Twigs & Twine & Tasha Banes Part 2

Rock River, Wyoming

Sam, Dean, and Angela were outside at the cellar doors and Angela held Grace on her hip. Sam picked the lock on the door and they opened them and stood at the threshold looking down with a flashlight.

"Oh. Ugh." Sam cringed at the smell.

"Smells like death." Dean gagged.

"Yeah." Sam agreed.

"Go ahead." Dean nodded.

Sam's brows furrowed. "What? You."

"All right." Dean sighed.

"You stay out here, okay baby?" Sam looked at Angela.

"All right." Angela leaned up and kissed him quickly. "Holler if you need help."

Sam nodded and turned on his flashlight and the brothers started to head down the stairs.

~/~\~

Sam and Dean were looking around the cellar when Dean noticed two bodies covered in plastic.

"Sam," Dean called out.

Sam came over to look and turned on the light hanging from above. Dean pulled the plastic off the bodies. It was the man they saw when they arrived as well as Andy from the front desk.

"Ugh." Dean groaned at the stench.

Sam noticed another covered body on a table. "Dean."

Dean turned to look while Sam pulled back the cover to reveal Tasha. Dean moved closer, his brows furrowed.

"Son of a bitch."

"Her heart's been ripped out," Sam commented.

"So have theirs." Dean gestured to the two bodies.

Sam turned to look at them and then back at Dean. "Wait, this is everybody that's in the house."

"Okay, well, if this is the real Tasha, then who the hell was I talking to up there?" Dean questioned.

Sam looked just as confused and looked back down at Tasha. Suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching and pulled out their guns.

"Whoa, hey, babe, it's me," Angela assured.

"Hey." Max greeted.

The boys put their guns down as Max and Angela came down the stairs into the cellar.

"Hey, Max. Uh…" Sam trailed off.

"I saw Angie. You guys find some trouble to get into?" Max smirked.

Sam attempted to prevent Max from walking further into the cellar. "Nah. No, no. We—We—we just, uh…"

Sam stopped talking as Max came close enough to see Tasha behind Sam. Max stopped and stared confusedly.

"I just…"

He walked closer to the table still staring. As he got closer, he realized the truth of what he was seeing and let out a sob.

"I just…"

~/~\~

Max came bursting into the room where Alicia was talking with the Tasha imposter.

"No, I think he's really—

Max grabbed the imposter and shoved her against the wall. "Who are you?"

"Max?" Alicia cried out.

Max pushed the creature against the wall roughly. "What did you do to my mom?"

Alicia tried to run to them, but Sam and Dean held her back.

"Max!" Alicia sobbed. "What are you—

"Wait, wait, wait." Sam interrupted.

"Tell me!" Max roared.

"What are you doing?" the Tasha imposter asked.

"Let her go!" Alicia pleaded.

"That's not your mom," Angela told her.

"What?" Alicia frowned.

"Shh." Sam hushed.

"What are you talking—Mom!" she cried out.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. It's okay." Sam assured.

"Max, what is wrong, sweetie?" the Tasha imposter asked in concern.

"Don't!" he snapped. "Don't. You are not my mom."

"Max—

"I don't know what kind of thing you are, but you are not my mom." Max interrupted angrily.

"Max! Stop!" Alicia pleaded.

Max's eyes glowed purple as he performed magic on the creature. "Reveal. Now! Reveal!"

The creature's face went blank and she started to shake and make cracking noises.

"The… the room, end of the hall. Top of the stairs."

Max let go of the imposter and ran to follow the directions given by the creature. Dean followed close behind.

~/~\~

"Got him," Dean said.

Out in the hallway, Dean and Max saw the man from the cellar. Max used magic on him and the man went flying out the window, where he laid twitching and cracking. Max ran past the window as Dean looked out at the man before running after Max.

"Max!"

~/~\~

Back in the room, the Tasha imposter collapsed and Alicia rushed over to her in worry.

"Mom!"

~/~\~

Dean and Max kicked in the door at the end of the hall. The elderly woman sitting in her chair seemed unimpressed.

"Really?" she asked. "People are trying to sleep."

Dean pointed his gun at the woman. "All right, lady, craft time's over."

She turned around and with a smile, waved her hand at Dean, who went flying into a chair across the room. Max looked at Dean and then back at the woman.

~/~\~

Alicia was frantically trying to get her mom to wake up. Angela set Grace down on the couch and rushed to help Sam with Alicia.

"Mom! Mom!" she sobbed.

The Tasha imposter kept twitching and cracking. Alicia pulled back from it in fear.

"This magic, what is it?" Alicia asked.

"I don't know. I don't know." Sam admitted, looking toward Angela.

Sam turned around and looked up to see Andy standing right behind him, staring at him.

~/~\~

The elderly woman got up out of her chair with a smile on her face as she stared at Max.

"Oh. How lucky am I?" the woman gasped. "Such an impressive witch. Maybe you'll take the deal the last bitch wouldn't."

Max's face twitched in anger as he stared the elderly woman down.

~/~\~

Sam and Angela got a few good punches in, but Randy didn't so much as flinch, and he could recover quickly from any damages. Alicia was kneeling next to the Tasha imposter and Grace hid behind the couch. Sam and Angela looked at each other nervously.

~/~\~

"My mother… you killed her." Max sneered.

"Did I?" the woman replied nonchalantly.

"What did you do to all those people?" Dean demanded.

"Oh. Let me show you." The woman smiled wickedly.

She snapped her fingers and both Dean and Max bent over in excruciating pain, while a vision of Tasha on a table in pain flashed through their minds.

"I'm reaching the end of my very long life, and it's a problem," the woman explained. "'Cause I sold my soul for power. So when I pass, my soul goes to Hell. Unless I can find someone to take the burden, to take my magic."

~/~\~

Sam and Angela were still trying to fight Andy but to no avail. Andy smashed Sam onto the coffee table and sent Angela across the room.

"Sam! Angela!" Alicia cried out before she turned to the creature and tried to wake her up. "Mom! Mom!"

~/~\~

"When your mother found me, and when I realized what she was, I offered to teach her." The woman explained. "I offered her my power. But even dying, she was rude. So… I made her into one of my creatures. That doll has all of your mother's memories. It's her. Mostly." She smiled as she released Dean and Max from the vision. "Just like the others. Rick, Andy—They do what I want, when I want. I'm old. I like things a certain way."

"No. No!" Max shouted as he cast a spell on the woman, but it had no effect.

~/~\~

Andy got a few more punches in before he grabbed a hold of Sam and started to choke him.

~/~\~

Max frowned in confusion when he saw that the woman was still standing there unphased.

"Nice try," she started. "If you kill me, well, then all of them just fall apart," she added as she inched closer to Max. "So, here's the offer. You take my power. You take my burden, and my doll—your mother—will stay with you and your sister forever. Just one big happy family."

"Max, no," Dean started as Max considered the offer. "Listen to me. Your mother is gone, okay? It's awful and it sucks… but that's—Ah!"

Dean yelled in pain as the woman snapped her fingers. Max looked quickly at Dean and then back at the woman. She took her ring off her finger and smirked.

"So… do we have a deal?"

~/~\~

Andy was choking Sam while Angela held Grace from behind the couch, trying to protect her. Alicia looked at Sam and got up and threw Andy off of Sam. While doing so, the Tasha creature's eyes glowed white.

"You okay?" Alicia asked as Angela stood up, holding Grace.

They all looked over at Andy, who was struggling to get up. Alicia turned around and saw the Tasha doll standing.

"Mom!" she beamed.

The Tasha doll pulled out a knife and stabbed Alicia through the stomach and Alicia collapsed to the ground, gasping.

"No!" Sam and Angela cried out.

~/~\~

The elderly woman offered the ring with an enticing smile on her face. "Take it… and the deal is done."

Max seemed to ponder the offer while Dean attempted to grab his gun.

"Take it." The woman repeated.

Max reached out to take the ring, and the woman smiled gleefully. Suddenly, a shot rang out and the woman began to bleed from her stomach, stunned. Dean gripped his gun and looked at Max sadly.

~/~\~

The Andy and Tasha dolls stepped towards Sam and suddenly disintegrated into ash. Angela set Grace down behind the couch and knelt next to Alicia with Sam.

"Alicia," she started softly. "Hey. Hey. Hey, hold on. Just—Just take it easy. Take it easy, hon. We're gonna get you some help."

~/~\~

Max turned to Dean, stunned that he shot the woman. "Why did you…"

"Max, listen to me," Dean stood up. "Hey, hey. I had to, okay? That deal wasn't with her. It was with a demon. You even touch that magic and you lose your soul."

"Dean!" Angela yelled from the other room.

Dean patted Max on the shoulder. "Come on."

~/~\~

Alicia was writhing and pain and the couple were unsure of what to do.

"Don't fight," Sam murmured. "Don't—Shh, shh. Just take it easy, okay? Take a breath. Shh."

Alicia inhaled a quick breath and then her body stilled.

"Alicia?" Angela frowned.

Dean walked into the room and Sam looked up at him.

"She, uh…" he trailed off as Max entered the room.

"Alicia?" Max ran to his sister. "What? Please. No, no, no." he sobbed. "Hey. Hey! Please, no. No, no, no!"

~/~\~

Max was standing outside by himself, his eyes red and his cheeks tear-stained. Sam, Dean, and Angela approached and Angela held a sleeping Grace on her hip.

"Hey, Max," Sam started gently. "Um, this is, uh… Look, you—you're probably in shock right now, but it's gonna pass."

"And then it's gonna hurt," Dean added.

"I could've saved them…" Max's voice wavered. "My mom. If I had just… taken Alicia seriously."

"Come on, man, you can't think like that." Dean shook his head.

"Just stop talking. Please." Max snapped.

"Sure." Sam nodded. "We'll, uh, go get some supplies. We have to, uh—

"We gotta burn the bodies, Max," Dean told the younger man.

"Like my dad." He muttered. "I can do it. I… I should do it. You guys get out of here."

Angela sighed sadly. "Max, we would—

"Please. Please just…" Max looked at the hunters a bit angrily.

The hunters nodded slightly and turned to walk away, leaving Max by himself.

~/~\~

The Impala cruised down the rainy road and Grace was sleeping in the back seat.

"You did the right thing," Angela told Dean. "You saved him."

"Yeah. Yeah, he seemed super saved." Dean retorted sarcastically. "You know, I was watching them, this loving family. And now just like that, it's gone."

"Dean, you couldn't let Max make some deal for his soul." Sam reasoned.

"We do terrible things all the time to save each other," Dean argued. "I mean, that's what you do for family. Who am I to stop him?"

"Well, he's strong. He'll be all right." Sam assured.

"Yeah, I'm not so sure," Dean muttered.

~/~\~

Dean was driving the Impala and Sam's head rested on Angela's shoulder as he slept. Angela gently ran her fingers through his hair. Dean pulled out his phone and saw a message from Mary and a message from Robert.

"Hey, it's me," Mary's message started. "Sorry I couldn't pick up before. Robert and I were on a hunt with Ketch. I'm sorry I haven't been there for you and Sam, but I wanna be. I just… I need to finish this. I miss you boys. I love you."

Dean smiled as the message ended and then played Robert's message.

"Dean, call me. Angie's not answerin' her phone," Robert started. "We've got a problem."

"Everything okay?" Angela asked softly so she didn't wake Sam.

"No," Dean replied. "Something's wrong."

A/N: Hey, guys, I hope you liked this chapter! Let me know what you think! Love y'all, xoxo :)

~Emily