Eye of the Storm

Beta'd by mysterychic. Thank you's to her.

Disclaimer: Don't own Supernatural in any way. I do own Haley Winchester and Laura Whitman.

Author's Note: I can honestly say, I'm surprised. I hadn't expected to have this many chapters at this point in the story, but it seems I'm better at filling it out then I thought; I expected this part of the story to be finished by chapter seven at best. My current estimate is that I'll end up with maybe fifteen chapters if I'm lucky, but then again, I said twenty-five with Heart of Gold and ended up with forty, so, who knows…

Possibly not my best chapter. Read on and let me know.

Review Answers:

Spuffyshipper – Thank you, have done, yes, have done (tired, not much imagination is going into these replies).

EmSyd – Thank you.

Ghostwriter – You think so? Won't be finding out in this chapter. Thank you.

FireZombie – Glad you thought so. Thank you.

Kiss of Death – Thank you.

puplover77 – I would love to answer each individual thing you said, but as I said above, I'm tired, so I'll just give you a BIG thank you, I'm glad you liked it, and we can all get onto the chapter. Hmmm… that came out a little wrong.

Chapter 10: Pain Shared is Pain Halved

"Meg?" Dean whispered, taking a step forward. A pained groan came from the young woman. Blood seeped from her nostrils and mouth; she was hunched over, and quite clearly in agony. Without hesitation, Dean rushed forward and began to untie the ropes binding her arms to the chair. He glanced momentarily up at Bobby as Haley took the other arm and began working at the knots. "Call an ambulance." He said. Meg gave a cough and some more blood come up, splattering on the floor. Dean cast a worried look on her, and then turned back to Bobby. "Tell them to hurry." He said. Bobby nodded and left the room.

"Done," Haley said, letting the ropes fall to the floor. Dean nodded as both Meg's arms were freed.

"I…" Dean's voice cracked. He took a deep breath and tried again. "I don't know what to do," he said, looking at Haley. "I mean… should we move her…? Get her lying down, or… just leave her there…? How do we know we won't hurt her more just by taking her out of the chair?" He scratched his head, a look halfway between concern and panic on his face. Haley frowned, looking hopelessly at the broken woman sitting in front of her.

"I… I don't think sitting up is doing her any good," she said after a minute. Dean hesitated for a second, before he reached down and, as gently as he could, lifted Meg out of the chair. She cried out in agony, and Dean almost dropped her. But he caught himself just in time, and slowly carried her toward the couch, lying her down on it. Silent tears of pain were sliding down her cheeks, and it looked to Dean like it was an effort for her not to be screaming her lungs dry every other second.

"It… it wasn't… lying…" She gasped out in a hoarse voice. Dean frowned, staring at her. "Your brother… she… needs to kill your… brother."

"She?" Haley asked. Dean glanced up and saw she had a blanket and a glass of water. He looked back at Meg for a second, and then his eyes widened.

"Laura." He stated. "She's possessed." Meg nodded weakly. Dean took the glass from Haley, and gently helped her take a sip. They discovered that was a bad idea when she started coughing again, which quickly turned into cries of pain as each cough shook her broken body.

"What about what it said about the cemetery, where he is?" Haley asked slowly. "Was it telling the truth?" Meg started to nod, but was overcome once more by a coughing fit. Only this time it didn't seem like she was going to stop until she'd coughed her own lungs up, and blood coming up only made that suspicion stronger.

The coughing subsided after a minute, and Meg slumped back against the cushion behind her head, taking in a small, shaky breath. Seconds passed and she didn't let it out again.

"Meg?" Dean gasped out. There was no response. She just laid there, eyes half-closed, not moving.

"Move over." Haley said, pushing him aside. Without hesitation, she laid one hand on Meg's forehead, and the other on her chest, and took a deep breath, reaching outwards with her mind, trying to latch on to the small flicker of life that was seeping out of Meg as each second passed. But it was like trying to catch something small in the water; somehow, it kept slipping from her grasp. She furrowed her brow in concentration. "Come on… come on, I know you're still there." Her breathing slowed, and she tried to relax, still reaching for Meg. "Come on, come on."

"Haley?" Dean asked. Her slow breathing continued, but she didn't say anything. He stared down at Meg's face. She was dead, that was obvious. So what was Haley doing?

A sharp intake of breath brought his attention back to Haley. Her eyes were wide open, and she was taking in deep breaths and barely taking the time to let them out before breathing in again, almost as if she was hyperventilating. Dean stared, unsure what to do. Something in the back of his mind told him to break the connection Haley had formed between herself and Meg's body, but… he didn't. If there was even the smallest chance Haley could save Meg… he just hoped it didn't end up costing both their lives.

Haley was gasping for air, eyes narrowed in focus as she tried to keep a hold of what little she could, continued to try and pull the other woman back from death. And then, with a sudden gasp for air, Meg's eyes were wide open.

Haley threw back her head and screamed in pain as a sickening crack sounded from her body. Her eyes were now wide open, filled with total agony. But she kept on, continued to pull at Meg's pain, the one thing above all else that Meg felt at that moment.

But there was a flip side to that coin: Meg was in agony; that much was certain. And it was that agony that, while giving Haley something to latch onto, was pushing Meg further and further away from life. She wanted it to end, wanted to be free of the pain, and Haley was fast becoming overwhelmed by that very same pain as it spread through her own body.

"No…" She gasped, her eyes narrowed as she tried to ignore the total agony her body was putting her through. Blood seeped from her nose, and she had the distinct impression it was dribbling from her mouth as well. But she didn't notice it; all she saw, all she felt, was Meg. Her hand clenched on Meg's chest, her nails digging into the other woman's chest. "You… can't… have her." She growled. Dean wondered who she was talking to.

Her head suddenly snapped up, and she was looking directly ahead, her eyes charcoal black. Her face was twisted into a snarl, no longer giving away any evidence that she was in pain. There was an old man, decrepit, and yet with an air of strength about him. He stood in wait behind the couch, hand outstretched towards… who, he wasn't quite certain of. There were two women, both on the brink of death; he had only come for one. One, quite obviously waiting for death to come, while the other seemed full of a strange, not-quite-life that defied all the reaper knew of life and death. But still; hiss job was to guide the dead, and until one of them died, he remained waiting.

Haley, however, was in no hurry to let him do his job. More spasms of pain shot through her body; bones felt broken, her lungs seemed unable to take in air, and she was beginning to feel cold inside, like the life was being drained from her.

Her black eyes focused on Meg; the injuries were still there, but… there was something different. They didn't seem quite as bad, or at least, they no longer appeared to be life threatening. In fact, they hadn't for some time. So what was Haley feeling?

And that's when she realized; the pain, the injuries, were no longer what she was channelling out of Meg, using up so that Meg would no longer have to feel it; it was the death. She wasn't breathing life back into the other woman, but pulling death out of her. The reaper slowly turned it gaze towards Haley, a terrifying smile twisting his lips as he reached forward.

Without thinking, Haley pulled back, instantly breaking the connection between herself and Meg and falling backwards onto the floor. Meg's head slumped to one side, but she continued breathing, though laboriously. She was alive, and would remain so for a little while, but she was still in desperate need of medical attention.

Haley rolled over, getting to her hands and knees, and then made a retching sound as blood rushed up her throat, coughing it up onto the floor.

"Haley…?" Dean began, but she looked up at him, blood still dribbling from her lips.

"Get a gun… and any bullets you have for it." She said. Dean hesitated, seeing the condition both Haley and Meg were in. Haley looked up at him, her eyes, which Dean was glad to see had returned to normal, narrowing dangerously. "Now!" She ordered. Dean's hesitation vanished, and he turned and left the room. Haley sighed, laying down, avoiding the small puddle of blood, and leaning her head against the hard wood floor, taking in deep breaths. She felt completely worn out. The injuries she'd channelled were slowly reversing, like any emotion she channelled empathically did, but the pain and weakness she was left with would take a lot longer to heal.

Dean returned, carrying the gun and the bullets. "Give." Haley said, holding out her hand. Dean made to hand over the gun, but she shook her head. "Bullets." She clarified. Frowning, Dean handed her the bullets. Without hesitation, Haley dropped them into the puddle of her blood near her head.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" Dean asked as she pulled her hand back, leaving the bullets there. Dean began picking them up.

"Don't wipe them." Haley ordered. "If you see her… shoot her with those bullets… right in the heart." She said. Dean had a feeling he knew who the 'her' Haley referred to was. He stared down at her in shock when he realized what she was implying.

"I can't leave you and Meg-"

"Bobby called the ambulance, we'll be fine." Haley said. "You, however, won't be if I find out Sam died because you didn't go out to look for him." Dean bit his lip, but nodded.

"Since you put it that way." He said. He glanced down at the handful of bloodied bullets. "I'll bring him back." He promised. Getting to his feet, he looked over as Bobby came back into the room.

"Ambulance is coming. I recommend that you two…" He froze when noticed Haley lying on the floor, now more or less unconscious.

"Take care of them," Dean said. "I'll be back. With Sam." He turned and headed for the back door of the house as Bobby walked towards the front door to wait for the ambulance, which, as it turned out, was just pulling into the driveway.

-;-

When Haley opened her eyes again, she felt a desperate need for some aspirin to help with the headache that was beginning to build up. Great. Hospital.

She sat up, taking in a deep breath as she looked around the room. Bobby was asleep in a nearby chair, dreaming of something peaceful judging by the calmness emanating from him. Haley gave a faint smile, and laid back down against the pillows, using Bobby's calm as a shield against everything else in the hospital.

And sat bolt upright a second later as the feeling of evil filled her mind. She blinked, looking around the room. Nothing there, unless… she narrowed her eyes. No, it wasn't Bobby, so that meant…

"Meg." She whispered. She pulled the IV from her arm without hesitation (one of these days that was going to cause serious problems), threw back the blankets, and got to her feet. She didn't wait to wake Bobby, having learned that, when it came to demons, there was rarely time for reinforcements. Slipping out of the room, she began searching for the source of the presence. It wasn't hard; unlike most things she channelled, the evil actually got stronger the closer she got to it.

She stopped in front of a door; whatever was radiating the evil, it was on the other side. Glancing up and down the hall to make sure no one was watching, she turned the doorknob. And groaned when it refused to turn, indicating it was locked. With a sigh, she looked once more to make sure no one was there to see her, and then she reached out towards the evil in the room. It was a shot in the dark (no pun intended); the only time she'd been able to do what she intended was when she became unbelievably angry. She dipped into the demon's essence, bathing her mind in it like she would in water.

With a sharp intake of breath, her eyes flickered black, and the lock clicked, the door coming open on its own. Pleased with her accomplishment (so what if she was tapping into a demon? If it helped fight them, that was the main thing, right?), she stepped into the room.

There was a man standing over Meg, who was lying on her hospital bed, unconscious.

"No!" Haley cried without thinking, seeing a knife in the man's hand. He turned around, and she saw black eyes on the face of the same man she'd thrown out the window a couple days earlier.

"You." He snarled, and then nodded to his right. Haley had a split second to comprehend what he was doing before she was thrown off her feet and slammed into the wall. A cry of pain and shock escaped her lips, and then, like a candle flame in a breeze, she felt her baby's life snuffed out.

-;-

Dean glared up at the black clouds as he got out of the car. Rain was starting to fall, and he pulled his jacket tighter around him to try and keep out the chill as he began the trek through the cemetery. It wasn't hard to spot the crypt the demon possessing Meg had told him about; it kind of stood out, being made of black stone.

The gun containing the bullets coated in Haley's blood was tucked into the back of his belt, and he had a gun with ordinary bullets in his hand and ready to be used.

"You going anywhere in particular or are you just out for a walk in the rain?" Dean spun around. There was a young man, no older then Sam, if that, standing behind, a curious look on his face. Dean frowned, looking him up and down.

"Actually, I'm looking for my brother." He said. "He's about… this high…" he held his hand a little way about his own head, "… brown hair, probably unconscious when you and your friends brought him here." The young man grinned.

"Big brother, huh?" He asked, still grinning. "He was kind of hot, I wouldn't mind-" Before he could finish, Dean had lifted the gun and shot the guy right between the eyes. He fell backwards, a small hole where the bullet had penetrated his head. Dean stood on the spot, waiting. After a few seconds, the young man blinked, and sat up. No, it wasn't him, at all, anymore. The bullet had killed the young man whose body the demon inhabited, and now only the demon remained.

"Say something like that again and I'll make sure you never follow through on it." Dean said threateningly. The demon continued to blink, and after a minute, reached up to touch the hole in his head. Frowning, he lowered his hand and stared at the blood, which had already stopped seeping from the hole.

"I gotta say: I did not expect that." He said, nodding almost in admiration. He noticed the gun was now trained on his groin.

"Let me put this in a way you'll understand." He said. "You take me to my brother, or I make sure that, demon or not, that body won't be functioning by the time I'm done." The demon actually cringed at the coldness in Dean's voice. "Clear?" Dean asked.

"Crystal." The demon said, trying and failing to keep grinning. He was not the bravest supernatural being Dean had ever met, that was for sure.

The hunter nodded towards the crypt, his gun still aimed at the demon's crotch. Offering Dean a grin and a nod, the demon moved past Dean, eyeing the gun all the way up to the crypt door.

They entered the crypt in silence. The demon seemed to understand Dean was totally serious about making good on his threat if he was given a reason, so he walked to the casket placed furthest from the door, lifted off the lid, and then lifted out the floor.

"After you?" Dean glared at him. "I just thought I'd-"

"Go." Dean snapped. The demon quickly nodded and stepped into the casket, apparently going down some stairs. Dean moved around to the back of the casket, watching him, and going in after him when he was almost at the bottom. The demon turned around to look at him when they were all the way down. "Lead the way." Dean said. The demon nodded, looking more and more uncomfortable as the seconds passed.

-;-

Haley sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, crying out as she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She whimpered, feeling the contractions beginning. She was giving birth to a dead baby. It made her feel… dirty, to think about it.

There was blood seeping out of her, staining the front of her hospital gown. She let out a strangled sob, her hand on her stomach as she tried desperately to find some hint her baby was alive. But she kept coming back to the gaping emptiness that should have been her daughter.

Slowly, pain and stunned devastation mutated, and she turned to stare at the demon standing over Meg's body, something akin to hatred in her eyes.

Over at the bed, the demon-possessed man looked down at the woman that had hosted his 'sister'. He glared at her, as if she were to blame for the other demon's death. Snarling, he raised the knife above her chest.

"Goodbye, Meg." He muttered. A split second before he stabbed the weapon into her chest, it was wrenched from his grip, sailing across the room into Haley's waiting hand. Her eyes were blank, devoid of emotion, and she was staring right at him.

The demon smiled coldly. "You think you can scare with some party tricks, little girl?" He taunted. Haley frowned, like she didn't quite understand what he had said. She blinked, and when her eyes opened again, they were no longer blank. For that matter, they were no longer human, having turned a deep, empty black, rimmed with red. The demon had a split second to be shocked before he was thrown backwards into the wall, and held there by some unseen force.

Haley walked slowly and unsteadily towards him, and looked coldly up into his eyes. And when she spoke, her voice was as devoid of emotion as her eyes had been. "I… owe you… pain!" She said, and drove the knife straight into his stomach.

He cried out in shock and pain. Shock because he'd never felt pain like this; pain from the body he possessed was always, well, pleasant. This went beyond anything he'd ever felt, ripping through his body like the knife was ripping into his stomach.

A cold smile was on Haley's lips. "Now that's what I wanted to hear." She said. "You took my husband… you killed my daughter… now it's only fair I give you a little…" she twisted the knife, "… payback." Another cry of pain reached Haley's ears as she relayed the shockwaves of pain going through the man's body, empathically, into the demon's consciousness.

"What… are you?" The demon gasped out. This was no ordinary girl; no human, to the demon's knowledge, could inflict pain so… effortlessly, so calmly.

"Something beyond your comprehension." Was the reply. She stared down at the blood stain on her gown, and then back up at the demon. "You did that… did it feel good, hmm? To take that life? Was it easy?" She leaned in close. "Was it fun?" She twisted the knife again, and over the cries of pain she heard shouts, and loud banging. Turning around, it became obvious to Haley that the demon's cries had not gone unheard.

She turned back to the demon. "Solvo quis est non vestri." The words fell easily from her lips, and a sudden gasp escaped the demon, his face contorting and twisting. He started the shake, and twist, pulling violently against the invisible bonds holding him against the wall. And then, with a sharp intake of breath, he threw his head back, a thick black shroud rushing from his mouth as the demon was expelled from his body.

His head slumped forward for a second, and then snapped back up again as he recovered his senses and felt the sharp pain in his abdomen where he'd been stabbed.

Haley took a startled step back as the man fell forward to the floor, gasping in pain as he tried to move. Haley stared in shook, a pained expression on her face. The black of her eyes shrank back into normal pupils. Blankly, she looked down at the blood on her hands, the blood of the man she had just so calmly stabbed, most likely killed.

Slowly, she backed away, shaking her head. And then she lost her train of thought as she felt another contraction coming on. Unable to stay on her feet, she staggered backwards, hit the wall, and slid to the floor, her hands on her stomach.

Through the pain, he managed to look up. The sobs of pain from the woman were not unheard by him, but it wasn't her he was looking at. It was the door, locked by that… thing that had taken control of his body. He narrowed his eyes; it had been a long time, and he was nowhere near as skilled as it had been, but maybe…

With a satisfying click, the door swung open, and three doctors, five security guards and who-knew how many nurses poured into the room. He knew he was dying, knew he wouldn't make it to an operating table. And knew that he was dying free, because of the woman now suffering premature labour to give birth to a dead baby, because of him.

"The bitch ain't dead then…" He muttered in what he hoped was a disappointed voice, hopefully loud enough for someone to hear. He was falling into darkness, his life reaching its end; it was obvious that Haley had been the one to stab him. At least if someone had heard what he'd said, then maybe she wouldn't be accused of murder. And maybe that would atone for all the evil that had been committed using his body.

With that thought filling his mind, he finally let death take him, feeling, in a sense, relieved.

-;-

A/N: Again, I'm a little worried about how this chapter is going to be received (as well as how it was written). Three things: exploring Dean's darker side, Haley's 'demonic transformations', for want of a better term (if anyone would like an explanation about these, I'd be happy to give it), and the last bit about the guy who was possessed by the demon. Mainly the second two, but all three of them turned out a little different to how I had originally intended, and I realized by the end of this I had had Haley change twice in the same chapter, which I was a bit concerned about, but it was just too good to cut off at any particular point to put it in the next chapter. But enough of my rambling. Review and let me know how I did.