A/N: Chapter music from the song In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins. This chapter also features dialogue and events from the episodes Sin City and Malleus Maleficarum that have been interwoven and modified for this storyline.


Chapter 8: It's Coming


I can feel it coming in the air tonight, (Oh lord)

And I've been waiting for this moment, for all my life, (Oh lord)

Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord, (Oh lord)

Well, if you told me you were drowning

I would not lend a hand

I've seen your face before my friend

But I don't know if you know who I am

Well, I was there and I saw what you did

I saw it with my own two eyes

So you can wipe off that grin,

I know where you've been

It's all been a pack of lies.

And I can feel it coming in the air tonight, (Oh lord)

Well I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, (Oh lord)

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord

Well I've been waiting for this moment for all my life oh Lord, (Oh Lord)

Well I remember, I remember don't worry

How could I ever forget

It's the first time, the last time we ever met

But I know the reason why you keep this silence up

No you don't fool me

The hurt doesn't show, but the pain still grows

It's no stranger to you and me

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, Oh lord

Well I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, (Oh lord)

I can feel it in the air tonight, oh lord, (Oh lord)

Well I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, Oh lord

After his phone call with Ty ended fairly abruptly, Dean decided he would drive into town, gas up the car, and pick up something for lunch. Feeling somewhat sorry about taking his anger out on Sam, he got something for him and Bobby, too. When he returned to the house, the food served well enough as a symbol of truce.

"So what have you guys been doing in the basement, anyway?" Dean asked around a mouthful of fried chicken.

"Figured we might need a demon-proof space." Bobby shrugged.

"You should take a look, Dean. It's like a demon panic room." Sam nodded.

"Like that Jodie Foster flick?" Dean asked, head tilted to the side.

"More like a demon-armageddon bunker." Bobby corrected, unamused, "I used every ward and protection I could find."

Dean swallowed his mouthful before nodding, "Probably a good idea."

Before either man could say anything else, Sam's phone rang. He hurriedly dug it out of his pocket and answered.

"Knock, knock. Anybody home?" Ruby's voice greeted him.

"Ruby? Are you here?" Sam asked, pushing his chair back and standing up.

"Out front." Ruby confirmed, "I'd come in, but someone wasn't feeling very hospitable and salted the entries. Sort of makes a girl feel unwelcome."

"Be right there." Sam said, ignoring her comments and heading quickly for the door.

Dean was on his heels, but Bobby headed for the Colt. He didn't trust this thing as far as he could spit and he didn't want the gun out of his sight as long as she was around.

The brothers spilled out the front door, both immediately looking around for the demon. Dean's lip curled in a snarl when he saw her.

"So, that's Ruby. Now tell me what the hell that black-eyed skank is doing touching my car?" he demanded when he spotted Ruby leaning against the Impala, "I just fixed her. I don't want demon bitch filth on her."

"It's nice to finally meet you, too, Dean." the demon in question remarked sarcastically, flipping long blond hair over her shoulder and pushing herself off the car as the two hunters descended the porch steps towards her.

Dean sneered back at her, "Give me one good reason I shouldn't just exorcise your ass here and now."

"Dean, her knife and the Colt are the only weapons that can kill a demon and we've got hundreds, not to mention Lilith, to deal with, so could you please just chill?" Sam quickly interjected, putting a hand out to stop Dean from moving any closer towards Ruby before he turned back to face her, "You said you had a lead. Tell us what you've got."

"It's not much," Ruby cautioned before giving them the info, "but I heard about a weird death in a town called Sturbridge in Massachusetts. Sounds like some serious witchcraft."

"What do some disgusting witches have to do with…?" Dean began.

"Witches are whores. I'm talking about who they serve." Ruby interrupted impatiently.

"Demons." Sam realized, "They get their power from demons."

"Exactly." Ruby nodded, "And this kind of mojo would involve more than your run-of-the-mill, everyday demon. Could be a major player."

"Major player in what?" Dean demanded.

"The fight to control hell, short bus." Ruby snapped, "You know, since Sam didn't feel like stepping up to the plate and Lilith is in the wind. But if there is a demon that powerful there, you can't go after it. You're not ready."

"If the demon is a major player, would it know about Lilith, what she's planning or where she is?" Sam pressed.

Ruby shifted uncomfortably like she didn't want to answer.

"Hey, my brother asked you a question, bitch." Dean growled at her.

Ruby shot Dean a glare that he returned in kind. Sneering at him, Ruby finally answered, "Possibly. But you'll be a smear on the wall before you ever get anything out of them."

"Yeah, we'll see about that." Dean scoffed.

"Ugh, you idiots make it real hard to keep you alive!" Ruby cried in frustration, "How many ways do I have to say it? You go after this demon now, it will slaughter you all."

"Not if I gank it first." Dean replied, unphased, "So, hand over the knife."

Ruby took a step back and her hand automatically went to the hilt of the blade on her belt. She shook her head quickly, "One little pig-sticker won't help you. You'd never get close enough to use it. Besides, I need it."

"For what?" Sam asked, also curious why Ruby hadn't given him the blade if she truly meant what she said about helping him.

"You think the rest of Hell is happy I'm helping you? I've been branded a traitor. They want to kill me as badly as any of you, maybe more. I've got demon assassins on my ass and I need it for protection." Ruby revealed, "So, maybe it's time you all showed a little gratitude and stopped calling me bitch."

That last statement she aimed at Dean, who continued to sneer back at her unapologetically.

"Okay, well how long will it take to fix the Colt?" Sam asked, attempting to redirect the conversation.

"Don't know. I'll need to see it first." Ruby answered, calming slightly as she turned back to Sam, "So how about instead of running off half-cocked to get the flesh peeled from your bones, you listen to me and wait until you can actually take on a demon like this?"

Sam and Dean both paused for a moment as they took in Ruby's reply. Neither could deny that it was a much better plan to go in with the Colt than without it. Looking between them, Ruby thought that maybe she'd finally gotten through to them, finally managed to get it through their thick skulls to listen to reason, when Sam spoke again.

"We can't just let them keep killing. And if there's a lead on Lilith, we need to look into it."

"Sam…" Ruby protested.

"Hey, skank." Dean interrupted her, stressing the new insult, "Just fix the gun so I can shoot you with it."

For a moment Ruby looked ready to jump back into an argument with Dean, but then she shrugged, "Whatever. I suppose I'll just have to find someone else to use it when you're both dead."

Before either Winchester could reply, she spun on her heel and stalked off to head around the side of the house into the yard. Dean looked at his brother, torn between asking how she knew where the Colt was and again berating him for getting involved with a demon in the first place, but when his eyes flicked back towards her, she had disappeared. Dean scowled, disconcerted by this whole Ruby situation and the fact that his brother insisted on listening to her, but also frustrated that so far there didn't seem to be anything that he could do about it. He resolved to make sure to test the Colt on her if she did actually hold up her end of the deal. Hopefully that would put an end to at least this particular insanity.

Both brothers headed around the house in the direction Ruby had gone. Meanwhile, the demon in question had already appeared before Bobby on the makeshift target range he'd set up in the far corner of his property.

"Cute piece." Ruby remarked, eyeing the Colt in Bobby's hand.

"Who are you?" Bobby demanded, "You Ruby?"

"It won't stop a demon, if that's what you think." Ruby continued as if he hadn't spoken.

"How the hell would you know?" Bobby grumbled angrily.

He'd never been a fan of this plan of Sam's, but since he didn't have any other ideas and Dean was, as usual, vocal enough for everyone, he'd kept his opinions to himself. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Oh, I don't know. Call it an educated guess?" Ruby drawled back, flashing her black eyes at the older man.

"Well, ain't I lucky, then? Found a subject for a test fire." Bobby replied, cocking the gun.

"Luck had nothing to do with it. But, hey, by all means. Take your best shot." Ruby challenged, spreading her arms wide.

At that moment, Dean and Sam rounded a corner of the salvage yard and spied Bobby taking aim at Ruby in the distance.

"Bobby!" Sam yelled, starting to run towards them.

Bobby hesitated, his gaze flicking towards Sam, but Ruby heaved an exasperated sigh, drawing his attention back to her.

"Are you gonna stand there like a pantywaist or are you gonna shoot…" she snapped.

Bobby's hand tightened on the trigger and he fired a shot at her chest before he could really even think about it. Sam skidded to a halt in surprise, but Ruby glanced down at the wound, unconcerned.

"Ouch. That smarts a little."

"What do you want?" Bobby asked suspiciously, disappointed but not surprised that the gun hadn't worked.

"Peace on Earth." Ruby replied sarcastically. She picked at the ruined fabric of her top, "A new shirt. Now, do you want me to help you out with that gun or not?"

Bobby swore under his breath. He still didn't understand what was in it for a demon to give them a weapon that could kill it, but clearly he wasn't making progress on his own. Still, he couldn't bring himself to hand over the gun.

"Bobby," Sam said insistently, giving him that sincere gaze of his, "she's here to help."

Dean's grumble from behind his brother echoed Bobby's own, but he reluctantly slapped the piece into Ruby's outstretched hand. She examined it carefully for a few minutes before she finally handed it back.

"If grumpy here will help, I think I can have it working by tomorrow. Maybe the day after." she finally announced.

"Great." Dean declared, "Sam and I will check out the kitchen witches. Bobby, you and Just Shoot Me here fix the gun."

Before Ruby could argue again, Sam added, "We don't know for sure there even is a demon there. And if there is, you can bring us the gun once it's fixed."

Ruby sighed again and shook her head, "No wonder everyone wants to kill you Winchesters. You're annoying as hell. Fine, go chase after your gruesome death. Hopefully there'll be enough of you left to use this thing when I get there."

Sam felt himself starting to smile at her words and suppressed it. She was a demon, he was just using her. It was nothing more than that.

Sam and Dean soon found themselves on the road to Massachusetts. Dean wasn't thrilled that they were headed in the opposite direction of Denver, but he hadn't wanted to mention Ty around Ruby. And now it felt like they had no choice but to go on their separate hunts. Well, at least Ty's hunt was probably just a typical monster and not an upper-level demon like he and Sam were chasing. Yeah, she'd probably be back at Bobby's before he even reached Massachusetts.

Meanwhile in Colorado, Ty and Alex had finally arrived at Arapahoe Park. Tom was already in the grandstands looking for any clues, leaving the pair to search the large stable area where all the horsemen and their animals were located.

"Just follow my lead, okay? I've got the only ID we need already." Ty said as she jumped out of the truck, digging an old ID out of her bag and clipping it to her shirt.

With that she tossed her bag back in the truck and strode towards the guard shack barring the entrance to the backside of the racetrack. Alex hurried after her. He knew Ty knew her way around a racetrack, but this one had just been linked to four deaths and the guards were bound to be on edge.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" Alex whispered to her as she approached the guard, noticing that the guard had already spotted them and was clearly armed.

"My dad's worked on racetracks for 50 years. He knows everybody." she replied confidently.

"Everybody?" Alex asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

Ty ignored him and walked right up to the guard who was watching them approach, greeting him with a smile, "Hi!"

"Hey, there." he replied with decidedly less enthusiasm. He held his hand out for her ID, frowning warily over her shoulder at Alex standing anxiously behind her.

Ty handed the ID over, "Sorry it's a little out of date. Hey, maybe you know my dad? Jeff Falkner?"

The guard paused in his examination of her ID and looked thoughtful, "Jeff Falkner? Hey, yeah! My cousin used to share a barn with him in Pomona. How's he doing?"

Ty shot Alex a smirk over her shoulder before she replied, "He's doing good. I was working for him out at Paradise Downs for awhile before I took a break for school. That's why my ID's a little old. Alright if I head in and say hi to some old friends? He's with me."

"Yeah, that's fine." the guard said, now relaxed and smiling as he handed back her ID card, "Hey, tell your dad Danny Sampson's cousin says hi."

"Will do." Ty agreed, giving him a two-fingered salute before striding past him onto the racetrack grounds and gesturing for Alex to join her.

"Huh." Alex said as he fell in at her side, "Your dad really does know everybody."

Ty nodded her agreement but didn't say anything else. Alex had noticed that Ty very rarely spoke about her family. For all he knew, she hadn't really spoken to them since she'd left Phoenix. He wondered if they had any idea where she was or what she was doing, but figured it wasn't his place to pry. He was sure she had her reasons, but it still made him kind of sad when he thought about it. What he wouldn't give to still have a family out there worrying about him.

"Okay, so there's a lot of places to check…" Ty began, disrupting his melancholy thoughts.

"No splitting up." Alex interrupted.

"Duh." Ty replied, making a face at him, "Horror movie 101. No, I was going to say if anyone stops you or asks what you're doing, just say you're looking for the Doc, the vet. Every track has one, they're always busy, and no one ever really knows where they are. If you need to, you can say you work for Falkner Racing Stables and we just shipped in for the day. If they press you for anything else, tell them they need to talk to me or bail."

Alex nodded, glad she wasn't proposing they split up to try and find this demon. Without the Colt, they really didn't need to be facing this thing one-on-one. They needed every advantage they could get.

"Looks like the barns are numbered." Alex observed as they approached the first in a long line of stable buildings. He pulled an EMF meter from his pocket, holding it low and close to try and be subtle about taking readings, "Start here and work our way down?"

"Sure." Ty said, already distracted by peering around the shedrow, looking for any sign of people. A lot of horsemen took a break in the afternoon if they didn't have a horse running, either going home for a nap or to do other activities or going to hang out at the grandstands and watch the races. It wasn't unusual for the barn to be empty at this time of day, but she still didn't want to be caught snooping if she could help it.

The first barn appeared to be empty aside from the horses who offered no further clues, but seemed to appreciate Ty's automatic pats on the neck or the nose. The EMF was quiet and there were no obvious traces of sulfur anywhere. The pair moved on to the next barn, hoping this wasn't going to be a wild goose chase.

However, hours later they still had no solid leads. Everything appeared to be normal at the racetrack. Ty called Tom just to make sure, but he hadn't uncovered anything in the grandstands either. With a sigh, she suggested that she and Alex find a motel room and come back early in the morning when more of the racetrack workers would be present. She didn't say what she knew they were both thinking, that maybe they'd been too late.

Ty thought about calling Dean back, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She knew he'd ask about the hunt and she didn't want to lie to him. If he hadn't called her, it had to be because the Colt wasn't ready, so there was no sense dragging him into this yet. Especially since they didn't even know if the demon was still there.

Still, Ty couldn't help but secretly wish he was with her. If she had to face this particular evil again, she'd feel a lot better if she had Dean and Sam with her, too. But maybe it was for the best that they weren't there. This demon had already used her relationship with Dean against her once. Maybe it was smarter not to give it another chance.

Worry and doubt plagued her for the rest of the night, keeping her awake even though she knew she should try to get some sleep. Even Alex managed to drop into slumber at some point, his exhausted snores reaching her from his bed across the room. But Ty couldn't quite manage it and eventually she gave up trying. Even before the alarm sounded at what she now considered a somewhat ungodly hour since most of her activities had shifted to during the night, she was up and getting ready. When the clock hit 4:30 and started aggressively beeping, she chucked one of her pillows over at Alex as she shut it off.

"Wha…?" Alex protested blearily after the assault, hair sticking up at all angles as he sat up and searched the room for potential threats.

Ty smiled at him, trying to project an aura of innocence, "Oh, are you awake? Come on, we should get moving."

Alex just blinked at her uncomprehendingly. Ty's smile widened. She grabbed Alex's bag and dropped it in his lap, "Get dressed. If you hurry up we'll grab some coffee and donuts on the way in. Actually, that's not bad. Nothing gets horsemen talking like free donuts."

Ty had already turned away, picking up her stuff to take out to the truck.

"Hey." Alex's voice stopped her. Glancing over her shoulder, she noticed his eyes had cleared and he was looking at her with concern, "You sleep at all?"

"Sure." Ty lied.

"Liar." Alex accused.

"Who me?" Ty replied, lips pulling up in a smirk, "Never. Come on. Get moving."

Alex sighed but nodded so Ty continued out to the truck. Luckily, Alex didn't take long to get himself together despite his grumbling about still being asleep when he joined her outside. Ty plucked the keys from his hand and pushed him towards the passenger side.

"Alright, sleepy. I'll drive." she declared as she opened the door and climbed in.

The sun had still not quite crested the horizon when Ty and Alex returned to the barnyard, burdened with a couple dozen donuts, minus the one Ty had supplied the security guard on their way in. The track was bustling with activity in stark contrast to the empty stillness of the previous day. Ty had to pull Alex out of the way of a spirited horse trotting towards the training track as they maneuvered around trainers in golf carts driving between the barns, grooms leading horses from their stalls to the large metal machines that walked them in circles, exercise riders making the rounds to the various barns for their morning assignments, jockey agents roaming around trying to make connections, and various other workers from farriers to race officials. The sounds and smells were so familiar that Ty had to keep reminding herself that she was looking for a demon.

"Ah, man." Alex complained when he accidentally stepped in a pile of horse manure. He balanced the donut boxes precariously while he tried to scrape his shoe clean on the ground. He glared over at Ty, "You did that on purpose."

Ty grinned, "Nope. Just a perk."

Alex grumbled, but he had to admit as he followed her around the racetrack, doling out donuts in exchange for local gossip, that it was kind of nice to see Ty so relaxed, so in her element. Usually the investigating part of the job that required actually talking to other people was something she wasn't particularly fond of and tended to either delegate to Alex or let him take the lead on, but it was obvious in this case that she felt at home here. And it did actually seem like everyone either knew her dad or knew someone else who did. Unfortunately, even with their insider angle, they weren't uncovering much more than they already knew. By mid-day, the novelty of seeing Ty working in familiar surroundings had definitely worn off and Alex was just tired and frustrated.

"This sucks. I now know way more than I ever wanted to know about the daily life of a racehorse and we've still got nothing on this thing." he finally vented when they were out of earshot of anyone else.

Ty frowned, hands going to her hips as she glanced around, "I know. It doesn't make any sense. I mean, racetrack workers love to gossip almost more than anyone I've ever met. If there was something weird going on, we would have heard about it by now. You don't think maybe the racetrack connection was just a coincidence, do you?"

Alex shook his head, "I went over everything I could find online last night. This is the only connection I could find either. We could try sneaking a peek at the police reports, see if they've managed to dig up anything else, but I doubt it."

Ty sighed, "Well, the only thing I can think of is for us to double check the grandstands this afternoon during the races, see if maybe we can spot something Tom missed."

Alex nodded in agreement, but then allowed a weary smile to cross his face, "God, I hope that means lunch and a nap."

Ty laughed, surprised when she heard the sound come out of her. As much as she wanted to end this thing with this demon, it was also nice to have the chance for a bit of a break. Still, she couldn't resist the opportunity to tease Alex a bit. She slugged him lightly in the shoulder.

"Come on, you big baby. Let's go get some food before your nappy time."

Alex made a face at her, but followed her back towards the truck.

Around that same time, Sam and Dean arrived in Sturbridge after driving through the night. Posing as CDC investigators, they wasted no time in questioning the victim's husband, a Paul Dutton, and Sam discovered a hex bag under the sink, confirming Ruby's intel that it was witchcraft. The brothers then tailed Dutton, waiting for the witch to make her next move.

Later that evening, when they managed to thwart another supernatural attack on Paul Dutton, they got their first lead on the witch behind it, the jilted lover from Paul's affair. At the witch's house, the brothers were surprised to discover another corpse (two if you counted the poor rabbit). The witch in question had deep vertical slashes to each wrist and had bled out on the coffee table amid the scattered remains of her altar. Dean briefly entertained the hope that this case had wrapped itself up on its own with the spurned woman offing herself after she thought she'd gotten her revenge on the Duttons, but when Sam found another hex bag, that theory went out the window along with any chance of them closing this case as quickly as Dean wanted. No, another hex bag meant that yet another witch was behind this death and that even if there wasn't a demon here to find, there was still at least one murderer to stop. And that meant at least one more day in town. And they still hadn't heard anything from Ruby about the Colt, which was making Dean more and more suspicious about her claims to be able to fix it in the first place.

Ty and Alex's case didn't appear inclined to resolve itself quickly either. They roamed the grandstands from the first race through to the last and while they'd seen plenty of fairly shady individuals, nothing overtly demonic presented itself. The only upside to the day was Ty had decided on a whim to place a bet on one of the horses she'd heard about that morning and won enough to pay off their motel room. She handed Alex the ticket to cash in, deciding to take one last walk around to see if anything caught her eye. There had to be something she was missing, some clue she just hadn't noticed or angle she hadn't thought of. It was frankly starting to drive her a little crazy that she couldn't figure this out.

"Hey!" Alex's voice calling her drew her attention back the way she'd come and she noticed him jogging over to her, eyes bright and excited. He was holding up the ticket she'd given him to cash in.

"Alex?" she asked, wondering what had gotten into him.

Alex waited until he was close enough that he could talk to her without being overheard before he shared his sudden insight, "It just occurred to me. Something I don't know if anyone's looked into yet. The couples, what did they bet on?"

Ty felt his excitement over the lead catching on as she considered it, "There could be connections through the stable, the jockey...even the ticket window person. Heck, even if they won or lost."

Ty's mind was racing with possibilities, but then it suddenly stopped as a road block appeared in her plans. She frowned as she tried to think of a way around it.

"But wait, how will we figure out what they bet on? Unless they still had their tickets on them when the cops found them, it's going to be hard to figure out. These places are all old-fashioned tech and mostly run on cash."

Alex nodded, "I thought that, too, but I noticed something while I was standing in the line over there."

Alex gestured back towards the ticket windows and Ty squinted in that direction, trying to figure out what he'd seen.

"Cameras." he revealed, "They keep cameras pointed at the windows. And since it's tied to some open cases, I'm sure there's still footage either here or with the cops."

Ty found herself grinning at her partner, "Sometimes you're a genius."

Alex grinned back, "Most of the time. You just don't always recognize my brilliance."

Ty rolled her eyes at him, but this new potential lead had her in a good mood. The only downside was they'd discovered it so late in the day. The racetrack was wrapping things up for the day and the local PD would hardly buy a cover story that necessitated an after-hours visit. They were stuck for at least another day.

"Whatever, Einstein. Go get our cash and let's get out of here. We'll track down those tapes in the morning." she finally said, shooing Alex away.

But she noticed as he walked back towards the counters that he was still grinning and she felt better, too. This had to be it, the break they needed. And hopefully, these delays just meant that Sam and Dean would be there with the Colt when they finally cornered this thing.

When the next day dawned, the Winchester brothers were back in the quaint suburban neighborhood in Massachusetts, far from Denver, looking into the friends and neighbors of the recently murdered witch. Sam quickly spotted an unusual garden full of herbs associated with occult practice that were inexplicably growing out of season. When he and Dean approached to question the woman tending to them, two other women soon joined her like some kind of WASPy reinforcements. One in particular made a point of looking down her nose at the boys, especially Dean. And if their behavior hadn't screamed coven all on its own, some additional research that afternoon revealed some unusual strokes of good luck experienced by the women that certainly sent up some red flags. So, while Dean was pretty sold on the three women as the coven, minus one now deceased member, he wasn't sure what their next move should be. As he steered the Impala back towards their motel along a county road now dim with fog and the fresh nightfall, he glanced over at Sam.

"So, if they killed the nut-job, should we...uh...thank them or what?"

Sam frowned, his eyes focused out the window, "They're working black magic, too, Dean. They need to be stopped."

Dean's eyes widened a little at Sam's response, "Stopped like stopped?"

Sam shot him a quick look that clearly said he was serious and Dean was being dumb for even asking. Dean wasn't sure what was going on with his brother, but it felt like it was a whole different Sam he was talking to. Since when had his brother become so bloodthirsty?

"They're human, Sam." Dean pointed out, still feeling disconcertingly like their roles had been reversed.

"They're murderers." Sam replied simply.

Dean looked appraisingly at his brother for another moment, before he finally shrugged. He couldn't really dispute Sam's point.

"Burn witch, burn." Dean remarked, still not certain he liked this new side of Sam.

But before he could dwell on it any further, the Impala's engine started to sputter.

"What the hell?" Dean demanded, "I just fixed her up."

It made no sense, but then the headlights flickered and the car rolled to a stop. When the lights came back up again, they revealed a slim figure in the road in front of them, that both hunters immediately recognized as Ruby. Sam immediately moved to get out of the car. Grumbling, Dean followed.

"Bitch better not have messed up my car."

"Ruby," Sam called, "do you have the Colt?"

Ruby drew the pistol from the back of her jeans. Both boys tensed, eyes trained on the gun before she flipped it, catching it by the barrel and holding it out to them. Dean immediately leaped forward and snatched it from her grip, still looking suspicious, but Sam figured that if she'd wanted to betray them that had been a perfect opportunity. However, Sam did not anticipate Dean immediately aiming the gun at Ruby, cocking the hammer.

"Dean!" He snapped in protest.

"Point that thing somewhere else." Ruby growled at him.

"Hahaha! Right." Dean quipped back sarcastically, aim never wavering, "How do we even know it'll work unless we test it?"

Ruby transferred her gaze to Sam, ignoring Dean's question, "Sam, please, this is stupid. I gave you the gun so you'd trust me. Now listen, you need to go. Get in the car and don't look back. I was right. There is definitely a demon here, now."

"Oh, what, you mean besides you?" Dean interrupted, hating how this evil bitch continued trying to manipulate his brother even right in front of him with a gun aimed at her face. She did have balls. He supposed he had to give her that.

"Sam," Ruby continued, stressing his brother's name and sending him another glare to indicate she was speaking to his brother and not him, "it knows you're in town and it's gonna come after you. And, like I told you before, it's way more than you can handle."

Refusing to be ignored or cut out of the conversation, Dean snapped, "Oh, come on! What is this, huh? Please tell me you're not listening to this crap!"

Past fed up with Dean, Ruby sneered at him although her words were still addressed to Sam, "Put a leash on your brother, Sam, if you want to keep him."

"Bring it, bitch." Dean challenged, raising his eyebrows at her over the gun.

"Dean, look, just calm down." Sam attempted to intercede, gesturing for his brother to lower the weapon.

"No!" Dean exclaimed, briefly taking his eyes off Ruby in his anger, "No! She's messing with your head! God knows why, but that's who they are!"

"I'm telling you the truth." Ruby insisted.

Dean fixed his gaze back on her and readjusted his aim, "And I'm telling you to shut up, bitch."

"I'm sorry, why are you even a part of this conversation?!" Ruby demanded, taking an aggressive step towards him despite the gun aimed at her.

Was she that stupid that she thought he was just going to let her twist his brother up in whatever scheme she had planned?

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because he's my brother, you black-eyed skank!"

"Oh, right, right. You care about your brother so much. That's why you're all gung-ho to let him get murdered by a demon he's not ready for yet."

"I said shut up!" Dean yelled, hand tightening around the gun.

"Dean, no!" Sam yelled, shoving his brother's arm away from Ruby just as Dean's finger squeezed the trigger, the percussion from the shot ringing in their ears.

Before Dean could try for a second shot, Sam grabbed ahold of his arm, trying to wrestle the gun away from him. Dean tried to fight him off, but found his arms locked with Sam's. They both glanced back towards Ruby, but the demon had already vanished. Shooting Sam a look of disappointment, Dean shook him off and trooped back to the Impala. Sam glanced around one more time for Ruby before he followed.