was crumpled down in a heap, the side of his face plastered to the floor. Dean rushed over and was alarmed to see sweat drops on the vampire's forehead. Contrary to normal, Angel's forehead burned, an impossibility giving the man's undead nature.

Dean pulled his phone quickly out of his pocket. Something had pushed Faith off the rails again, and he was running short on allies. Cass was back to being Heaven's bitch; Bobby was in South Dakota; and now Angel had been taken out. Looks like it was down to him, Buffy, and her collection of misfit friends.

As his sister picked up, Dean sighed. This was going absolutely fan-fucking-tastic.


They set up watching both Angel and Sam in rotating shifts. As Giles was already busy researching the affects of Sam's withdrawal, it fell to Bobby to look up whatever poison Faith had used. "So he's got a fever?" the older hunter asked through Dean's phone.

"Yeah," Dean replied.

"Weak? In pain?"

"Yeah."

"He hallucinatin' yet?"

"Starting to."

"And you said this started out slow."

"Yeah. Look, Bobby, we're kinda runnin' short on time—"

"Hold your horses, I just needed to make sure, 'cause the cure? Ain't nothin' good."

"What is it?" Buffy asked quietly from her perch at Angel's bedside.

"Mystical poison, made specifically for vamps. They call it 'Killer of the Dead' and there's only one cure: fillin' the vampire's belly with the blood of the Slayer."

"Fine."

"Fine?" Dean repeated loudly. "Fine? You are not offering yourself to cure your fucking boyfriend!"

"I'm not."

After a moment, the two men understood her intentions. "It'll most likely kill her, Buffy," Bobby said gently. "You sure about this? When he's better he ain't gonna be too happy to find out you served up Faith to him like a sausage."

"What do you mean?"

Dean sighed. "Buff', Angel's been atoning for his sins for, what, a century? No way does he want another life on his hands."

"He won't." The set of his little sister's jaw made Dean greatly apprehensive. His suspicions came to fruition a moment later when she declared, "Not if she's already dead."

"Bobby, I'll call you back." Dean clapped his phone closed and grabbed Buffy's arm. "You really think you can do that?"

"Do what?"

"Take a life. Not a demon or a monster or any of that crap, a human life." Buffy hesitated, leaving room for her brother to continue. "She might be doing bad. Hell, she might even be evil. But there's a big difference between ganking some demon in a person and a person that's just a person."

"She tried to kill him."

"Yeah, but even I've—" Dean cut himself off, unable to put into words the ecstasy he'd felt using Hell's blades to slice into the vampire. "I've wanted to kill him. You really wanna go gut Faith without even knowing why she did this?"

The Slayer glanced back and forth from her brother to her boyfriend. "Call Bobby back. Find out how much time we have."

"And what if he says we don't got enough?"

Buffy's eyes hardened. "Then I'll do what I have to do. I'm going to call the others, ask them to come help with Angel."

Dean's sister spun on her heel and left the room. He waited until he heard the sliding door to the backyard shut before reopening his phone. There was information he needed to get, certainly, but not exactly what Buffy had in mind.


Tears dropped down into the pillow under Sam's head, the wetness a warmth compared to the semi-dried remnants off his latest sweat-inducing hallucination. Whether or not what he had seen was really Dean and Buffy he was certain the sentiments were true.

You were always a monster. And you only feel right when you're sucking down more poison and more evil.

You think because you've got demon powers you're somehow better than me? I'm the Slayer. I was destined to do good, unlike you.

You're nothing to me.

You're the one who should have gone to Hell, not Dean.

That was it. He was nothing to his brother. He was a disappointment to his sister. It would be best if they left him down here to die.

Unless…

The weight of failure lifted as determination took its place. Unless he could prove to them he was good. That Sam Winchester was a good man with an unfortunate source of powers. That what he was doing was just as righteous as anything either Dean or Buffy did. He was saving lives. Isn't that what dad taught them to do?

All he needed now was to be free so he could show them they were wrong.

As if by providence there was a click, and then three more in quick succession. Pressure was relieved from his wrists and ankles. He sat up and peered about, groggy and thirsty and absolutely full of want. No one about.

Sam staggered to his feet as the door to his prison opened seemingly without aid. He struggled up the unnecessarily steep stairs and stood in the doorway. Maybe this was another hallucination. Maybe someone was playing a sick joke.

No one around.

Voices. He heard voices. Had to go around them…


"You're here."

"Yup."

"Why aren't you out there?"

"Because I needed to be here."

"No, no you don't. You need to be out there. You don't need to stay."

"Don't worry about it."

"Is it because you feel guilty? know you didn't really have any choice. I deserved what you did to me and more."

"Uh, okay. Not sure what we're referring to now, but sure. Thanks?"

Angel blinked several times before finally focusing. "Oz?"

"That's me."

"Is Dean… Where's Buffy…?"

"She'll be back soon."

Oz watched the vampire once again fall prey to the poison wracking his frame. What in the world had he been talking about? Did something happen between him and Dean in Hell?

Soft steps spoke of someone entering the room. His lips curved slightly upwards at the uniquely delicious scent Willow gave off. "Any change?" she asked quietly.

Oz shook his head. "He's delirious. He thought I was Dean."

"He thought I was Buffy." Willow's brow creased in worry as Angel gave a sudden jerk and moaned for the Slayer. "I hope she gets here soon. She better if… "

"Yeah. Wait." Being a werewolf had its ups and downs (more the latter than the former), but there were advantages. Whatever it was had Oz's hackles rising. There was a sharpness, a wrongness, to the scent that pierced through normal body odors. It didn't stink exactly, but it was far from being pleasurable.

Oz cautiously picked his way over to the bedroom doorframe. Frustrated at being unable to see past the hallway he kept moving forward, Willow directly behind. When he peered over the corner into Angel's living room he was surprised to see the younger of Buffy's brothers. Wary, Oz made certain his girlfriend didn't get ahead of him and walked calmly out into the open. "Hey, Sam."

Sam turned around slowly. Buffy's brother was at least a foot higher than him, but Oz had never felt intimidated. Possibly it was the lycanthropy, possibly it was the more benevolent nature of this particular Winchester. However, the shaking, pale faced wretch before him had Oz resisting the urge to step back. There was a desperation in Sam's eyes he'd never seen before and there was no way of telling what the man would do.

"Oz," Sam wheezed. "Willow."

"Hey," Oz replied warily. "What's going on?"

"I've got to go. I've got to show them."

"Sam?" Willow asked, her soft, high-pitched tone doing nothing to mask her apprehension. "M-Maybe you should go back downstairs."

"No."

The vehemence with which Sam uttered that simple word had Oz tensing up. "All right," he said calmly. "You could just sit. Wait for Buffy and Dean to get back."

Sam's head whipped over to the door and then back. "They're not here."

Inwardly, Oz cursed. Mistake. Mistake. He should have lied, or at least obfuscated. "They'll be back soon though."

The madness in the hunter's eyes took a new, unwelcome gleam. "No." He advanced a few steps.

Oz backed up, one arm protectively pushing Willow behind him. "All right. You do what you gotta do."

"No, Oz!" Willow whispered. "Buffy said he's dangerous. He needs to go back!"

"You can't stop me," Sam snarled.

Oz turned his head slightly. "It's okay, Willow. Sam would never hurt us. Right, Sam?"

Sam's fists and teeth clenched and Oz prepared for a fight. Buffy's brother took one more step… and then stopped abruptly, his eyes widening as he realized what he'd been about to do. Before either Oz or Willow could say anything more, Sam turned and hurried for the exit. "Don't follow me."

"We won't," Oz assured him. As soon as the door slammed, he turned to Willow. "Call Buffy. Now."


"How the hell did he get out?" Dean shouted through the phone.

"How am I supposed to know?" Buffy shouted back. "All the traps are busted and the door is unlocked and Oz and Willow swear they had nothing to do with it."

"Demons?"

"I guess."

"Only one bitch would even risk it. Ruby."

Buffy winced. There was no mistaking the vitriol in her brother's voice. Ruby was going to lose important body parts if Dean had any say in the matter. More if Buffy got to her first. "Sure. I dunno."

"How did she even touch the door?"

"Do I sound like a Watcher? Wait, don't answer that. If it's a yes then just stake me now."

Dean ignored her levity. "Well, I'll tell you one thing. At this point I hope he's with Ruby."

"Why?"

"'Cause killing her's the next big item on my to-do list."

"What? Why?"

"Look what she did to our brother! Up and vanishes weeks at a time, leaves him cracking out for another hit?"

"Maybe she was in deep with the demony stuff, all undercover looking for Lilith."

"Yeah? All that sounds like is French for manipulating his ass ten ways from Sunday."

Angel moaned from his bedroom, startling Buffy into silence. Her brother called her name. "Huh? Yeah?"

"I'm gonna go find Sam. Wesley said—"

"I did not just hear you say 'Wesley'."

Dean gave a deep, exasperated sigh. "Look, Bobby and Giles are coming up with squat to help Angel. Unless one of you has got some kinda underground hidey-hole filled with more shit then we are scraping the goddamn bottom of the barrel!"

"Meaning?" She knew what he was going to say…

"Meaning the fucking Watcher's Council is the last group we got left!"

Ugh. "Fine. Fine! But we still need to know where Faith is. Just in case."

"Sam's laptop should still be in his bag. Left it on the couch."

Buffy took a quick look and spotted her younger brother's well-worn backpack slumped against a cushion. "It's here."

"Get Willow on it. I gotta find our brother before he gets a chance to find a car. That happens, we might be screwed."

"Then don't let it—" The phone cut abruptly. "Hello? Hello? You big…" Frustrated, Buffy snarled wordlessly at her screen. She snatched up Sam's bag and hustled into Angel's bedroom. Willow was was there laying a rag laden with cold water on the vampire's head.

The sight of her boyfriend pale, sweating, and in pain leeched the last of the Slayer's patience. She whipped open the backpack and yanked out her brother's computer. "Dean's got Wesley asking about other cures for Angel. I need you to find out where Faith lives."

Concerned over her friend's sudden harsh attitude, Willow asked, "Are you sure? Shouldn't we wait until the Watcher's Council does their thing?"

"No. Screw them. I'm tired of waiting and letting everyone else tell me what's best. This whole thing ends now."


Dean threw his phone at the passenger's seat as soon as he reoriented himself. Getting zapped back and forth from his car to wherever that weirdly opulent room was had screwed badly with his head. He clutched his hair and told himself he'd done the right thing, telling Cass he was signing himself to their cause, allowing the angels to dictate what he was going to do next.

Now you wait, and we call on you when it's time.

Crap. He'd been on the phone with Buffy right before they'd kidnapped him and who knows how much time had gone by? Luckily, his phone had merely bounced off of the leather and clattered to the floor without breaking. Dean reached over, snatched it up, and checked the time. Only an hour had passed, thankfully, but it was enough for his sister to have gone and done something stupid.

Well, the Watcher's Council should have some kind of answer by now if they were as all-knowing at they pretended to be. Dean dialed Wesley as he started the Impala. "Well?" he demanded before the Watcher could even form a greeting.

"They… They wouldn't help."

"Excuse me?"

"It's not Council policy to cure vampires." Wesley actually sounded a little bitter, maybe even angry. "Not under any circumstances, and before you ask yes, I did try to convince them."

"Then call the fuckers back!"

"Dean, they're very firm. We're talking about laws that have existed longer than civilization. They want the Slayer to—"

"No. Screw them."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said: screw them. They want Buffy to do something then they get their asses over here and tell her themselves. We ain't their fucking lapdogs."

"Don't you see what's happening?" A bit of the old assertive Wesley leaked through. "Faith poisoned Angel to distract the lot of you, to keep you out of the way, and it's working. Whatever she's up to, she's going to succeed."

He was right. Dean drummed his fingers on his steering wheel. "Tell me something. You really think Faith's workin' all by herself? Just flying off the handle for no reason?"

Wesley was silent for a moment. "Truth be told… no. She's a troubled young woman, but I don't see her making elaborate plans to create all this mayhem."

"Means someone's pulling her strings. We need to find out who or what."

"An excellent plan. Why don't you come to the library and start your research."

"In case you forgot, my brother is out there somewhere cracked out on demon blood and my sister is probably heading off to murder someone! Why don't you get off your ass and GO DO THIS SHIT YOURSELF?"

Wesley took being shouted at with proper English stoicism. "Well, there's no need to be rude—"

Dean ended the call and sent a quick text to Buffy asking her what was going on. In the meantime, he needed to find Sam. If there was one thing he knew better than anyone else it was his younger brother's habits. All he had to do was find incidents that showed the complete opposite of what Sammy would normally pull and follow the leads.


"Hello?"

"Mrs. Summers, it's Bobby. Bobby Singer. Remember me?"

Buffy's mother put down the book she'd been reading and beamed. "Of course! And it's Joyce, please. How are you?"

"Good, thanks. Listen, has any of those three told you what's been going on?"

"Well, no, but I just assumed it was more Slayer things." Joyce tried to keep all of the bitterness from her tone and failed. She hated being kept in the dark, and by the mad rush of comings and goings the past few days something important was going down. "I thought it best I stay out of the way."

"Maybe, but I can't, and I gotta ask you a big favor."

"Um. Sure. Anything I can do to help."

"Could you pick me up from the LA airport in a few? I'm about to get on a plane."

Los Angeles traffic. Always a joy. "Sure. Just give me your flight information."

"And then I need you to get gone."

This time Joyce didn't bother hiding the dismay and surprise from her voice. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm gonna give it to you straight, Joyce. There ain't nothin' good on the way. It might actually be the worst of the worst coming up from right underneath Sunnydale. You're a civilian, not a soldier, and none of us wants to see you get hurt."

Outraged, Joyce stood and began to sharply gesticulate at the invisible Bobby Singer in her living room. "I'm not leaving my daughter and her brothers here to face some awful thing without me! They've taught me how to shoot. I'm not just a bystander."

"Joyce," Bobby said calmly, "you're her mom. There ain't no way, no how, Buffy's gonna not worry about you. Best thing for her is you being safe and ready to be there for her once it's all over."

"I suppose." He did make a good point. Mostly. "As long as you are going to personally make sure my daughter and those boys come out of this all right."

"I'll do my best."

"Thank you. Now what is it that's got all of you so wound up?"

"How much you know about the Bible?"

"As… As much as anyone off the street, I suppose." Nobody in the Summers family was intensely religious, but after having been told Hell and demons were real (and having met an actual angel) Joyce had done some cursory research. "Why?"

"You know the name Lucifer? Satan?"

"Well, of course."

"He's ready to leave Hell. His doorway is right under your feet, someone in your town is helpin' make it happen, and the only ones who might be able to stop it are those boys and the Slayer."

Joyce's blood ran cold. "I'll go start packing right away."


Acknowledgement : Some lines of dialogue are taken directly from the episodes, "When the Levee Breaks" (SPN 4.21) and "Graduation Day, Part 1" (BtVS 3.21).