Authors Note:
Hey guys, sorry it's been so long. I'm on uni break now so I finally had time to write. One of my biggest chapters too!
I just wanted to take a quick moment to thank all of those still reading this story and all the people who have reviewed. I have gone back and read them and I just have to say how happy they make me!
So here's chapter 10. I will start writing the next chapter in the next couple of days. I'm still deciding how I want this to go. Whether I want to go slightly cannon or give it more of a happy ending.
I guess we'll see!
Anyway, please review and let me know what you think :)
Chapter 10
"That's okay, you did great. We'll take it from here," Dean replied to Castiel before hanging up the phone.
"What's the sitch?" Buffy asked, sitting next to Dean at the war table.
"Castiel found a lead on the Colt, high ranking demon named Crowley."
"Alright, so what's the plan?" Sam asked, across from the newly reunited couple.
"Cas says the place is heavily guarded, demons patrolling and Enochian wards."
"Enochian?" Xander asked.
"Yes, the Enochian Angels, proposed by an English medium in the 16th century, but not widely believed to be true," Giles explained, "but that was before we knew about the true existence of Angels."
"Yeah, well basically it means Cas can't enter, so we need to go check it out," Dean added, "We'll need a distract, pretty girl looking for help?" he asked Sam, receiving a nod in return.
"Well lucky for you, you got a few good looking chicks," Faith replied, lounging back in her chair, "the whole helpless thing might be something we have to work on," she finished with a shared grin with Buffy.
"While I'm sure you'd be great damsels in distress," Sam explained, "you're too well known."
"Yes, Sam's quite right," Giles agreed, "if this Crowley is as powerful as Castiel claims, he would have information concerning the both of you. It would be too obvious to send two of the best known Slayers as a distraction."
Buffy pouted but couldn't argue with their logic, "well who else could we use? Dawn is our usual go to girl for damseling."
Dean looked a little awkward before saying, "we might know someone."
Jo Harvelle walked towards the mansion's gate dressed in a beautiful evening dress. The night wasn't cold, but she felt shivers of anticipation for what she was about to do. She had been hunting for a while, but wasn't sure she was ready for a house filled with demons. But Dean had asked for a favour.
Jo had met the Winchesters earlier that night, and had been embarrassed to admit to herself that she was looking forward to seeing the older Winchester brother. That was until she saw the two girls by their side. The two girls from Colorado.
She wasn't stupid, she knew who the Slayers were, especially those two. She just didn't realise Dean's full relationship with the blonde Slayer. Jo knew that Dean was involved with Buffy before his death, but with no word about her since he came back, Jo assumed she was out of the picture. Jo was honest enough with herself to admit that she was hurt to see Buffy by his side.
Jo pressed the intercom button at the gate and waited.
The static sounding intercom came to life, "hello?"
"Hello. My car broke down. I need some help," Jo replied, trying to sound as meek as possible.
"I'll be down in a minute."
Jo felt apprehension as she waited. Her feelings for Dean weren't the sole reason she helped them, although if she was truthful with herself she would admit that it didn't hurt. She helped the Winchester's because she was a hunter, and this is what she did. But that doesn't mean she wasn't scared shitless.
The gates opened, and two men walked towards her.
"Evening, pretty lady. Get yourself on in here," one the men called as he came closer.
"I just need to make a call," Jo replied meekly.
"You don't need to call anyone, baby," he replied, glancing back at his partner, "we're the only help you're ever gonna need."
"You know what? I think I should wait by my car," Jo replied, turning away.
The man who had been speaking grabbed her by the shoulder, bringing him back to face his now black eyes, "We said, get your ass in here,"
Jo shook him loose, sending him to the ground with a powerful punch. Behind him, the demon's partner is stabbed through the neck, causing his body to light up with his death. Sam slid the knife out, walking over to the demon on the ground and finishing him off quickly.
"Nice work, Jo," Dean commented, appearing not far from behind Sam, the Slayers trailing along.
"Yeah, sister, nice right hook," Faith commented, slapping Jo on the back.
"Thanks," she replied, wincing.
"Yeah, really, if you're ever looking for some paid work, we could always use another bad ass chick," Buffy added with a smile.
"I'm good," Jo replied curtly, wiping the smile of Buffy's face, leaving shock in its place.
Dean cleared his throat before handing Jo a bag. Jo rustled around in the bag before pulling out a set of wire cutters. "Okay, shall we?"
Inside the mansion, the two Slayers and Winchester brothers quietly crept through the house until they found Crowley, finding him just as Jo cut the power.
"It's Crowley, right?" Sam asked.
"So. The Hardy Boys finally found me. Took you long enough," he replied, before coming towards the group, "and the Slayers too! What a night."
He slowly approached them before stopping, noticing his crumpled rug. He turned it upside down to find a devil's trap drawn underneath. He looked up in irritation "Do you have any idea how much this rug cost?"
As he replied, six demons appeared, one each for the Winchesters, and two for the Slayers. The demons quickly disarmed them and kept them still. Crowley pulled the Colt from his pocket, aiming it at Dean's head.
"This is it, right? This is what it's all about."
Crowley quickly readjusted his aim, shooting the demon behind Dean, followed quickly by the death of the others.
"We need to talk. Privately." Crowley explained, moving into another room.
"Mixed signals, much," Buffy murmured to Faith, moving cautiously to follow the demon.
Faith nodded in agreement before adding quietly, "he's strong though, right? Can you feel it?
Buffy nodded solemnly before catching up to the boys.
"What the hell is this?" Dean demanded.
"Do you know how deep I could have buried this thing?" Crowley replied, slamming the door shut with a wave of his hand. "There's no reason you or anyone should know this even exists, except that I told you."
"You told us," Sam replied, disbelieving.
"Rumors, innuendo, sent out on the grapevine," Crowley explained.
"Why? Why tell us anything?" Sam asked.
Crowley raised the weapon again aiming it at Dean. "I want you to take this thing to Lucifer and empty it into his face."
"Uh-huh, okay, and why exactly would you want the devil dead?' Dean asked nervously, the Colt still staring him in the face.
"It's called," Crowley started, putting the gun down, "Survival. Well, I forgot you two at best are functioning morons-"
"You're functioning...morons..." Dean mumbled lamely, getting a scoff from Buffy.
"Lucifer isn't a demon, remember?" Crowley explained, condescendingly, "He's an angel. An angel famous for his hatred of humankind. To him, you're just filthy bags of pus. If that's the way he feels about you, what can he think about us?"
"But he created you," Sam commented, confused.
"To him, we're just servants. Cannon fodder. If Lucifer manages to exterminate humankind, we're next. So, help me, huh? Let's all go back to simpler, better times, back to when we could all follow our natures. I'm in sales, dammit! So what do you say if I give you this thing, and you go kill the devil?"
Crowley raised his arm, offering the Colt to Sam. Sharing a look with Dean, Sam looked back at the demon with suspicion, before taking the gun.
"You wouldn't happen to know where the devil is, by chance, would you?" Sam asked.
"Thursday, birdies tell me, there's an appointment in Carthage, Missouri."
Sam glanced at Dean and nodded in his direction, before looking back at Crowley, "Great," Sam said before aiming the gun between Crowley's eyes and pulling the trigger.
The gun clicked, signalling the lack of a bullet, causing Sam to become surprised, and leaving Crowley looking impassive, "Oh, yeah, right, you'll probably need some more ammunition."
He walked behind his desk, reaching into a draw, pulling out a box of bullets.
"Oh, uh, excuse me for asking, but aren't you kind of signing your own death warrant? I mean, what happens to you if we go up against the devil and lose?" Dean asked, suspicious of the whole exchange.
"Number one, he's going to wipe us all out anyway. Two, after you leave here, I go on an extended vacation to all points nowhere. And three, how about you don't miss, okay! Morons!" Crowley shouted, throwing the box at Dean before disappearing.
The next night found Dean, Sam, Buffy, Faith, Castiel, Jo and Jo's mother Ellen crowded in Bobby's house.
The tables around them are littered with empty bottles and shot glasses.
The Harvelles and Bobby were watching Castiel down shot after shot, watching as the Angel started to feel weakly drunk.
On the other side of the desk, the Slayers and Winchesters were discussing their plans.
"It's gotta be a trap, right?"
"Sam Winchester, having trust issues with a demon. Well, better late than never," Dean replied.
"Thank you again for your continued support."
"You're welcome," Dean replied, bringing his beer up to clink with Sam's, causing both the boys to drink. "You know, trap or no trap, we got a snowball's chance, we gotta take it, right?"
"Yeah, I suppose," Sam replied, unsure.
"If there's a chance my sisters there, I'm going," Buffy replied, with Faith nodding in agreement.
"I'm not even sure it's a trap," Dean commented, "I mean, Carthage is lit up like a Christmas tree with Revelation omens. And look at this," he said as he pushed some papers towards the others, "There's been six missing persons reported, in town, since Sunday. I think the devil's there."
Sam thought it over before addressing Buffy, "What about Willow? Did she do the spell? She'd know if Dawn is there or not."
Buffy shook her head, "she said the timing wasn't right. She's working on it but until then we got bupkis."
Dean sighs, "it's a frigging stupid idea. We shouldn't even be taking you two in there," he indicated to Buffy and Sam, "taking two vessels into Lucifer's path, its frigging stupid."
"Like you could stop us," Buffy laughed, nudging Sam playfully, causing him to laugh.
Dean rolled his eyes, mumbled "stupid idea" before moving into the kitchen to talk to Jo.
Buffy's eyes followed Dean into the kitchen, watching him talk to the pretty blonde girl. Buffy was far from stupid, she could see the way Jo looked at Dean. The same way Buffy looked at him.
She hated playing the role of the jealous girlfriend, but Dean had basically admitted to sleeping with other people while she had been in New York, and she couldn't help but think Jo was one of them.
Jo grabbed her beer out of the fridge and turned around to find Dean behind her.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey," she replied.
Dean smiled and continued, "So. Dangerous mission tomorrow. Guess it's time to eat, drink, and, you know, make merry," he said, referring to the cold shoulder she had been giving him and the Slayers.
Jo knew what he was implying, but had hoped that his reconnection with Buffy was purely to finish the job, "Are you giving me the last-night-on-earth speech?"
"What?" Dean asked, genuinely confused.
Jo moved towards him, knowing this might be her only chance, "Because, if it was, I could be inclined."
Dean backed away and put his hands up, "Woah, Jo, I-I didn't mean to give you the wrong impression, I'm with Buffy," he explained awkwardly.
Jo sighed, and her body deflated, "yeah, I figured," she replied quietly, "thought I'd try and see if it was otherwise, but maybe I should have spent my "last-night-on-earth" with a little self-respect."
"Look, Jo, it's not-"
"Save it, Winchester," she replied before leaving the room, as Bobby called them in for a photo.
"Everybody get in here! It's time for the lineup. Usual suspects in the corner."
"Oh come on, Bobby. Nobody wants their picture taken," Ellen replied.
"Hear, hear," Sam agreed.
"Shut up. You're drinking my beer," Bobby commented surly. "Anyway, I'm gonna need something to remember your sorry asses by"
By this stage, everyone had come into the room. The Slayers stepped back to allow the hunters to have their personal photo. While they had come to mean a lot to the Winchesters and Bobby, they knew that this was a certain family moment they didn't want to interfere with.
"Ha! Always good to have an optimist around," Ellen replied to Bobby with a smile
"Bobby's right. Tomorrow we hunt the devil. This is our last night on earth," Castiel replied, making everyone drop their smiles as the cameras flash went off.
Everyone had retired to bed, preparing for the day ahead of them. Their departure had left Dean and Buffy alone.
He moved towards her, trying to pull her close, but she evaded him.
He sighed, "c'mon Buff, we're going against the Devil tomorrow, so get all the yelling off your chest so we can get to the making up."
Buffy scoffed, "I'm not going to yell, you goon."
"Then what is it?"
Buffy seemed a little uncomfortable before speaking, "I know you were with other girls while I was in New York," she started, ignoring Dean's murmur of 'with Spike', "I want to know if Jo was one of them," she rushed out.
Dean seemed shocked for a moment before shaking his head, "Jo? No way."
"Don't just brush it off like that!" Buffy said back, annoyed, "she clearly likes you."
Dean sighed with resignation, "yeah, I know," he admitted, "I didn't mean for that to happen, ya know. After I came back, we saw them for some hunts, and I may have flirted, harmlessly!" He added, with the look of raised eyebrows, "but it never went further than that," he finished appealingly.
If Buffy hadn't already been annoyed with Dean keeping his resurrection a secret from her, she might have let I go, but her pent up anger just wouldn't let her, "harmlessly flirted? I really doubt that, Dean. I know you enough to know you wouldn't mix business with pleasure just for the fun of it. A random bar chick? Sure, but another hunter? I don't think so. Tell me the truth." She demanded, folding her arms across her chest.
Dean felt himself backed into a corner, "Okay, yeah. When I came back, and I was trying to get over you, I thought maybe Jo and I could be something. But I realised it would just hurt her, and leave me feeling empty." He ran his hands through his hair as he paced the room, "I couldn't just replace you, replace what we had. And I couldn't drag Jo into this mess either. None of it felt right. But the damage had already been done, Jo already had this thing for me."
Buffy scoffed, "do you expect me to feel sorry for you? You chose to push me away, and lead Jo on. And then, while you'd been sleeping with every bar floozy you could get your hands on, you decided to get your panties in a twist over Spike."
"You slept with a vampire," Dean said through gritted teeth, trying to keep his cool.
"Like that matters!"
"Of course it frigging matters!" Dean shouted, his anger getting the best of him. He took a couple of deep breaths before walking over and putting his hands on Buffy's shoulders, "look I'm sorry. I'm never going to stop being sorry, you know that. And, I'm sorry about Jo, I am, but I can't go back in time and stop me from being an idiot. You and I, we got our issues, and I wish we could spend the time sorting them out, but tomorrow we go looking for Lucifer, and we might die. I don't wanna do that fighting with you."
Buffy looked torn. She still had so much anger directed at Dean, but she had so much love too. He was right, they could die tomorrow. She certainly didn't want this fight the last thing they did together. "You're right," she agreed, watching happiness light up in his eyes. She pulled him down for a long kiss. "But when, and I mean when, not if, we survive tomorrow, you have a lot to make up for," she finished, kissing him again, "two years to make up for."
Dean smiled, "I think I can do that, Princess.
They arrived in Carthage the next day to find the town completely empty. The Winchesters left the girls and Castiel to go find the police station.
"This place ain't feelin empty," Faith said, rubbing her arms, trying to get rid of the goosebumps crawling over her.
"That's because it's not," Castiel replied.
"What do you mean?" Jo asked.
"The town's not empty," Castiel replied, looking around, "Reapers."
"As in, more than one?" Buffy asked, looking around her. Her Slayer senses were picking up the reapers, but not being able to see them was giving her the wiggins.
"They only gather like this at times of great catastrophe. Chicago Fire, San Francisco Quake, Pompeii. Excuse me, I need to find out why they're here."
Not long after Castiel leaving, the Winchesters found the girls.
"Station's empty," Dean explained
"So's everything else." Jo replied.
"Have you seen Cas?" Ellen asked.
Sam was shocked when he replied, "what? He was with you.
"Nope. He went after the reapers."
"Reapers?" Dean asked.
"He saw reapers? Where?" Sam asked.
"Well, kind of everywhere." Jo explained.
The boys looked at each other with apprehension, before continuing to search the town, discussing if Cas was okay.
"There you are."
Everyone turned to find a sweet looking blonde girl.
"Who are you?" Dean demanded.
"Oh that's right, you don't know me in this meat suit. I had to change it up for your baby sis," she nodded towards Buffy.
At the mention of Dawn, Buffy moved forward, but Dean being suspicious held her back, "Meg?"
"10 points for you, sport." She said, with a smile, "shouldn't have come here, boys."
"Hell, I could say the same thing about you," Dean replied, raising the Colt.
"Dean, no!" Buffy shouted, pushing his arm away, "she knows where Dawn is," she finished, taking a step towards the demon.
"Tell your girlfriend to back off, I didn't come alone, Deano." Next to Meg, the sound of feet hitting a puddle and the sound of growls warned the group of their new enemy.
"Hellhounds."
"Yeah, Dean. Your favourite. Come on, boys, Slayers. My father wants to see you."
"I think we'll pass, thanks." Sam replied, with a nod from Buffy and Faith.
"Your call. You can make this easy or you can make it really, really hard."
Dean looked back at Ellen and Jo, Buffy and Faith, receiving nods from all of them, "when have you known us to ever make anything easy?" he replied, causing Meg to shake her head in disappointment. Dean raised his arm, shooting at the hellhounds, causing blood to spurt.
"Run!" Sam shouted, causing everyone to run. Before getting far, a hellhound tackled Dean to the ground, causing Buffy and Jo to shout his name.
"No! Get back!"
Buffy ignored Dean's cry, running towards him, tackling the dog off him, throwing it away, before grabbing Dean and pulling him up. Jo had figured out the location of the dog and started firing her shotgun, pushing the dog further back.
"Jo! Stay back!" Dean shouted, as another hound crashed into Jo's side.
"No!" Ellen screamed running back for her daughter, just to watch Jo's body being ripped apart by giant claws.
Buffy let go of Dean to charge at the new attacker. Estimating where the beasts head would be, she dragged it off Jo, wrapping her arms around its neck. With a great deal of effort, Buffy jerked her body, snapping the hellhounds neck.
Without missing a beat, Buffy and Faith ran to Jo's side, picking her up, and running as fast as they could without jostling the girl. They ran into one of the nearest stores, boarding up the doors and finding salt as quickly as they could, to protect themselves from their enemy.
While the others were making sure the dogs couldn't get in, Buffy and Ellen stayed with Jo trying to bandage her up. "Gonna be alright," Ellen murmured, mostly to reassure herself.
Over on the other side of the store, Dean and Sam assessed their situation.
"Salt lines are holding up," Sam remarked.
"Safe for now."
"Safer. Trapped like rats."
Dean looked intently at his brother, "hey, you heard Meg. Her father's here. This is our one shot, Sammy. We gotta take it, no matter what." Dean paused, waiting for disagreement from Sam, not receiving any he continued, "here we go."
"Sam, come help here, please?" Ellen called.
As Sam walked away, Dean looked at his surroundings, finding an old radio. Knowing their cell phones probably wouldn't be worth a damn, Dean picked up the microphone to find help.
"K C 5 Fox Delta Oscar, come in."
Within moments Bobby's voice sounded through the speakers, "K C 5 Fox Delta Oscar, go ahead."
"Bobby, it's Dean. We got problems."
Bobby's sigh could be heard clearly through the speakers, "It's okay, boy. That's why I'm here. Is everyone all right?"
"No. It's—it's—it's Jo. Bobby, it's pretty bad."
"Okay. Copy that. So now we figure out what we do next."
"Bobby, I don't think she's—" He couldn't bring himself to finish that thought.
"I said, what do we do next, Dean?"
Dean leaned his head on his hand for a moment, "Right. Okay, right."
"Now, tell me what you got."
After being explained the situation, Bobby asked, "Before he went missing, did Cas say how many reapers?"
"I don't—he said a lot of things, I guess. Does the number matter?"
"Devil's in the details, Dean."
Hearing the conversation, Ellen came over to tap Dean on the shoulder with a bloody hand and grabbed the microphone, "Bobby, it's Ellen. 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."
"Nobody likes the sound of that, Bobby, but what—wh—what does that sound like?" Dean asked.
"It sounds like death, son. I think Satan's in town to work a ritual." On Bobby's side the sound of pages rustling came through. "I think he's planning to unleash Death."
"You mean, like, as in this dude and taxes are the only sure thing?"
"As in Death. The horseman. The pale rider in the flesh."
"Unleash? 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."
"You have any other good news?"
"In a manner of speaking," Books and paper shuffling were heard in the back ground before Bobby continued, "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?"
"On the land of William Jasper's farm."
The boys start moving back towards Jo, as Ellen comforted her wounded daughter "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 to Sam.
"Yeah. We just have to get past eight or so hellhounds and get to the farm by midnight," Sam replied.
"Yeah, and that's after we get Jo and Ellen the hell out of town."
"Won't be easy."
"Stretcher?"
"I'll see what we got," Sam started to search before being stopped by Jo.
"Stop. Guys, stop," she winced out, "Can we, uh, be realistic about this, please?" she asked, as everyone started to gather around her, "uh! I can't move my legs. 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."
Ellen stopped her from going further, "Joanna Beth, you stop talking like that."
"Mom. I can't fight. I can't walk. But I can do something. We got propane, wiring, rock salt, iron nails, everything we need."
"Everything we need?" Sam asked.
"To build a bomb, Sam."
"No. Jo, no," Dean replied, having figured out what she was implying.
"You got another plan? You got any other plan? 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."
For the first time since entering the building, Buffy spoke up, "absolutely not."
"Excuse me?" Jo asked, annoyed that Buffy put her idea down so bluntly.
Buffy leaned down to Jo's level, "you are not going to die, I won't let you."
"I don't see you having much of a choice," she replied, angrily.
Buffy got back up, and looked towards Faith who followed her sister Slayers train of thought, "Willow?" With Buffy's nod, Faith moved to the radio to try and contact the witch.
Buffy sat on her haunches, back at eye level with Jo, "I know you don't like me, but that's okay, you don't have to. But I'll be damned if I let one of ours die without trying to do something about it."
Before Jo could reply, Faith was back, "She's on her way."
Ellen was confused, "On her way? How? If you hadn't noticed, we're surrounded by hellhounds!"
A pop and a meek "Hi?" behind her caused Ellen to spin and raise her gun at the newly arrive red head.
"Woah," Willow said, raising her hands quickly.
"Ellen, it's alright, Willow's with us. She's a witch, but a good witch, I guess?" Sam tried to explain, not knowing how.
"You guess?" Willow said with a smile, "what's a girl got to do around here to be a good guy, jeez," as she finished speaking, she moved down to Jo. She quickly inspected the wound and turned to Buffy. "I can't fix this completely, and I can't transport with her. The best I can do is patch it up, she won't die right now but she'd still have to fight through the injuries."
Ellen had gotten closer to listen to the conversation, "really? You can do that?" the elation of her daughter's health was quickly lessened by who would help her, "but you're a witch. Your powers, they come from demons, I know they do."
Willow looked embarrassed before explaining, "ah, they did. Once. But now, my power comes from the Earth, Mother Gia and all that." She turned to face Ellen, "no dark magic will touch your daughter, I promise."
"Wait a minute, while I appreciate not dying, we need the bomb. We're trapped."
"Ohh you need something to go 'xplody? I can do that. Easy peasy," Willow said with a smile, placing her hands over the wound, "but-ah-with the healing, and the 'xplody, I might not be up for much. Like being conscious much. This is a pretty big wound," Willow explained, the toll of the healing already taking a toll, "you'll need to carry me out if you wanna move fast."
"No worries, Red, you get us out of here in one piece and I'll carry you all the way home," Faith said with a smile.
Willow smiled back before grimacing in pain and exhaustion, "That's the best I'll be able to do. We get her back to the school and we can patch her up better."
The others inspected the wound, noticing the blood had already lessoned, and colour had slightly come back to Jo's face. Jo looked up at the redhead in awe, "thank you," she whispered. Willow smiled in response and tried to move away, before being captured in a hug by Ellen.
"Oh! Well, thank you!" Willow said, slightly embarrassed.
Dean looked on in amazement, before turning to Sam, "all those times we stitch ourselves up, sat around with broken bones and torn ligaments, turns out all we needed was Glinda the Goodwitch here!" he finished gesturing towards Willow.
Sam laughed before being distracted by the growls outside, "alright we gotta get out of here, I'll take Jo. Let's get to the roof."
Once they were up on the safety of a roof, next to the store they had been trapped, Willow stood away from the others, eyes closed. Using her magic, she opened the store doors, letting the hellhounds in. With a quiet word, a flame appeared in her outstretched hands, within moments the ball was twice its size and getting bigger. With a quick movement, she flung the ball, which got bigger and bigger, as it flew to its target. The explosion as it hit was so large that it smashed the windows of the stores surrounding it, and caused everyone but the Slayers to be knocked to the ground.
"Willow!" Buffy screamed, rushing to her friend's side
"Go 'xplody?" Willow asked, barely conscious.
Buffy chuckled, "Yeah, Wills."
"Oh, good," Willow replied before going unconscious.
Faith quickly scooped her up and led them off the roof, back towards their cars.
"Look, you guys need to get the hell out of Dodge, Sam and I need to take care of something"
"Like Hell!" Buffy yelled at Dean, "That feathered freak has my sister, and I'm not leaving until I get her back.'
"Bossy one, ain't she," Ellen commented to Sam, causing them to both smirk.
Buffy turned to Faith, "take Ellen, Jo and Willow and get out of town. Wait for us, but if we're not back by dawn, get as far away as fast as possible. Get to Bobby's, and then head to the school."
Faith nodded, moving to place Willow in the front seat of the car.
Before she could turn away, Buffy's hand was caught by Jo, "Thank you," She whispered. Her wound had begun healing but the pain had taken its toll, making her weak.
"Anytime," Buffy said with a nod. She turned back to the boys, "alrighty, let's do this."
Without them realising, darkness had surrounded the trio, making the land seem eerie and dangerous. As they snuck through some bushes, they noticed dozens of men standing in the field. Waiting.
"Guess we know what happened to some of the townspeople," Dean remarked quietly.
"Last words?" Sam asked, mostly to Dean.
"I think I'm good." Dean replied.
"Yeah. Me too."
Buffy watched the scene and rolled her eyes, "God you too are drama queens," she whispered, "you aren't going to die," she stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I'm not going to let you."
The Winchester boys grinned, "ya know, I actually believe you," Sam said with a smile.
"As you should," she replied snootily before continuing to their destination.
"Here goes nothing," Dean added, following her.
They walked forwards, finding Lucifer filling a hole with dirt.
Sam surged forward, shouting "hey" to grab his attention, readying his shotgun, "you wanted to see me?"
"Oh, Sam, you don't need that gun here. You know I'd never hurt you. Not really."
Dean came forward, "yeah? Well, I'd hurt you," Dean raised the Colt and aimed it at and shooting Lucifer point blank. "So suck it."
With the bullet embedded in his body, Lucifer dropped to the ground. The trio looked at the body in shock.
They did it. They killed the devil.
Before the had time time to celebrate, the body moved. "Owww," Lucifer said, standing up and moving towards Dean, "where did you get that?" he asked, not waiting for a reply before punching Dean and sending him sailing into a nearby tree.
"Dean!" Buffy screamed, going over to check on her lover.
Turning back to Sam, Lucifer smiled, "now, where were we?" Lucifer moved back towards the hole and his dropped shovel, "don't feel too bad, Sam. 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."
With a quick swipe, Lucifer picked up the shovel and continued to move the dirt, while Sam went over to check on his unconscious brother. "You know, I don't suppose you'd just say yes here and now?
Sam stood facing the devil, not replying
"End this whole tiresome discussion? That's crazy, right?"
"It's never gonna happen!" Sam replied angrily.
"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!"
"That's good, Sam. You keep fanning that fire in your belly. All that pent-up rage. I'm gonna need it," Lucifer replied calmly.
Having visibly calmed himself, Sam asked, "what did you do? What did you do to this town?"
"Oh, I was very generous with this town. One demon for every able-bodied man."
"And the rest of them?" Sam demanded.
Lucifer briefly paused before continuing, "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?"
Dropping his shovel, Lucifer explained, "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—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? Anyway. You'll have to excuse me. Midnight is calling and I have a ritual to finish. Don't go anywhere. Not that you could if you would."
Going back to Dean, Sam shared a worried look with Buffy, before noticing the movement of his brother. Slowly Dean gained consciousness, looking at the spectacle around him.
Lucifer continued, "Now repeat after me. We offer up our lives, blood, souls-" With each word he uttered, the demons around him repeated. Once they had spoken the ritual, one by one the demons flashed gold, signalling their deaths. The Winchesters and Buffy watched the mass murder of his own people with shock.
Lucifer noticed and added, "What? They're just demons."
The ground begins to rumble, causing Buffy and the boys to panic. Castiel quickly appearede, set to take them to safety. Before he could lay a hand on Buffy, she moved out of his grasp towards Lucifer.
Yelling over the rumbles, Buffy got his attention, "Where is my sister?!" She shouted.
Lucifer quickly turned, "Why, Buffy. How rude of me, I was so caught up with my favourite Winchester, I didn't notice my favourite Slayer, how are you?"
"I'll be better when you give me back my sister."
The reply made him laugh, "now why would I do that? She's my safety vessel, I need her around in case Sam decides to keep being difficult."
"Take me instead," she shouted over the rumbles.
"Buffy, no!" Dean shouted, getting off the ground towards her.
Lucifer looked at the blonde Slayer with interest, raising a hand to halt Dean's movement. "You'd become my vessel?"
"I didn't say that, but if you let my sister go, I'll come with you." Buffy knew that the deal was one sided, that Lucifer would be smart in keep a vessel that didn't need to say yes, but she needed to try. "Please," she begged, "let her go."
Lucifer considered for a minute, "okay!"
Dean struggled against his hold, "Buffy no don't do this!" He screamed.
She looked back at him, "I'm sorry Dean, I really am," she stared at his face for a long moment before moving to stand next to Lucifer. Once she was beside him, he clicked his fingers, causing Dawn to appear beside Castiel, and with another click, Buffy was gone.
Before he had a chance to react, Dean had been grabbed by Castiel and with him Sam and Dawn, taken to safety.
With a smile, Lucifer walked forward, "Oh, hello, Death.
"Fuck!" Dean screamed, slamming his fist into Bobby's wall, causing a wide hole to appear.
They had arrived back at Bobby's, with Faith and the others being picked up by Cas quickly afterwards.
"Dawn!" Faith yelled, coming over to hug the young girl. Pulling back she noticed Buffy missing. "Where's Buffy?"
"She switched places with me," Dawn said meekly, "that's what happened, wasn't it?" she asked Sam.
He nodded sadly.