Later on, in the basement…

Sam was on his knees after drawing a triangle with symbols at every point on the floor. Candles also surrounded the triangle at every point. In the middle was a circle with a bowl of a green, dry substance in it. He intended to ignore Angels' protests and summon Ruby anyway.

"Ad construgendum ad ligandum eos pariter Et solvendum." Sam stopped his latin chanting at the sound of something behind him but when he turned there was no one there so he turned back, looked up at the roof and sighed before continuing, "Et ad congregantum eos coram me."

He took a box of matches and struck one, watching the flames for a few seconds before throwing the match into the bowl. The content ignited and fire flared up dramatically before it calmed down and burned out. Sam got up off the floor and slowly turned around to look behind him as the floor creaked. Yet, just like before, there was still nothing there.

"You know, phones work too." At the sound of Ruby's voice Sam whirled around to see her leaning against the doorway, smiling, "Hey, Sam. How are Things One and Two?"

Anger seemed to fill the youngest Winchesters face, "How do you get around so fast?"

"I got the Super Bowl jetpack." She walked a few feet towards him, "So. You called?"

"Did you know?"

"Um.. gonna need a tiny bit more."

"About Angels deal. That Lilith holds the contract."

She paused for a beat before nodding, "Yes, I did."

"And… what? You didn't think that was important?"

"You weren't ready."

"For what?"

"If I told you, you three yahoos would have just charged after her half-cocked and Lilith would have peeled the meat from your pretty, pretty faces."

"Well, we're ready now." He looked her over, "I want your knife."

After a short moment of silence she began circling him slowly, "You're right about one thing. You are ready. And now's the time, too. Lilith's guard's down."

"Is that so?"

"She's on shore-leave. A little R&R."

"The hell's that mean?"

"Trust me, you don't wanna know. You didn't lose those hex bags I gave you?"

"We've got 'em."

"Good. Then she won't sense that you're coming."

Sam turned around to look at her when she stopped behind his back, "So you'll give us the knife?"

"No."

"But you just said-"

"You wanna charge in with one little pigsticker? It's a waste of a true-blue window. Like getting Hitler with that exploding briefcase. Forget it."

Anger and frustration filled him yet again, "Okay then how?"

"I know how to save your sister, Sam."

"No, you don't! You told Angel you couldn't! You've been lying to me all along, so just give me your damn knife!"

"You're not the one I've been lying to."

Sam scoffed in disbelief, "Oh, so you can save her?"

"No. But you can."

"What?"

"Sam, you've got some God-given talent." She cocked her head, "Well, not God-given but you get the gist."

"All that psychic crap?" He shook his head, "That's gone ever since Yellow-Eyes died."

"Not gone, dormant." Ruby corrected, "And not just visions either. Why do you think Lilith is so scared of you?"

"Right… she's scared of me."

Ruby shrugged, "If you wanted, you could wipe her off the map without moving a muscle."

"I don't believe you."

"It's the truth."

"And you decided to tell me this just now?"

"Um… demon." She pointed to herself matter-of-factly, "Manipulatives kinda in the job description. Fact is, you would have never considered it. Not until you were-"

"Desperate enough?"

The two of them exchanged a knowing look before Sam broke the eye contact.

"You don't like being different." Ruby shrugged, "You hate the way Dean and even Angel look at you sometimes. Even if big sis tries her hardest to hide it. They both look at you like you're some kind of sideshow freak. Well, suck it up because we've got a lot of ground to cover, and we've gotta do it fast. But we can do it." Sam clenched his jaws as he looked from the floor back up to her, "Look, call me a bitch, hate me all you want, but I have never lied to you, Sam. Not ever. And I'm telling you, you… can save your sister, and I can show you how."

"So that's you, huh?" Dean's voice sounded behind the demon shocking Sam, "Our slutty little Yoda."

"Nah, Yoda's better looking, Dean." Angel sounded next as the two of them walked up behind Ruby looking anything but happy, "You give her way too much credit with that one."

"Dean. Angel." Ruby turned to face them, all the softness in her voice she was using with Sam now gone and replaced with sharp sarcasm, "Charming as ever."

"Man…" Angel took a breath as she shook her head and studied the demon, "Dean and I knew you'd show up. Sams never been real good at following orders." Sam looked at them as they made their way closer but quickly looked away as guilt filled his face, "You aren't teaching him diddly squat, sweet heart. Not while my heart's still pumping."

"Oh?" Ruby centered her with a glare, "Well, you're right about that."

"What you are gonna do is give us that knife." Dean demanded as he stopped beside Angel, "And then you can just go crawl back into whatever slop you came from and never bother me or my brother or my sister again. Are we clear?"

Ruby looked between them, "Your brother is carrying a bomb inside of him and we'd be stupid not to use it."

"Guys, look…" Sam tried to step in, "Just hold on for one-"

"Sam, dont!" Dean turned to him angrily, "Come on man, what, are you blind? Can't you see that this is a trick?"

Ruby turned to Sam softly, "That's not true."

"The hell it isn't!" Angel scoffed just as angry, "She wants you to use this demonic psychic crap to benefit her somehow. She wants to train you to be some kind of freaking Antichrist Superstar. Why can't you see that?"

"I want Lillith dead." Ruby turned back to Angel just as angry as her but trying to contain it, "That's all."

"Why?"

"I've told you why!"

"Right, right." Angel rolled her eyes as her tone turned mocking, "Because you were human once and liked kittens and puppies and long walks on the beach."

"You know…" Ruby advanced on her, "I am so sick of proving myself to you. You wanna save yourself, this is how. You dumb, spineless bitch."

Angel's face went blank as the two women glared at each other in silence while the boys watched tensely. Angel then turned around as if to leave but instead came back and swung a hard right hook that connected to Ruby's cheek as fury filled her face. Dean and Sam equally backed away, each a bit surprised by their sister's surprise outburst. Ruby stumbled a few steps back with the hit before meeting Angel's eyes as she wiped blood from her lip. After a few more tense seconds ticked by Ruby retaliated by landing hits with her right fist and then her left. Dean and Sam immediately tried to step in and separate them.

"Stop!"

"Ruby, hey!"

Ruby stepped around them and hit Sam in the back causing him to double over. She then kneed him in the face before pushing him into a beam. He hit it hard and then slid to the floor. She then kicked Dean in the crotch and sent him to his knees before she kneed him in the face sending him collapsing next to Sam.

Finally turning back to Angel, the hunter landed another hit to the face. As she was about to hit her again she ducked out of the way and used her new position and momentum to knee her in the stomach. She kicked Angel in the face causing her to fall to the floor. As she tried to get up Ruby walked back over and kicked her hard in the stomach sending her rolling over the floor. Kneeling back over she took hold of the hunter and helped her up face to face only to head-butt her so she collapsed backwards to the floor again. As Ruby straightened and looked down at Angel, the hunter began chuckling as she slowly rose to her feet.

Ruby glared, "The hells so funny?"

Angel then pulled out Ruby's knife and held in front of her face as she grinned, "Missing something?"

Fury filled Ruby's eyes, "I'll kill you, you bitch."

Ruby bolted forward towards Angel but midway there she was stopped by an invisible wall. She tried to walk past it once as Angel just stared at her in bloody triumph. Ruby looked from her to the ceiling where a Devils trap was painted. Sam's brows went up as well, equally surprised. Ruby looked at Angel again just as pissed as before.

Angel smirked as she looked from the trap to the demon inside it, "Like I said…" She slid the knife into her pocket, "We thought you might come so we prepped just in case."

"Wait!" Ruby scoffed as Angel walked away from her towards the staircase, followed by Dean, "You're just gonna leave me here?!"

Angel stopped walking, halting Dean behind her, but she ignored Ruby and didn't even turn around as she addressed her brother, "Sam, let's go, now."

Sam obliged and walked over as Angel took a deep breath. She blinked hard, clearing the blood from her vision before leading both of them up the steps.

"Oh, oh you-" Ruby angrily began yelling after them, "So you're just too stupid to live, is that it? Then fine! You deserve hell! I wish I could be there, Angel. I wish I could smell the flesh sizzle off your bones! I WISH I COULD BE THERE TO HEAR YOU SCREAM!"

Instead of Angel responding, Dean did right before he shut the door behind him, "And I wish you'd shut your pie hole, but we don't always get what we want."

"Holy shit." Asas eyes widened as soon as he saw the blonde's beaten face, "I take it she showed? You alright?"

"Peachy." She grimaced as she sat at the table and took the ice pack he grabbed from the freezer, "At least we got the knife now."

Dean glared at Sam for a beat before shaking his head and picking up the clip to his gun to resume loading the weapons. Angel put down the ice pack and resumed cleaning her AE as dead silence settled between them.

Sam sighed heavily before breaking it, "We're just gonna let Ruby rot down there?"

Asa eyed him as he sipped on a beer and Angel didn't even look up from what she was doing, completely ignoring him.

Dean answered without moving his attention from the gun in his hands, "That's the idea."

"What if- what if Ruby's right?" Sam asked, "What if I can take out Lilith?" Angel's head snapped up and she gave him an angry doubtful look, "Quit looking at me like that."

Asa looked between them, "What's he talking about?"

Dean snapped the clip to his gun, hard, into place, "Nothing."

"No. I've told him mostly everything already, but why don't we fill him in on the rest?" Angel got up angrily and abruptly as she met eyes with Sam, "About how Ruby wants to use you as some psychic bomb to take out possibly one of the most powerful demons we've come into contact with." Her voice was rising higher and higher with her anger, "What, are you gonna give her the Carrie-stare and Lilith goes bye bye?"

"I don't know what Ruby meant." Sam shook his head and kept himself calm in comparison, "You know, maybe we should just go ask her."

"Man, your sisters right, Sam." Asa shook his head, "You can't trust anything that black eyed bitch says. She's playing you."

"Thank you!" Dean yelled, "Finally someone else with some sense."

"Look, I got the knife for you, alright?" Angel took it out of her pocket and jabbed it into the table before sitting back down, "That should be enough. We aren't doing it Ruby's way."

"Angel, just listen to me for a second." Sam pleaded, "Last time Lilith snapped her fingers and put thirty demons on our ass, and all we got is one little knife? I mean, like you said, we go in smart or we don't go in at all."

"And you think what she wants to do is smart?"

"We got one shot at this. Just one. So if there's a sure-fire way then maybe we should just talk about it."

Angel slammed her hands onto the table and made the boys flinch as her eyes read fire, a look that reminded both of them of their father, "We are not making the same mistakes all over again."

Sam shook his head in confusion, "You said that but what does it even mean?"

Angel took a steadying breath as she stared at him, "Can you give us a minute Asa?" Asa nodded once before hesitantly walking to the other room, knowing better than to try to get in the middle of Angel and her brothers, and Angels face softened as she spoke, "Don't you see a pattern here, Sammy? Dad's deal, my deal, now this? I mean every time one of us is- is up the creek the other is begging to sell their soul. That's all this is, Sammy. Ruby's just feeding you the lines you want to hear and you know exactly where it's heading." Her eyes jumped from him to Dean and back, "Both of you do. You just don't want to see it because you don't want to lose me."

Sam shook his head a bit and grasped her arm softly, "Angel." He met her eyes pleadingly, "What do you think is gonna happen? This is me, I can handle it." Angel stiffened and shook her head, "And if it'll save you…"

"Sammy…" Angel frowned as she stared at him in sadness and despair, "Why even risk it?"

Dean's face tightened at that. He didn't want to interrupt, if anyone could get through to their brother it was Angel. Not to mention, working with another demon wasn't the way Dean wanted to play this either, but her words seemed to slice through him because he understood why Sam wanted to risk it.

Sam looked away from her for a split second before meeting her eyes again with the obvious answer, "Because you're my sister. Because you did the same thing for me."

"And look how that turned out, Sammy. Look around at what's happening, where we are, what we're doing. We're going in circles here." He looked away from her at her words, "Look… what i mean is… you and Dean… you two are my weak spot. You always will be." She managed a smile as she began to choke up, "You are. And I'm both of yours, too."

"You don't mean that." Dean shook his head as tears filled his own eyes, "We're… we're family."

"I know. And those evil bastards know it too. I mean, what we'll do for each other, how far we'll go… They're using it against us. That's why i'm here, boys. That's why I'm gonna die."

"So what?" Sam bristled, "You're saying we just stop looking out for each other?"

"I think what she means is…" Dean took a big breath and shifted his eyes to his sister, "We stop being martyrs. We stop making it easy for them." He motioned to the knife on the tabe, "We take that knife and we gut that bitch our way. The way Dad taught us to. And if we go down, then, uh… then we go down swinging, together." Sam and Angel both just look him over silently, "So? What do you think?"

They each stared at him silently, thinking and taking everything in.

Sam looked down on the floor before he smirked, "I think you totally should have been jamming Eye of the Tiger right there."

Angel chuckled, "For sure." She cocked an eyebrow, "I was waiting for fireworks or some kind of special effects there for a second."

"Bite me." Dean rolled his eyes but chuckled, "I totally rehearsed that speech in my head, too."

Sam grinned at that, "Alright, uh so Indiana?"

"That's where the hell bitch will be." Angel nodded as she stood, "She's having her little siesta over there apparently."

"Tell me something." Dean frowned as he and Sam stood as well, "The hell's a demon do for fun?"

Angel grimaced, "I'm not sure if i even want to know."

Sam sighed, "Asa still on bored after everything you told him about me?"

"Oh yeah." She shook her head in dismissal, "But that doesnt matter. He's not coming with us. He's staying here with Bobby so they are both out of the warzone. It's bad enough I gotta worry about you two."

"Ang… he loves you. They both love you. You really think either one of them is going to let you bench them?"

"No, which is why I'm not giving them the option." Angel instructed walking out, "Lets go."

The three of them all got into the impala to leave, but as Dean tried to start up the car it just whirred instead of turning over. The three Winchesters all looked around at each other worriedly before Bobby popped up outside Deans door, startling the three of them with his sudden appearance.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Dean looked at him and the distributor cap he held in his hand in shocked silence. Angel sighed and got out of the backseat followed by her brothers. She walked up to Bobby, who looked the furthest thing from pleased, but Angel held that same feeling clear as day on her own face.

"Bobby…" She sighed, "We got the knife."

"And you intend to use it without me."

Sam and Dean come from around the car to stand in the middle next to each of them. They both watched their sister and father figure stare at each other challengingly with wary eyes.

"Do I look like a ditchable prom-date to you?"

"No, Bobby." Sam shook his head, "Of course not."

"This is about me… and the boys, Bobby." Angel sighed, "This isn't yours or Asas' fight."

"The hell it isn't!" Bobby furiously walked up to Angel, with the blonde looking at him in slight shock, "Family don't end with blood, girl. Besides, you need me and you need that boy."

"Bobby."

"You're playing wounded. Tell me, how many hallucinations have you had so far?"

The boys both looked at her in puzzlement at Bobbys words. Angel sighed as she turned and looked at them like she was caught in a lie. She tilted her head at them once, apologizing for not telling them.

She then turned back to Bobby with a curious eye, "How…?"

"Because that's what happens when you've got hellhounds on your butt." He looked to all three of them pointedly, "And because I'm smart." Angel looked down at the ground as the boys watched her before Bobby handed Dean the distributor cap, "I'll follow." Bobby walked away from them to his own car but paused, "Don't be stopping to pee every ten minutes either."

After a moment Dean walked over to the hood of his car to put the part back and Sam followed. Angel was about to as well when Asa caught her arm and turned her back around.

"I think you and I need to talk for a second."

Angel averted her eyes from his, "Asa…"

"Look, I understand you're scared. I get it. I also understand how dangerous this is and why you don't want us coming with you, but i don't care, Ang. You don't get to tell me to sit this one out." His eyes pierced hers as she met his gaze, "I'm not just going to sit here twiddling my thumbs. I'm coming with you and I'm going to help make sure you come back in one piece, you understand me?"

Tears sprung to her eyes at his words. She wasn't confident they were going to be able to save. In fact, Angel didn't think this was going to end in her favor at all. If she had her way all of them would be staying behind so she could keep all of them from behind haunted by her fate. In the same breath though she felt some comfort in knowing she'd be surrounded by the people she loved most before the hounds dragged her to hell. Nodding she let him kiss her forehead before they both got inside the impala and drove off with Bobby close behind.