December 23rd - December 26th, 2009

After the convention, Becky had told Sam that she knew who had the colt. After the convention, Becky had told Sam that she knew who had the colt. Apparently, even though Bela said she was taking the colt to Lilith, she really sold it to a demon named Crowley. The crazy part about it was that Becky said she remembered reading about it in the books, but Chuck had no recollection of even writing it. Sam read the book she told us it would be in, and sure enough, she was right.

So, the plan was to hunt Crowley down. Cass said he knew of him, and where he might be, given the fact that he was a crossroad demon. Cass was able to locate him and followed him to a mansion that he had been staying in.

Later that night, Sam, Dean, Jo, and Cass went to kill Crowley and take the colt back. Jo would be the distraction, and Sam and Dean would be the muscle while Cass kept watch for other demons.

Bobby, Ellen, Nate, and I stayed back at Bobby's and waited for them to return, hoping that it went smoothly. While Ellen and Bobby hung out in his office, trying to lay out a plan for after we got the colt, Nate and I hung out in the living room together.

"Will you just come sit down?" Nate asked. "They're going to be fine."

I groaned. "I know. I'm sorry. I just hate not knowing what's going on," I said. "You aren't worried about Jo?"

"She's with Sam, Dean, and Cass. I'm sure she's fine," he said, "Just stop pacing and sit down. You're freaking yourself out."

I put my head back and groaned. He reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me to the couch.

"Come on," he encouraged.

"Fine." I plopped down on the couch next to him. Then I crossed my arms and tapped my foot uncontrollably.

Nate laughed. "Maddison..." He put his hand on my leg to stop me from tapping. "Stop."

I put my head back on the couch. "I'm sorry I'm such a freak."

"You're not a freak. Come here," he said, holding out his arms.

I leaned in and rested my head against his chest as he wrapped his arms around me.

"They're gonna be fine," he said as he rubbed my arm.

Ring! Ring!

I quickly looked to see the caller ID on my phone. When I saw Dean's named flashing across my screen, I jumped up. Then I felt the back of my head connect with Nate's chin.

"Ow." He laughed, rubbing his chin.

I grabbed his face. "Oh, I'm sorry." I cringed. "It's Dean."

He laughed. "I know. I'm fine."

I smiled and quickly answered, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Dean said, "You'll never guess what happened, though."

"What?" I asked.

"Crowley just handed the colt over," he said.

I furrowed my brow. "What? Why would he do that?"

"He said, he wants us to take the colt to Lucifer and put a bullet right through his skull. He thinks that once Lucifer wipes us out, he's going to wipe out the demons. So, he wants the same thing we do," Dean explained.

"So, he's covering his ass?" I asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," he said, "But look, we're gonna be back soon, and then there's something we want to talk to you about, all right?"

"Uh..." I hesitated for a second, not sure what he needed to talk to me about that he couldn't say now. "Sure."


A couple hours later, Nate and I were sitting on the couch watching a movie together. His arm was around me, and I was resting my head on his shoulder.

Then I heard a familiar set of footsteps walk into the living room, and then Dean cleared his throat. Nate and I both jumped and turned around, quickly pulling away from each other. Dean was glaring at Nate, looking unimpressed and a little annoyed.

"Hey." I giggled nervously.

"Hey, you guys wanna come out here? We wanna talk to you about something," Dean said and then turned back into the kitchen.

"He hates me," Nate said.

I shook my head. "No, he doesn't."

"What do you think they want to talk to us about?" he asked, nervously.

I shrugged. "I have no idea, but let's go find out." I stood up and walked into the kitchen to hear Dean and Sam whispering amongst themselves.

"Dean, what'd you think was going to happen? They're teenagers," Sam whispered.

"I don't care, he doesn't need to have his hands on her," Dean whispered back angrily.

"You're overreacting," Sam said.

Dean shook his head. "Sam—"

I cleared my throat. "Is this what you needed to talk to us about?" I raised an eyebrow at Dean when he turned around. "'Cause I'm not really interested."

Nate's eyes widened as he stood next to Ellen, and Dean's jaw tightened as he turned to me.

Sam stepped around Dean to block eye contact between us. "Uh, no. Look, Crowley told us that on Thursday, Lucifer will be in Carthage, Missouri. That's when we're going to take him out."

"We've been talking about something for a while..." Ellen spoke up, "Even before we had a legit lead on the colt."

"And against our better judgment, we need as much help as we can get because this is our best shot," Sam said and then took a deep breath. "We want you guys to go with us on this one. If you don't want to, we understand, but with Bobby out, we—"

I nodded. "Done."

"What?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." I shrugged. "I'll go. Honestly, I'm surprised you thought I wouldn't want to help."

Ellen nodded. "Nate, honey, you don't have to."

Nate shook his head and then looked at me. "No, no, I want to go too."

Dean stepped forward. "This is going to be dangerous. More dangerous than anything else you've been a part of."

I nodded. "I'm aware."

"Which means you need to listen when I—" Dean looked at the rest of the group and then back at me. "We tell you to do something."

I nodded. "You got it."

Dean turned to Nate. "I know she can shoot. What about you?"

Nate shrugged. "Yeah, I can shoot."

"How about we go practice, just you and me?" Dean asked.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Dean, I don't really think this is the time to use your big brother intimidation tactics on my son," Ellen said.

Dean shook his head. "That's not what I'm doing. I want us all to be as prepared as possible. When was the last time you saw him shoot?"

Ellen glanced at Nate, looking unsure.

"Mom, it's fine. He's right. I probably need the practice," Nate said.

Dean smiled and clasped his hand on Nate's shoulder. "Awesome, let's go."

"Now?" Nate asked.

"Yup, we've got tonight and tomorrow to get you ready," Dean said.

"Uh, okay," Nate said.

Dean turned, his hand still on Nate's shoulder, and they walked toward the back door together. Nate glanced back at me with a little worry in his eyes before they disappeared around the corner. I shook my head and walked back into the living room to continue watching the movie.

A couple of minutes later, Sam came in and sat on the couch with me. "So, I know you're not usually opposed to going on hunts, but this is different."

I repositioned myself to look at him, resting the side of my head against the back of the couch. "I know."

He nodded. "Is there any chance you don't actually want to go, but you're just saying you do, 'cause you think that's what we want?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Can there be?" Sam asked, with a little worry in his eyes.

I shook my head. "If me being there will give us even a slightly better chance of survival, I'm going."

Sam nodded. "All right, I guess I can't argue with that."

"You know I never thought for a second I wasn't going, right?" I asked, "And you know I would've put up a hell of a fight if you told me I couldn't, right?"

He nodded and smirked. "I know, but the thing is. At your age, I was scared of everything that Dad told us about, but you never seem scared."

I shrugged. "I guess I'm good at hiding it then because I'm usually terrified."

Sam furrowed his brow. "You are?"

I laughed. "Hell yeah. Only a completely insane person would go up against what we do every day and be perfectly fine."

He shook his head. "Why do you always want to come then?"

"Because it would kill me if I wasn't there and something happened to you guys." I shrugged. "Even if me being there wouldn't make a difference. I would still always wonder... what if I could have done something? Ya know?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I get it." He laughed. "I feel like you don't realize how brave you are."

I rolled my eyes.

"No, seriously, most people don't run headfirst into the things that scare them, but you do." He laughed and shook his head. "Honestly, that's something I look up to you for."

I raised my eyebrows and sat up. "You look up to me?"

He shrugged. "Just 'cause you're my little sister doesn't mean I can't wish to be a little more like you."

I smiled timidly. "Thanks."

He smiled. "It's true."

I nodded and smiled at him for a moment. I didn't like thinking we were having this conversation because we could be dead in a few days, but I was also happy we had it.

"All right, well, how about we finish watching this movie?" I laid down and stretched my legs out a crossed his lap.

He laughed. "Looks like I can't really say no."

At some point, I fell asleep but woke up to Nate and Dean laughing together as they walked through the living room. Sam and I made eye contact and smirked at each other.


The next day, Bobby's house turned into a party. Everyone was laughing and hanging out as we listened to music. Nobody wanted to say it, but we all knew it could be the last time we would ever see each other like this again. So, we ignored that and tried to have as much fun as possible.

Bobby was wheeling around, getting drinks together, and trying to set up a tripod to take a picture. Sam and Dean were sitting at a desk together, drinking, laughing, and trying to put the last details into our plan.

Jo, Ellen, Nate, and I were sitting with Cass as Ellen set him up with five shots of whiskey. She and Jo had already been trying for a while to get him drunk, but nothing was working. I felt Nate reach over and entangle his pinky and index finger with mine, trying to hold my hand without having anyone else notice. I smiled slightly and enjoyed our little secret.

Ellen smiled up at Cass as she finished pouring the shots. "All right, big boy."

Cass nodded, "Well..." Then he took all five shots in a matter of seconds.

We all stared at him in shock.

"I think I'm starting to feel something," Cass said.

We all started laughing.

Jo grabbed the whiskey bottle and a shot glass. "All right, little bro. You're up." She poured him a shot.

"What?" Nate asked, looking surprised and then looked at his mom.

"I think I'll give it a pass tonight." Ellen winked at him.

Nate looked excited, let go of my hand, and grabbed the shot glass.

"Ready?" Jo grinned.

"Hell yeah." Nate smiled and then took the shot, but he coughed and shot whiskey out of his mouth and nose all over the two of us.

I gasped and stood up, looking at my whiskey covered shirt, and started laughing. "You jerk."

Nate stood up, looking completely embarrassed. "I— I'm so sorry."

I laughed and nudged him. "It's totally fine." I smirked. "I'm just kidding."

Ellen laughed. "Go get cleaned up, you two."

Nate and I walked off and turned the corner toward the bathroom and then walked in and grabbed some towels.

"Ugh, that burned coming out." Nate groaned as he blew his nose and wiped his face.

I shook my head and laughed. "What a wimp."

Nate laughed. "Whatever, I didn't see you try it."

I smirked. "Bet I could'a taken it better than you, though."

I threw the towel I had used into a laundry basket in the corner, then turned and started walking down the hallway.

"Wait," Nate said and grabbed my arm before I turned back into the living room.

"What?" I asked when I turned back to him.

He looked down nervously. "So, I'm just gonna be honest..."

I furrowed my brow. "Yeah?"

"If I die tomorrow and I never did this..." He looked into my eyes. "I could never forgive myself."

I shook my head. "Did what?"

"This..." He put his hand on my cheek, leaned in, and kissed me.

For a moment, I was caught off guard, but then I felt butterflies in my stomach, and I kissed him back.

"Everybody, get in here!" Bobby yelled from the other room. "It's time for the lineup. Usual suspects in the corner."

We pulled away from each other and smiled.

I bit my lip, trying to stop myself from smiling too much. "We should probably, um, get back in there."

"Yeah." Nate smiled, still not breaking eye contact. He cleared his throat, then he turned and walked around the corner.

A huge smile spread across my face. I touched my cheeks and felt how hot they were. I squealed happily and quietly to myself, trying to take in what had just happened.

"Maddison!" Bobby yelled.

"Coming!" I yelled and then took a deep breath and joined everyone in the living room.

"Oh, come on, Bobby. Nobody wants their picture taken," Ellen complained.

"Hear, hear," Sam said.

"Shut up," Bobby snapped, "You're drinking my beer." He rolled his wheelchair back after setting the timer on the camera. "Anyway, I'm gonna need something to remember your sorry asses by."

Everyone got into position for the picture and smiled.

Ellen laughed. "Always good to have an optimist around."

"Bobby's right," Cass said, "Tomorrow we hunt the Devil. This is our last night on earth."

The smile on my face immediately disappeared, and then the flash went off.


We drove to Carthage. Sam, Dean, and I in the Impala and Nate, Ellen, Jo, and Cass in another car. The town was completely empty, not a sign of life in sight. We all had our hands out of the window, holding our phone up, looking for a signal.

"You getting a signal?" Sam asked.

I shook my head and pulled my phone back in. "Nope."

Dean shook his head and pulled his phone back in too. "No, nothing. Nice and spooky."

Ellen pulled up next to us. "Place seem a little empty to you?"

Dean nodded. "We're gonna go check out the PD. You guys stay here. See if you can find anybody."

"Okay," Ellen said, and then we drove off.


After checking out the police station and seeing that it was empty, we met up with the others.

"Station's empty," Dean said.

Jo nodded. "So's everything else."

"Have you seen Cass?" Ellen asked.

Sam furrowed his brow. "What? He was with you."

Ellen shook her head. "Nope. He went after the reapers."

"Reapers?" Dean asked.

"He saw reapers? Where?" Sam asked.

"Well, kind of everywhere," Jo said.


We parked the cars and stepped out, pulling bags and shotguns out of our trunks.

"Well, this is great, been in town twenty minutes and already lost the angel up our sleeve," Dean said as we started walking through the town.

"You think, uh, you think Lucifer got him?" Sam asked.

Dean shrugged. "I don't know what else to think."

"There you are," a woman said from behind us.

We turned to see Meg standing there in the body we saw her in a couple months ago.

"Meg." Sam glared.

Meg shook her head. "Shouldn't have come here."

"Hell, I could say the same thing for you," Dean said and aimed the colt at her.

Meg shook her head and smirked. "Didn't come here alone, Deano."

Something splashed the puddle near Meg's feet, and then a low deep growl echoed through the empty street. Then more growls and deep barks joined in.

"Hellhounds," Dean said, trying to hide his nerves.

Meg nodded and smiled. "Yeah, Dean. Your favorite. Come on. My father wants to see you."

Sam shook his head. "I think we'll pass, thanks."

Meg shrugged. "Your call. You can make this easy, or you can make it really, really hard."

Dean looked back at Ellen, who nodded at him and then turned his attention back to Meg. "When have you known us to ever make anything easy?"

Meg shook her head, and then Dean shifted his aim and shot at the hellhound by her feet. Thankfully, blood burst from something invisible, and it yelped.

"Run!" Sam yelled.

We all turned and started running, but a hellhound tackled Dean down. I stopped and turned back.

"Dean!" Jo and I yelled in unison.

"Stay back!" Dean yelled.

Jo and I started firing our shotguns in Dean's direction, hoping to knock the hellhound off. Sam ran over and grabbed my arm, and then Jo got knocked down by another hellhound.

"No!" Ellen and Nate yelled as the hellhound ripped through Jo's side.

The four of us started shooting at the hellhound. Then Dean ran up and scooped Jo into his arms and ran past us as we continued to shoot. Dean sprinted towards a hardware store that was right up the road from us. We all followed after, shooting periodically as we did.

As we ran in, Sam grabbed a chain off of a shelf and chained the door shut. Dean set Jo down against a counter as she whimpered. Nate and Ellen ran up to try and comfort her.

"Okay, okay, okay, breathe now..." Ellen said, trying to get Jo to relax.

Sam, Dean, and I grabbed bags of rock salt and quickly lined the doors and windows. Ellen pulled Jo's hand away from her side to get a look at what we were dealing with. When she did, Jo's skin opened, and blood just poured out. Ellen and Nate looked at each other, completely horrified.

I quickly ran and grabbed anything I could to bandage her up. When I got back, Ellen and Nate took what I gathered.

Ellen nodded at me. "Thank you."

They started trying to bandage her the best that they could.

"Gonna be all right," Ellen said as she stroked her hair out of her face.

Sam and I walked over to Dean, who was standing behind a shelf, messing with our radio, trying to get a signal.

"How's she holding up?" he asked.

Neither of us answered, and Dean nodded.

Sam sighed. "Salt lines are holding up."

Dean nodded. "Safe for now."

Sam shrugged. "Yeah, safe or trapped like rats."

"Hey, you heard Meg. Her father's here. This is our one shot, Sammy. We gotta take it, no matter what," Dean said.

"Some help here, please?!" Ellen shouted.

Sam and I went back to Ellen, but I noticed Nate was missing, so I went looking for him. I walked down an aisle and turned the corner to find Nate resting against some shelves, trying not to cry.

"Nate?" I asked as I walked up to him.

He looked at me and quickly wiped his eyes, smearing some of Jo's blood on his face as he did.

"I'm fine." He sniffled.

I walked up to him and put my hand on his arm. "You don't have to hide that you're upset. Not with me."

He nodded. "I know. I just... I don't want her to know that—" A tear streamed down his face. "That I don't think she's making it out of here."

I nodded, but I didn't want to say anything. I wasn't willing to give him the cliché false hope of "she'll be fine" or "she'll make it out of here" because, honestly, I wasn't sure she would either.

Nate shook his head. "Jo and my mom are all I have left. I don't want to lose her."

I nodded, my eyes filling with tears as well. I knew his pain all too well. "I know..."

Nate looked at me hopelessly and pulled me into a hug, and I rubbed his back as he cried softly.


After Nate calmed down, we walked down the aisle and rounded the corner. Dean was able to get the radio working, so he had gotten in contact with Bobby.

"Before he went missing, did Cass say how many reapers?" Bobby asked, his voice crackling through the radio.

Dean shook his head. "I don't— He said a lot of things, I guess. Does the number matter?"

"Devil's in the details, Dean," Bobby said.

Ellen walked up and tapped Dean on the shoulder with her bloody hand. Dean turned and held the microphone up for her to speak.

"Bobby, it's Ellen," she said, "The way he was looking, the number of places Castiel's eyes went, I'd say we're talking over a dozen reapers, probably more."

"I don't like the sound of that," Bobby said.

"Nobody likes the sound of that, Bobby, but what— what— what does that sound like?" Dean asked.

"It sounds like Death, son. I think Satan's in town to work a ritual." Bobby paused for a second, and we could hear him turning through the pages of a book. "I think he's planning to unleash Death."

"You mean, like, as in this dude and taxes are the only sure thing?" Dean asked.

"As in Death. The horseman. The pale rider in the flesh," Bobby said.

"Unleash?" Dean asked, "I mean, hasn't Death been tromping all over the place? Hell, I've died several times myself."

"Not this guy. This is— This is the angel of death. Big daddy reaper. They keep this guy chained in a box six hundred feet under. Last time they hauled him up, Noah was building a boat. That's why the place is crawling with reapers. They're waiting on the big boss to show," Bobby explained.

"You have any other good news?" Dean asked.

"In a manner of speaking," Bobby said, "I been researching Carthage since you've been gone, trying to suss out what the Devil might want there. What you just said drops the last piece of the puzzle in place. The angel of death must be brought into this world at midnight through a place of awful carnage. Now, back during the Civil War, there was a battle in Carthage. A battle so intense the soldiers called it the Battle of Hellhole."

"Where'd the massacre go down?" Dean asked.

"On the land of William Jasper's farm," Bobby said.


Even with that information, we were still stuck, and the color from Jo's face was still fading.

Ellen stroked her hair as she held Jo in her arms. "That's my girl, you're okay, honey..."

"Now we know where the Devil's gonna be, we know when, and we have the colt," Dean said.

Sam nodded. "Yeah. We just have to get past eight or so hellhounds and get to the farm by midnight."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, and that's after we get them..." He nodded to Jo, Ellen, and Nate. "The hell out of town."

Sam shook his head. "Won't be easy."

"Stretcher?" I asked.

Sam nodded. "I'll see what we got."

"Stop. Guys, stop," Jo said, her voice strained and tired.

We all stopped and turned to her.

"Can we, uh, be realistic about this, please?" Jo asked.

We walked up to her.

"I can't move my legs." She shook her head. "I can't be moved. My guts are being held in by an ace bandage. We gotta— We gotta get our priorities straight here. Number one, I'm not going anywhere."

"Joanna Beth, you stop talking like that," Ellen said tearfully.

"Mom. I can't fight. I can't walk," Jo said.

Nate put his head down and nodded as he held her hand, trying to fight back the tears.

"But I can do something," she said, "We got propane, wiring, rock salt, iron nails, everything we need."

"Everything we need?" Sam asked.

"To build a bomb, Sam," Jo said.

Dean shook his head. "No. Jo, no."

"You got another plan? You got any other plan?" Jo snapped, "Those are hellhounds out there, Dean. They've got all of our scents. Those bitches will never stop coming after you. We let the dogs in, you guys hit the roof, make a break for the building next over. I can wait here with my finger on the button, rip those mutts a new one. Or at least get you a few minutes head start, anyway."

Ellen shook her head, starting to cry. "No, I— I won't let you."

"This is why we're here, right?" Jo asked.

Ellen shook her head, crying.

"If I can get us a shot on the Devil... Dean, we have to take it," Jo said.

"No!" Ellen shouted, looked at Nate, and then up at Dean. "That's not—"

"Mom. This might literally be your last chance to treat me like an adult. Might wanna take it?" Jo smiled.

Ellen started sobbing and then finally nodded. "You heard her. Get to work."

Nate stood up and punched a hole right through one of the shelves. "Damn it!" He shouted and then stormed off.


Sam, Dean, and I ran around gathering materials. After we started assembling them, Nate joined us with a couple more materials and helped put the bombs together. By the time we finished filling the bombs with rock salt and iron nails, it was starting to get dark outside.

Sam took Jo's hand for a second and nodded at her sadly. I squatted next to her and took her hand. We each exchanged a teary-smile before I let go and stood up.

"Okay, this is it. I'll see you on the other side. Probably sooner than later," Dean said.

"Make it later," Jo said.

Dean put the trigger in Jo's hand and held on. She started crying, and he leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead, and then he kissed her on the lips. They put their foreheads together for a minute, and then Dean stood up, turning toward Sam and me with tears in his eyes. Nate knelt in front of her, they put their foreheads together as they cried.

"I love you, Jo." Nate cried.

"Love you too, baby brother." Jo sniffled.

Nate grabbed the side of her face and kissed her forehead before standing up and joining the three of us. Ellen sat down next to Jo but just smiled sadly at Jo, unmoving.

Jo shook her head. "Mom, no."

Ellen shrugged. "Somebody's gotta let them in. Like you said, you're not moving. You got me, Jo. And you're right, this is important. But I will not leave you here alone."

"Mom—" Nate started to walk toward them.

Ellen stood up and walked up to him. "Nathan William... I need you to go with them, okay?"

"Mom, no, I can't leave both of you." Nate shook his head. "I can't lose both of you."

"Dean..." Sam nudged him.

Ellen turned to Dean. "Get going now."

Dean shook his head. "Ellen—"

Ellen ignored him and looked directly at Nate. "Baby, when you get outta here, you stay with Bobby." She rubbed his arm. "He'll take care of ya."

Nate shook his head, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Mom, I'm staying here with you."

She grabbed his arms. "No, I'm not letting both of my children die. Do you understand me?"

"She's right, Nate, you have to go," Jo said, starting to cough a little.

Nate closed his eyes and nodded.

She pulled him into a hug. "I love you so... so much." She kissed him on his cheek and then let him go.

Dean shook his head. "Ellen—"

"I said go," Ellen snapped.

Sam and Dean exchanged a look, and then Ellen sat down next to Jo, pulling her back into her arms. We turned to walk toward our exit, with Nate following sluggishly behind us.

"And Dean?" Ellen asked, causing us to turn back. "Kick it in the ass. Don't miss."

Dean nodded, and then we all walked sadly to the back door. We quickly climbed up the fire escape and ran across the tops of the buildings, until we got far enough away that the explosion wouldn't touch us. We climbed down another fire escape into an alley and started hurrying down it. Then the explosion went off behind us, and we stopped and watched the hardware store catch fire.

Nate immediately dropped to his knees. "No!" He screamed out in pain. He grabbed his head and started sobbing.

"I'm so sorry, Nate, but we need to go," Sam said, with his hand on Nate's shoulder.

Nate shrugged his hand off. "Just go without me." He continued to cry.

I ran around in front of him. "Nate, please get up, we have to go."

He didn't answer and just stared around me at the burning building.

"We've gotta go," Dean said, impatiently.

"Nate..." I said.

"Just go, I'm useless," he said.

I shook my head. "No, you're not. Let's go."

Nate didn't answer.

Dean sighed. "I'm sorry, but we don't really have time for this. They gave us our one shot, and we're wasting it."

"Dean..." Sam said, trying to hush him.

I knelt in front of Nate, tears in my own eyes. "I know what just happened is horrible, I get that, but we need to move. Please..."

He looked at me. "Then leave!"

I grabbed his collar. "All right, damn it, you need to listen to me right now!" Tears rolled down my cheeks. "I'm sorry about what happened back there, but you need to get off your ass and come with us! Your mom and sister wouldn't want you to go down without a fight, so..." I stood up. "Let's go." I put my hand out to him, terrified that he would still not budge. "If you can't do it for yourself, do it for them."

Nate hesitated for a second, then took my hand and stood up. Sam and Dean nodded at me, and then we all took off running.


When we approached the Jasper farm, we snuck through the bushes. We could see dozens of men standing at attention, facing something out of sight.

"Guess we know what happened to some of the townspeople," Dean said.

"Okay." Sam nodded and took a deep breath. "Last words?"

Dean looked at Sam and me for a moment. "I think I'm good."

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Me too."

I shrugged. "Let's do this then."

Dean nodded. "Here goes nothing."

Sam, Nate, and I walked through the field of people with our shotguns ready, while Dean walked around the back, to attack Lucifer from behind. The three of us followed the gaze of the unmoving crowd and found that they were staring at Lucifer, shoveling dirt into a huge hole.

"Hey!" Sam yelled, and we all cocked our guns. "You wanted to see me?"

Lucifer dropped his shovel and turned, wiping his brow as he did. "Oh, Sam, you don't need that gun here. You know I'd never hurt you. Not really." He smiled sweetly at me and then eyed Nate. "Him, however?"

I stepped in front of Nate, glaring at Lucifer, but he just laughed at me.

"Yeah? Well, I'd hurt you," Dean said, pointing the colt directly at Lucifer's head, "So suck it." He fired, and Lucifer collapsed. None of us moved, not even the men around us.

Lucifer suddenly inhaled and sat up. "Ow..." He stood up with a wound in his forehead that was quickly healing and walked up to Dean. "Where did you get that?"

He punched Dean and sent him flying into a tree behind him, instantly knocking Dean unconscious.

"Now, where were we?" He turned his attention back to us. "Don't feel too bad. There's only five things in all of creation that that gun can't kill, and I just happen to be one of them. But if you give me a minute, I'm almost done." He picked up the shovel and scooped a couple more piles of dirt.

The three of us hurried over to Dean, and Sam checked his pulse.

Lucifer stopped digging and leaned on his shovel. "Ya know, I don't suppose you'd just say yes here and now?"

Sam stood up.

"End this whole tiresome discussion? That's crazy, right?" Lucifer asked.

"It's never gonna happen!" Sam yelled.

Lucifer rolled his eyes and went back to scooping dirt. "Oh, I don't know, Sam. I think it will. I think it'll happen soon. Within six months. And I think it'll happen in Detroit."

"You listen to me, you son of a bitch. I'm gonna kill you myself, you understand me? I'm going to rip your heart out!" Sam yelled.

"That's good, Sam. You keep fanning that fire in your belly. All that pent-up rage. I'm gonna need it," Lucifer said.

Sam calmed down a bit and then looked around the field at all the men just standing there. "What did you do? What did you do to this town?"

Lucifer smiled. "Oh, I was very generous with this town. One demon for every able-bodied man."

"And the rest of them?" Sam asked.

Lucifer paused for a second and then pointed to the enormous hole he was filling. "In there. I know, it's awful, but these horsemen are so demanding. So it was women and children first. I know what you must think of me, Sam. But I have to do this. I have to. You of all people should understand."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam asked.

Lucifer dropped his shovel. "I was a son. A brother, like you, a younger brother, and I had an older brother who I loved. Idolized, in fact. And one day, I went to him, and I begged him to stand with me, and Michael..." He sighed and shook his head. "Michael turned on me. Called me a freak. A monster. And then he beat me down. All because I was different. Because I had a mind of my own. Tell me something, Sam. Any of this sound familiar?" he asked and then shrugged. "Anyway. You'll have to excuse me. Midnight is calling, and I have a ritual to finish. Don't go anywhere. Not that you would if you could."

Sam turned back to us, and we all watched him.

Lucifer turned to the crowd. "Now repeat after me. We offer up our lives, blood, souls..."

Dean started moving and sat up to watch with us.

"We offer up our lives, blood, souls..." the demons repeated.

"To complete this tribute," Lucifer said.

"To complete this tribute," the demons repeated, and then, one by one, each demon flashed gold and then collapsed to the ground.

Lucifer glanced over at us and shrugged. "What? They're just demons."

Cass suddenly appeared next to us and held his finger to his lips, then we appeared in Bobby's living room.


After explaining everything that happened to Bobby, we were all just silent. Nate had disappeared into the bedroom that I had stayed in for a while when I had lived with Bobby.

The TV was flashing a state of emergency. The news reporters were reporting on it with fear in their voices, "Just received an update that the governor has declared a state of emergency for Paulding County, including the towns of Marion, Fetterville, and Carthage. The storm system has reported a number of tornadoes in the area. Death tolls have yet to be estimated, but state officials expect the loss of life and property to be staggering."

We all watched as Bobby wheeled over to his fireplace and dropped the picture from the night before into it. We just watched silently as it burned.