May 11th - May 14th, 2007
While Sam and I had been spending most of our time trying to find a loophole to Dean's deal, Dean was having the time of his life. Thankfully, that meant that he hadn't brought up what Azazel had said in the cemetery about me. On the other hand, he was making it extremely difficult to get him out of the deal. It almost seemed like he didn't want to.
Unfortunately for Sam and me, Dean had met twins at a bar, he said something about a bucket list, and then he and the girls disappeared into a motel room.
Sam and I waited outside. I laid in the back of the Impala while Sam read a book about Dr. Faustus and demon deals.
Ring! Ring!
Sam answered his phone, "Hello." (...) "Hey, Bobby." (...) "Oh, same old, same old." (...) He sighed. (...) "Then where, Bobby?" (...) "Polling the electorate." (...) "Never mind." (...) "All right, I'll go get him." He hung up.
"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," I said.
"I don't want to, but Bobby's got something for us," Sam said and got out.
"Good luck!" I called after him.
A few minutes later, Sam and Dean walked out of the motel. Dean had a huge smile on his face, while Sam was completely pale.
"Let me see your knife," Sam said.
"What for?" Dean asked.
Sam scoffed. "So, I can gouge my eyes out."
"I told you not to go in there," I said.
Dean smirked. "It was a beautiful, natural act."
"It's a part of you I never wanted to see, Dean," Sam said.
Dean chuckled and slapped Sam on the thigh. "Hey, I appreciate you guys giving me a little quality time with the Doublemint Twins."
"Yeah, no problem," Sam said quietly.
"Really?" Dean asked. "Well, I got to say, I was expecting a weary sigh or an eye roll, something."
Sam shook his head. "No, not at all. You deserve to have a little fun."
"Well, I am in violent agreement with you there." Dean laughed. "What's Bobby got?"
Sam shrugged. "Not much. A crop failure and a cicada swarm outside of Lincoln, Nebraska. Uh, could be demonic omens—"
"Or could just be a bad crop and a bug problem," Dean said.
"Yeah, but it's our only lead," Sam said.
"Any freaky deaths?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head. "Nothing Bobby could find... not yet anyway."
"It's weird, man. I mean, the night the devil's gate opened, all these weirdo storm clouds were sighted over how many cities?" Dean asked.
Sam sighed. "Seventeen."
Dean whistled. "Seventeen. You'd think it would be 'Apocalypse Now,' but it's been five days and bupkis. What are the demons waiting for?"
Sam shrugged. "Beats me."
Dean groaned. "It's driving me crazy. I tell you, if it's gonna be war, I wish it would just start already."
"I don't know, man. Be careful what you wish for," Sam said.
The next morning, we pulled up in front of a farmhouse. Bobby was already there, waiting for us in his truck.
When we got out of the Impala, all we could hear was the loud hissing of cicadas.
"Hear those cicadas?" Sam asked.
"That can't be a good sign," Dean said as he took a bite out of a cheeseburger that he "had" to stop for on our way to the house.
Sam shook his head. "No. No, it can't."
Bobby got out of his truck and walked up to us. "So, we're eating bacon cheeseburgers for breakfast, are we?"
Dean shrugged. "Well, I sold my soul. Got a year to live. I ain't sweating the cholesterol."
Sam rolled his eyes. "So, Bobby, what do you think? We got a biblical plague here or what?"
"Well, let's find out. Looks like the swarm's ground zero," Bobby said as he gestured for us to walk up to the door.
Dean pounded on the door. "Candygram!"
There was nothing but the hissing of cicadas.
Dean picked the lock, and we all walked in, but as soon as we did, we were hit with a terrible scent.
We gagged and covered our noses.
"That's awful," Sam said.
"That so can't be a good sign," Dean said and then led us into another room with his gun drawn.
We stopped for a second when we heard panicked screaming coming from behind a closed door in front of us.
"You hear that?" Sam asked.
Dean kicked the door open, the stench grew stronger, and we realized the screaming was coming from a TV.
As we walked forward, a family of three sat on a couch. They were nothing but skin and bone. There was no doubt that they had been dead for a while.
Sam gasped. "Oh, my god."
Bobby walked into the room from another entrance and recoiled at the sight and smell.
"Bobby, what the hell happened here?" Sam asked.
Bobby shook his head. "I don't know."
"Check for sulfur," Dean said.
Bobby nodded. "Yeah."
We started searching for any sign of demons.
Dean walked outside, and then we heard a commotion. Sam, Bobby, and I ran out to see what was going on.
Dean was on the ground, while a man and woman stood above him.
"Isaac? Tamara?" Bobby asked, surprised.
"Bobby?" Tamara smiled. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Bobby laughed. "I could ask you the same."
"Heya, Bobby." Isaac smiled.
Dean waved at us from where he laid on the ground. "Hello. Bleeding here."
Sam placed an anonymous tip to the police about the farmhouse, and then the six of us made our way to Tamara and Isaac's house.
Their house was completely covered in lore and random items on shelves, hanging from the ceiling, and in jars.
Bobby, Tamara, and Isaac took some time to reconnect, and then we talked about the case.
A few hours later, Dean made a call to the coroner's office to get some information on the bodies we had found.
"Honey? Where's the Palo Santo?" Isaac asked.
"Well, where'd you leave it?" Tamara asked.
"I don't know, dear." Isaac shrugged. "That's why I'm asking."
"Palo Santo?" Sam asked.
"It's holy wood, from Peru. It's toxic to demons like holy water. Keeps the bastards nailed down while you're exorcising them," Tamara explained as she dug through a bag and pulled out a large stake and handed it to Isaac.
"Thank you, dear." Isaac smiled as he took the stake.
"You'd lose your head if it wasn't for me," Tamara said.
Sam smiled. "So, how long you two been married?"
"Eight years this past June." Tamara smiled.
Isaac nodded. "The family that slays together..."
Sam chuckled. "Right. I'm with you there. So, how'd you get started?"
There was an awkward silence as Tamara and Isaac looked at each other with a painful expression.
Sam cleared his throat. "I, uh, ya know... I'm sorry. It's not—" He shook his head. "That's none of my business."
"No, no. It's— It's all right," Tamara said.
Dean walked into the room, still on the phone, "Well, Jenny, if you look as pretty as you sound, I'd love to have an... 'appletini.'" (...) "Yeah. Call you." He hung up. "That was the coroner's tech."
"And?" Sam asked.
"Get this... that whole family, cause of death? Dehydration and starvation. There's no signs of restraint, no violence, no struggle. They just sat down and never got up," Dean explained.
Bobby furrowed his brow. "But there was a fully stocked kitchen just yards away."
"Right. What is this, a demon attack?" Sam asked.
Bobby shrugged. "If it is, it's not like anything I ever saw, and I've seen plenty."
"Well, what now? What should we do?" Dean asked.
"Uh, 'we're' not gonna do anything," Isaac said.
Sam furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"
"You guys seem nice enough, but this ain't 'Scooby-Doo,' and we don't play well with others," Isaac said.
"Well, I think we'd cover a lot more ground if we all worked together," Sam said.
Isaac shook his head. "No offense, but we're not teaming up with the damn fools who let the Devil's Gate get opened in the first place."
I furrowed my brow at him, not expecting the conversation to take the turn that it did.
"No offense?" Dean asked.
"Isaac." Tamara looked over at Isaac with cautioning eyes. "Like you've never made a mistake."
"Oh yeah, yeah. Locked my keys in the car, turned my laundry pink," Isaac listed. "Never brought on the end of the world, though."
Dean chuckled. "All right. That's enough."
"Guys, this isn't helping. Dean..." Sam looked over at Dean with a warning expression.
"Look, there are a couple hundred more demons out there now. We don't know where they are... when they'll strike. There ain't enough hunters in the world to handle something like this," Isaac raised his voice, "You brought war down on us... on all of us."
"Okay. That's quite enough testosterone for now." Tamara pulled Isaac away into another room.
The next morning, there was news of a woman beating another woman to death outside of a retail store over a pair of shoes. Bobby decided to go ahead without us to question the suspect, and we joined him later.
When we got there, the store and sidewalk were lined with people watching. The police had set up caution tape around a car a little way down from the store. The murder didn't actually happen within the store, so Sam and Dean didn't have to put on a disguise, especially since Bobby already had that covered.
Dean went ahead into the store, while Sam and I waited outside to see if the crowd was saying anything interesting.
Once we decided that everyone was just sharing rumors, we walked into the store, where we spotted Dean comforting a beautiful blonde woman.
"What happened outside makes you realize how fragile life really is. You got to make every second count." Dean cheesily consoled her.
The woman nodded.
Sam cleared his throat.
Dean looked over at us and then back at the woman. "Excuse me a minute, would you?"
"Sure." The woman nodded and left.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm comforting the bereaved. What are you doing?" Dean asked.
"Workin'. Dead body, possible demon attack... that kind of stuff," Sam said.
Dean coughed pathetically. "I'm sorry. It's just... I don't have much time left, and, uh..." He coughed more dramatically. "Gotta make every second count."
I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, right. Sorry." Sam sighed.
Dean smirked. "Apology accepted."
"Oh please, you were just trying to pick up that girl." I rolled my eyes. "If you aren't going to let us help you, you can't use it against us."
Dean laughed and patted my shoulder. "You're so sweet."
Bobby walked over to us, wearing a suit with his hair slicked back.
"Whoa." Dean whistled. "Looking spiffy, Bobby. What were you, a G-man?"
"Attorney for the D.A.'s office. I just spoke to the suspect," Bobby said.
"Yeah? So, what do you think? Is she possessed or what?" Sam asked.
Bobby shook his head. "Don't think so. There's none of the usual signs... no blackouts, no loss of control. Totally lucid. Just, she really wanted those shoes. Spilled a glass of holy water on her just to be sure; nothing."
Dean shrugged. "Maybe she's just some random whack job."
"If it had been an isolated incident, maybe, but first the family, now this? I believe in a lot of things. Coincidence ain't one of them. Did you kids find anything around here?" Bobby asked.
Sam shook his head. "No sulfur, nothing."
"Well, maybe something." Dean nodded up to the security camera in the ceiling. "See? I'm working."
The four of us snuck into the security room, and Sam started playing back the footage, while Dean leaned against the wall, daydreaming.
"Anything interesting?" Dean asked.
"I don't know yet. Might just be a guy..." Sam pointed to the screen. "Or it might be our guy."
A man walked up to the suspect and put his hand on her shoulder. He spoke to her a little, and then she walked off.
We all looked at each other, knowing that something was weird about that interaction.
Sam printed out a picture of the man, and then we left.
Dean had searched all over the town with the man's picture and figured out that he went to the same bar every night.
So, we went to stake out the place in one of Bobby's cars.
Sam had gone down the road to the library to compare the picture to the missing persons database.
Bobby yawned. "What time is it?"
"Seven past midnight," Dean said.
"You sure this is the right place?" Bobby asked.
Dean shrugged. "No. But I spent all day canvassing this stupid town with this guy's stupid mug, and, supposedly, he drinks at this... stupid bar."
We all jumped at a loud pounding on Dean's window. We looked up to see Sam laughing at us, and then he opened the door.
"That's not funny!" Dean shouted.
Since the car didn't have back doors, Sam shoved Dean's seat forward and climbed into the back with me.
"Yeah. Uh, all right, so— so, John Doe's name is Walter Rosen. He's from Oak Park, just west of Chicago. Went missing about a week ago," Sam explained.
"The night the Devil's Gate opened?" Dean asked.
Sam nodded. "Yeah."
"So, he's possessed?" I asked.
Sam nodded. "Well, it's a good bet. So, what, he just walks up to someone, touches them, and they go stark raving psycho?"
"Those demons that got out at the gate... they're gonna do all kinds of things we haven't seen," Bobby explained.
"You mean the demons we let out." Sam sighed.
"Guys..." Dean pointed toward the bar.
The man from the picture was walking toward it.
"All right. Showtime," Dean said, reaching for the door.
"Wait a minute," Bobby said.
"What?" Dean asked.
"What'd I just say?" Bobby snapped. "We don't know what to expect out of this guy. We should tail him 'til we know for sure."
"Oh, so he kills someone, and we just sit here with our junk in our hands?" Dean asked, sarcastically.
"We're no good dead!" Bobby yelled. "And we're not gonna make a move until we know what the score is."
"Hey, Bobby? I don't think that's an option," Sam said.
"Why not?" Bobby asked.
Sam nodded toward another car as Isaac and Tamara got out and started heading toward the bar.
Bobby smacked his wheel. "Damn it!"
Bobby, Sam, and Dean walked up to the building, but when they tried to open the door, it was locked. They looked at each other and started slamming themselves into the door to get in.
Then I heard screaming coming from within the bar, and the three of them ran back to the car.
"Buckle up!" Dean yelled.
"What?" I asked urgently.
Bobby slammed on the gas, heading straight for the bar. Sam put his arm around me to prevent me from hitting the seat in front of me as we smashed into the building.
Seven people with black eyes stood around Tamara and Isaac, who was bleeding out of his mouth as he dropped to the floor. Dean jumped out and started fighting with the demon in our picture. Sam and Bobby hopped out with holy water and started flinging it at the crowd of demons. Sam grabbed Tamara and pushed her toward the car, but she screamed for Isaac the whole way.
"Come on. We got to go! He's dead! Get in the car!" Sam yelled, and she reluctantly got into the car with me. He turned to Dean. "Dean, come on! Dean! Come on!" He yelled and hopped into the back seat.
Dean opened the trunk, overpowered the demon, and stuffed him in. Then he jumped into the front of the car. "Go, go, go!"
After we made our way back to Tamara's house, Bobby and Dean tied up the demon and placed him under a devil's trap in the middle of the living room.
Tamara had been fighting with Sam the whole time to go back and get Isaac.
"And I say we're going back! Now!" she yelled.
Sam put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Just hold on a second!"
"I left my husband bloody on the floor!" she snapped.
"Okay, I understand that, but we can't go back," Sam said calmly.
Tamara shoved his hand away. "Fine. Then you stay. But I'm heading back to that bar."
"I'll go with her," Dean said.
"No!" I yelled.
"It's suicide, Dean!" Sam shouted.
"So what? I'm dead already!" Dean yelled.
"How you gonna kill 'em?" Sam asked. "Can't shoot 'em. You can't stab 'em. They're not just gonna wait in line to get exorcised!"
"I don't care!" Tamara screamed.
"We don't even know how many of them there are!" Sam yelled.
Bobby walked into the room with a book. "Yeah, we do. There's seven. Do you have any idea who we're up against?"
Dean shook his head. "No. Who?"
"The seven deadly sins, live and in the flesh," Bobby said.
Dean grinned. "What's in the box?!"
I facepalmed and shook my head. "Not a good time for movie references, Dean."
Dean chuckled. "Brad Pitt? 'Se7en'? No?"
Bobby ignored him and tossed him a book.
Dean furrowed his brow. "What's this?"
"'Binsfeld's Classification of Demons,'" Bobby explained, "In 1589, Binsfeld ID'd the seven sins... not just as human vices but as actual devils."
Sam nodded. "The family... they were touched by Sloth. And the shopper—"
"That's Envy's doing..." Bobby said, "The customer we got in the next room. I couldn't suss it out at first, until Isaac. He was touched with an awful Gluttony."
"I don't give a rat's ass if they're the Three Stooges or the Four Tops! I'm gonna slaughter every last one of them!" Tamara shouted.
"We already did it your way. You burst in there half-cocked and look what happened! These demons haven't been topside in half a millennium! We're talking medieval, Dark Ages! We've never faced anything close to this! So, we are gonna take a breath..." Bobby walked up to Tamara. "And figure out what our next move is!"
Tamara and Bobby stared at each other.
"I am sorry for your loss," Bobby said quietly and then walked out of the room.
Tamara looked at us and then left, fury on her face.
Sam, Dean, and I walked into the living room with Bobby and the demon.
Envy chuckled. "So, you know who I am, huh?"
"We do." Bobby nodded. "We're not impressed."
"Why are you here? What are you after?" Sam asked.
Envy just smirked.
"He asked you a question. What do you want?" Dean asked, a little more demanding.
Envy chuckled, condescendingly.
Dean opened his flask of holy water and splashed the demon, who smoked.
He screamed in pain and groaned. "We already have..." He panted. "What we want."
"What's that?" Dean asked.
"We're out. We're free. Thanks to you, my kind are everywhere. I am Legion, for we are many." Envy laughed. "So, me, I'm just celebrating. Having a little fun."
Sam furrowed his brow. "Fun?"
"Yeah. Fun. See, some people crochet. Others golf. Me? I like to see people's insides... on their outside." Envy smiled.
Tamara walked into the room. "I'm gonna put you down like a dog."
"Please." Envy laughed. "You really think you're better than me." He laughed. "Which one of you can cast the first stone, huh? What about you, Dean? You're practically a— a walking billboard of gluttony and lust."
Dean nodded in acknowledgment.
Envy turned his attention to Tamara. "And Tamara. All that wrath. Oh." He clicked his tongue. "It's the reason you and Isaac became hunters in the first place, isn't it? It's so much easier to... drink in the rage than to face what really happened all those years ago."
Tamara's face twisted in anger and punched Envy in the face until Dean and Bobby pulled her back.
"Whew!" Envy laughed. "My point exactly. And you call us sins. We're not sins, man. We are natural human instinct. And you can repress and deny us all you want, but the truth is, you are just animals. Horny... greedy... hungry... violent animals. And ya know what? You'll be slaughtered like animals, too." He paused and smiled. "The others... they're coming for me."
"Maybe. But they're not gonna find you... 'cause you'll be in hell," Dean said.
Envy looked stunned.
"Someone send this clown packin'," Dean said.
"My pleasure." Tamara began reading, "'Exorcizamus te, Omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica...'"
As she read, we left the room.
"I don't think we're gonna have to worry about hunting them," Bobby said.
Sam furrowed his brow. "What does that mean?"
"I think maybe this joker's right," Bobby said, "They're gonna be hunting us. And they're not gonna quit easy."
"You guys, why don't you take Tamara and head for the hills? I'll stay back, slow them down, buy you a little time," Dean said.
"What? You're kidding, right?" I asked.
Dean shook his head.
"You're insane, Dean. Just forget about it, okay?" Sam asked.
"Sam's right," Bobby said.
"There's six of them, guys. We're outmanned, we're outgunned. One of us is a twelve-year-old kid! We'll be dead by dawn," Dean said.
"Maybe, but... there's no place to run that they won't find us," Bobby said.
"If we're going down, I'd rather go down together," I said.
Dean sighed. "Well, let's not make it easy for them."
Envy gave a final scream from the other room, and the house shook.
Tamara walked into the room and slammed the book. "Demon's out of the guy."
"And the guy?" Sam asked.
"He didn't make it," Tamara said, coldly.
We prepared for the demon attack and waited for them to come.
A few hours later, the lights began flickering. An old radio sparked to life and started playing, "We Shall Not Be Moved."
Dean stood up and cocked his gun. "Here we go." He looked over at me. "Stay close, and if you can't, play it smart."
I nodded.
Isaac's voice echoed outside. "Tamara! Tamara! Tamara! Help me! Please!"
Tamara looked out of the window and looked back at Bobby, anguished.
"Tamara!" Isaac yelled, "I got away, but I'm hurt bad! I need help!"
Tamara looked back out of the window.
"It's not him. It's one of those demons. It's possessing his corpse," Bobby told her.
Isaac pounded on the door. "Baby! Why won't you let me in? You left me behind back there. How could you do that? We swore... at that lake in Michigan. Remember? We swore we would never leave each other!"
Tamara sobbed and turned to us. "How did he know that?"
"Steady, Tamara. Steady..." Bobby tried to calm her.
"You just gonna leave me out here? You just gonna let me die?!" Isaac yelled, "I guess that's what you do, dear! Like that night those things came to our house... came... for our daughter! You just let her die, too."
"You son of a bitch!" Tamara screamed and ran for the door.
"Tamara, no!" Bobby yelled.
She pulled the door open, breaking the salt line, and tackled Isaac down the steps. She raised her Palo Santo stake above his chest. "You're not Isaac!" She plunged the wood deep into his chest; it sizzled, and he screamed.
The other five demons crossed the broken salt line and entered the house. A large man chased after Bobby, a girl in a short skirt chased after Dean, a girl and a man in a suit chased after Sam, and a man creepily licked his lips at me and chased me up the stairs.
I ran into a bedroom and slid under the bed, hoping that he didn't see where I went. I watched as his feet ran by the bedroom door. My heart stopped pounding so hard, and my breathing slowed until his feet trailed back in front of the room, and he entered.
I heard a sniffing sound. "Where are you, little morsel. I know you're in here, I can smell your delicious, sweet flesh."
I frowned with disgust, and my heart sank when I realized he must have been gluttony. It was one thing to be killed by a demon, but I definitely didn't want to be eaten alive by one.
He continued sniffing, my body shivered, and I could feel my hair stand up as he knelt. My only option was to run.
So, as he peered under the bed, I rolled out, jumped to my feet, and ran for the door. He stood up and put his hand around my neck, slamming me to the ground.
The room spun as pain swelled in the back of my head.
"Gotcha." He smiled eerily.
I shook off the pain and swung my leg up, kicking him in the side of the face. He loosened his grip, and I slipped away, crawling to the door as I tried to get up quickly.
"Ah, ah, ah. No, you don't." The demon grabbed my calf and pulled me back to him.
I flipped around and kicked him in the face again, as hard as I could, but this time he didn't let go. He tightened his grip.
I screamed as he dragged me to him.
Gluttony laughed. "Why do humans scream? It just makes it more fun for us." He pinned me down.
I put my hands on his chest and pushed as hard as I could. "Get off me!"
He laughed, grabbed my arm, and licked his lips.
I tried to pull away but screamed as he dug his teeth into my forearm. Blood dripped onto my face and chest, but then his skeleton sparked orange through his skin, and he fell on top of me. I gasped and tried to push him off, but he was ripped off of me.
When I looked up, a blonde woman was standing above me, holding a smoking knife.
"What—?" I asked, but she ran off.
I looked down at my arm. It was bleeding terribly, the skin had deep teeth marks in it, and some of the tissue was peeled back. I got up and pulled a pillowcase off of one of the pillows and wrapped it around my arm, pulling it tight to stop the bleeding. I winced at the pain.
Then made my way down the hallway, where I found the woman and Sam standing in a room with two dead demons on the floor.
"Who the hell are you?" Sam asked, breathing heavily.
"I'm the girl that just saved your ass," the woman said.
Sam shrugged. "Well, I just saved yours, too."
The woman laughed. "See you around, Sam." She turned and ran past me.
"Wait!" Sam yelled after her and chased her down the hall but came back, looking completely confused.
Sam and Dean piled three demon corpses into a hole they had dug, while Bobby was in the house exorcising the other two. Tamara was giving Isaac a hunter's funeral a few yards away from us.
Sam stood up and sighed after putting the last corpse into the hole. "Think she's gonna be all right?" He looked over at Tamara.
Dean shook his head. "No. Definitely not."
Sam sighed and pointed to my arm. "Let me see that now."
I shrugged. "It's fine," I said, not wanting him to see it because I knew it would result in stitches that I didn't want. I put my arm behind my back.
"No, no, no. Let me see." He walked over to me while Dean dumped salt and gas onto the bodies.
I groaned and gave him my arm. He started to untie the fabric, and as he did, I could feel the wound reopen slowly.
"Ow, ow, ow," I whined.
"Oh, god. Maddi, this looks awful," Sam said as he inspected my arm.
Dean threw a match into the hole, and the bodies caught fire. "What?" he asked as he walked over, but then he spotted my arm. "Whoa, that's gonna need stitches."
"Ugh, no..." I groaned, feeling tears come to my eyes out of fear.
I didn't understand why I was so afraid, but the thought of needles made me cringe, and I didn't like talk of them piercing my skin.
Sam smiled. "It'll be fine, I'll take care of you."
"Fine." I sighed and then followed Sam and Dean into the house.
Sam collected everything he needed and then had me sit down at the table. Dean sat down next to me and tried to distract me.
"So, how about I take you to get some pie after this?" Dean asked.
Sam unscrewed a bottle of alcohol and poured it on my wound.
I winced. "I want a whole pie."
Dean laughed. "A whole pie? You won't finish that."
"I don't care. It'll make me feel better if I have the option to eat it all if I want to," I said.
Dean smirked. "You got it short stuff."
My eyes practically bulged out of my face when Sam pierced the needle through my skin.
"A little warning would be nice!" I yelled.
"That would defeat the purpose of distracting you," Sam said calmly.
"Right, sorry," I said.
Dean put his hand on the table. "Here, squeeze my hand whenever it hurts. It'll help."
I took his hand and squeezed it almost immediately because I could feel every tug, pull, and pierce of the needle as Sam continued to stitch my arm.
"That's all you got?" Dean joked.
"What? This isn't enough?" I squeezed his hand as hard as I could.
Dean looked around the room as if he was waiting for something. "Oh, that was it?" He squeezed my bicep with his other hand. "We're gonna have to work on that."
I glared at him and punched him in the arm.
"Ow," Dean whined. "Just kidding." He smirked.
"Hey, hey. Trying to stitch up your arm over here," Sam scolded.
"Sorry," I said and stuck my tongue out at Dean.
Sam sighed. "I'm done anyway."
"Really?" I asked, surprised, and then quickly looked down at my arm. "It looks kinda... awesome."
Sam laughed. "Let me bandage it, and you're good to go."
As Sam bandaged my arm, Bobby walked into the room, looking thoroughly exhausted.
"Well, you look like hell warmed over," Dean said.
Bobby shrugged. "You try exorcising all night and see how you feel."
"Any survivors, Bobby?" Sam asked.
Bobby sighed. "Well, the pretty girl and the heavy guy, they'll make it. Lifetime of therapy bills ahead, but still..."
"That's more than you can say for those poor bastards outside," Dean said.
"Bobby, that knife... what kind of blade can kill a demon?" Sam asked.
Bobby shrugged. "Yesterday, I would have said there was no such thing."
"I'm just gonna ask it again... who was that masked chick?" Dean asked, "Actually, the more troubling question would be, how come a girl can fight better than you?"
"Hey," I objected.
Sam laughed. "Two demons, Dean. At once."
"Hey, whatever it takes to get you through the night, pal." Dean smirked.
"Yeah, well, if you want a troubling question, I got one for you," Sam said.
Dean raised his eyebrows. "What's that?"
"If we let out the seven deadly sins, what else did we let out?" Sam asked.
We all thought for a moment.
Dean nodded. "You're right. That is troubling."
We walked back out as Tamara walked past us toward her car.
"See you around," she said as she continued walking.
"Tamara?" Bobby asked, causing her to stop and look back. "The world just got a lot scarier. Be careful."
Tamara nodded. "You too." She continued walking, hopped in her car, and took off.
"Keep your eyes peeled for omens. I'll do the same," Bobby instructed us.
Dean nodded. "You got it."
Bobby nodded and turned to walk to his car.
"Wait, Bobby," Sam said, causing him to turn back. "We can win this war. Right?"
Bobby paused with a worried expression on his face. "Catch you on the next one." He said and then continued to his car. He hopped in and pulled away. We waved to him as he drove past.
"So, where to?" Dean asked as we turned to the Impala.
Sam sighed. "Uh, I don't know. I was thinking Louisiana maybe."
Dean shrugged. "Little early for Mardi Gras, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Listen, I was talking to Tamara, and she mentioned this hoodoo priestess outside of Shreveport that might be able to help us out. Ya know, with your— with your demon deal," Sam said.
Dean shrugged. "Nah."
Sam shook his head. "'Nah'? What does that mean, 'nah'?"
"Sam, no hoodoo spell's gonna break this deal, all right? It's a goose chase," Dean said.
Sam shook his head. "Yeah, but we don't know that Dean—"
Dean nodded. "Yeah, we do. Forget it. She can't help."
Sam sighed. "Look, it's worth—"
Dean cut him off again. "We're not going, and that's that. What about Reno, huh?" He smacked Sam lightly on the arm and turned to get in the car.
Sam grabbed Dean's sleeve and made Dean turn to face him. "Ya know what? I've had it. I've been bending over backward trying to be nice to you, and..." He shrugged. "I don't care anymore."
Dean smirked. "That didn't last long."
"Yeah, well, ya know what? I've been busting my ass trying to keep you alive, Dean, and you act like you couldn't care less. What, you got some kind of death wish or something?" Sam asked.
Dean shook his head. "No, it's not like that."
"Then what's it like, Dean?" Sam asked.
"Sam..." Dean sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Please, tell me," Sam said.
Dean sighed. "We trap the crossroads demon, trick it, try to welch our way out of the deal in any way? You die. Okay? You die. Those are the terms. There's no way out of it. If you try to find a way, so help me god, I'm gonna stop you."
I watched Dean in horror. Either way, I was losing one of them, and I didn't know what to do or think.
Sam sighed and shook his head. "How could you make that deal, Dean?"
"'Cause I couldn't live with either of you dead." Dean shook his head. "Couldn't do it."
"So, what, now we live without you?" Sam asked.
Dean nodded. "That's the general idea, yeah."
Sam shook his head. "Yeah, well, you're a hypocrite, Dean. How did you feel when Dad sold his soul for you? 'Cause we were there. We remember. You were twisted and broken. And now you go and do the same thing. To me. What you did was selfish."
Dean nodded. "Yeah, you're right. It was selfish. But I'm okay with that."
Sam shook his head. "I'm not."
Dean shrugged. "Tough. After everything I've done for this family, I think I'm entitled. Truth is, I'm tired, Sam. I don't know, it's like there's a— a light at the end of the tunnel."
I got in the car, not wanting to listen to what he was saying anymore.
"It's hellfire, Dean," Sam said.
"Whatever. You're alive, I feel good... for the first time in a long time. I got a year to live, Sam. I'd like to make the most of it. So, what do you say we kill some evil sons of bitches, and we raise a little hell, huh?" Dean opened his door.
Sam scoffed. "You're unbelievable."
"Very true." Dean got into the car, smiling.