Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing the boys. I'll try to give them back in one piece but I give no guarantees.
Quick recon told Dean that the family was staying on the fifth floor of the hotel in a room facing towards the street. It also told him that the hotel was anything but empty. If they could they'd have to make this as quick and quiet as possible; he knew form experience that it wasn't likely to go that way though so he memorized the lay out making up a quick escape rout for when the shit hit the fan. Then he drove back to the motel where Jack and Sammy were putting together their supplies for the exorcism.
When he opened the door to he and Sam's room Sam looked up from the book in his hands and tossed him something.
"Gris-Gris?" Dean asked looking over the little bag.
"A precaution." Sam said.
"You got everything?" Dean asked.
"Almost." Sam said distractedly frowning at a particular passage.
"You'd think were naked chicks on that paper, the way you're looking at it." Dean joked.
"Only the witch hag kind." Sam said.
"Okay we're getting you a subscription to Playboy." Dean said.
"Jerk." Sam said shaking his head.
"Bitch." Dean retorted tossing his little bag in the air and catching it.
"Gonna take a shower. We've still got time." Dean said putting the bag in his jacket pocket.
Once the door was closed Dean let his eyes close. He felt a flood of anger when he was flooded with the image of that thing threading its fingers through the little girl's hair. The way those kids looked at it with trust and dependence. Expecting their mother to make everything better again, because that just what mom's did. Unbidden Dean thought of the nightmares Sam had nightly, the pain in his eyes when he woke from them. That same look of trust and dependence he gave Dean, expecting him to make everything better because that's just what Dean did. Dean shook his head hard, no time for that.
If it fed off of pain then with the three of them it would have a veritable all you can eat buffet.
Dean emerged to see Jack sitting on his bed with Sam nowhere in sight.
"He had to get something from the car." Jack said. Dean nodded and didn't say anything. He grabbed some clothes and went back into the bathroom to get dressed. He went back out into the room and picked his jacket up off the back if the chair. He took the Gris-Gris out of his pocket.
"Thanks." He said to Jack holding up the little bag. She gave him a half smile.
"Don't thank me yet, you're jacket's gonna smell like moldy herbs tomorrow." Jack said.
"The ladies will love that." Dean said.
"I guess you'll have to rely on your charm." Jack said. "In other words you're screwed." Dean snorted and they looked at one another in a temp truce.
A snip of the wires and the alarm on the emergency exit in back of the hotel is a goner and they can go in quietly.
"Don't believe anything it says." Dean cautioned on their way up the back stairs. "These things look into you, they say things just to throw you off, distract you."
Jack nodded running her fingers over the brass knuckles on her left hand. Sam was reading the words in Dad's journal again and again so just in case he lost his grip on the book during the thing he'd still know what to say.
Their first concern was getting the kids away from Mommy Dearest so the demon couldn't use them as human shields. After that everything else was fair game.
"What do we tell the kids?" Jack asked.
"We-" Sam stopped when they rounded the corner to the hallway where their demon was and ran into the kids in question. Andy's hand was on the door knob and his sister was holding an ice bucket in her hands, sniffling softly. They both looked exhausted. Andy looked up, saw them and stiffened.
"Hey, Andy right?" Dean came forward with a charming smile. "Do you remember us from this afternoon?"
"The detectives." Andy said in a dull voice.
"Yeah, would you mind coming with us for a minute?" Dean said beckoning them away from the door.
"What for?" Andy asked tiredly.
"We want to ask you a few things." Dean said.
"At ten o'clock at night" Andy asked suspiciously. "I think you should talk to my mom."
He moved to turn the handle but Dean crossed the hall fast and put a hand on his to stop him.
"I'm gonna level with you. We think the suspect might be here now. I want you to take your sister outside right now while I get your mom." Dean said intensely. The boy met his eyes first with disbelief then fear.
"And you'll get my mom." Andy asked.
"Yeah we'll get her." Sam assured him. Andy hesitated, opened his mouth and closed it again.
"I want to go." Becca whispered fearfully. That was all it took for Andy to make the decision to trust them.
"Where should we go?" Andy asked Dean.
"There's a place across the street, just lay low there until me or one of my friends comes to get you." Dean said referring to a coffee shop across the street from them. It was closed but they could sit on the benches in front without being disturbed.
Andy nodded and took the ice bucket from his little sister, t hen escorted her to the elevators, giving one last glance at the trio before pressing the button and disappearing inside.
"When in doubt scare the shit out 'em." Jack said.
"Damn Skippy." Dean said.
"Everyone ready?" Sam asked taking out his gun. Dean and Jack followed suit. Once they got to the actual exorcism they two were going to hold the bitch down while Sam said the words.
Dean went in first, with Sam second and Jack bringing up the rear. It was too quiet inside, the calm before the storm. The main room was empty, all the lights out. Sam reached into his knapsack and handed the vials of holy water to Dean and Jack. A light was shining through the crack under the master bedroom door. Silently Dean and Jack moved to flank Sam. Dean put his hand on the knob and turned to nod at them to ready themselves.
Dean was hardly through the door when she attacked, slicing at him with a butcher's knife. He put up his arm to block her and Jack pushed her sideways spinning her around to slam into the wall.
"Sam hang back!" Dean said when Sam was about to put the book down and help them.
Jack pressed the inscription on the knuckles into the possessed woman's flesh and she dropped the knife. Dean and Jack each grabbed an arm and drove her back onto the large bed that dominated the room.
"Sammy now!" Dean yelled.
The woman was bucking and thrashing wildly, too strong for either to let go of them. She turned her head and sank her teeth into Jack's arm tearing into the soft flesh. Jack gritted her teeth and put all her weight into holding it down
It looked at them with blackened rage filled eyes and grinned maliciously. Dean felt something pressing into his mind trying to get in. Trying to see into him. He pushed back fighting back as though it were physical, barring it entrance. He tried not to show it his fear for the others.
Sam was reading the words aloud as fast as he could when he felt the presence there.
'Your fault. All your fault. Always your fault. They'll all die because of you' A cold voice slithered into his mind.
"No." He said clenching his teeth.
"Sam the spell." Dean said.
'He hates you. Hates you for leaving. Hates you for needing so much.' It continued, whispering Sam's insecurities.
"Don't listen to it!" Dean said. It was just as he feared, it couldn't get into him so it was attacking Sam.
Sam fought it tooth and nail forcing himself to see past what It was saying to his brother. His brother taking care of him. His brother telling him it was alright, even if Sam didn't always believe it.
Jack tried to ignore her blood coating her lips. She tried not to hear the voice in her head.
'They'll leave you. When the demon is dead. You're just a weapon. Just convenient. When its done you'll be obsolete' The malicious voice said.
"Shut up Bitch!" Jack roared.
'They'll find out and hate you. Just like you hate yourself.'
"I don't!" Jack said. "They won't care."
"Jack listen to me." Dean was saying. Distantly she heard Sam start the Latin words up again but all she could focus on was the words and the images they conjured up. Blood and bile. Pain.
'Brian cared.' The last words said with such cruel amusement are what made Jack freeze. What made her grip slacken enough for her to be tossed like a rag doll across the room.
"Jack!" Sam called before the thing rushed at him, his attention momentarily distracted what happened.
Dean was right on its back blinded by anger. He didn't see anything but the thing trying to hurt his own. He grabbed a handful of the woman's hair yanking her backward long enough for Sam to get the fuck out of the way. She whirled on him shrieking. He smirked at her and drew his knife out. The two circled one another.
Sam looked at his brother and saw the dark look in his eyes, that smile that meant something was going to die. Painfully if he had it his way. He turned away from the two combatants to see if Jack was alright.
"You good?" He asked coming to her side. She flinched from his touch for a second then blinked up at him and nodded taking his hand. As soon as she was on her feet she pulled a small blade from under her sleeve and advanced on the two facing off in the center of the room. Sam picked up the discarded journal and started reading aloud where he left off. He didn't care if she attacked him, he just wanted this done now.
Dean slashed at the woman darting in and out of her reach to get at her before she got her hands on him. He kept them moving in a tight circle trading blows with it. A blur of red on his peripheral and he moved out of the way in time for Jack land a punch straight to its jaw.
"Better not have been meant for me." He said, his eyes flashing proudly as the combination of the force of the blow and the inscription knocked it to the ground for a few precious seconds.
"Naw, I wouldn't hurt that face." Jack said smiling viciously.
The spell was nearly done, the possessed woman subdued when the boy arrived.
"Mom! What's going on!" Andy cried running into the room. He looked wildly around him, at his mother on the floor and bent down to help her up.
"Don't!" Jack screamed trying to stop him.
"I told you to stay outside!" Dean said at the same time.
As soon as Andy touched his fallen mother she grabbed hold of him by the throat and opened her mouth. Black smoke oozed out of every orifice filtering into the young boy. They tried, all three of them to get her off of them, but the briefest taste of their darkness had made it stronger.
"Fuck!" Dean was thrown backwards by its power, Sam landed hard on top of him. He couldn't see where Jack landed cause his vision started to cloud after his head collided with the one of the bed posts.
He forced himself up and Sam pushed himself off his brother so they could see what was happening. Erica was shaking violently on the floor shrieking at the top of her lungs and Andy was looking down at with a look of complete detachment. He looked at them, his eyes going black and turned to run out the door. Sam grabbed for the knife Dean dropped and threw it as hard as he could getting the boys leg, but he just kept on going.
"Damnit!" Dean jumped to his feet. Jack used the bureau she'd hit to pull herself up.
"We have to get him." She said.
"What do we do with her?" Sam asked. Erica was now curled up in a ball on the floor crying and clutching her head.
"Hey? Look at me? Do you remember anything?" Dean said kneeling in front of the woman. She cowered away from him.
"We're trying to help. Your son is in trouble." Dean tried again.
"I killed him! I killed him!" She screamed rocking back and forth.
"We have to shut her up." Dean said. He didn't want to leave her in the state she was in but her son was possessed now and alone with her daughter probably.
Jack got up and pulled the sheets off the bed using her knife to cut strips as fast as she could.
"Sam help me hold her." Dean said getting the idea.
Sam nodded closed the bedroom door and joined his brother. Together they gently pried Erica's hands from around her head. Without the demon inside her she was much easier to subdue. Jack gagged her and tied a piece of cotton around her mouth to secure it, effectively muffling her screams. Next came her hands tied securely behind her back.
"Now listen to me Erica." Dean said staring into the woman's red tear streaked face.
"In a few minutes security is going to come up here and your going to have to tell them that everything is fine. That you had a nightmare about your husband's murder and that you're fine now." Dean said forcefully trying to get some semblance of reason through to the woman. She shook her head and sobbed.
"Your kids are in danger and we need you to say those things and only those things. Sam chimed in. At the second mention of her children Erica stilled. She still looked terrified but she wasn't fighting against them anymore. A knock sounded at the door.
"Mrs. Masters? Mrs. Masters, this is hotel security, we had a report of a disturbance. Can you please open the door?" The man on the other side of the door said pounding harder on the door.
"Please Erica." Sam said. She was breathing hard and fast looking unsure as she nodded. Dean nodded to Jack who pulled the woman to her feet and took her to the door. When they got there she cautiously removed the gag from Erica's mouth.
"Mrs. Masters?" The security guard said again, banging on the door.
"I'm fine." Erica said in shaky voice. Silence on the other side of the door.
"Are you sure? The other tenants say they heard screaming coming from your room." The security guard asked.
"I had a n-nightmare about m-my my husband." Erica stumbled over the words. "I think I'm okay now."
"Mrs. Masters maybe you should open the door." The security guard said doubt clear in his voice.
"No. no please can you just leave me and my children alone. Please." Erica said, her voice stronger this time.
There was a long pause. Too long. The longer the boy was on the loose the harder it would be to track him.
"Alright Mrs. Masters." The guard finally said. They could hear him hesitate at the door then turn to leave out the way he came.
Erica crumpled to the ground as soon as he was gone, Jack begin the only thing that kept her from hitting the floor. Jack hoisted the woman up and carried her to the bed.
"Should we leave her tied up?" Sam asked looking at the unconscious woman.
"Yeah. She might hurt herself when she wakes up." Jack said hoarsely. Sam looked at Dean who nodded in agreement and they picked up their weapons and prepared to leave.
A fast look up and down the empty, deceivingly peaceful halls and they went out the way they came. They'd already lost at least ten much needed minutes. They hurried out the back running around the front of the hotel to see if by some small stroke of luck Becca was still there alone. Their bad luck held, she wasn't there.
"C'mon." Dena said through gritted teeth trying to drown out the image of the scared girl out of his mind.
"Dean." Jack said as they walked. She watched the ground close as she walked not meeting his eyes even when the got to the car.
"I'm sorry." She said biting so hard into her lip that she drew blood.
"Its not your fault." Dean said automatically opening his door and sliding in. Jack didn't believe him; if that girl died tonight it would be her fault for letting that thing get to her. She forced back it back and got into the back seat.
Sam made it into the passenger side before the pain started. He never thought he'd been so grateful for the pain that proceeded a vision but this time he was. He clenched his teeth bracing himself.
Dean stopped before turning the key in the ignition and put his hand on Sam's back and the other hand on his chest so that when it hit Sam wouldn't hit his head on the dash board. Sam cried out in pain, shooting forward as the onslaught of images started. He saw Andy in what looked like a burned out building. He swa him tying his little sister to a rusty chair and withdrawing the knife Sam had embedded in his leg.
"A building. An old-abandoned building. He's going to kill her." Sam gasped out fighting through the pain filled haze.
"You alright?" Dean asked.
"Yeah. Yeah we have to go. We have to hurry." Sam insisted rubbing his forehead.
"Did you see where?" Dean asked starting the car.
"I think its by where we were staying. A burnt out building somewhere over there." Sam said.
"Jack?" Dean glanced back at her but her eyes were already shut, a look of concentration of her features.
Jack expanded her awareness, tapping into that side if herself that always burned. She felt past the small pulls of energy- a lighter being sparked, a tiny house fire across the city- trying to find something older.
"Turn right three streets down from our motel. Then go straight. Its a bunch of buildings. I'm not sure which one." Jack said.
"You guys are better than lojack." Dean said stepping on the ignition.
TBC………..
AN: Hope you enjoyed this installment. More action, a lot more angst on the way. Reviews, reviews, reviews. A girl can never have to many of them. BTW…Paint It Black- totally the theme song of this chapter.:D