AUTHOR'S NOTES - Hell To Pay (Season 3)
This is the sequel to my previous story "All Hell Breaks Loose" which covers Season 2 of Supernatural, and prior to that my story "Highway to Hell" which covers Season 1. If you haven't read either of those yet, I suggest you start there because otherwise you're jumping into a story already in progress, and it will give you all the background you need to know about who Beth is and her story. (Plus, it's like a week – at least depending on how fast you read – worth of fun stories!)
This story picks up at the start of Season 3 – Supernatural. Beth is now reeling from the fact that Dean sold his soul in order to get her out of the deal she made with the crossroads demon to bring Sam back to life. Now they all have to learn to cope with the sobering thought that in a year's time, Dean is going to Hell, and there's nothing they can do about it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or any of the storyline that follows the show itself. Any changes to storyline and addition of characters (ie. Beth & Jefferson, just to name a couple) are all mine :)
The only OC I don't own is Cole Singer – she's a crossover from my friend EarthhAngel. Be sure to go check out her story How To Save A Lifefor some John Winchester focused writing, plus some early Dean & Beth back story :) It's been an absolute ball collaborating on that story and there's plenty more story to come!
Ever felt that you've been lied
And somehow you just can't provide the proof
Ever felt you're cast aside
And sheltered from the universal truth
Ever find when trouble calls you're first in line
And stick your finger in
Everybody's talking 'bout 7 deadly sins
Number one says drop the gun
There's nothing out there that's worth dying for
And number two that's me and you
I can hear them calling out
I can hear them screaming out
Blood is sweet like a deep red river
And where it goes I don't know
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Motel Room
Sam's POV
It'd been a bit over a week and we hadn't see any repercussions from the release of an entire demon army.
Beth's demon sense was working over time, she felt sick the majority of the time and Dean and I had needed to force her back into doing her daily prayer. She said it felt fake, but it worked: I couldn't explain that. How could you believe in something working when that faith wasn't extended to its source? Beth would have been the one I'd normally talk to about that, but she was quiet on the subject, not wanting to discuss her feelings about angels, or God. She and Dean definitely weren't discussing the whole demon deal, in fact, you'd think it had never happened to listen to them. So they were doing what they did best, well maybe second best: living in denial while I resorted to what my expertise was: research.
My most recent acquisition was Dr Faustus and I was clutching it in my arms along with my laptop and phone as Dean shoved me out the motel room door.
"Sorry man, you have just got to go now!" He said, glancing back at Beth who had just stepped out of the bathroom wearing only a towel. "She's not feeling sick for the first time in days, and well, a man has needs!"
"Dude! Too much information!" I muttered at him, shaking my head and trying to force that image out of my head.
Dean laughed and shut the door in my face. Great. I made my way over to the Impala, dumping my things on the front seat and settling in for what would inevitably be a few hours. I glanced over at the motel room and Dean was standing in the window holding two thumbs up at me and grinning like a Cheshire cat. I smiled at him and shook my head, chuckling as Beth stepped into view talking to Dean. He pulled shut the curtains and I could see them silhouetted against the light material; suddenly there was the shadow of that towel being pulled free and I lowered my gaze – I really didn't want to see that.
Half an hour later and I was starting to think I should look into getting my own room, at least I'd have decent lighting to read to. My phone rang and I answered it. Bobby's voice sounded over the connection.
"Hey Sam," he said.
"Hey Bobby," I replied, looking down at the book on my knee.
"What're you doing?" Bobby asked, I could hear that he was on the road again, the sound of his car droning in the background.
"Oh, same old, same old." I said to him.
"You buried in that book again?" He asked me and I chewed on my lip. Bobby's voice came back over the line, disapproving when I didn't answer. "Sam, you want to break Dean free from that demon deal, you ain't gonna find the answer in no book."
"Then where, Bobby?" I asked him, frustrated. It was the only way I knew how to work, research was my thing, I was better at it than fighting, it was my strength and if it couldn't help me now, then what good was it?
"Kid, I wish I knew," Bobby said. "So where's Dean and Beth?"
"Doing what they do best," I said without missing a beat.
"What?" Bobby asked, confused by the reference.
"Never mind," I muttered and shook my head.
"Well you kids better pack it up. I think I finally found something," Bobby said and I looked up at the motel room, grimacing. I hung up and wondered if I'd given them enough time. Surely I had, Beth had been so sick in the last five days I doubted they'd gotten any time to work through their sexual frustrations, definitely wouldn't have taken long.
Motel Room
Beth's POV
I hadn't really been expecting to be jumped as soon as I got out of the shower, but I wasn't complaining. The last few days had been intense, I'd spent most of it sleeping or praying it felt like, and when I wasn't doing either of those things I was feeling sick in general – apparently just having released two hundred or more demons into the world was messing with my demon sense, regardless of whether we could find the damn things or not. Either way, it didn't really make for romantic, or even just plain down and dirty sexual liaisons.
What a relief that Dean was seeing things my way, of course he usually did when it came to getting alone time. He'd casually enquired as to how I was feeling, and when I suggested we should be getting our own room he'd wasted no time at all shoving Sam out the door.
That action had brought us through a half hour of foreplay to this moment. I looked down at Dean with a cheeky grin, tying my hair back behind me in a ponytail, that felt much better! Dean's hands played along my sides, sliding up to my breasts as he cupped them, tweaking the nipples between his fingers and massaging. I gasped and looked down, meeting his hungry look.
"Quit messing with your hair already," he said, leaning up to take a nipple in his mouth and sucking on it. I moaned at the sensation coursing through that breast.
"Damn," I groaned as he continued to flick his tongue across his target. "Well I'm hot!"
"Yes you are..." he said huskily and then his hands grasped my hips, rocking me against his erection. I repositioned myself, sliding down on to him with a groan. Foreplay was well and truly over with, Dean's look was pretty clear, let's get down to business.
I rocked a few times against him, eliciting a groan from those tasty lips. His chest felt firm and hot beneath my hands as I trailed my fingertips down his pecs. Leaning down I took a nipple between thumb and finger, flicking the tip across it and dragging a shuddering groan from him as he arched underneath me. I ground my hips against him, slowly and deliberately, keeping him deep and pushed up against that soft spot within.
A deep pulsing tremor coursed through my body and I felt myself start to ride the wave, sitting back, Dean's nipple completely forgotten. He groaned, holding on to my hips, rocking with me as I threw my head back and moaned at how good it felt. I closed my eyes, gasping for breath as I started to clamp down on Dean.
"Oh god... oh yes, oh yes...ohhh god," I groaned, thrusting against Dean, trying to get even closer. There was a noise to the right of us and I opened my eyes in time to see Sam walk through the door, staring in horror. "Oh my God!" I called out in shock to Dean's "Oh yeah!" He hadn't seen Sam, but I had and I dove for the covers.
Dean looked confused, then saw Sam who was now ducking back out the door, slamming it shut. "No, no, no, no! Dammit Sam!" Dean cried out. His hands slid around my waist as I lay sprawled across the bed reaching for some semblance of clothing. They trailed determinedly down to my clit and brushed against it with confident strokes. I groaned and arched up, rising to my hands and knees.
"Jesus Dean! Stop that!" I gasped.
"No way, he's gone and we are definitely not done here," he said to me, kissing the back of my neck, his chest pressed against me. I couldn't argue because I was too busy moaning to his touch which was rocking against my throbbing groin. He held me tightly against him and I felt his erection press it's way back into my wet and ready entrance.
I looked back to see that he was so close, this was happening and it was happening now. I rocked back and he thrust deeply inside of me. The angle had changed, and it was even better. I moved in unison to his thrusts, meeting the need head on. One hand Dean kept on my clit, dragging along it as he thrust. The other grasped my left breast and firmly squeezed it as he drove into me over and over.
I climaxed with a heated rush, crying out from the sheer intensity of it all and feeling the tremors ripple through me, my legs turning to jello as I collapsed to the bed. Dean continued to thrust into me a few more times and then he too tensed, fingers digging into my hips almost painfully as his own heat shot out of him, filling me and pulling him under. He collapsed against my back, kissing my neck while he rocked into me a few more times, shuddering with a deep guttural groan.
Dean pulled me back into him as he hit the mattress with a long groan, turning my head to kiss me lazily. "Damn girl, you were gonna just leave me hanging?" He asked. I looked at him a little guiltily, kissing him back.
"Oh my god I don't even want to think about what just happened," I groaned, moving to bury my head in his shoulder.
"Oh don't tell me you didn't like it, I know you're lying," he said with a confident grin. I looked up at him, raising my eyebrow.
"Not that, geez Dean! I'm talking about the part where Sam walked in!" I said, starting to turn red in the cheeks. Dean laughed heartily and kissed me.
"Oh that! You worry too much, serves him frickin' right – he knew what we were doing in here!"
Impala
Highway headed for Nebraska
Dean's POV
I had the Impala hurtling down the highway, and I swear she got airborne on the last rise. I looked in the mirror at Beth, I was pretty sure she was feigning sleep just to avoid an awkward conversation with Sam. She looked a little green as we landed and I slowed down slightly, didn't need her throwing up all over the upholstery.
"Let me see your knife," Sam said out of the blue.
"What for?" I asked, glancing over at him.
"So I can gouge my eyes out!" Sam said and I snickered at him.
"It was a beautiful, natural act, Sam," I said to him and I could have sworn I saw Beth roll her eyes behind me, she definitely wasn't asleep.
"It's a part of you guys I never wanted to see Dean," Sam said, shuddering and closing his eyes like he was trying to shut out the images.
I chuckled and slapped Sam across the knee. "Well hey, I appreciate you giving me a little quality time with the Doublemint Twins." I grinned, turning back to the road and thinking about those soft, succulent breasts under my hands as Beth rode me. I almost groaned out loud thinking about it. Damn Sammy for interrupting that moment.
"No problem," Sam said quietly and I frowned, now that was not the Sam we knew and loved.
"Really?" I asked, blatantly surprised. "Well, I got to say, I was expecting a weary sigh or an eye roll, something."
"Not at all, you guys deserve to have a little fun." Sam said.
"Well, I'm in violent agreement with you there," I chuckled, looking in the mirror at Beth. My attention turned to Bobby and why he had called, Sam hadn't gotten into specifics, and in the heat of the moment, I hadn't thought to ask. "What's Bobby got?"
"Not much," Sam answered. "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 pointed out to him, wondering if perhaps we weren't hurtling down the highway toward a minor issue. Cicadas and dead crops hardly pointed to a demonic plague.
"Yeah, but it's our only lead," Sam said.
"Any freaky deaths?" I asked, hoping there was something more to go on.
"No, nothing Bobby could find – not yet, anyway," Sam answered and I shrugged, looking back at the highway ahead of us.
"It's weird man. I mean, the night the devil's gate opened, all these weirdo storm clouds were sighted over how many cities?" I said, glancing at him.
"Seventeen," Sam said.
"Seventeen," I said with a nod. "You'd think it would be Apocalypse Now, but it's been five days and bupkis." It was getting to me, what the hell were they all waiting for? We knew they were out there, Beth was sick as a dog and we weren't even near them for all the clues we had. Her being sick only had a few explanations to me. Either she was really really out of practice with all the prayer stuff – which I could safely say was a very likely possibility given what we'd been through lately; or there were just so many of the bastards up top now that she was getting signals from them all, wherever they were – which was a much more frightening scenario. More frightening yet was the thought that she might be pregnant again, I glanced up nervously at her, then shook my head. No, definitely wasn't that kind of sick this time. Just the same, maybe I should think about adding more protection to the mix... especially now.
Especially now. I shifted uncomfortably and didn't like where my brain was going; maybe it would be better to leave her with something to remember me by... now I really had something to think about. I pushed that thought out of my mind, probably should to talk to her about that one. After all, maybe she wouldn't want to be left alone with a baby, knowing I was in Hell. Maybe she'd want to move on eventually, didn't she deserve to have that?
I looked up in the mirror again at Beth, this time I think she really had fallen asleep, she looked so peaceful. My stomach tensed at the thought of any other man ever hitting on my girl and I groaned out loud in frustration.
Sam frowned at me and I glanced over again. "What are the demons waiting for?" I asked, saying anything to get my mind off where it had been focused on.
"Beats me," Sam answered, shaking his head.
"It's driving me crazy! I tell you, if it's gonna be war, I wish it would just start already." I said, squeezing the steering wheel in an effort to release some tension.
"I don't know, man," Sam said to me. "Be careful what you wish for." I glanced over at him again. All this damn waiting around, wondering what was coming for us next. Anything had to be better than that, right?
Just Outside Lincoln, Nebraska
Sam's POV
Dean pulled the Impala up behind the '71 Chevelle that Bobby used when he wasn't in his truck. It was a bright sunny day and the farm we'd just shown up at looked clean and welcoming. Bobby was leaning against his car, already waiting for us.
The sound of thousands of cicadas filled the air as we got out of the car. I looked over at Dean and Beth, frowning. "Hear those cicadas?" I asked.
"That can't be a good sign," Beth said with a nod.
"No, no it can't," I said to them, watching as Dean took a massive bite out of the burger he was eating and starting to chew away.
"So, we're eating bacon cheeseburgers for breakfast, are we?" Bobby said, walking up to us and looking at Dean.
"Well, I sold my soul. Got a year to live. I ain't sweating the cholesterol," Dean quipped with a shrug. Bobby looked over at Beth who was working her way through her own burger.
"What's your excuse?" He asked, and Beth turned tired eyes toward him.
"Comfort eating," she said with a slight smile and shrug, her gaze flicking toward Dean sadly for a moment, and then hardening as I watched her shove it all back down behind a curtain of false bravado. I sighed, watching her, I had no idea how I was going to help her through this next year, I was still reeling from the news myself.
Bobby was frowning at Beth too, but she ignored his pointed look.
"So, Bobby, what do you think? Have we got a biblical plague here or what?" She asked, looking around the farm. Her expression kind of said it all, she didn't think so.
"Well, let's find out. Looks like the swarm's ground zero," Bobby said.
We made our way up to the house and Dean pounded on the door. "Candygram!" He waited half a minute before pulling his lock picks out of his pocket and starting to work on the door. Bobby and Beth both pulled guns out of their jackets and I shook my head. Why did they always have to resort to weaponry?
Beth looked over at me and narrowed her eyes, glancing down at my hip where my own gun was tucked. She raised an eyebrow at me and I sighed, giving in, pulling the gun out and getting it ready. Beth was the master at unspoken orders, it was downright scary sometimes. I didn't know what the hell good a gun was going to do against a demon if we encountered one, but I wasn't going to get into that argument with her.
Dean turned back and looked at Beth as he got the door unlocked. "You feeling anything?" He asked, and she shook her head negatively at him. He looked thoughtful and then pushed the door open, entering the house.
The smell hit us first, like rancid meat that had been left out of the fridge too long. We all covered our noses and grimaced.
"That's awful!" I said, I'd never smelled anything quite like it, it was foul, I covered my nose with my sleeve, trying to get rid of the rotted fetid stench that was filling my nostrils.
"That so can't be a good sign," Dean said, reaching to the small of his back where he pulled out his own gun. Bobby and Beth broke off to the left, moving into the kitchen. Dean and I pushed forward toward the centre of the house.
We moved quietly, sweeping each room we came to. As I reached the other side of the dining room I heard panicked screams coming from the other side of the door. Dean crossed to me.
"You hear that?" I asked and he nodded moving toward the door. We framed the door either side, pausing a moment and then I kicked it in as we threw ourselves into the room. The smell from earlier hit us face on, billowing out and choking what little fresh air we'd had. I buried my nose in the fabric of my jacket, staring at the scene before us.
A small television set sat in the corner of the room facing a three-seater couch which was propped at an angle in the middle of the room. Three bodies were seated on the couch, reclining back and clearly in a state of decay. Flies droned around a man, woman and young teen who were looking like they had been sucked dry of all fluid, shrivelled and lifeless.
"Oh, my god!" I said.
Bobby and Beth entered the room on the other side and recoiled in horror at what they were looking at.
"Bobby, what the hell happened here?" I asked him, Beth looked green around the gills, like all her nausea had just hit her threefold.
"I don't know," Bobby said, shaking his head.
"Check for sulphur," Beth suggested, and we nodded, taking a look around the room.
I was looking over a window sill when Dean whistled softly, drawing our attention. He was crouched on the floor behind the couch, and he signalled with his hand that he'd heard a noise and was going to check it out. I looked at Bobby and Beth who were circling around and leaving in the direction they'd come, I crept back down the hallway we'd entered from. Dean took the third door which led directly outside, where he'd heard the noise.
Beth met me on the porch and we crept around the side of the house, startling when we heard a few hits and Dean grunt. Beth was moving ahead of me, rounding the corner, her gun drawn. My eyes widened when I saw Dean on the ground in front of a couple, shotgun pointed right at his chest.
Beth moved cautiously toward them, eyes on Dean and gun drawn, they looked up at us, their body language turning defensive until Bobby suddenly cried out from behind them.
"Isaac? Tamara?!" Bobby said, clearly recognising the pair of Dean's attackers.
"Bobby? What the hell are you doing here?" The woman asked with a smile, turning dark eyes toward him.
"I could ask you the same," Bobby said, sounding surprised, moving up to them. The three of them relaxed and Beth tucked her gun into the waistband of her jeans, moving to Dean's side and grimacing at the blood trickling from his nose.
"Heya, Bobby!" Isaac said, taking Bobby's hand and shaking it enthusiastically.
Dean groaned as Beth helped him sit up. "Son of a bitch!" He muttered and she fussed over him a little, pulling out a cloth from her jacket to help staunch the flow of blood.
"Why do they always go for the nose?" Dean groaned, touching it gingerly.
"I don't know, and you have such a cute nose too," Beth said with a grin. The couple just looked at Dean and Beth, raising an eyebrow, clearly not amused. I chuckled, shaking my head. Their humour in the face of all the crap we saw every day never failed to lighten the mood, though I tried not to encourage it otherwise they'd just get carried away all the time.
Isaac & Tamara's House
Lincoln, Nebraska
Beth's POV
Isaac and Tamara's house was the strangest combination of comfortable country living and supernatural library and warehouse that I'd ever seen. Even Bobby's library, full of every occult book under the sun, didn't compare.
We were standing in what probably once passed for a combined kitchen and dining area, but looked more like a voodoo supply store. Shelves of unidentified jars filled with different herbs and various other items lined one wall. Sam was looking at yet more bunches of herbs that were hanging from the ceiling drying. Bobby was into the maps on the wall which were currently being used to track demon omens while Dean was on his phone, chatting up some girl.
"Jenny! That is a beautiful name. That's my sister's name, actually," Dean said and I rolled my eyes. He wandered off into the adjoining living room while Isaac stalked around the room, looking for something, tension rolling off his body.
"Honey? Where's the Palo Santo?" He asked anxiously, throwing his arms in the air and turning his dark eyes to his wife. She was standing by a table, rummaging through some items.
"Well, where'd you leave it?" She asked him. Isaac rolled his eyes at her.
"I don't know, dear. That's why I'm asking," he said in a derogatory tone. I raised my eyebrow at him and shook my head slightly, looking into the living room at Dean who was pacing as he talked on the phone. Thank God he never took that tone with me, I'd be just as likely to stab him with his damn Palo Santo than help him find it.
"Palo Santo?" Sam asked, looking around curiously.
"It's holy wood," I said, looking over at him. "From Peru." I'd read about it in my Dad's journal, which John had given me years ago. Hard to find, I'd never seen it in all the years I'd been hunting with John and Dean.
"It's toxic to demons, like holy water," Tamara explained to Sam. "Keeps the bastards nailed down while you're exorcising them."
As a former meat-suit for demons, I had a slight problem with that. Especially since I also knew what it was like to have wood pierce through you. If you were lucky to miss a vital organ, like I had been, it still hurt like a bitch and you ran the risk of bleeding to death. So the idea of using Palo Santo as a first choice against demons, not my idea of a good time for the hosts. On the same token – I wasn't about to stick around and get killed by a demon because of sentimentality, and this was a war we were talking about, I had a feeling many innocent lives would be lost. But then, that was usually the case in war.
Tamara walked over to the table Isaac was standing at, pulling out a drawer and digging around. She pulled out a large, pointed stake to drive her statement home, handing it to Isaac who took it with an affectionate smile.
"Thank you, dear." Isaac said in a monotone voice.
"You'd lose your head if it wasn't for me," Tamara said with a smile. I found myself curious about how they'd both gotten into hunting. She seemed so sweet, whereas he was clearly fighting off demons of his own, cold and calculating.
"So, how long have you two been married?" I asked them.
"Eight years this past June," Tamara said, Isaac put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her in to place a kiss on Tamara's forehead.
"The family that slays together..." He said, smiling at his wife.
"Right," Sam said, joining in the conversation. "I'm with you there," he said, tossing me a grin. "So how'd you get started?" There was an awkward silence that fell as the couple looked down at the table in front of them. I bit my lip, jumping in to save Sam.
"You know, it's really none of our business..." I said cautiously, throwing Sam a warning look. Not all of us were as comfortable as this family was about how we'd gotten into hunting. Sam looked a little chagrined and turned to Isaac and Tamara.
"Yeah, I'm sorry... it's really … sorry." He muttered.
"No, no, it's... it's all right," Tamara said quietly, brushing it off.
"Well, Jenny, if you look as pretty as you sound, then I'd love to have an appletini," Dean said, walking back into the room, grimacing at me as he said appletini. I snickered, crossing my arms with a smile in his direction. "Yeah," Dean finished. "Call you." He hung up the phone quickly, rolling his eyes. "That was the coroner's tech," he said, looking around at us all.
"And?" I prompted.
"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 said with a frown.
"Right. What is this, a demon attack?" Sam asked and we all turned to look at Bobby.
"If it is, it's not like anything I ever saw, and I've seen plenty," he said, turning to me. "Your Dad's journal ever say anything like this?"
I shook my head. "Nothing," I replied.
"Well, what now? What should we do?" Dean asked, looking around.
"Uh, we're not gonna do anything," Isaac said with a smug look.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"You guys seem nice enough, but this ain't Scooby Doo, and we don't play well with others." Isaac replied. I smirked at the comment. Fine by me, I didn't like the guy anyway, he had been rubbing me the wrong way with his superior attitude from the moment I met him. The fact that he'd smashed Dean in the face hadn't really endeared him to me. His misogynistic attitude toward his wife wasn't doing him any favours either.
"Well, I think we'd cover a lot more ground if we all worked together," Sam said, trying to play the peacemaker.
"No offence," Isaac said, and I rolled my eyes at Dean who frowned back at me, "but we're not teaming with the damn fools who let the Devil's Gate get opened in the first place," he finished.
Dean raised his eyebrow, and exchanged an understanding look with me. "No offence?" He asked with a smirk.
"Isaac. Like you've never made a mistake." Tamara admonished her husband.
"Oh yeah, yeah. Locked my keys in the car, turned my laundry pink. Never brought on the end of the world though," he said sarcastically.
Dean chuckled, but there was an anger underlying his stance. "All right. That's enough," he said with a warning.
Sam glanced at his brother, frowning. "Guys, this isn't helping. Dean..."
"Look," Isaac said, interrupting, staring Dean down. "there are a couple hundred more demons out there now. 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, taking Isaac by the arm and pulling him out of the room. Dean crossed his arms and huffed, watching them go.
"Great," I groaned, running a hand across my face. I just wanted to leave, but it was late. Looked like we were bunking down with a couple of people who absolutely hated us. "Think it's too late to get a motel?" I asked Dean, coming over to rest my hands on his hips. He looked at me and relaxed his stance, glancing at Bobby while wrapping his arms around my waist.
"I think it's best we stay here the night," Bobby said. "Get a fresh start in the morning." I sighed, leaning into Dean. Great, just great.
Department Store
Lincoln, Nebraska
Dean's POV
I don't know how we'd gotten to this point, I think it had all started with Beth bending over to look a display of shoes where one of the witnesses had last seen the victim, she was looking for sulphur or something. I was checking out her ass and the way she moved in the new jeans she was wearing.
I'd pulled a couple of revealing tops off the nearest rack to me and pushed her toward the change room. "I think you should try these on," I'd said, "And I think I should give you a hand."
We were tucked away in the change room cubicle where I was kissing along Beth's collarbone, she was down to jeans and a bra as I ran my hands around her waist, trailing my fingers along her lower back. She moaned softly at the touch, kissing me back with a quiet hunger.
A knock at the cubicle door drew our attention to the outer world and Beth raised her eyebrow.
"Yes?" She asked tentatively, turning to start kissing along my neck.
"Guys, what do you think you are doing?" Sam's voice sounded from the other side of the door. I groaned and opened it, showing him exactly what we were doing. Sam flushed and turned his back to us.
"I'm … testing out the merchandise. What are you doing?" I asked him.
"Working," Sam said pointedly. "Dead body, possible demon attack – that kind of stuff?"
Beth was pulling on her top again and buttoning it up at the front, shaking her head.
"Sam, I'm sorry," I said to him, turning on my pathetic look. "It's just, I don't have much time left, and... got to make every second count," I said, laying it on thick. It was kind of true, but it wasn't the whole reason I was doing this. Beth needed the distraction too, because if she was allowed to think for too long on what had really happened at those crossroads she was going to have a break down, and I really didn't know what I was going to do when that time came, so I was trying to delay it for as long as I could.
"Yeah, right," Sam said, looking at me a little apologetically. "All right. Sorry."
"Apology accepted," I said with a smirk, and I turned back to Beth, pulling her back into my arms for another kiss.
She froze, looking out past both Sam and I, and then a smile came on to her face. I turned to see what the sudden interest was in, and saw Bobby walking into the store. He was wearing a suit and tie, his hair slicked back – he looked, well, downright respectful.
"Whoa!" I said, whistling at him. He stopped to admire himself in the mirror and I grinned. "Looking spiffy Bobby. What were you, a g-man?" I asked.
"Attorney for the D.A.'s office," he replied, turning to face us. "I just spoke to the suspect."
"Yeah? So, what do you think?" Sam asked. "Was she possessed or what?"
"Don't think so," Bobby answered. "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?" I asked.
"If it had been an isolated incident, maybe, but first the family, now this?" Bobby said, shaking his head. "I believe in a lot of things. Coincidence ain't one of them. Did you kids find anything around here?"
"No sulphur, nothing," Beth said, shaking her head.
"Well, maybe something," I said, nodding to the camera in the ceiling. I looked at Sam with a smirk. "See? I'm working."
Security Room
Department Store
Sam's POV
Getting access to the security room hadn't been a problem. The manager thought we were a combination of FBI and local law enforcement, and had been more than happy to show us up to see the footage from right before the attack.
I was slouched in a chair, staring at the screen. Dean and Beth were conversing quietly at the back of the room, and Bobby was hovering over my shoulder. Beth sighed at Dean, a little agitated and I frowned – I didn't know what they were discussing. Dean reached out to touch her face and smooth over the irritation like he always did; I shook my head, the man had talent, even I had to admit it.
After a moment they both turned, coming over to where I was sitting.
"Anything interesting?" Dean asked me, they were both back to business as usual.
I sat forward, nodding at the screen. "I don't know yet. Might just be a guy...or it might be our guy."
We all watched as a red-haired bearded man approached our attacker in the store. She had been flipping through a sales rack when he put his hand on her shoulder, speaking to her in a low tone while looking at the girl who had been murdered just moments later. After he'd finished talking to the blonde he smiled and walked away. Nothing further. It still seemed odd because just moments later our attacker was obsessing over a pair of shoes that she hadn't even seemed to want just minutes earlier, and it had led to the death of the other woman.
It was enough for us to decide to investigate further, taking print outs of the guy's photo and deciding to canvass the area. Splitting up outside the store, I went in one direction, Dean the other. Bobby and Beth took the other side of the road. I was deep in thought, trying to puzzle out just what the connection could be between the man in the video and the attacker and victim. Footsteps fell behind me, not like the other people around me, they sounded different, determined, like I was being followed.
I slowed down and bowed my head, waiting to see if the stride changed, it did, slowly just slightly so I spun around to get a look at whoever it was. A delivery man pushing a trolley crossed my view and when he was out of the way the pavement was empty, and whatever I had been hearing, or sensing, was gone. I swallowed nervously, this whole case had me on edge, I didn't like it one iota.
When I found the others, literally hours and hours later, they were sitting in Bobby's car outside a bar, watching for our prey. I'd taken the Impala to look into our John Doe on the video, and so they were all crammed into Bobby's car. Beth was in the very back, leaning forward and looking out the windshield at the bar off to the side. I smirked and decided to give them a little scare.
Sneaking up behind them I pounded loudly on the window where Dean was sitting. All three of them jumped so high they nearly hit the roof. I grinned and opened the door.
"That's not funny!" Dean said with a frown.
"Yeah." I said with a grin, pushing Dean forward into the dash as I flipped his seat forward and squeezed into the back with Beth. "Uh, all right, so – so, John Doe's name is Walter Rosen." I informed them. Dean sat back with a groan and shut the door. "He's from Oak Park, just west of Chicago. Went missing about a week ago."
"The night the Devil's Gate opened?" Dean asked.
"Yeah," I said with a nod.
"So you think he's possessed?" Beth asked from beside me.
"It's a good bed." I said, but that was about as far as I'd gotten.
"So what, he just walks up to someone, touches them, and they go stark raving psycho?" Dean asked.
"Those demons that got out at the gate – they're gonna do all kinds of things we haven't seen," Bobby said from the driver's seat. It was a sobering thought.
"You mean the demons we let out?" I said, feeling a stab of guilt at how we had failed to stop that from happening.
Beth groaned and leaned forward to Dean. "What time is it?" She asked, looking tired.
"Seven past midnight," he said, looking at his watch. "You ok?" He asked and I looked at her a little closer, she did look a little pale.
"Not really," she confessed, lying back against the seat again. "I feel like I'm having head spins again, no fun at all." I looked at her and reached over to tug at the rosary she always wore around her neck, pulling it free of her top. I held it up for her and looked at her pointedly.
Beth sighed and took it, nodding. She had a mantra she used, the Litany of St Joseph who was a protector against demons, which helped push back the presence she felt when demons were around. The more she prayed, the easier she handled the demons, strange that. Yet it worked. Problem with Beth was that she'd kind of lost faith in anything lately, so getting her to pray wasn't easy.
She took the rosary from my hands and attempted a scowl, falling short. With a nod, Beth closed her eyes and started to whisper barely under her breath. Dean threw me a smile and I leaned forward.
"You sure this is the right place?" Bobby asked.
"No. But I spent all day canvassing this stupid town with this guy's stupid mug, and, supposedly, he drinks at this stupid bar," Dean muttered, crossing his arms.
"Guys," I said with a nod, noticing as our prey got out of a car and walked toward the bar.
"All right," Dean said, reaching for the handle of the door. "Show-time!"
"Wait a minute," Bobby said, stilling him.
"What?" Dean asked with a frown.
"What did I just say? We don't know what to expect out of this guy. We should tail him till we know for sure," Bobby pointed out.
"Oh, so he kills someone and we just sit here with our junk in our hands?!" Dean asked.
"We're no good dead!" Bobby said, stating facts. "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." I said, noticing a familiar car pull into the parking lot.
"Why not?" Bobby asked.
I nodded and then pointed as Isaac and Tamara got out of their car, following our guy toward the bar.
"Damn it!" Bobby cursed, hitting the steering wheel.
The Old Terminal Pub
Lincoln, Nebraska
Beth's POV
I had been reciting my litany over and over, focusing on it until there was nothing else in my mind. The nausea started to recede and I the head spins stopped. I had no idea why this helped, but I wished I did. John popped into my mind all of a sudden, he had been fresh in my mind since seeing him at the Devil's Gate; I was suddenly hit with the sensation I'd felt in the hospital the night he'd made the deal with Yellow-Eyes. The slight tug on my solar plexus that connected me to the essence of the demon.
Opening my eyes I suddenly realised why it was that I felt so sick – that whole bar was full of demons. "No..." I gasped, drawing the attention of the three men in the car.
"What is it?" Sam asked, looking at me in concern.
"We have to get them out of there, now! That place is full of demons!" I said urgently, starting to move. I felt a wave of nausea hit me again, like being caught unawares on a surf beach when a wave washed ashore.
Dean and Bobby were out of the car in an instant, Sam and I followed, crawling past the bucket seats. Dean reached the bar first, shouldering the door, but it was locked from the inside. He and Sam rallied together, hitting it in unison but it was no good, they were old heavy doors, and they weren't budging.
"We have to get in there!" Dean shouted, looking around. The windows were all barred, and maybe there was a back entrance, but surely they'd have that locked too?
There was a scream from inside, it was Tamara. I looked up panicked when I heard it, and Bobby went running for the car. "Come on!" He yelled at us and we sprinted after him. He was rummaging in the back of the car, grabbing huge bottles of holy water, he tossed one to each of us.
A minute later Bobby roared the Chevelle to life, Dean jumped into the passenger seat and Bobby floored it. The tires screeched as he drove it straight for the bar, seconds before he hit the doors he spun the car and reversed right through the doors. Sam and I ran in behind them, swinging the holy water in front of us at the crowd of demons. Bobby and Dean exited the car following suit.
Sam and I got ahead of the others and I tossed holy water in the face of the demon holding Tamara, she let her go and Sam grabbed the hysterical hunter, pulling her into the car as she screamed for Isaac. Bobby jumped back in the car, and I backed up, glancing down to see that Isaac was prostrate on the floor, a bottle of Drano next to him.
"Beth, we gotta go! He's dead! Get the car!" Sam yelled at me and I ran for the exit, he was right, we had to get out of here. Dean was fighting with a couple of demons, I paused in the door way.
"Dean, come on!" I yelled at him. He kept right on fighting and I saw him run to the back of the Chevelle and open the trunk. He looked up at me and caught my eye.
"Go!" He yelled and I bit my lip, running as one of the other demons recovered from the holy water attacks and looked in my direction.
I said a quick prayer and ran for the Impala, jumping into the front seat at the same time I heard Dean's shouts.
"Go, go, go, go, go, go, go!" Dean shouted, jumping into the passenger side of the Chevelle. Bobby floored it out of the bar, rocketing down the road and I pushed the Impala to match his speed, which she did easily.
I felt like I was going to throw up, but was cheered by the knowledge that in the heat of the moment my dizziness and nausea seemed to have disappeared. I had been able to function, even if there had been that slight undercurrent of sickness. I said another prayer of thanks to whoever was listening, giving gratitude for small miracles. At least I wasn't going to be a complete burden in this demon war, like I'd expected I might be. I also wasn't sure why I'd just started praying to angels again, I frowned, thinking about it. Maybe I'd never stopped deep down, but seeing those demons sure brought it out of me.
We sped down the highway toward Isaac and Tamara's house, the bar rapidly fading from view.
Isaac & Tamara's House
Dean's POV
We'd tied the Red-haired Demon to a chair under devil's trap, and now we were arguing about whether or not to go back for Isaac.
"I saw we're going back – now!" Tamara yelled at Sam and Beth, who were staunchly against the idea. They'd gotten the closest look outside of Tamara, and they were convinced he was dead.
"Hold on a second," Sam said forcefully.
"I left my husband bloody on the floor!" Tamara cried out, tears streaming down her face.
"Okay, and we understand that," Beth said, reaching out a hand toward her. "But we can't go back."
"Fine. Then you stay. But I'm heading back to that bar," Tamara said resolutely.
"I'll go with her," I said, taking her arm and heading for the door.
"What?! No! It's suicide Dean!" Beth shouted at me and I looked back at her.
"So what? I'm dead already!" I said, wishing I could take it back as soon as I said it. Beth's eyes looked shocked and she backed away quickly, shaking her head and leaving the room. I wanted to chase after her, but there was a job to be done, someone had to do it, and you didn't leave a good man behind. Dad had taught me that much.
"How you gonna kill them?" Sam said loudly at me, letting Beth go. "You 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 at him. Sam's face contorted in anger and he looked like he was ready to explode.
"We don't even know how many of them there are!" He yelled back.
Bobby looked up from the book he was reading and cast an appraising look at us all. "Yeah, we do. There's seven." He looked rattled, glancing between Tamara and me. "Do you have any idea who we're up against?" He asked.
"No. Who?" I asked, confused. What did it matter if it were seven or seventy? We still had to go back.
"The seven deadly sins, live and in the flesh!" Bobby said seriously, and that gave me pause. I looked around and grinned.
"What's in the box?!" I said to the room. It fell on deaf ears and everyone just stared at my sudden outburst. "Brad Pitt? Seven? No?" I said, getting no response. I sighed. Beth would have gotten it, but I'd just gone and pissed her off. Not to mention probably bringing on the start of the very breakdown I'd been trying to distract her from all this time.
Bobby snapped the book he was holding shut and thrust it into my hands. "What's this?" I asked, turning it over in my hands.
" 'Binsfield's classifications of demons'," Bobby replied. "In 1589 Binsfield ID'd the seven sins – not just as human vices, but as actual devils."
"The family – they were touched by Sloth." Sam said, realisation dawning in his eyes. "And the shopper..."
"That's Envy's doing – the customer we got in the next doom. I couldn't suss it out at first, until Isaac. He was touched with an awful Gluttony," Bobby said to Tamara, trying to talk some sense into her.
Tamara was shifting from one foot to the other, shaking her head and grasping at her neck with one hand. "I don't give a rat's ass if they're the Three Stooges or the Four Tops! I'm gonna slaughter every last one of them!" She said angrily, pointing at Bobby.
Beth walked back into the room, her eyes flashing anger at the woman. "We already did it your way!" She said loudly, pushing past Bobby to look Tamara in the eyes. "You burst in there half-cocked and look what happened!" I was startled at how frightening her voice was, it was firm and a fine tension rang from it. "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 going to take a breath...and figure out what our next move is!" She yelled the last part at Tamara, who stared at the young girl in front of her. Beth was the shortest and slightest out of the lot of us, and she'd just put everyone in their place.
She took a breath, stepping back and her eyes turned sorrowful. "I am sorry for your loss," she said quietly and then she turned to me, taking the book out of my hands, and shoving me backwards.
"And you! Upstairs, now! We need to talk," she stormed past me, waves of anger rolling of her, and I grimaced, taking a deep breath. Bobby and Sam were looking over at me shaking their heads as I debated whether or not it was wise to follow her right now. It wasn't really a choice, especially when I reached the hallway leading upstairs. Beth was waiting on the landing and saw me hesitate. "Dean! I said now!"
Sam snickered and shook his head at me again. "Been told, man," he said said, and he picked up the book that Beth had put aside when she shoved me, starting to flip through it.
I sighed and trudged up the stairs, going over all the possible scenarios in my head. She was pissed, and that was fair enough, I shouldn't have said what I had, but how was I going to get out of it?
Beth was in the first bedroom I came to when I reached the second floor. I'd been expecting her to be pacing the room, furious at me. I hadn't been expecting to find her sitting on the edge of a bed, crying like there was no tomorrow. Damn!
"Beth, hey, come on, don't cry..." I said, closing the door behind us and moving toward her. She looked up at me and there was such desperation and sadness in her eyes it broke my heart.
"I can't do this, I can't Dean... I can't just go around pretending like everything is okay. Like we're going to wake up and this is all a bad dream," she said to me as I knelt in front of her, taking her hands in mine.
"Baby we don't have a choice," I said to her, looking up at those big brown eyes that were like liquid pools of chocolate right now.
"There's always a choice!" She said urgently. "There has to be something we can do, someone or some thing we can deal with, we just have to figure it out."
"Beth, you heard what she said, we can't welch on this deal," I said to her, and it broke my heart as much to say it as it did hers to hear it.
She burst into fresh tears, burying her face in her hands. I moved up on the bed with her, sliding my arm around her shoulders, feeling completely useless.
"Well.. what about these demons, huh?" She asked eventually, looking up. "What if we could catch them all, maybe they're valuable to someone down below? I mean, god, they're the seven deadly sins! That has to mean something."
I shook my head at her. "It was a lucky chance that I even got that one in the trunk, I don't see the other six being as gullible." I said to her, pulling her to lean against me as I kissed her forehead.
"I can't do this Dean," she said again and I looked at her sadly. I knew how she felt. Every morning I woke up thinking the same thing. One look at her though and it was enough to make me get out of bed and keep going.
"I need you to keep going Beth, for me. I need you to." I said to her. "I won't make it without you." It was the same old thing, all those years ago. She'd been a part of my life for so long I couldn't imagine it without her: eleven years since she'd joined us, it was a lifetime. She definitely wasn't the messed up teenager I'd caught in my arms the day we exorcised that demon from her.
She furrowed her brow at me, and shook her head. "We've had five years together Dean, five years. It's not long enough, I want another five, and I had it. I had it, if you hadn't been such a stubborn ass and just let me do it. I owed you guys that much," she said that last part so quietly I almost missed it.
"You don't owe us anything Beth, this isn't a damn scorecard. This is your life, your soul we're talking about." I caught her jaw in my hand, forcing her to look at me. "You're the most important person in my life Beth. I couldn't keep doing what I do without you. I would give my soul a thousand times over rather than think about you in a place like that, and me here without you." There, I'd said it, and it was the god's honest truth.
"Instead you've condemned me to that very existence," she said sadly, tears welling in her eyes again.
"You're stronger than me, you'll get through it," I said quietly.
"No I won't Dean... I won't... I can't." She said, fresh tears starting to fall again. I pulled her sideways into my lap and she buried her face in my neck, sobbing broken heartedly. I held her, rocking gently, wondering how we were ever going to get through this coming year.
Isaac & Tamara's House
Sam's POV
Bobby, Tamara and I were gathered in the room holding the demon. Envy turned his black eyes to us and chuckled.
"So you know who I am, huh?" He said, looking around the room.
"We do. We're not impressed." Bobby said to him, crossing his arms.
"Why are you here? What are you after?" I asked him, wanting to get to the bottom of it all.
"He asked you a question," Dean's voice sounded and he strode into the room looking like a man on a mission. "What do you want?"
Beth followed him and it was fairly obviously she'd been crying. She seemed a little less on edge, like maybe she'd finally been able to let go of some of what she was feeling. I figured that the yelling had just been a cover for the deeper issue that we were all feeling.
Envy continued to chuckle at us, not answering our questions. Dean opened a flask of holy water, a gift of Bobby's, and splashed it on him.
"Ya! Ohh!" Envy grimaced as his skin sizzled. "We already have what we want," he said, glaring at Dean.
"What's that?" Beth asked, frowning at him.
"We're out. We're free. Thanks to you, my kind are everywhere. I am legion, for we are many. So me, I'm just celebrating. Having a little fun," he said with a smile.
"Fun?" I asked sceptically.
"Yeah. Fun. See, some people crochet. Others golf. Me? I like to see people's insides... on their outside." Envy said staring straight at Tamara, goading her.
"I'm gonna put you down like a dog," Tamara threatened.
"Please," Envy said, laughing. "You really think you're better than me?" He laughed harder. "Which one of you can cast the first stone, huh? What about you, Dean? You're practically a walking billboard or gluttony and lust." Dean raised his eyebrow, nodding. That was a fair call. "And Tamara. All that wrath. Oooh. Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's the reason you and Isaac became hunters in the first place, isn't it? It's no much easier to drink in the rage than to face what really happened all those years ago." Tamara's face twisted in anger and she backhanded him hard across the face. Bobby and Dean stepped in to pull her off him.
"Aah! Whew!" Envy said with a laugh, still reeling from the hit. "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, like he was listening to something we couldn't hear. "The others – they're coming for me," he said confidently.
"Maybe. But they're not gonna find you.." Envy raised an eyebrow at him, looking sceptical. "Because you'll be in Hell. Someone send this clown packing," Dean said to a shocked look from the demon.
"My pleasure," Tamara said, stepping forward with a book and starting to recite the exorcism in it. Beth actually looked surprised for a moment, usually exorcisms were left to her, she watched Tamara for a moment and then shrugged, following Dean out of the room.
Isaac & Tamara's House
Beth's POV
"I don't think we're gonna have to worry about hunting them," Bobby commented as we left Envy alone with Tamara.
"What does that mean?" Sam asked, confused.
"I think maybe this joker's right. They're gonna be hunting us. And they're not gonna quit easy," Bobby said.
"You guys, why don't you take Tamara and head for the hills? I'll stay back, slow them down, buy you a little time." Dean said. I rolled my eyes at him.
"Jesus Dean, what the hell did we just talk about? I'm sick of this self-sacrifice shit!" I said to him. Sam was nodding with me.
"You're insane Dean. Just forget about it, okay?" He said, looking at his brother.
"Sam and Beth are right," Bobby said.
"There's six of them, guys. We're outmanned, we're outgunned. We'll be dead by dawn." Dean said.
"Maybe, but there's no place to run that they won't find us," Bobby argued, running a hand across his tired face.
"Look, if we're going down, we're going down together, all right?" Sam said, and Dean looked at him, perplexed.
"Well, let's not make it easy for them," I said with a smirk, I'd just had a few ideas come into my head on how to at least go down with a fight.
There was a final scream from the other room and a gust of wind as Tamara finished up the exorcism. She came in to us, looking smug and satisfied.
"Demon's out of the guy," Tamara said.
"And the guy?" I asked, watching her walk past us.
"He didn't make it," she said coldly. Had she even checked? She'd barely exorcised him before walking in to us. I stared at her, shaking my head.
"I really, really don't like her," I muttered under my breath, Dean turned to look at me, raising his eyebrow – he was the only one who heard the comment.
A few hours later we were in position. I looked across the room at Dean, he was sitting on the floor with a row of candles behind him, loading his shotgun. Sam was on the other side of the room filling flasks with holy water. I was reciting my litany to the point that I was going to be hearing it in my sleep, I'd just started to feel sick again.
Dean watched me silently for a while, I couldn't read what was in his eyes, he was guarded and cold, all business: the hunter business. The lights started to flicker, and an old radio sparked to life at the same time my stomach started to churn.
"Here we go," Dean said, cocking the shotgun and getting to his feet. I grabbed the bottle of holy water I had next to me and stood with him, moving to look out a window.
Outside we started to hear Isaac's voice, screaming for Tamara.
"Tamara! Tamara! Tamara! Tamara! Help me! Please!" The voice went on and on. "Tamara! I got away, but I'm hurt bad! I need help!"
"It's not him," Dean said. "It's one of the demons, possessing his corpse." I nodded, swallowing hard. Of course it was. Didn't make it any easier to listen to.
Isaac started to pound on the door to the house, and I stilled myself, taking a breath. I could feel the tug on my solar plexus coming from him, it was definitely a demon.
"Baby! Why won't you let me in? You left me behind back there. How could you do that? We swore... at that lake in Michigan. Remember? We swore we would never leave each other." I glanced up at Dean and his eyes actually looked conflicted. We'd sworn the same thing, only our lake had been in Wisconsin. The state where nothing good ever happened, except maybe that one thing.
For a moment I felt sorry for Tamara, hiding in the next room with Bobby, being forced to listen to that. If it had been Dean, I probably would have caved by now.
"You just gonna leave me out here? You just gonna let me die?! I guess that's what you do dear! Like that night those things came to our house...came for our daughter! You just let her die, too." I flinched, listening to the evil spew from its mouth.
"You son of a bitch!" I heard Tamara yell.
"Tamara, no!" Bobby called out as she opened the door, breaking the line of salt we had as protection. I saw Tamara leap forward and tackle Isaac down the steps. She landed on top of him and raised a stake made from Palo Santo.
"You're not Isaac!" She yelled, and plunged the wood deep into the chest of her own husband, whose skin began to sizzle while the demon screamed.
The other demons entered the house together, and suddenly we were all in motion. An over-weight middle-aged guy made a bee-line for Bobby who was backing up slowly toward the kitchen and dining. He stalked after Bobby confidently, smiling until he ran into an invisible wall. He looked around, confused and then noticed the devil's trap on the ceiling. Bobby smiled. "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son," he said.
I smirked and stepped forward, starting to recite the exorcism rites from memory.
Isaac & Tamara's House
Dean's POV
I ran down the hall, heading for the back entrance. A pretty blonde ran into me and I spun toward her, swinging the flask of holy water toward her. She blocked my move, knocking the flask from my hand and pushing me back down the hall, stalking after me with a determined look in her eye and a smile on her face.
The screams of one of the demons downstairs echoed from down the hall and I could hear the faint sounds of Beth as she read the bastard his exorcism rite. The demon on my ass pushed me into the bathroom and I backed up, watching her warily.
"I suppose you're Lust?" I said.
"Baby, I'm whatever you want me to be," she said with a lascivious smile.
"Yeah right, just stay back," I ordered her, glancing around the room.
"Or what?" She asked with a smug smile.
"Good point," I conceded, frowning.
"I'm not gonna hurt you – not yet," she said, advancing on me and running a hand up my chest. "Not unless you want me to." I felt a warm tingling fill my body and I was instantly aroused. All I could think about was kissing those soft, pouty lips. Beth was gonna kill me. I grabbed Lust and thrust my tongue into her mouth, kissing her like I hadn't had sex in a year.
She kissed me back, moaning and I remembered the plan. I started to pull her with me toward the tub. Beth came running into the room at that moment, and seeing me lip locked with the demon, her jaw dropped.
"Dean!" She called out, and her eyes narrowed at the demon. She stalked forward, grabbing the demon by the hair at the same time as I pulled back the shower curtain. The tub was full, and we'd already blessed it, Lust was about to get a sizzling hot bath – in Holy Water. Beth and I pushed her forward into the tub of water, and Lust screamed in agony.
Upstairs
Sam's POV
I was in an upstairs bedroom, quite why I'd gone with this plan was beyond me, but it was done now. The door to the room flew off it's hinges and hit the wall opposite as three demons entered.
"Here's Johnny!" A demon in a business suit said with a smile. He advanced on me and I backed up. Just as I thought it was going to work, the demon stopped, holding up a hand to stop the two demons that were flanking him. He looked up and spotted the devil's trap we'd drawn on the ceiling, smirking at me.
"Come on. You really think something like that is gonna fool someone like me? I mean, me?" He asked arrogantly.
"Let me guess," I said, raising my chin. "You're Pride."
Pride grinned and gestured toward the ceiling. A long splitting crack appeared, destroying the devil's trap. Damn!
"The root of all sin," he said proudly. "And you... are Sam Winchester. That's right. I've heard of you. We've all heard of you. The prodigy. The boy King. Looking at you now, I got to tell you, don't believe the hype." His black eyes looked at me and his voice dripped with condescension.
"You think I'm gonna bow to a cut-rate, piss-poor human like you? I have my pride after all." He smiled. "And now with your yellow-eyed friend dead, I guess I don't really have to do a damn thing, now do I? You're fair game now, boy, and it's open season."
Pride hit me hard, and I fell to the ground only to find his arm wrapped tightly around my throat and I was starting to lose air.
Suddenly a young blonde woman appeared out of nowhere, and she pulled a knife from a holster at her thigh. Without any hesitation she reached out and slashed the throat of the other male demon in the room, he fell to the ground, dead. The woman, Greed, spun on her heel and faced off with the new interloper.
"You!" She growled, punching the blonde twice. The girl retaliated, plunging her knife into the chin of the demon, and it too hit the floor dead. Pride released me, moving toward the woman and grabbing her arms behind her, pinning her to him for a moment. I pulled him away and punched him in the face. The impact of my punch caused Pride to spin, right into the path of the mystery woman and her knife. She stabbed it upward into his chin, and shower of sparks and demonic energy spilled out and the body fell to the ground.
"Who the Hell are you?" I asked breathlessly, hoping I wasn't next on her hit list.
"I'm the girl that just saved your ass," she said with a smirk.
"Well I just saved yours too," I pointed out, she grinned at me.
"See you around, Sam," she chuckled and then walked out the door.
"Wait!" I called out, moving to follow her. I ran to the hallway but by the time I got there, she had vanished.
Isaac & Tamara's House – Outside
Next Morning
Beth's POV
I grunted and rolled the last of the corpses who didn't survive the night's attacks into the shallow pit that we had dug in the back yard. Standing, I looked over at Dean who was pouring fuel on the bodies, Sam sprinkling salt at the same time. Several yards away, Tamara and Bobby had built a funeral pyre, and she was standing next to it. Isaac's body was given the true hunter's burial.
"Think she's gonna be all right?" Sam asked, looking over at her.
"No," I said, watching her quietly. "Definitely not." I tried to block the image out of my mind, to not associate it with something I would most likely be doing this time next year, but it was there, like a bad smell that wouldn't go away, haunting my dreams, and dogging my every waking moment as well.
Bobby came out of the house, he looked exhausted.
"Well, you look like hell warmed over," Dean quipped at him, smiling.
"You try exorcising all night, and see how you feel," he said to Dean. I smiled, I could relate, I felt exactly the same way.
"Any survivors, guys?" Sam asked, looking from Bobby to me.
"Well, the pretty girl and the heavy guy, they'll make it. Lifetime of therapy bills ahead, but still..." Bobby's voice trailed off and I grimaced, looking down at the ones we couldn't save.
"That's more than you can say for these guys," I said softly. Dean nodded his agreement, looking at me silently.
"Bobby, that knife – what kind of blade can kill a demon?" Sam asked. I frowned and shook my head, something about that sounded familiar, but I still couldn't put my finger on it.
"Yesterday, I would have said there was no such thing," Bobby said, and we all frowned. What Bobby didn't know about the supernatural world you could fit in a thimble, it was not a comforting thought.
"I'm just gonna ask it again," Dean said, a smirk coming to his face as he looked at Sam. "Who was that masked chick?" I rolled my eyes at his reference to The Lone Ranger. "Actually, the more troubling question would be, 'how come the girl can fight better than you?'" he finished, and Sam frowned.
"Three demons, Dean. At once!" Sam said, shaking his head.
"Ah! At once." Dean laughed, looking over at me with a raised eyebrow. "Hey, whatever it takes to get you through the night, pal," Dean said with a smirk.
"Yeah, well, if you want a troubling question, I got one for you," I said quietly, moving up beside Dean and slipping my arm around his waist so I could feel his body warmth. I was cold to the bone and feeling lost and dejected.
"What's that?" Dean asked, putting his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close.
"If we let out the seven deadly sins, what else did we let out?" I said quietly, staring down at the bodies in front of us. We all stared for a moment.
"You're right. That is troubling." Dean said, frowning. Sam nodded and lit a match, catching the whole book alight before tossing it into the ditch and setting fire to the bodies.
A few hours later, Isaac's pyre had burned down, and we were preparing to leave.
"See you guys around," Tamara said, walking toward her car, a bag slung over her shoulder.
"Tamara," Bobby said, drawing her attention, she stopped to look back at us. "The world just got a lot scarier. Be careful."
"You too," Tamara said with a nod before climbing in her car and driving off.
Bobby turned back to us, a sombre look on his face.
"Keep your eyes peeled for omens. I'll do the same," he said, looking at each of us.
"You got it," Dean said with a nod, his arm still wrapped around my waist, where it had pretty much been for the last few hours on and off as we prepared to leave.
"Wait, Bobby. We can win this war, right?" Sam asked, looking worried.
Bobby paused and looked at us. I could see the doubt in his eyes. I'd been thinking about it myself. I tried not to think about the world and what had just occurred in it, because I knew it was a long fight ahead of us, and maybe, just maybe it might be one we didn't survive.
"Catch you on the next one," Bobby said, not answering Sam's question. He kissed me on the cheek before heading for his car. He looked over at the three of us one more time before getting in and driving away.
"So, where to?" Dean asked, looking down at me. I shrugged, I didn't care. Everything I needed, I had in my arms right now. We looked over at Sam, questioning.
"Uh, I don't know. I was thinking Louisiana, maybe?" He said.
"Little early for Mardi Gras, isn't it?" Dean asked with a grin.
"Yeah. 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 you – with your demon deal." Sam said. I felt Dean's arm tense around me and he looked down at me, the same sadness in his eyes that had been there during our conversation in the bedroom last night.
"Nah," Dean said, shaking his head.
"'Nah'? What does that mean, 'nah'?" Sam asked, frowning at us.
"Sam, no hoodoo spell is going to break this deal. It's a goose chase," I said to him, looking down at my feet.
"We don't know that," Sam argued.
"Yes, we do. Forget it. She can't help. We're not going, and that's that." Dean said as Sam tried to argue. Dean looked at me again. "What about Reno, huh?"
"You know what?" Sam asked, his face turning angry. "I've had it. I've been bending over backwards trying to be nice to you, and … I don't care anymore!" he said, waving his hand in the air.
"That didn't last long," Dean said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, well, you know what? 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?!" He looked from Dean to me, and then back again.
Dean looked down at me and then up at Sam. "It's not like that," he said quietly.
"Then what's it like, Dean?" Sam asked, still angry.
"Sam..." I said, biting my lip. He turned to look at me, realising something was wrong.
"Please, tell me." He said to us. Dean sighed heavily, leaning in to kiss me on the top of my head, his hand tangling in my hair.
I looked at Sam, tears once again pooling in my eyes. I fought them back this time. "We trap the crossroads demon, trick it, try to welch our way out of the deal in any way? You die, Sam. Okay? You die. Those are the terms." I said.
"And Beth's soul goes back to being owned by that bitch. There's no way out of it." Dean said sternly. "If you try to find a way, so help me God, I'm gonna stop you – both of you." He said finally, looking from Sam to me.
Sam sighed and looked at us sorrowfully. "How could you make that deal Beth?" He asked softly. I bit my lip.
"Because I couldn't live with you dead, Sam. We couldn't live with you dead. I promised Dad, and I had to do whatever I could to live up to that." I said, looking down. "I wasn't counting on Dean walking in and being all knight in shining armour rescuing the damsel in distress," I sighed.
"So what, now we live and Dean dies?" He asked.
"That's the general idea, yeah." Dean said with a nod. He pulled away from me and started to walk toward the Impala. I felt the tears trickle down my cheeks again.
"Yeah, well, you're a hypocrite Dean." Sam said, following him. "How did you feel when Dad sold his soul for you? Because we were all there. I remember. You were twisted and broken. Now you've both gone and done the same thing. To me. What you guys did was selfish!" Sam said angrily.
"Yeah, you're right. It was selfish. But I'm okay with that," Dean said, "Hell, if Beth hadn't done it, I probably would have gone down that road eventually too." I looked over at him, surprised. He looked at me.
"I know I said I wouldn't have, but I lied, okay? Maybe I wouldn't have right away, but you're right. One of us was always gonna do it, it just should have always been me, I was already dead, I should never have come back." Dean said. I crossed my arms, fighting back all that pain and anguish. "I'm okay with how it's gone down," Dean reiterated.
"Well I'm not," Sam said, echoing my thoughts exactly.
"Tough!" Dean said, looking at him. "After everything I've done for this family, I think I'm entitled. I'm the oldest, and this is my decision. You're alive, Beth's soul is safe, I can live with that."
I struggled to wrap my head around this whole conversation, I was so tired; tired of fighting and wondering what was going to happen next.
"I got a year to live, guys. I'd like to make the most of it. So what do you say we kill some evil sons of bitches and raise a little hell, huh?" Dean asked. Sam and I both shook our heads.
"You're unbelievable," Sam muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Very true," Dean said, smirking and getting in the driver's seat of the car. I paused, looking back at the farm house one more time and thinking about everything we'd just discussed. Yes, we were locked into this deal, yes it seemed all binding and airtight. But there had to be a way, and I wasn't giving up. I wasn't prepared yet to let Dean go to Hell for me. Sam looked across the car at me and the look in his eye told me that he felt the same way, this discussion was far from over. So let Dean have his fun, he was right, he was entitled. But this wasn't over, not yet, I wouldn't let it be.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Song for this chapter is: 7 Deadly Sins by Simple Minds.
Welcome to Season 3! Hope you enjoyed this version of Magnificent Seven. I tried the rolling POV on this one, taking each scene through Sam, Dean and Beth. It worked pretty well to give a bit of a perspective from all three on them on their new situation, I thought.
I'll be putting up Dean & Beth: The X-Files at some point too – which will basically just be all the sexy times in one story from Season 1 & 2 so far, and then ongoing from here. It'll be a little slow going as I have a pretty tight schedule over the next two weeks, and writing time will be limited to getting any new updates out rather than just rehashing old posts.
There's a new chapter up at How To Save A Life too, be sure to go check it out and get some Dean & Beth time from a different perspective. Not to mention sexy John Winchester time! Just search for EarthhAngel and check it out under her stories.
Finally, the next update should be over at All Hell Breaks Loose as I finish up Part 3 of Bring Me To Life before marking that story off as done and dusted! (Yes, I will be covering Sam going off to Stanford in that one, thanks to everyone who has been requesting it!)
Please read & review, it only inspires me to keep on writing more when you do :D Cheers!
MORE ABOUT THE DEAN & BETH WORLD
This is the story of Beth O'Malley, daughter of a minister, also a hunter who was friends with John Winchester. Although she was unaware of his 'other job', as a teenager, Beth found out the hard way about the things that are out there in the dark when she was possessed by a demon, an old foe of her father's, and forced to kill him by her own hand.
John rescued her, exorcised the demon, and took her in, teaching her the ways of hunting. After a while she and Dean developed a relationship, eventually gaining the blessing of John when she was nearly killed during a hunt. They fight together now, alongside their brother Sam, and the whole world has just been turned upside-down for them – what will happen next?!
This is Supernatural as I think it should be written. :) In general, I follow the series, writing Beth into it as we go – that's right, I don't change the plots all that much, that's not what this is about. Some become flashbacks, some change a bit to fit with the storyline I am creating around Beth; all in all I hope you enjoy the way I write it, and come back for more!
Please post a review if you're enjoying the writing – I love to get feedback, especially if it's nice! If you have songs you'd like to suggest for any particular episodes, do so, I love to add to my playlists :) Likewise if you have any ideas around storyline, episodes etc. that I might miss (I skipped a couple of episodes in Season 1 – they're about to make a comeback in Season 3 & 4 as flashbacks! So stay tuned for them) feel free to suggest them. Let me know what you like about the story! Everyone's encouragement just inspires me to keep going with it :D