PART 4

Claudia grimaced in pain as she was being led away down a dark corridor, her hand pulled back to the point of break, a gun to her head. Dean was right behind her. They were pushed into a large room that seemed to be made up of several rooms whose walls had been knocked down.

About a dozen people wearing black stood in a circle, five more stood at five points of a pentagram that was painted in red on the floor. The room was dark, its windows nailed shut. The only source of light came from the numerous red and black candles that created a strange looking pattern across the floor. Claudia was led to a dark alter, whereas Dean was pushed to the floor just outside the pentagram, his hands tied with rope. The guy from before neared Claudia slowly, handing her a small, ragged looking, leather-bound book, already opened to the right page. Claudia squinted. It was too dark to be able to read the tiny words. Someone behind her shone the book with a flashlight. Dean rolls his eyes. Claudia glanced at him, and then quickly reads the first few lines. Her heart missed a beat.

"That's not just any demon you're trying to summon." She said in a small voice, looking up at the people around her. "Do you have any idea what this thing can do?" she asked, "This thing is evil. Really evil. You don't want to do this."

"Can you do it, or will it have three human sacrifices after all?" the guy from before asked impatiently. Claudia glanced at Dean. He nodded, letting her know he had already cut through the ropes and was ready. Claudia nodded back at him. She returned her eyes to the book and started chanting. The people around seemed excited, their eyes filled with anticipation. Except for one.

"Wait a minute, it doesn't say that!" he cried, "She's doing something, it doesn't say…!" and then the candles all died out. Claudia finished chanting, looking resolutely at the guy accusing her. It was done. Already, a chill started to spread around the room. Dean looked around nervously. He could have sworn he saw something out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned his head, there was nothing there. And then it seemed like the room became a little more lit. Dean wrinkled his brow, and then caught Claudia's look. He turned his head quickly and sucked in his breath. Sonofa… She did it! She actually did it! He thought as he realized the room didn't become more lit, but in fact the shadows from all across the room seemed to blend together and take form. It wasn't solid, not just yet. Two red eyes were the only thing discernable from the demon's face. Dean swallowed, tightening his grip on Claudia's knife, wondering if it would even cause any damage. He glimpsed at Claudia, but her eyes were fixed on the demon. The people around didn't seem to agree on the way they should react. Most of them seemed excited, the rest seemed nervous. The guy they talked to before looked at the demon in awe. He walked over to the dark alter, taking a sacrificial knife in his hand.

"Finally." He said, walking over to Dean. "Oh, honored one, we give you this sacrifice to show our…" he didn't get to finish the sentence. The demon, nearly fully formed, leaped at him at slit his throat. The people around shrieked and screamed and yelled. Dean even thought he heard someone cry 'oh, no, not again'. A couple of people were quick to run out of the room. They were the only ones. The door swung shut. There was no other way out. The excited faces turned into nervous looks and fearful glances.

"This is your fault, bitch!" Dorian yelled, picking up the sacrificial knife. "This should have been you!" he grabbed her before she has time to react. She manages to shake free, but he still cuts her arm pretty deeply. Dean was about to go and help her when a sudden cold rushed over him. He turned, and for the slightest of moments, froze as the demon neared him. And then he remembered the knife in his hand. Come on, let's see what you've got. Dean thought, bracing himself.

Claudia watched the blood trickling down her arm and swallowed. Biting her lower lip, she looked at the demon. She knew what would happen next, and she wasn't looking forward to it.

The demon lunged at Dean. Dean clenched his jaw, raising the knife, preparing himself to… he blinked. The demon stopped abruptly. It looked around, as if looking for something. And then it found it. It lunged at Claudia. He was upon her in a second. She grimaced in pain, gasping, as the demon reached its hand inside her chest. She dropped to her knees, staring at the demon, but doesn't seem to be fighting it. Her breathing became shuttered, her face pale. She shivered with the cold and the pain. Just hold on, she told herself, you can do this, just hold on.

Dean's eyes widened at the gruesome sight before his eyes. He cried out, rushing over to help Claudia. He thrust Claudia's knife into the demon as hard as he could. It barely injured it, but it enough to stop it from killing Claudia. Weaponless, Dean stumbled back as the demon turned to him. But that was all the distraction Claudia needed. She took a deep, shuttered breath and got to her feet. The first few seconds were always the worst. She quickly started chanting again, and again the demon stopped before reaching Dean. It attacked her again, reaching its hand inside her chest, but this time she didn't fall to her knees. This time she didn't stop chanting. She found her knife and, looking at the demon's red eyes, pushed it in all the way to the hilt, twisting it until the demon was gone and the knife was left in her hand. Claudia closed her eyes for just a moment, breathing in relief. It wasn't the first time she had done that, but still… She looked around at the people staring at her, wide-eyed. Some were quick to flee out of the room, the rest just looked at her, some confused, others angry. Her look passed on each of them.

"Nice party." She said, breathless, a tiny smile creeping onto her lips. "Anyone for a rerun?" her smile grew as they quickly shuffled out of the room. Dean neared her.

"Are you all right?" he asked. Claudia gave him a little nod, looking at her knife.

"Yeah." She said, "Thank, for… you know." She added. Dean stared at her for a moment. He wasn't sure she was all right. She sure didn't look it. He looked back at the door.

"What the hell were you doing, raising a demon!" he demanded angrily. He was pretty sure it was the wrong thing to say, but it was the only thing he could come up with. She gave him a funny look, and was about to say something, when Sam kicked the door open. He hit it so hard it flung against the wall and nearly hit him back. He looked around, was still wearing the handcuffs on one of his hands, a worried look on his face. Claudia raised a brow.

"Too late, you missed out on all the fun." She said, sending him a little smile. Sam neared them, looking around at the room. Claudia looked down at the dark alter at her feet. A couple of candles were still lit on it. She took one of them, lighting up the book and watching it burn. Sam walked past Dean, heading for Claudia.

"Are you all right?" he asked her, making sure. Claudia nodded slightly. Dean raised a brow. And what am I? Chopped liver? He thought to himself, but said nothing. Looking up at Sam, Claudia overturned the dark alter, smashing it.

"I could use a drink, though." She said.

Dean packed his things into the Impala. They were all tired, but none of them wanted to spend another night in that town. Sam came out of the motel room, walking over to the car and giving Dean his bags.

"I guess it's not so bad having her around after all, is it?" he asked, grinning.

"Yeah, well, I still don't trust her." Dean said.

"Dean…"

"She raised a demon, Sam!"

"And she banished it!" Sam cried. "What they were trying to raise… Dean, it would have destroyed the entire neighborhood in a heartbeat."

"You don't know that!" Dean snapped, "Someone is dead, Sam, do you get that?"

"But it wasn't her fault!" Sam defended her, "Look, they would have done this with or without her help. At least, this way, it didn't have three human sacrifices!" Dean gave him a sharp look. He was about to say something when he noticed Sam was looking at something over his shoulder. Dean turned his head to see Claudia nearing them. She put her stuff in the car, with Sam's help.

"How are you feeling?" Sam asked her. She smiled at him.

"Like I had too much to drink." She answered wearily. "And you keeping me up all night didn't help." She scolded him, trying to keep a serious face. Sam smiled, and Dean rolls his eyes, opening the driver's door. "This is going to be an issue with you, isn't it?" Claudia asked, looking at Dean. He glanced at Sam.

"We should get going." He said.

"Sam, I left my other bag in my room, would you mind bringing it?" Claudia asked. It took Sam a moment, but he got the hint, leaving the two of them alone. "Why won't you just say what you want to say?" Claudia asked, looking at Dean. He hesitated for a moment.

"You knew what was going to happen, didn't you?" he asked. "When you raised that demon, you knew it was going to attack! That's what demons do!" he accused.

"That thing I raised, Dean, in a scale of one to ten, ten being apocalyptic, the thing I raised doesn't even register." Claudia said, "It's… a mosquito. The thing they were trying to unleash, that's about twelve. If that thing… if they had their way, you wouldn't be standing here right now, lecturing me!" Dean looked intently at her.

"You thought it would go after you first, didn't you?" he asked a moment later. Claudia swallowed, lowering her eyes.

"They usually do." She said in a small voice.

"Why?" Claudia shrugged.

"I don't know." She said, looking up at Dean. "Maybe they think I'm cute." She tried, but Dean didn't smile. She sighed. "Look, Sam's safe. We're all safe. That's all I care about. I know you don't like me, I don't know what else to do to change your mind, but I like Sam. I really like Sam. I won't let anything hurt him." Dean gave a slight nod.

"Good. Me neither." He said, and she didn't miss the warning in his voice.

"So… are we alright? Can we put this thing behind us, move on?" Claudia asked him.

"You know, if you want to keep hanging with us, you're going to have to learn some skills. You know, so you wouldn't get us killed, like you almost did last night." He said. Claudia gasped.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really." Dean said, "I have a job to do, sweetheart, I don't have time to baby-sit."

"And what skills would those be?" Claudia demanded, not even a little amused.

"You know, the essentials. Breaking out of cuff would sure be high up there on the list." Dean noted as Sam came back. They all got in the car. "I mean, seriously, if I'm gonna be riding with another college brat, the least you could do is make yourself useful." Dean went on.

"Oh, yeah? Well, for your information, you're not so hot yourself. I mean, how long did it take you to get that thing? What were you waiting for, an official invitation?" Dean smiled to himself, putting a Metalica tape on and turning up the volume. One thing he could definitely say about her; she had much better come-backs than Sam.

"That's a lot of lip coming from a history major." Dean noted.

"I wasn't a history major." Claudia said simply. Both Dean and Sam glanced back at her. "Yeah, I lied, sue me!" she made a face.

"So, what did you study?" Sam asked.

"You mean when I actually showed up? I was a psych major." Dean gave Sam a long look.

"Well, now, that's just great!" he muttered, changing gears as the Impala sped on.