A/N: Song and chapter title are Boston's Peace of Mind. If anyone else is reading this, I hope you like my small attempt at a Supernatural-level pranking. It was fun to write (sorry, Alex).


Chapter 10: Peace of Mind


Now if you're feelin' kinda low 'bout the dues you've been paying

Future's coming much too slow

And you wanna run, but somehow you just keep on stayin'

Can't decide on which way to go

Yeah, yeah, yeah

I understand about indecision

But I don't care if I get behind

People livin' in competition

All I want is to have my peace of mind

Now you're climbin' to the top of the company ladder

Hope it doesn't take too long

Can't cha see there'll come a day when it won't matter

Come a day when you'll be gone

Ohh, ohh

I understand about indecision

But I don't care if I get behind

People livin' in competition

All I want is to have my peace of mind

Take a look ahead

Take a look ahead, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Now everybody's got advice, they just keep on givin'

Doesn't mean too much to me

Lots of people out to make believe they're livin'

Can't decide who they should be

Oh, oh

I understand about indecision

But I don't care if I get behind

People livin' in competition

All I want is to have my peace of mind

Take a look ahead

Take a look ahead

Look ahead

Dean stewed in silence for the first portion of the drive so that Sam could sleep, but as soon as the sun shining in the windshield had Sam beginning to stir, he found the urge to vent overwhelming.

"Why the hell does she do this?" he growled without preamble.

"Wha...what are you talking about?" Sam asked, shifting to sit up in his seat, wondering if maybe he'd fallen asleep in the middle of a conversation.

"Ty." Dean said simply.

"Oh." Well, that explained it. Sam had been expecting this rant since Dean had grabbed their stuff and thrown it in the car, announcing they needed to get back on the road right away because Ty was neck deep in it. Sam had wisely chosen not to mention his previous knowledge of Ty's hunt, figuring it wouldn't help matters any. Besides, he'd been way too exhausted to go ten rounds with Dean last night.

"Does she like pissing me off? Is that it?" Dean continued, "Or is she just so damn reckless that she can't help it?"

Sam again wisely chose not to share his opinions on how hypocritical his brother was being considering that he and Ty were practically peas in a pod when it came to recklessness. Besides, they'd had that argument already and it hadn't gotten them anywhere.

"I freakin' knew you shouldn't have let her run off without us."

Sam frowned and despite just thinking about how they'd just had this argument and how pointless it had been, he couldn't let that one go, "Dude, you know that…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Dean cut him off impatiently, "She's been taking care of herself, hunting on her own, yadda yadda. And yeah, I get that once she has her mind made up, there's nothing anyone can do to stop her. God, trust me, I get that. But this is different."

Sam waited a moment to see if Dean would continue, but when he didn't he spoke as calmly as he could, hoping Dean would actually listen, "You know, she just did exactly what you would have done in her place."

Dean opened his mouth to shoot an angry reply back at his brother, but found that he didn't have any words. Man, he hated it when Sam did that. Damn obnoxious know-it-all couldn't even let him vent his frustrations in peace. But the worst part was that he was right. It was exactly what he would have done in her shoes.

"Yeah, well…" Dean finally grumbled, obstinately refusing to let Sam have the last word, "I'm awesome."

Sam snorted and raised his eyebrows skeptically. Dean shot him a glare, but his anger had deflated, at least for the moment. He leaned forward to put some music on, figuring he'd get a few more hours in before switching with Sam so he could sleep a little. He fully intended to make as few stops as possible and roll into Denver before the end of the day. But before he could settle on a tape, Sam piped up again.

"So, what do you make of that stuff Tammi was saying?"

Dean leaned back with a sigh. Apparently it was talking time.

"Which bit? The thing about Ruby being human?" he guessed since that was the tidbit that had stuck out in his mind. Well, apart from that moment of fairly hot demon-chick on demon-chick flirting.

"For starters." Sam agreed, "You think...that's how demons are made? From people who sell their souls and go to Hell?"

Dean shrugged, "They sure don't seem very human to me."

Sam didn't disagree, but he had that thoughtful frown on his face that said he wasn't done digging into the question. After a moment, he set that topic aside and moved on to the next thing that was nagging at him, "What about that thing she said about Lilith wanting your head?"

"What about it?"

"Well, why is she targeting you? It would make sense if it was me, what with that stupid plan that Azazel had for me to lead them. Eliminate the competition, right? But it sounds like she's focused entirely on you."

Dean smirked, "What are you jealous?"

Sam wasn't fooled for a second and just leveled a stare at his brother until he finally shrugged again.

"What? Like I said, I'm awesome." Dean said flippantly.

"Come on, Dean." Sam rebuked him, sick and tired of Dean's devil-may-care act.

"What do you want from me, Sam?" Dean finally demanded in exasperation, his unconcerned mask slipping, "You want me to freak out? What good would that do? A demon wants me dead. What else is new?"

Sam was about to reply that what was new was that this was Lilith, the most powerful demon they'd ever even heard of, but saved his breath. Instead he mentally added it to the list of things he would have to dig into whether Dean liked it or not. The next time he saw Ruby, he was going to have a lot of questions and she was going to start talking.

When Ty woke up that morning, Alex was unsurprisingly still asleep. Ty decided she'd go out and get them some breakfast. But not before she set her revenge in place. Alex would rue the day he called her a dumb blonde.

Ty had to make sure that the evil grin was off her face before she came back inside about a half hour later, balancing a holder with Alex's coffee and her chai latte in one hand and two paper bags full of breakfast goods in the other.

"Alex, you up?" she called as she walked in, "I've got breakfast."

Alex was still in bed, but he groaned at her noisy arrival and mumbled something that sounded like 'coffee.'

"And I brought you coffee." Ty added, setting down her burdens, picking up Alex's coffee and taking it over to him. She held it out over his bed, far enough out of reach that he'd have to sit up to take it. She continued to entice him in a sing-songy voice, dangling the cup, "Hot, disgusting coffee. Just how you like it."

Alex pushed himself up and snatched the cup from her, drawing it in close to his chest like it was something precious and he couldn't risk her trying to steal it back. Ty rolled her eyes and went to go sit at the desk and grab her food. She pulled her breakfast sandwich out of the bag, but waited before she dug in, listening closely to Alex. A moment later she heard him take a big sip of coffee. And promptly spit it out, all over himself and his bed.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed.

Ty shifted in her seat to grin at him, "What's the matter? Coffee not to your liking?"

Alex's eyes narrowed and he glared accusingly at her, "What did you do to it? Jesus, my mouth is burning."

"Do you not like ghost pepper sauce in your coffee? My mistake." Ty said, still inserting a healthy dose of faux-sweetness into her voice that did not match the grin or the devilish glint in her eyes. She took a casual sip of her tea.

Alex's eyes widened, "What? You know I don't do spicy stuff!"

He opened his mouth, fanning his tongue to try and cool it off. It was not helping, if anything it seemed to be getting worse, and Ty was looking very pleased with herself.

"You don't?" she said, "Gee, sorry I must have forgot. I'm just a dumb blonde, you know."

"Mother…" Alex attempted to swear as he scrambled out of bed to run to the bathroom and wash out his mouth, but it came out as more of a mumble since his mouth no longer seemed to be functioning properly. He leaned over the sink and turned on the faucet, ducking his head to sip the water. But for some reason, water seemed to make it even worse. Frantic for some way to get the burning out of his mouth, he grabbed his toothbrush and squirted some toothpaste onto it. Maybe he could scrub it out or maybe the mint in the toothpaste would neutralize it. It couldn't possibly get worse.

Alex shoved the toothbrush in his mouth, starting with brushing off his tongue. And, as he'd hoped, the taste of the toothpaste did cut through the pepper, at least momentarily, but it felt like his tongue was shriveling up inside his mouth. Like he'd just dumped a handful of salt in his mouth.

Ty heard a wordless, gurgled roar from the bathroom followed by a crash and a bang. She briefly considered whether maybe she'd gone too far, but only for a moment. She had to make sure she'd made her point in a way he'd never forget, after all.

Alex finally ran out of the bathroom towards her. He looked like he was foaming at the mouth between the spit and toothpaste coating his face. His eyes were wide and frantic. Ty said nothing, but reached into one of the paper bags and pulled out a small container of whole milk and held it out to him. He hesitated just a moment, apparently no longer willing to trust a drink she handed to him, but ultimately grabbed it and downed it. After he'd emptied the whole container, he wiped his forearm across his mouth. A couple moments after that, he seemed to be feeling better because he glared at her again.

"That was evil! You poisoned me!" he cried. He waved a hand towards the bathroom, "And...and…"

"Salted your toothbrush." Ty supplied.

"Evil." he repeated.

"Don't call me a dumb blonde." Ty ordered, unrepentant.

"Don't mess with my coffee...or my toothbrush." Alex snapped back.

They stared at each other in silence for a moment. Finally, Ty held her hand out, "Deal?"

Alex searched her face suspiciously for a moment, but she looked sincere so he shook her hand, "Deal."

Ty relaxed, a normal smile crossing her face. She reached back into the bag and pulled out a bottle and a second sandwich for him, "Here. Your real breakfast. It's safe, I swear."

Alex took the items from her, turning the bottle over to read the label. He smiled slightly, "Iced coffee."

Ty shrugged, "Figured that might go down a bit better at the moment."

Alex smiled wider. That was just like her to torture him one moment, then be considerate the next. Suddenly, a dark thought hit him hard, one he'd been avoiding since she almost died from the Dead Man's Pinch and that was even worse now that she'd faced an evil far worse without him. She was like family to him, the only family he had anymore. And he'd almost lost her, just like he'd lost the rest. That demon could have easily taken her, too, just like it had taken his parents. And once again, he hadn't been there when he should have been.

"Alex?" Ty asked when he suddenly went pale, the smile vanishing from his face.

Alex shook his head, blinking like he was coming out of a daze, "Nothing. We just...we need to be more careful with this demon."

Ty's reply came slowly as she picked her words carefully, "Well, about that...Dean and Sam are on their way with the Colt...and I got the impression they want us to wait for them."

She watched Alex carefully for his reaction because she honestly didn't know what it would be. Whatever it was, she decided she would follow his lead.

"I...think we should, too." he finally said, half expecting her to argue with him and preparing himself to argue back.

Ty just nodded, "Okay."

"Okay?" Alex repeated, surprised.

"Okay. We'll wait. We'll come up with a plan. The ball's in the demon's court anyway, right?"

"Right." Alex agreed, starting to feel a little better. He retreated across the room and flopped onto Ty's bed to eat his breakfast since his was splattered with poisoned coffee.

Now they just needed a plan.

After breakfast, Ty decided to go for a walk to stretch her legs since sitting around in the motel room was going to make her lose her mind. While she was out, she figured she should give Bobby a call back. Maybe he'd know what to do.

Bobby took longer to pick up than usual, which made Ty frown. Bobby always had at least one phone with him and he almost never missed her calls. If he wasn't answering, it was because he was in the middle of something. So, what was happening now? It certainly seemed like supernatural phenomena were increasing in frequency and that could not be good.

Just as Ty was sure her call was going to go to voicemail, the line picked up and Bobby's gruff voice greeted her with an abrupt, "You okay?"

"Yeah, Bobby, we're good here." Ty confirmed, keeping her answers succinct since even if he wasn't busy, Bobby wasn't really one for small talk, "I found it, but I lost it. I think it's probably still here, but we're going to wait for Sam and Dean. You?"

Bobby paused before he answered and his voice dropped a bit in volume which made Ty think he must be somewhere he didn't want to be overheard, "I'm at the scene of...well, hell I don't know what this is."

Ty's frown deepened. Bobby knew more about this stuff than anyone she knew so if he was at a loss, she couldn't imagine what he must be seeing, "Bad?"

"Seven bodies." Bobby said, "One with his neck snapped. Five with their eyes burned out of their freakin' skulls. And one...well…there's a stab wound, but...it ain't like anything I've ever seen."

"What do you mean?" Ty asked, "And what could burn someone's eyes out like that?"

"I'll send you a picture. Don't know how to explain it." Bobby replied, "And I got no clue."

Ty paused in her tracks. She mentally argued with herself for a moment before she finally spoke, "You need some backup?"

She hated the idea of leaving this hunt unfinished, but she also couldn't stand the thought of not being there for Bobby if he needed her help.

Luckily, Bobby solved her dilemma with his response, "I got Jo and Ellen. They were trying to track the demon that lured them out of the Roadhouse and ended up with this in their laps. They called me in."

Ty almost sighed with relief, "Alright. Well, keep me posted and try to stay out of trouble."

Bobby scoffed and grumbled back, "You lot just don't do anything stupid."

With that he hung up without wasting time on saying goodbye. Ty smiled for a second at his actions, but then her phone buzzed as she received a picture message. When Ty opened it, she stared silently, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. She even tried turning her phone so she could look at it from a different angle in case that provided some new insights, but it still seemed the same. While the photo quality wasn't great, it was clearly a picture taken from above looking down on a woman's body, sprawled on the ground, blood staining most of the clothing covering her torso. But that wasn't what had her and Bobby stumped. No, the real puzzle was the dark imprint on the ground around her, almost like ashes from a brilliant, focused flame, that looked inexplicably like wings.

"What the hell?" Ty mumbled.

Things were definitely getting weirder and weirder.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the middle of the country, flying down rural highways at illegal speeds, Sam and Dean both had their phones give off text alerts. Since Dean was fast asleep, Sam took one hand off the wheel and dug his phone from his pocket. It was from Bobby, a picture and a short message that read, 'You ever seen something like this?' Sam alternated between watching the road and inspecting the picture.

"What the hell?" he said to himself.

He thought about waking Dean to show him, but decided to let him keep sleeping for now. Whatever this was that Bobby was on, it was clearly dead and if it had been an emergency, he would have just called. It could wait until Dean had gotten at least some rest.

But in the meantime, his own curiosity was peaked. He quickly texted Bobby back with one hand, telling him no and asking if he had any other clues. Bobby's reply, that he had more bodies with their eyes burned out, just added to the mystery.

Sam shook his head and texted, 'WTF?'

Bobby's reply was almost immediate and Sam could practically hear him as he read it: 'Don't use any of your stupid cutesy acronyms with me, boy.'

Sam snorted in amusement to himself and sent Bobby a quick apology and explained he had nothing, but to tell him if he found out more. As an afterthought, he added that they were on their way to Ty and would call when they got there, just so Bobby would know. He knew Bobby would never admit to it, but it was obvious how much he cared about the girl and Sam figured he was probably about as worried about her hunting this demon as Dean was (although certainly not as asinine about it).

Although, now that he was thinking about Ty, he wondered what was going on with her hunt. She hadn't communicated with him since she'd left Bobby's and if she'd said much to Dean, he hadn't shared it. With a glance into the rearview to make sure his brother was still asleep, Sam scrolled down to Ty's name in his contacts and called her.

She answered almost immediately, "Sam?"

"Yeah." Sam acknowledged, keeping his voice down so he wouldn't disturb his brother, "Still on the road to you, but I wanted to check in and see what's happened out there. Dean's asleep, but he wasn't in much of a sharing mood earlier."

He imagined Ty rolling her eyes when she responded, "Yeah, well, he's Dean. He growled like two words at me, so we didn't get into much detail either."

"So? Did you find it? Is it for sure that demon?"

"Found it and lost it, but yes. It's her. She wanted us to find her so I don't think she's gone. Actually, she said some stuff I need to tell you about. She said that Lilith put a bounty on Dean, that every demon out of Hell is going to be after him." Ty said, her speech quick and anxious.

Sam frowned, "The demon we just went up against said something similar. Did it say why Lilith is after him?"

"Claimed she didn't know. But Sam, she wants him here, wants me to bring him to her. She said she's the only one who can protect him." Ty hesitated before she admitted, "I'm worried."

Sam's own anxiety ratcheted upward at her admission. In the time he'd known her, Sam had rarely heard Ty admit to any worries. No matter how flippant Dean might be about demons wanting him dead, this was serious.

"Sam?" Ty pressed when he'd let the silence stretch for too long.

"I think you're right. If it wants Dean, it'll still be around and maybe that's how we can trap it." Sam said, rather than voice any of his own concerns.

"Use Dean as bait? She'll expect it." Ty warned.

Sam nodded his agreement even though she couldn't see it and answered with more confidence than he really felt, "Yeah, but if it really does want him, it'll show anyway. And it doesn't know we have the Colt."

He just hoped that the Colt was more effective on this demon than it had been on the one in Tammi.

"Yeah, okay." Ty eventually replied. Then, after another moment, she added, "Thanks, Sam."

The gratitude and trust in her voice made Sam uncomfortable since he really didn't feel like he had a handle on the situation or how to protect his brother, felt more like he was just feeding her a story. He told himself once again that he would figure something out, do whatever it took to stop Lilith. For now, he'd just have to say whatever he needed to say to help the others keep it together. So, he changed the subject so Ty wouldn't notice an awkward silence.

"You talked to Bobby?" he asked.

"Yeah." Ty answered, her tone immediately shifting to a more curious one, "Did he show you…?"

"Yeah. Weird. Even for us."

"Any theories?" Ty continued.

"No, not yet. I told him we'd check in when we got to Denver, see if he's got anything else. You?"

"Nothing. I basically said the same, to keep me posted. He's with Ellen and Jo, so between them if there's anything else to find, I'm sure they'll find it."

"Okay, well I should go. We should be there sometime tonight."

"Got it. I'll text you the address of the motel and I'll save you something to eat." Ty promised, "Bye."

"Bye." Sam echoed before hanging up.

He dropped his phone on the seat next to him and pressed down on the gas a little more. The sooner they got to Denver, the sooner he could find a private moment to talk to Ruby. She kept saying he wasn't ready yet. Well, if she knew how to make him ready, he wasn't going to wait any longer to find out.

Sam and Dean ended up arriving that evening, a couple hours after dark. Even though it was sooner than she expected them, there was no mistaking the Impala's engine as it pulled up outside their room and Ty was waiting in the doorway when they climbed out of the car. She couldn't help feeling a little tense as she waited to see whether Dean would launch right into an argument. Part of her was already starting to feel pissed off about whatever stupid remark she imagined he might say and was already formulating comebacks. So, by the time Dean approached her, she looked ready for a fight.

But somehow seeing her standing in front of him, even with that wary, determined look in her eyes, was such a huge relief that Dean didn't feel like fighting anymore even though he'd spent a good portion of the drive planning out the earful he was going to give her when they arrived. Now he kind of just wanted to put his arms around her and forget it all for one more night. Instead, he shoved his hands in his jacket pockets since there was an even chance when she looked at him like that that she would slug him first.

"Hey." he said, testing the waters.

Surprised by his behavior, Ty found her anger vanishing and instead heard herself replying with an uncertain, "Hey?"

Dean smiled slightly, "Sam said something about you saving us some dinner?"

Still feeling thrown off guard, her brow furrowed a little with confusion, Ty nevertheless stepped back and gestured for them to come in, "Uh...yeah. Pizza. Or leftover Chinese from yesterday if you want."

"Sounds good." he nodded, heading in.

Ty's eyes followed him into the room, then shifted to Sam as he came up behind him. She sent him a silent question, but Sam simply shrugged in reply.

"We've got sausage and bell pepper or the tried and true classic, pepperoni." Alex said in lieu of a greeting, turning the two boxes sitting on the edge of the bed towards the brothers and lifting the lids.

Dean gave him a silent nod, which for the two of them was fairly cordial, and grabbed a slice. Sam muttered a thanks and did the same. Awkward silence settled in the room.

"Well, this is fun." Alex commented, earning him a quick glare from Ty.

"Shut up, Alex." she said, almost automatically, before she moved around the boys and sat down on the other bed, "Okay, so look. I figure I'll show you guys around the track tomorrow and we can try and find somewhere that'll be good to set a trap for her."

She paused, glancing towards Dean. She kept her voice as neutral as possible.

"Did you...uh...want to get another room?"

Dean briefly considered sending her a smirk, but decided it probably wasn't the right time. He matched her neutral tone, instead, "Yeah, sure."

Ty nodded and swiftly gathered up her stuff while the boys ate. After Dean polished off a few more slices, he raised his eyebrows at her and she nodded, hiking her bag up on her shoulder and moving after him towards the door. She paused before she followed him out, "Oh, Sam. Make sure you take this bed. Alex spit coffee on that one so don't let him talk you into switching."

"Hey!" Alex protested.

Ty flashed a grin and disappeared out the door, not waiting to hear what else her partner had to say. Dean had grabbed his bag out of the Impala and was waiting for her. This quiet Dean was frankly weirding her out, but she resolved herself to wait until they were in their room to confront him. Thankfully, securing a room didn't take long at all, so it was only a short while later that she was setting her bag on the floor and turning to face the man who drove her crazy in just about every sense of the word.

"Okay, so...I'm sorry." she finally said.

Dean's silence, although strange and unexpected, had given her a chance to think and Ty had decided that despite the fact that she felt she had only done what she had to in chasing this demon right away and not telling him, it had still been a shitty move. If the roles had been reversed, she'd probably feel like Dean did: upset, worried, pissed off, patronized. The more she'd thought about it, the more she felt she owed him an apology. The last thing she'd said to him before taking off without a word was that she'd be inside if he needed her and then she hadn't been. God, she was awful.

"What?" Dean asked, blinking like he was sure he hadn't heard her right.

"I'm sorry." Ty repeated, feeling like all she was doing these days was apologizing to the men in her life for her screw-ups, "It was shitty of me to leave like that. But I had to."

Dean dropped his bag and took a breath, making Ty wonder if he was finally going to unleash the anger she'd heard on the phone before. He took a few steps across the room, stopping just a pace away from her, but he didn't yell. He held his arms out to her. Unable to resist, Ty stepped into them, sliding her own arms around his back.

"I'm sorry, too, okay? I get it. I'd probably have done the same thing." he said as he held her.

It took Ty a moment for his words to sink in. When they finally did, she couldn't help but smile a little. They really were quite alike.

"So...we're not fighting?" she asked.

Dean chuckled a little, "Not this time. But we can definitely still make out if you want."

Ty laughed and pulled back from his embrace so she could shift her arms to wrap around his neck, leaning back in to kiss him. He kissed her back, but Ty cut it off before it could get more heated. There was still a lot they needed to talk about: Lilith's bounty, the demon, their plan. She was about to explain that to him when he flashed her that grin of his that made her thoughts grind to a halt.

"We need pie. Come on." he announced, turning to head for the door and grabbing her hand to pull her after him.

Ty couldn't stop another laugh from escaping, "You just ate four slices of pizza!"

"Exactly. Plenty of room for dessert."

Ty shook her head, but followed him to the car. It felt good to just be together, enjoying each other's company, for a moment. They could hash the rest out later over pie.

Practically the moment Ty and Dean stepped out the door, Sam gave up on pretending to eat his pizza and started coming up with excuses to slip away to contact Ruby. He was just about to use one, when Alex spoke up.

"Hey...uh...not to be a dick or anything, but do you mind giving me some space for a little bit to make a phone call?" Alex asked, holding his phone up in one hand with a sheepish look on his face.

Sam blinked in surprise, a little shocked that a) it could be this easy and b) that Alex had pretty much the same agenda. He wondered briefly what sort of secrets Alex was keeping, but decided he had enough to deal with at the moment and he couldn't pass up this opportunity.

"No!" Sam responded, covering for his delayed response with his quick, adamant reply, "Of course not. I was actually just about to say I'm going to go take a walk. I've been cooped up in the car all day."

Alex looked relieved, "Okay, cool. And I wasn't going to stick you with the coffee bed, by the way. She's crazy; can't believe anything she says."

Sam smiled. He liked Alex, had since they teamed up with him the last time they faced this demon. He actually felt like they had a lot in common: they were about the same age, both raised as hunters, both lost their parents to demons. And while Alex's parents had primarily tried to keep him out of hunting while his dad had practically forced him into it, there was a lot of overlap in childhoods spent knowing that there very well could be a monster under your bed and it wouldn't hesitate to eat you alive. And while Sam had Dean, it seemed to him like Alex now had Ty in much the same way, someone who always had your back, that you could count on. Obviously, Dean thought there was more to their relationship than that, but Sam didn't think so. No, he figured that once again his brother was just being an idiot.

"Well, she does seem to have a thing for my dumbass brother, so she's definitely not sane." Sam agreed.

Alex grinned and tapped his nose then pointed at Sam, indicating he'd hit it "on the nose." Chuckling, Sam waved and headed outside, but the second the door closed behind him all mirth faded from his face. Glancing around, he spotted a sign indicating the main entry where Dean and Ty must have gone to get their room. He headed in the opposite direction, turning the corner when he reached the end of the building and walking down the dark alleyway. When he figured he was well out of both eyesight and earshot, he pulled out his phone.

"Ruby, where are you?" he demanded the second she answered.

"Miss me already?" she replied with her usual sass.

"Ruby, I don't have time for…" Sam began angrily.

"Turn around, Sam." Ruby interrupted.

Sam whirled around to find Ruby standing behind him, pulling her phone from her ear and hanging up. He frowned, somewhat disconcerted that she had gotten the drop on him, "How do you get around so fast?"

"I got the Super Bowl jetpack." Ruby quipped, "So, you called?"

"Did you know about the bounty on Dean?"

Ruby shrugged unapologetically, "Yeah."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Sam demanded, taking a furious step towards her.

"What difference would it have made?" Ruby replied, crossing her arms, unintimidated.

Sam wanted to yell at her or even strike her, but he swallowed his anger, reminding himself that he needed her. For now.

"You keep saying I'm not ready yet. Which means you think I could be. What do I need to do?" Sam finally forced himself to ask through clenched teeth.

Ruby glanced up at him, gauging his seriousness, still somewhat skeptical, "You're not going to like it."

"Just tell me."

Ruby tilted her head to one side, watching him carefully for his reaction, "You have powers, Sam."

Sam immediately started shaking his head, "No, not anymore. I haven't even had a vision for months. Not since…"

Sam trailed off, unwilling to say more. What would he say? Since he'd died?

"It's a muscle, Sam. You just let yours atrophy, but it can be built up again." Ruby argued, "You just need a boost to get the juices flowing."

Sam kept shaking his head. Ruby scowled at him, her eyes flashing with annoyance.

"Do you want to stop Lilith and save your brother, or don't you?" she snapped.

Sam paused. He hated it, but she was right. If his weird powers could somehow help them, then he would just have to use them again. He didn't have a choice.

Sam took a deep breath, "Fine. Keep talking."

Ruby smiled, "Finally, a Winchester does something smart for a change. First things first, I can give you what you need, Sam, but you're going to have to trust me."

Sam just gestured for her to continue so Ruby held out her hand.

"I need your knife."

Sam hesitated, confused. What did she need his knife for? She had her blade on her hip? Ruby made an inpatient sound, wiggling her fingers insistently, so Sam reluctantly reached down to pull a small knife from his shoe and hand it to her. Ruby took it and immediately sliced across the inside of her forearm, dark blood welling in the blade's wake.

"Ruby…" Sam protested, even more confused now.

"This is what you need, Sam." Ruby said, holding her arm out towards him, unconcerned by the blood dripping from the wound, "This can help you become strong enough to wipe Lilith off the map."

Sam recoiled from her, his lip curling in disgust. Did she really think he was going to...what, drink her blood?

Sam shook his head, "No way. You're insane."

"Think about it, Sam. A few drops from Azazel when you were a baby fueled your powers before. I'm not nearly as powerful, so it's going to take a lot more this time but it can get your powers going again."

Sam shook his head again, but what she said made an awful, terrible kind of sense. He hated that it made sense.

"You saw what happened in Massachusetts, Sam. The Colt won't be enough. So either suck it up or start writing Dean's eulogy." Ruby continued, stepping after him as he retreated from her.

Sam stared from Ruby's bloody arm to her face. He'd told himself he would do whatever it took, but he'd never imagined something like this. And yet, Ruby was right. He'd had the Colt and that demon in Massachusetts had still almost killed him and Dean. Lilith would be even more powerful.

Sam wavered, uncertain. He'd secretly thought his powers were something evil and seeing how the other Special Children had turned out seemed to lend credence to that theory. But maybe if he could turn his powers against demons, against Lilith, then he could make them something good.

Sam slowly reached out and took Ruby's arm. She nodded at him encouragingly. He lowered his head, but again hesitated. Was he really going to do this?

"It's okay, Sam." Ruby soothed, "Everything will be okay."

Sam closed his eyes and dropped his mouth to her arm, closing his lips around the wound, trying not to think about what he was doing, but instead focusing on why he was doing it. Ruby smiled wider as she watched him.

"That's it, Sam. Take as much as you need."