A/N: Chocolate and Rum, people, in copious amounts. That's my recommendation to get through this one :( If I didn't have a stomach bug, I'd be right there with Jack Sparrow going "why is the Rum always gone?" :D Remember, it's always darkest before the dawn.
Hold on to me love
You know i can't stay long
All i wanted to say was, "I love you and I'm not afraid"
Can you hear me?
Can you feel me in your arms?
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light it ends here tonight
NO REST FOR THE WICKED
Dean's POV
I was running through the woods, my heart beating so fast it might spring out of my chest at any moment. Tree branches hit me in the face, stinging and my body just wanted to stop, but I couldn't. If I stopped I was dead. I jumped over a fallen log, throwing myself through another set of trees and then stopped short, a hellhound stood there in front of me. Son of a bitch had cut me off. I just stared, trying to catch my breath and formulate a plan, and then I ran back the way I'd come. I tripped, and the hellhound pounced, the searing pain as it's claws raked through my chest was beyond any pain I'd ever experience. I yelled, trying to fight the thing off to no avail.
Waking up the room was quiet and calm, unlike the dream, I looked around for Beth or Sam, but neither of them were there. The terror of the dream was still with me as my breathing came in short, shallow gasps. I'd fallen asleep without even intending, but then I wasn't surprised because I hadn't been getting a lot of sleep lately.
The book I'd been reading was still open to the page on Hellhounds, but there was nothing new here, nothing that was going to save me. Sam walked into the room and looked down at me.
"Dig up anything good?" He asked.
I closed the book and shook my head, unable to bring my eyes to meet his in case he saw the terror that was sure to be sitting there.
"No," I said, clearing my throat. "Nothing good."
"Well, Bobby has. Finally," Sam said with a smile.
I looked up at him, surprised. "Yeah?"
"Yeah. A way to find Lilith," he said, still smiling.
I smirked. "Oh. With just uh..." I glanced at my watch, quickly doing the math, "...thirty hours to go." Sam didn't say anything, just watched me. Why did this feel like just another goose chase.
Smiling up at him, I thought about Beth and him, and how I'd really rather spend the last day of my life. "Hey, why don't we just make a TJ-run, yeah? You know, some senoritas, cervezas, uh, we could... what's Spanish for 'donkey show'?"
Sam snickered at me, shaking his head.
"So if we do save you...let's never do that," he said. I chuckled and looked down at the closed book beneath my hands.
"Yeah..."
I heard the shower turn on in the bathroom and we both looked over to the closed door, clearly that's where Beth had disappeared to. I sighed, shaking my head. How was I ever going to say goodbye to her?
Sam sat down with a sigh. "Hey, Dean," he said. "Look, we're cutting it close, I know. But we're gonna get this done. I don't care what it takes, Dean. You're not gonna go to Hell. I'm not gonna let you." He was staring at me, such determination in his eyes when I looked over at him. I wished I had his confidence. "I swear," Sam added. "Everything's gonna be okay."
I couldn't believe it was Sammy telling me that it was going to be okay, usually it was completely the opposite, and I was having to fix it. Only this time I couldn't fix things, and even Beth had started to lose her faith that things were going to work out. So it was Sam against the world on this one.
Sam's face suddenly distorted into a demonic contortion and I fought not to show it as his head flung side to side. It was just a hallucination, this I knew, but it didn't make it any easier to watch. Sam's face returned to normal and I breathed a soft sigh of relief.
"Yeah, okay," I said with a nod.
"So I'm gonna go do a burger run, Bobby will be here in an hour," Sam said, standing up.
"Yeah, sounds good. Hey, maybe see if you can pick up some pie?" I asked, getting a snicker out of him. I was just trying not to look at his face again in case it changed again.
"Yeah, okay," he said with a smile, grabbing the car keys and leaving.
Beth's POV
I stood in front of the mirror, a towel wrapped around me and surveyed the damage of the lack of sleep from the last few nights. Dark circles ringed my eyes and I sighed, running a hand across my face. I looked as bad as I felt, which wasn't good at all. With another sigh, I started the shower running and then climbed under it when the water turned hot.
I was just through rinsing my hair when the door to the bathroom opened and I glanced up to see Dean hurrying through, glancing back into the other room with a disturbed look. He shut the door behind him and turned to me, relief flooding across his face.
"Hey, you okay?" I asked, watching him with concerned eyes. He nodded and peeled off his t-shirt walking toward me without saying a word. He dropped his pants to the floor and yanked the shower door open, stepping in to grasp my face between his hands. Water coursed along my neck and back as he kissed me with a quiet urgency; finally stepping under the water and pulling the door closed behind him, pushing me back against the warm tiles.
There was nothing to say or do other than respond, we had so little time left, every moment bitter-sweet as we attempted to claim any spare moment to love each other, to connect. I moaned, wrapping my arms around his waist, pulling him under the shower with me, the steamy hot water coursing down his back. I ran my hands along his skin, trying desperately to memorise the feel of him, the muscles under my touch, the softness of his skin, the groove at the small of his back, the rise of his buttocks.
His lips clamped down on my neck, sucking and then nipping just a little to draw a groan out of me. A hand slid along my slick skin, down over my thigh, lifting my leg up to pull me firmly in against his groin, I wrapped my leg around his, holding him snuggly against me. He was hard and ready, rubbing along my folds and sending a heat coursing to my very core like a flash fire.
With a groan he slid his erection along me, dragging along my clitoris and sending me weak at the knees. I clung to him, as he thrust against me and I arched to meet him. His hands trailed along my sides, down over my hips and buttocks before pulling me tightly against him as he licked his way along my shoulder and up my neck to claim my mouth.
I surrendered to the kiss in its entirety, treasuring the way that our tongues sought each other, the familiarity of his lips as they smoothed their way across mine, tears welled in my eyes and all I could think about was this could be it, this could be the last time I kiss him, the last time I touch him, and everything was important, every little moment.
The last twenty-four hours had been agony, trying to stay strong, and yet knowing what was coming. He was starting to hallucinate, but he wouldn't admit that he was seeing beyond the veil to the horrors beyond. Now and then he would look at me as if he was seeing a demon, sheer terror in his eyes. So moments like this I savoured, they needed to last a lifetime.
My heart was pounding in my chest as Dean pressed insistently against me, I groaned my encouragement and he thrust inside, pushing me against the tiles as I wrapped my arms around his neck to steady myself. He watched me, eyes on my face as I blinked back my tears and he moved against me. It was torturous, the heat, the despair in each touch. I kissed him hungrily, lips meeting his and delighting in his taste.
He moaned into the kiss, starting to move faster, thrusting harder against me as he ground us against the wall. My breathing caught, and I gasped with each apex as he drove us further into our passions. He lifted me up, holding me firmly so that I could wrap my legs around him. I cried out with a spasm as he plunged into me over and again.
Dean's breathing had shortened and he was gasping, holding himself off, waiting for me. I bit into his neck, drawing out a groan, and felt my own orgasm starting to take hold. I cried out, shaking in his arms as he held me, slowing his thrusts for a moment as I trembled. I was thankful for the water washing down over us, because in this moment of vulnerability I felt a year's worth of grief and I couldn't hold the tears back. I let them fall soundlessly, moaning to cover up how my heart was breaking. I buried my face in his neck, holding him close as my tears washed down his skin.
His pace quickened again and he groaned into my neck, sliding hard and fast into me, thrusting with a desperation that had only been growing in the last few days. With a final push he shuddered and called out his release, his legs starting to buckle as he slid down the wall with me until we were sitting in a tangled mess on the tiles, letting the water wash down over us.
Loving, tender hands caressed my face and shoulders, brushing my hair out of my face as I closed my eyes, just revelling in his touch, in these final moments. "I love you," I told him, kissing his lips and opening my eyes to see him smile. "I love you, I love you, I love you," I said repeatedly, brushing my lips along his shoulder as I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him in to me so I could rest my head against him. "I love you," the last one whispered quietly in his ear.
"I know," he said, kissing my shoulder and squeezing me tight. He didn't say it back and I was thankful for that, it would be too much like saying good bye, and I wasn't sure my heart was ready, I didn't think I could bear it. Slowly, after what seemed like forever we climbed to our feet, the water had cooled off and we were starting to shiver.
Dean dried himself off quickly while I worked at my hair to avoid a big dripping mess. When finished, he started to dry me with a fresh towel, taking his time, looking me over with each stroke. He kissed my shoulder where the bullet wound scars were, then the opposite one that had a nasty looking burn scar on it from the time we'd been captured by murderous rednecks; the small birthmark on my right shoulder blade that was shaped like a heart; the tattoo at the back of my neck; he trailed hands over the numerous little scars from knife wounds, claw marks, appendectomy and the big white scar in my side where I'd been impaled after being thrown out a window by a poltergeist.
Other wounds weren't so visible as he knelt in front of me, his hands on my hips and kissed my stomach, the tiny smattering of stretch marks that were the only indication at all that once I'd carried our child inside of me. I blinked back tears, thinking maybe I shouldn't have sacrificed a child for trying to find a way out of this deal, we were going to lose this race, and either way he'd be gone – but I had chosen time over a baby, and now I stood to have neither.
He rested his forehead against my stomach and I ran my hands through his hair, causing him to look up at me with those brilliant hazel eyes. With a smile I leaned down and kissed him again, standing straight and pulling him up beside me. I lingered my lips across his, my tongue tracing along him, as I tried desperately to memorise this touch, the sound as his breath as it caught with desire. He rubbed his nose against mine and it made me giggle, this little eskimo kiss that was more intimate than anything else.
A sound echoed through the room from beyond the bathroom door, pulling us back to reality. Sam had come back from wherever he'd gone, and while he was trying to give us our space, he would also be anxiously waiting for us to join him.
Dean's POV
When Bobby arrived, shortly after we'd finished eating, we got straight to work spreading the map of the United States out on the table. Bobby had some old tracking device of sorts, looked like a pendulum suspended from a pyramid which he put over the map. The thing looked ancient, I wondered where he had dredged the old thing up from.
"So, you need a name, that the whole kit and caboodle," Bobby said, positioning the device. "With the right name, right ritual, ain't nothing you can't suss out," he said.
"Like the town Lilith's in?" Beth asked, looking hopefully at him.
"Baby girl, when I get done, we'll know the street," he said to her with a smile.
He set the pendulumn spining, chanting something in another language. The pendulum started to swing around the map, slowly zoning in on a location and then it came to a grinding halt. Bobby looked up in triumph.
"New Harmony, Indiana," he said. I looked up at him and he smiled. "We have a winner."
"All right," Sam said nodding and pushing away from the table. "Let's go."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," I said, holding up a hand. "Hold on. Let's all shut up there, Tex," I said, looking at Sam.
"What's the problem?" Sam asked, frowning at me.
"What's the problem?" I asked, scoffing and looking at the three people I cared most about in the whole world staring back at me. "Come on, where do I begin? I mean, first of all, we don't even know if Lilith holds my deal. We're going off of Bela's intel? Now when that bitch breathers, the air comes out crooked."
Sam sighed and crossed his arms, shaking his head at me. "Okay. Second, even if we could get to Lilith, we have no way to gank her. And third, isn't this the same Lilith that wants your giant head on a pike? Should I continue?"
Bobby snorted and scowled at me. "Ain't you just bringing down the room?"
"Yeah, well, it's a gift," I snapped, feeling the panic rise into my chest that this was all wrong, it felt too much like a trap, and after selling my soul to keep Sam safe and alive, the last thing I was going to do was deliver him on a platter to the same bitch that held my contract.
"I'm sorry, so then what are we supposed to do, Dean?" Sam asked.
"Just 'cause I gotta die doesn't mean you have to, okay? Either we go in smart, or we don't go in at all," I said, and Beth nodded, she was looking at Sam with the same worry I was feeling.
"Okay, fine," Sam said with a shrug. "If that's the case I have the answer."
"You do?" I asked sceptically.
"Yeah. A sure-fire way to confirm it's Lilith and a way to get us a bona fide demon-killing ginsu," he said. I knew exactly what he was talking about and it wasn't that much of a better deal.
"Damn it, Sam, no," I said forcefully, turning and walking away.
"We're so past arguing," Sam said, just as stubbornly. "Dean, I am summoning Ruby." I turned around and faced him.
"The hell you are! We have enough problems as it is!" I argued.
"Exactly," Beth said, walking over to me, a determination in her eyes. "And we've got no time, and no choice either Dean." I looked at her sadly, I knew that, but she didn't know anything about the history of Ruby and her, and the last thing I needed was to be bringing a homicidal demon who was likely to try and take Beth out as soon as we turned our backs in her midst. We especially couldn't trust her.
"Come on Beth, she is the Miss Universe of lying skanks, okay. She told Sam that she could save me, huh? Lie! She seems to know everything about Lilith but forgot to mention, oh right – Lilith owns my soul!"
Sam stepped in. "Okay fine, she's a liar. She's still got that knife."
"Dean," Bobby said with a warning tone.
"For all we know, she words for Lilith!" I said, I didn't trust her as far as I could kick her.
"Then give me another option, Dean. I mean, tell me what else," Sam countered with a frustrated breath.
"Sam's right," Beth said softly.
"No! Damn it!" I said loudly, and she looked at me in shock. I swallowed hard, looking at her apologetically.
"Just no," I said, a little softer this time. "We are not gonna make the same mistakes all over again," I said to her, and Bobby and Sam looked at me shocked while Beth simply bit her lip, shaking her head. "You guys wanna save me, find something else."
I walked past them and sat down at the table again, staring at the book on Hellhounds. The room fell quiet and I knew I'd upset them all but what was I going to do? We'd been down this road before, making deals with demons, it got us nowhere. Bobby grabbed his jacket, shrugging into it.
"Where are you going, Bobby?" Sam asked, not even looking at him.
"I guess to..." he sighed, throwing out his arms, "...find something else!"
I looked up to see him leave the room as Sam and Beth exchanged frustrated glances. I wasn't going to budge on this one, I'd rather go to Hell than put either of them in danger.
Sam's POV
I snuck down into the basement of the building we'd been using the last few days and drew out the necessary symbols. Speaking the words necessary to summon Ruby.
"Ad construgendum ad ligandum eos pariter Et solvendum," a noise sounded behind me and I turned, sure that Dean or Beth had followed me. But no one was there. I turned back to the ritual. "Et ad congregantum eos coram me."
Striking a match, I looked at the fire burning in my fingers for a moment and then threw it into the bowl, igniting the contents and watching the fire flare up and then burn out. I stood up, looking around and waiting.
"You know, phones work too," Ruby's voice sounded behind me and I spun to see her leaning casually against the wall, arms crossed against her chest and smiling. She seemed completely at home, as if we were old friends.
"Hey, Sam. How's tricks?"
I scowled at her, certain that she'd known more than she'd let on all along and I was ready to let her have it.
"How do you get around so fast?" I asked.
"I got the Super Bowl jet pack," she said, starting to walk to me, her eyes looked me over as if I were fresh meat, and I stopped, watching her with care. Could I trust her? Dare I? This was Dean's life on the line, we had to at least try, but now that she was here all I could feel was the anger that sat in my chest, filling me up with rage that she had lied to me about being able to help Dean. I'd believed her, that false hope had been what had pushed me through this.
"So. You called?" She said when I didn't speak.
"Did you know?"
"Um – gonna need a tiny bit more," she said with a smirk, and I just wanted to slap the look right off her face.
"About Dean's deal," I said. "That Lilith holds the contract."
"Yes, I did," she said smugly.
"And...what? You didn't think that was important?" I asked, flabbergasted.
"You weren't ready," she said.
"For what?" What the hell kind of ready did I have to be? What we'd needed was time, and information, getting ready came with that. It was hard to get ready when you didn't know what you were looking for - and here she had held that information all along.
"If I told, you two...sorry three... yahoos would have just charged after her half-cocked and Lilith would have peeled the meat from your pretty, pretty faces," she said.
"Well, we're ready now," I said resolutely. "I want your knife."
She looked at me for a moment, assessing and cold. "You're right about one thing. You are ready," she said, starting to pace around me. "And now's the time, too. Lilith's guard's down."
"Is that so?" Again, information that we could have used a few days ago.
"She's on shore-leave. A little R&R."
"What the hell's that mean?" I asked, frowning at her.
"Trust me, you don't wanna know. You didn't lose those hex bags I gave you?" She asked. I thought about the bags, we'd worn them nonstop since she gave them to us, if they weren't around our necks or in our pockets they were under our pillows. We lived, ate and breathed the damn hex bags.
"We've got 'em," I answered.
"Good. Then she won't sense that you're coming," she said with a nod. I turned to follow her as she had walked behind me at this point and I felt uncomfortable having her at my back.
"So you'll give us the knife?"
"No," she said.
"But you just said..."
"You wanna charge in with one little pigsticker? It's a waste of a true-blue window. Like getting Hitler with that exploding briefcase. Forget it." She said.
I could feel the rage starting to boil beneath my skin, she was wasting our time, messing with us. "Okay, then how?" I asked angrily.
"I know how to save your brother, Sam," she said.
"No, you don't! You told Dean you couldn't! You've been lying to me all along, so just give me your damn knife!" I snapped.
"You're not the one I've been lying to," she said.
"Oh, so you can save him?"
"No. But you can," she said.
"What?"
"Sam, you've got some God-given talent. Well, not "God"-given, but you get the gist," she said with a smile.
"All that psychic crap? That's gone even since Yellow-Eyes died," I said stubbornly.
Ruby shook her head, her long blonde hair flicking from side to side as she watched me with careful eyes.
"Not gone, dormant," she said. "And not just visions either. Why do you think Lilith is so scared of you?"
I scoffed, shaking my head. "Right...she's scared of me," I said sceptically. Dean was right, she was playing us, she didn't know anything and was just messing us like all demons.
"If you wanted, you could wipe her off the map without moving a muscle," she said.
"I don't believe you."
"It's the truth," she said adamantly.
"And you decided to tell me this just now?" I asked with a smirk.
"Um... demon. Manipulative's kinda in the job description," she said, looking up at me with a half-smile. "Fact is, is that you would have never considered it. Not until you were..."
"Desperate enough?" I asked. She looked at me, shrugging and pursing her lips.
"You don't like being different. You hate the way Dean looks at you sometimes. Like you're some sort of sideshow freak, and you know when it comes down to it, Beth will side with him... every...single...time. But suck it up because we've got a lot of ground to cover, and we've gotta do it fast. But we can do it."
I clenched my jaw, looking at the floor and debating what she was saying, there was a hard knot sitting in my stomach.
"Look. Call me a bitch, hate me all you want, but I have never lied to you, Sam. Not ever. And I'm telling you. You...can save your brother, and I can show you how."
"So that's you, huh? Our slutty little Yoda," Dean's voice rang across the room and he stepped out of the shadows with Beth not far behind. She looked over at me with an apologetic look.
"Dean," Ruby said, turning around to look at the newcomers to the room. "Charming as ever," she said sarcastically. "I don't know what you see in him Beth."
"Oh I knew you'd show up," Dean said, walking toward her. "Because I knew Sam wouldn't listen." I couldn't meet his eyes, frustrated with my older brother.
"But you're not gonna teach him anything, you understand me? Over my dead body," Dean said. The irony of that statement was that it was true. If we didn't get to Lilith and soon, Dean was going to be dead, and that was going to leave us in a much worse predicament than we were already in.
"Oh. Well, you're right about that," Ruby said with a smirk.
"What you are gonna do is give me that knife. And then you can just go crawl back into whatever slop you came from and never bother me or my family again. Are we clear?"
"Your brother is carrying a bomb inside of him and we'd be stupid not to use it," Ruby said. Dean looked livid and I stepped in, trying to calm down the situation.
"Dean, look, just hold on for one..."
"Sam! Don't. Come on man, what, are you blind? Can't you see this is a trick?" Dean asked, throwing his arm in the air.
"That's not true," Ruby denied.
"She wants you to give into this whole demonic psychic whatever, okay. I mean Hell, she probably wants you to become her little Anti-Christ superstar." He smiled at her, shaking his head.
"I want Lilith dead. That's all!" Ruby said angrily.
"Why?" Beth asked.
"I've told him why!" She said, looking at Dean.
Dean smirked. "Oh, right, yeah. Because you were human once and you like kittens and long walks on the beach. But there are things about you that they don't know, isn't there?"
"What are you talking about?" Beth asked, looking between them both.
"You know what, I am so sick of proving myself to you!" Ruby snapped, getting in his face. "You wanna save yourself, this is how. You dumb, spineless dick!"
Dean looked at Ruby with a raised eyebrow and then turned as if to leave, instead he swung around with a right hook, punching her in the face. I watched, shocked, not expecting that. Ruby stumbled back a little, and then looked up at Dean, wiping the blood from her lip. Without warning she lashed out, punching him with a right hook and then a left jab.
"Ruby, hey!" I called out.
She spun around, and I felt the sharp pain as she connected with my abdomen. I doubled over only to get kneed in the face, flying back into a beam. I looked up long enough to see Beth enter the fray, punching Ruby in the face and sending her back a step, but the demon recovered without too much incident, ducking Beth's second punch and kneeing her in the stomach.
Dean took over with a few more punches and then Ruby kicked him in the face and then the groin, he went down hard. Beth tackled her and they rolled across the floor, pulling at the other's hair. Ruby got a hold of Beth's shirt, tossing her along the floor where the latter rolled away. Dean struggled to his feet with a pained expression and Ruby walked over to him, kneeing him hard in the stomach and grabbing him by the face she pulled him up to her level and headbutted him, sending him to the floor again. The demon grimaced, rubbing her forehead and then glared at Dean as he rose to his feet with a grin.
"What the hell are you grinning at?" Ruby asked, glaring at him.
"Missing something?" He asked, and he looked over at Beth who was smirking. As Ruby turned to face her, she pulled the knife out from behind her back and waved it in the air.
"I'll kill you, you bitch!"
Ruby rushed toward Beth but was stopped short by an invisible barrier. She tried to walk around it but couldn't as Dean walked over to stand next to Beth, slipping his arm around her waist with a smile. I looked up above Ruby at the same time she did, surprised to see the Devil's trap painted on the ceiling.
Taking the knife from Beth, Dean waved it in the air with another smile. "Like I said...I knew you'd come," he said. "You'd think you'd eventually learn to look up," he added.
Dean turned to Beth and they started to walk back to the staircase together, Ruby was following their every move with a glare.
"Wait! You're just gonna leave me here?" They stopped, looking back at me and ignoring Ruby.
"Let's go Sam," Dean said and I got to my feet, moving quickly over to them. Dean looked a little pained as he took a deep breath, and then started to climb the steps.
"Thank god we had that session this morning," he muttered to Beth who giggled and shook her head.
"Oh, oh you – so you're just too stupid to live, is that it?!" Ruby shouted. "Then fine! You deserve Hell! I wish I could be there, Dean. I wish I could smell the flesh sizzle off your bones! I WISH I COULD BE THERE TO HEAR YOU SCREAM!"
"And I wish you'd shut your pie hole, but we don't always get what we want," Dean said, ignoring her as he climbed the stairs.
Beth's POV
Sam was looking a little conflicted as we prepared for the attack on Lilith. We were standing around a table with all our weapons on it, loading them up with clips of ammo.
With a sigh, Sam looked up, finally breaking the silence. "We're just gonna let Ruby rot down there?"
"That's the idea," Dean said adamantly.
"Dean, what if, uh... what if Ruby's right? What if I can take out Lilith?" Sam asked and I looked incredulously at him while Dean tossed him a doubtful, angry look.
Sam looked from me to Dean and frowned. "Quit looking at me like that."
"What, are you gonna give her the Carrie-stare and Lilith goes 'poof'?" Dean asked.
"I don't know what Ruby meant. You know, maybe we should just go ask her," Sam countered with a hopeful look.
"Sam, you wanted the knife – we got you the knife," I said quietly, looking at the gun I was loading.
"Look, guys, listen to me for a second. Last time Lilith snapped her fingers and put thirty demons on our ass, and all we got's one little knife? I mean, like you said, we go in smart or we don't go in at all," Sam said, looking at Dean as he walked over to another table.
"Well, this ain't smart," Dean said, looking back at him.
"We got one shot at this, Dean. Just one. So if there's a sure-fire way, then maybe we should just talk about it?" Dean turned and walked over to him.
"Sam. We are not going to make the same mistake all over again," he said quietly.
"You said that but what does it even mean?" Sam asked, shaking his head.
I bit my lip, looking down at the gun in my hands and Dean looked at me with a sigh. "Don't you see a pattern here? Dad's deal, Beth's deal, my deal, now this? I mean, every time one of us is... is... is up the creek the other is begging to sell their soul," I ran a hand across my face, the guilt kicking in again. This was all my fault.
"That's all this is man. Ruby's just jerking your chain down the road. You know what it's paved with and you know where it's going," he finished, turning around and sitting against the table, picking up another gun, and starting to assemble it.
"Dean..." Sam said with a sigh.
He moved to sit down next to Dean, looking as he continued to work with the gun.
"What do you think is gonna happen? This is me, I can handle it," he said softly.
Dean stopped what he was doing, looking at the floor and shaking his head.
"And if it'll save you..." Sam pushed.
"Why even risk it?" I asked, feeling my heart sink. All this was going to be worthless if Sam died trying to save Dean.
"Because you're my sister, and my brother. Because you guys did the same for me," he said looking over at me.
I scoffed, shaking my head. "Yeah... and look how that turned out," I said with a sigh, crossing my arms.
Dean looked over at me, a sadness flicking across his eyes and bit my lip, watching him. It should have been me, it should be me facing the gallows, Dean should still be here to watch over Sam. I didn't know if I was strong enough.
"Look, Sammy... you're my weak spot..." Dean said, his voice catching. Sam looked up at him and Dean smiled. "You are. And I'm yours. And Beth is mine, and you're hers, and I'm hers... come on... the three of us..." He stopped, shaking his head and looking down.
"You don't mean that. We're... we're family," Sam said, his eyes brimming with tears.
"I know. And those evil sons of bitches know it too. I mean, what we'll do for each other, you know, how far we'll go? They're using it against us," Dean said.
"So what? We just stop looking out for each other?" Sam snapped.
"No, we stop being martyrs, man," he glanced at me when he said that and I bit my lip, smiling sadly. "We... we... we stop spreading it for these demons." He picked up Ruby's knife and held it up.
"We take this knife, and we go after Lilith our way. The way Dad taught us to. And if we go down, then, uh... then we go down swinging."
We both just stared at him.
"What do you think?" He asked, looking from Sam to me.
I smiled and nodded, there wasn't a whole lot more I could add to that speech. We'd talked about it earlier when Sam left the room to summon Ruby; I was on side with Dean and he knew it. Now we just had to convince Sam.
Sam looked at the ground, thinking and then looked up again with a smile on his face. "I think you totally should have been jamming Eye of the Tiger right there," he smirked.
"Oh bite me," Dean said getting to his feet. "I totally rehearsed that speech too," he said. I grinned at that.
"So, Indiana, huh?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, where Lilith's on short-leave," Dean said.
"Yeah, I guess," Sam said with a shrug.
"Tell me something guys," I said, looking up from the gun in my hands. "What the hell does a demon do for fun?"
Dean looked at me and then shrugged. "Guess we'll find out soon enough."
Dean's POV
We were ready to go and I cranked the engine over to a grinding whirr, refusing to start. I groaned, what the hell was going on? Suddenly Bobby appeared next to the door, scaring the crap out of me.
"Where do you think you're going?" He asked, holding up my distributor cap in his hand. I looked at the cap and sighed, getting out of the car, followed by Sam and Beth. Bobby did not look impressed, but then, neither was I.
"We got the knife," I said to him.
"And you intend to use it without me," Bobby said. "Do I look like a ditchable prom date to you?" He asked, looking at the three of us.
"No, Bobby. Of course not," Sam said.
"This is about me, Sam and Beth. Okay? This isn't your fight," I said, watching him. I didn't need his blood on my hands too. Bad enough Beth was refusing to stay out of the fight, but there was a sick part of me that wanted her with me until the end regardless. Bobby, he had Cole and JJ to worry about, someone had to take care of them.
Bobby turned on me, his face furious.
"The Hell it isn't!" He snapped and Beth looked as shocked as I was by his declaration.
"Family don't end with blood, boy. Besides, you need me," he said.
"Bobby," I said warningly to him.
"You're playing wounded. Tell me, how many hallucinations have you had so far?"
Sam looked at me, confused but I was surprised to see Beth didn't seem shocked at all.
"You knew?" I asked her, and she nodded silently to me.
"How'd you know?"
"Because I know you," she said softly, smiling timidly at me.
"And because that's what happens when you've got hellhounds on your butt. And because she's smart, like me," Bobby said, putting his arm around Beth with a smile.
I looked at the ground, feeling slightly guilty. Bobby handed me the distributor cap with a smirk.
"I'll follow," he said, walking away.
Beth was smiling at Bobby, chuckling silently and I rolled my eyes. "Hey, what are you chuckling at?" I asked her with a grin. I held the cap up for her. "Let's see if you remember how to fix this?" Beth laughed and took the cap from me, leaning in to kiss me softly on the lips.
"Piece of cake," she said, walking past me and lifting the hood of the car.
"Don't be stopping to pee every ten minutes either!" Bobby called out. I shook my head with an amused expression. People. They were always ready to jump in and kill themselves over me, I was gonna have to stop that somehow. If I lived through this. That thought was enough to sober me, and I moved to place my hand at Beth's lower back as she put the cap back into place, just double checking she was doing it right even though I'd taught her myself.
Beth's POV
We'd been on the road a few hours, the three of crammed into the front seat because it just seemed too depressing to sit in the back, and I wasn't going to make Sam do it either. I was snuggled up next to Dean between the two of them, watching the road and worrying about what was going to happen when we got to Indiana.
"Hey, Dean?" Sam asked, looking across me to our brother.
"Yeah?"
"You know if this doesn't uh... this doesn't go the way we want, I want you to know..." Sam had just started on the same speech I'd considered making this morning, but Dean wouldn't let me put us through it.
"No. No, no, no, no," Dean interrupted.
"No what?"
Dean looked at me, and then over at Sam.
"No, you're not gonna bust out the misty good-bye speech, okay?" He said. I snickered and Dean laughed at me. "See, even she wasn't allowed to do hers," he said. Sam looked incredulously at me and I shrugged.
"Apparently, if this is his last day on Earth, he does not want it to be socially awkward," I said lightly to Sam, rolling my eyes. Sam snorted and shook his head, looking out the window.
"You know what I do want?" Dean asked, and I looked at him curiously. He reached forward to turn on the radio which had been silent since we'd started this journey. Bon Jovi started to play over the speakers and Dean nodded, sitting back with a smile.
"Bon Jovi?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow at Dean. I looked at him, curious myself, since he'd only gotten through making fun of the band a few weeks back.
"Bon Jovi rocks, on occasion," Dean said, holding his finger in the air to make a statement.
I smiled, shaking my head and turned back to the road, resting my head on the back of the seat, struggling to get a little more comfy. I considered making Dean pull over so I could get in the back and stretch my legs, but I couldn't bring myself to break the contact with him. Not now.
Dean started singing loudly to the lyrics, and I flicked my eyes in his direction, not making it obvious I was watching.
"And I walk these streets, A loaded six-string on my back, I play for keeps..." He turned to me and nudged me with a smile. "Come on! Cause I might not make it back." He waved a finger in the air to punctuate this line and I shook my head. "I've been everywhere..."
"Oh yeah," Sam started to sing without much enthusiasm.
"And I'm standing tall..." Dean sung and leaned over to kiss me quickly. I laughed and rolled my eyes, joining in the song.
"I've seen a million faces, And I rocked them all. Cause I'm a cowboy, On a steel horse I ride, and I'm wanted..."
"Wanted!" Sam sung loudly, getting into the song and I chuckled, falling silent.
"Dead or alive," the boys continued to sing.
"Dead or alive!" Sam kept singing as Dean's voice wavered a little, I glanced at him, feeling the same thing he was and watched as his smile started to fade. Sam was oblivious, singing and laughing to the song and it was good to see him smile. Dean's face on the other hand had fallen serious and I moved closer to him, slipping my arm around his and squeezing his hand. He looked at me sadly, kissing my forehead and then turning back to the road as Sam continued to sing to the song.
A short while later we'd fallen silent again, but Sam seemed a little better for the impromptu karaoke moment. A siren started out of nowhere and I glanced up in the rearview to see lights swing out on to the road.
"We getting pulled over?" Sam asked. Dean looked in the side view mirror, grimacing.
"I've got a busted tail light," he muttered. "It's not like we're in a hurry or nothing!" He slowed to a stop and pulled over to the side of the road, I sat up, removing my head from Dean's shoulder while he rolled down the window and Sam pulled the license and registration from the glovebox. The police officer walked up to the window, shining his flash light in at us.
"Problem officer?" Dean asked.
"License and registration, please," he said, not answering the question.
Dean handed him the papers, looking straight ahead but I was squirming, nausea hitting me like a punch to the gut. Dean looked at me while the officer took the paperwork looking it over.
"You okay?" Dean asked softly and I shook my head, rubbing my stomach, he frowned, looking back at the officer.
"Do you realise you have a tail-light out, Mr Hagard?" The officer asked as his face came back into view.
"Yes... yes sir. Uh... you know I've been meaning to... take care of that." Dean said as he turned his head back toward the road, his eyes darting back to the officer. My senses were screaming at me, but I was trapped between the boys.
Dean started to explain. "As a matter of fact..." he said, stopping and flinging open his door, hitting the officer in the stomach with it, rushing at him.
"Dean!" Sam yelled, but I was right after him. Dean punched the man three times in the face as Sam ran around the front to stop him. I took the knife from where it was tucked in Dean's belt and thrust it forward into the jaw of the officer, killing him. The officer fell to the ground and I stood there panting, my hand on Dean's back, clutching Ruby's knife in the other.
Bobby pulled up behind us and ran over quickly to us, looking down at the dead police officer at our feet and then up at us in surprise and shock.
"What the hell happened?" He asked.
"Beth just killed a demon," Sam said, looking at the pair of us. "How'd you know?"
"I felt it," I said, frowning. Dean was still breathing heavily, looking at the ground.
"And I just knew, I could see it's face, its real face under that one once I got a good look," he said, pulling me into his arms. "But I might not have looked if you hadn't ..." I wrapped my arms around him, squeezing him tight and nodding.
"We gotta cover this up," Bobby said. "And quick."
I drove the car into the trees, and wiped my prints off all the places I'd touched while Dean and Sam put the dead cop in the car and then started to cover it over with branches.
"So what, now you're seeing demons?" Sam asked, looking at Dean.
"I've seen all kinds of things lately, but... nothing like this," Dean said and I stopped, looking at him with concern.
"Actually, it's not all that crazy," Bobby said, overhearing the conversation.
"How's it not that crazy?" Dean asked, looking over at him.
"Well, you've got, just over five hours to go? You're piercing the veil Dean. You're glimpsing the B side," he said.
"A little less new age-y please," Dean said with a scowl.
"You're almost Hell's bitch. So, you can see Hell's other bitches," Bobby said with a smirk.
Dean looked at him surprised and then smiled. "Thank you."
"Well, actually it could come in pretty hand," Sam said.
"Oh, well, I'm glad my doomed soul is good for something," Dean said mockingly.
"Damn right it is. Lilith's probably got demons stashed all over town. We can't let them sound the alarm, and we all know Beth's sense thing doesn't work that in groups," Bobby said, I nodded. It was the unfortunate side effect to the whole questionable gift, it was really only good if it was one on one. "We can't let them sound the alarm. She knows we're here, we're dead before we're started."
"Well, this is a terrific plan. I'm excited to be a part of it," Dean said sarcastically, causing me to smile. "Can we go, please?"
Dean's POV
Lilith had been busy on her R&R, apparently fun for demons included possessing a little girl and tormenting her family. I looked through the binoculars at the scene across the road, hidden deep within an empty house that was for sale. A little girl was smiling at her mother who was serving her cake, and the father got up from the table, starting to close the curtains. An old man lay dead at the end of the table with his neck broken, his head on a plate. I grimaced, shaking my head.
"It's the little girl. Her face is awful," I said, handing the binoculars to Sam.
"All right then, let's go. We're wasting time," he said, walking past us all and moving for the door. I grabbed him and frowned.
"Wait."
"For what? For it to kill the rest of them?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, and us too if we're not careful. Look. See the real go-getter mailman on the clock at nine pm?" I pointed out. Sam held up the binoculars again and looked, there was a mail truck only a few doors down, and the off duty mailman was keeping careful watch on the house we intended to storm.
"And Mr Rogers over there," I said, pointing to a neighbour who was sitting in a chair in his home, smoking a pipe and reading a book, he looked casual, but his chair was facing the windows and I knew he was on high alert.
"Demons?" Beth asked, squinting out the window.
"Yes."
"Ok, fine. We – we – we – we, we ninja past those guys, sneak in," Sam said.
"Then what?" I asked. "Give a Columbian necktie to a ten year old girl, come on!"
"Look, Dean, I know it's awful," Sam said.
"You think?"
"This isn't just about saving you, Dean. This is about saving everyone," he countered.
"She's gotta be stopped son," Bobby said, chiming in with Sam. I looked to Beth who was staring out the window at the little girl, hoping she might say something to change my mind. She was my moral compass on this one and even her eyes looked sad but determined when she turned to me. I could tell she was struggling with the idea, but she'd do it if she had to.
"Oh, damn it," I muttered, shaking my head.
Beth's POV
Dean got to play decoy, and came running back from the side of the house, the mailman hot on his heels. I crouched in the shadows and as the demon rounded the corner, Sam grabbed him, stabbing him in the chest with the knife while Dean spun and held his mouth closed in case the demon tried to escape.
One down, one to go.
Bobby was off turning the water supply into holy water, and we crept around to Mr Rogers' house. This time I got to be decoy, walking in front of the window that he was sitting at. He got up and followed me to the side of the house, walking down the stairs as I started to run away. Chasing me, he didn't even see it coming when the boys grabbed him, stabbing him and killing him.
I pulled the knife out of Mr Rogers and grinned at Sam, while Dean pulled the body into the bushes to hide it. He started toward the little girl's house and I moved after him only to find Ruby had caught us, and had Dean shoved up against a fence.
"I'd like my knife back please. Or your neck snaps like a chicken bone," she said. I felt my blood boil and came up behind her, sliding the knife in against her throat.
"He doesn't have it," I said, pulling her back a little. "Take it easy."
Ruby backed away from him and I shoved her, putting myself and the knife between her and Dean.
"How the hell did you get out?" Dean asked, turning to face her.
"What you don't know about me could fill a book," she said, rolling her eyes. Dean suddenly jerked back, looking at Ruby with wider eyes.
"Whoa..." he said.
"What?" Ruby asked in a frustrated tone. Dean looked away from her, glancing back at her once or twice, but it was clear he was trying not to look at her.
"Nothing. I just – I couldn't see you before, but you're one ugly broad," Dean said.
Ruby sighed and looked at me. "Beth, give me the knife before you hurt yourself," she said and I smirked.
"You'll get it when this is over," I said, and even then I wasn't sure I'd agree to that. It felt comfortable in my hand, like an old friend, familiar even. I looked down at it, frowning. Why did it feel familiar?
"It's already over," Ruby said, drawing my attention back to her. She looked at Sam, who had come up behind her. "I gave you a way to save Dean, you shot me down. Now it's too late. He's dead. And I'm not gonna let you die too."
"Try and stop us, and I'll kill you, bitch," I said to her, narrowing my eyes. Sam looked a little shocked but I didn't care, I'd had enough of this demon.
"Hit me with your best shot baby," Ruby dared.
'Guys, guys! Hey. Have your little catfight later," he said to me, and I turned to see what he was looking at. There was a father and son standing on their back porch looking at us, and we turned to see a man with a briefcase just staring at us over at the next house. I had just enough time to think crap before Dean summed up the situation.
"So much for the element of surprise," he said.
"Go. Go. Run. Run!" Sam said, shoving me forward through the gate and running for the little girl's house.
Sam reached the house ahead of us and started picking the lock on the door. I crouched next to him with the knife, Dean next to me and then Ruby, watching as more people came running after us toward the lawn.
"What the hell is taking Bobby?" Dean asked, looking around urgently.
Sam cursed and fiddled with the lock again, unable to get the lock open. "I'm trying!"
The demons started to reach the lawn and as they did the sprinklers turned on. The woman started to flail and scream as the water burned her. I smiled, pleased with our results, it had been a good plan. Dean smiled and looked at me, nodding.
"Good idea sugarpie," he said, scooting over to Sam who was still working on the lock. Finally the door opened and we all moved into the house, Dean following last and laughing at the demons who were trapped on the other side of the sprinklers.
The first thing we encountered when we moved into the hallway was a dead body. I grimaced, looking down at it. Dean closed the door, turning to find it and sighed.
"You think Lilith knows we're here?" He asked quietly.
"Probably," Ruby answered.
I moved into the living room, the knife held out in front of me, Ruby and Sam following with Dean bringing up the rear. I felt like there were a million demons around me, the nausea in my stomach a never ending churning. Bobby had been right, I was useless in this fight as far as detecting demons went, we'd need Dean for that.
Suddenly a man rushed us and Dean grabbed him, covering his mouth with his hand and shushing him.
"We're here to help," Dean whispered. "Okay? I'm gonna move my hand, and we're gonna talk nice and quiet, okay?" The man nodded and Dean slowly removed his hand.
"Sir, where is your daughter?" Sam asked.
"It's not... it's not her anymore," he said, looking over at us.
"Where is she?" I asked
"Upstairs in her bedroom," he said quietly to us.
"Okay, okay, okay," Dean whispered to him. "Listen to me. I want you to go downstairs to the basement. Put a line of salt at the door behind you. Do you understand me?"
"Not without my wife," he said.
"Yes without your wife," Dean said adamantly.
"No!"
Dean punched him, knocking him out cold and shrugging. I smiled at the impatience, completely agreeing with him on this one. We didn't have the time. He looked at me with the knife and the question was clear, could I do this? I nodded and turned toward the stairs, moving slowly as Dean carried the unconscious man toward the basement.
Sam and Ruby followed me up the stairs and we all kept to the wall, moving as stealthily as possible. Ruby moved toward one of the doors to check it while Sam stayed with me. He nodded to the other option and I crept along the wall, moving as quietly as possible, my heart hammering in my chest. I grasped the handle on the door, turning it and opening the door as quietly as possible.
The bed before has was hung with a pink canopy obscuring any view of what lay behind, Sam moved ahead of me and we circled the bed. As quietly as possible Sam moved the drapes back so that I could see the mother on the bed with her daughter, with Lilith. I shifted my grip on the knife to a stabbing position and looked down at the little girl. I could do this. I had to do this.
Her mother was looking at me in fear, breathing heavily as the girl slept on her shoulder.
"Do it!" She whispered quietly to me. I glanced at Sam and raised the knife, looking down at the child who was starting to stir.
"Do it!" She urged me again. The girl moved again like she was starting to wake up. I stared at the child taking myself to a dark place within, one where I could take the life of a child for the good of everyone.
"Beth... do it!" Sam said, looking at me. I started to swing down as the girl woke up and started to scream.
My stroke was stopped by Dean, who grabbed me, pulling me back against his body.
"It's not her!" He said into my ear and I slumped against him, sucking in a breath. "It's not in the girl anymore."
The little girl started to sob, clinging to her mother. "Mommy!"
"Mommy's here. Mommy's here. It's okay," her mother reassured her, holding her tight as the little girl cried.
Sam took the knife from me as Dean helped the woman and child off the bed, leading them down the stairs. We showed them to the basement, and Dean waved them in. "All right, no matter what you hear. You, your husband and your daughter stay in the basement," he said and the woman nodded.
Sam and Ruby pushed past us into the living room and I watched as Sam scoured the room looking for Lilith.
"Well, I hate to be a 'told you so'," Ruby said.
"All right Ruby, where is she?" Sam asked.
"I don't know," she said.
I followed them into the living room while Dean poured salt across the basement steps.
"Could she get past the sprinklers?" He asked.
"Her pay grade, she ain't sweating the holy water." Ruby smirked.
"Ok, you win. What do I have to do?" Sam asked. I looked at him sharply, my eyes narrowing.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.
"To save Dean." Sam said. Dean came up beside me, listening to the conversation, looking at me. I bit my lip, running a hand through my hair.
"What do you need me to do?" Sam pushed. Dean grabbed Sam, trying to get him to turn around.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Dean asked. Sam broke loose and pulled away, spinning to face him.
"Just shut up for a second." He ordered, then turned to face the demon. "Ruby!"
"You had your chance. You can't just flip a switch. We needed time." She said, shaking her head.
"Well, there's gotta be something. There's gotta be some way, whatever it is, I'll do it." Sam bargained, trying to grasp what she was saying.
Dean grabbed him again, holding him.
"Don't, Dean! I'm not gonna let you go to Hell Dean!" Sam shouted, breaking free and pushing his brother.
"Yes you are!" Dean shouted back. They looked at each other, I was starting to panic. We weren't getting out of this, this was real, this was really going to happen.
"Yes, you are." Dean said, calmer. Frighteningly calm.
Sam stared at him, breathing hard.
"I'm sorry. I mean this is all my fault, I know that. But what you're doing, it's not gonna save me. It's only gonna kill you, it's only going to send Beth in my place." Dean reasoned. I was shaking my head, hand over my mouth, tears building in my eyes.
"Then, what am I supposed to do?" Sam asked tearfully, his lips forming a tight, hard line as he fought to keep control of himself.
"Keep fighting. Take care of my wheels. Do what we do best." Dean said. He reached behind him to grab my arm, gently pulling me in next to them. He looked down at me, and then back at Sam. "Most importantly, you take care of Beth, man. You take care of my wife." Sam's eyes met mine and we were both close to crying. I broke my gaze, closing my eyes, this isn't happening, this isn't happening I kept saying over and over in my head.
"This can't be happening." I whispered softly. They both looked at me.
"Well it is." Dean said, he looked at Sam. "You remember what Dad taught you... ok?" Sam held back tears, nodding his head. "And remember what I taught you."
Dean pulled me into the other room with a knowing look at Sam, shutting the door behind us. He grabbed me in a fierce hug, holding me so tight. I couldn't breathe, squeezing my eyes tight I fought off the tears threatening to fall, pulling him closer. I gasped for breath, a panic setting in as I felt my control slipping.
"Beth..." Dean said my name, it was barely a whisper, his voice breaking as he lifted my chin to look me in the eyes. He looked up suddenly, I knew he could hear them: the hellhounds, and his eyes filled with fear. He blinked and grasped my face between his hands, kissing me with a quiet desperation. He pulled back, emotions clouding his eyes...regret, anguish, fear, love, and something more... terror.
I looked at him, I just looked, this face so familiar to me, this face I wouldn't be waking up to tomorrow. His eyes, his nose, the softness of his lips, the rough stubble on his jaw – the way his brow creased when he was worried. Like he was now.
"You know I love you..." He said and I pulled away, shaking my head.
"No! Don't you dare say that now, you never say it, don't you tell me good-bye!" I cried, beating my fists against his chest. His eyes were so full of sorrow. He pulled me against him again, hands gripping my head, tangled in my hair, leaning his forehead against mine like he had so many times before. His breathing was coming fast and ragged, I couldn't hold in the tears as they started streaming down my face.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry."
"Oh God Dean..." I sobbed, shaking my head, holding his face in my hands. I kissed him again, desperate and mournful, tears streaming down my face.
The grandfather clock in the adjoining room started to chime midnight and I whimpered. Sam barged into the room, a panicked look on his face, tears starting to fall as he looked at us both. Dean put on a brave face, holding it together for us, a slight smile that didn't meet his eyes. Ruby followed behind him.
"I'm sorry, Dean. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy." Ruby said.
Dean's face fell to look behind him and his eyes took on a hollow look.
"Hellhound." Dean said quietly, barely moving.
"Where?" Sam asked, looking around.
"There." Dean said, looking to the side of us. I looked but couldn't see a thing. He hesitated, and then set us all in motion. Dean grabbed my hand, pulling me into the adjoining room and down the hallway, Ruby and Sam running with us. The hellhound's growling was right behind us, I could hear it now as we ran into an office and Sam slammed the doors closed.
Dean took a bag of goofer dust out as Sam and Ruby held the doors shut, he threw himself down on the floor and frantically started pouring the dust in front of it. The pounding on the doors stopped. Dean bolted up for the window and poured the dust on the windowsill too before stepping back, breathing hard.
"Give me the knife, maybe I can fight it off." Ruby said, reaching a hand out. Sam looked at her confused.
"What?" He asked.
"Come on! That dust won't last forever!" She pushed.
Dean turned around and looked at them, his hand on my waist.
"Wait!" Dean called out. Ruby looked at Dean, exasperated.
"You wanna die?" She asked.
"Sam, that's not Ruby! It's not Ruby!" Dean yelled.
Sam turned back to Ruby, the realisation dawning on all of us at the same time, he went to swing the knife at her, but we were too late. I felt myself flung against the wall, hanging there with Sam, a telekinetic power pinning us. Sam dropped the knife and it hit the floor with a clatter. Ruby hit Dean with an energy bolt and he was flung across the room, landing on top of a table where he was pinned.
Dean grunted, holding his head up and looking at Ruby.
"How long you been in her?" He asked.
Ruby's facial expression changed, becoming very childlike. We all saw Lilith inside of her then, Ruby had been possessed.
"Not long." She said, looking down at her body and touching her stomach. "But I like it. It's all grown up and pretty." She said with a smile.
I watched as her eyes turned Lilith's trademark white.
"And where's Ruby?" I asked. Lilith's eyes turned back to normal and she looked at me.
"She was a very bad girl, so I sent her far, far away." She tilted her head left and right, a crunching noise making me cringe as she stretched.
"You know, I should have seen it before... but you all look alike to me." Dean said. Lilith regarded him, and then whipped her head around at Sam. She started to walk slowly toward us.
"Hello, Sam. I've wanted to meet you for a very long time." She grabbed his chin, forcing him to face her, and then leaned in to give him an unwanted kiss, there was a sizzling sound as her lips connected with his.
"Your lips are soft." She said with a smile. Sam struggled to move his head aside, trying to get loose from her hand, he looked disgusted.
"Right, so you have me. Let my brother go." Sam said, looking down at her.
"Silly goose. You wanna bargain, you have to have something that I want." She tutted. "You don't." She said, stepping back.
"So, is this your big plan, huh?" Dean asked, still pinned to the table. "Drag me to Hell. Kill them. And then what? Become queen bitch?"
"I don't have to answer to puppy chow." Lilith said, whipping her head around to him. Dean was clearly in pain, breathing hard, trying to fight her restraint.
Lilith suddenly moved from Sam, looking at me. She stalked over, eyes looking me up and down.
"Well, well, well... the amazing Beth O'Malley...in the flesh." She said, tilting her head at me. She looked down, spotting the ring on my finger, glancing back at Dean. She raised an eyebrow. "Or is it, Mrs Winchester?" I stared at her stonily. She giggled. "Tell me... Beth... how does it feel to know your husband is going to be my little bitch boy for the rest of eternity?" She asked, leaning in to lick my cheek. I spat at her, angry. With a glare I put all my hatred into my eyes.
She stopped to wipe the spit from her cheek and then back handed me, the sting fresh and sharp, and I gasped from pain. Sam fought against his restraint, trying to get to me.
"Leave her alone!" Dean yelled.
Lilith looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. She walked over to the door, I stared at her, then looked back at Dean. He was watching her every move. She grabbed hold of the door handle, and uttered "Sic 'em boy."
"No..." I whimpered. Dean looked over at me, then Sam, then back at the door. Lilith opened the door, the goofer dust blowing away. The hellhound entered and Lilith laughed, smiling at Dean.
We couldn't see it, but we saw what it did. Dean was on the table, and then suddenly he was pulled to the floor by the hellhound. He was screaming. The hellhound began to rip at his skin, long, deep gashes appeared in his thigh as he writhed on the floor, screaming in pain.
"No! Stop!" I cried out. Sam was yelling at Lilith to stop but she just watched with a smile on her face. I couldn't take my eyes off him. I couldn't make myself look away. The hellhound slashed again, this time slicing into Dean's back and shoulder as he rolled over.
I couldn't scream, I couldn't even breathe.
"Stop it!" Sam yelled at Lilith, fighting against the restraint she had on us. "No!"
The hellhound flipped Dean and slashed him open on the chest, blood gushed out.
"Oh God... oh God! Dean!" I cried. Sam looked at me.
"Don't look Beth. Beth! Don't look!" He yelled. My eyes were open in horror. "Beth! Look at me!" Sam's voice called me through the haze, and I glanced over at him. He was staring at me, begging me to look away. "Don't look." He said. "Look at me, look at me." I nodded, staring into his eyes. Tears streaming down my face.
Dean had stopped screaming, but I could hear his gasps for breath, he was dying. Sam stared at me. "You look at me, don't you look." He ordered me. His eyes flicked to Dean, and he was crying. "No..." he said, looking at Lilith. "No!"
Lilith advanced on us, I saw her out of the corner of my eye as she reached out to hit us with her blinding white power burst. The white light in her hand started to build up, Sam turned his head to her, eyes closed. Suddenly the white light faded, until it disappeared, her white eyes faded back to normal.
Lilith looked at Sam, confused and shocked. We'd fallen to the floor, Sam had me in his arms, huddled against the wall, holding his hand up in front of us with a yell.
Nothing was happening. We waited, waited for that moment to come, but it never did. Sam lowered his hand, and we both looked up at Lilith. He stood, leaving me on the floor. Lilith looked afraid all of a sudden. She held her hand out and looked at Sam.
"Back!" She shouted.
Sam took a breath and started walking toward her. I found myself crawling toward Dean's lifeless body, oblivious to the other two in the room. I didn't care. I reached him, cradling his head in my lap. His lifeless eyes stared up at me, and I sobbed, heart breaking, gut wrenching sobs that threatened to engulf me.
"I said back!" I heard Lilith's voice as if a mile away. I was vaguely aware as Sam approached her, knife in hand.
"I don't think so." He uttered, pulling back to stab her. In an instant I felt the nauseous feeling in my stomach disappear, the ringing in my head was gone. She'd left the body in a black cloud. She was gone.
I collapsed down, my forehead pressed against Dean's, crying. I heard Sam slowly walking over, bending down. He was sobbing, his hands taking one of Dean's. "No, no... Dean." He whimpered. I looked up at him, tears streaming down my face. He was gone, he was really gone, and once more we'd failed.
Nothing to hold but the memories and frames
Oh they remind me of the battle I face
without your love, without you I drown
Somebody save me I'm going down
And I don't even know how I survive
I won't make it to the shore without your light
No I don't even know if I'm alive
Oh, oh, oh without you now
This is what it feels like
Sam's POV
We moved his body, we had to. A 911 call came over the scanner, and Bobby pulled up in a truck, rushing in to find Dean dead. Beth had collapsed, in shock, unable to move. I carried her to the truck: she was motionless, eyes staring at nothing. I put her in the cab and returned to help Bobby. He was kneeling by Dean's body, his head bowed, tears in his eyes.
"God dangit, you idjit." He whispered to Dean's empty eyes, his bloody spattered face.
"Bobby." I said quietly. He turned to look at me. "We gotta move." I said.
It was no easy task, moving him. But we managed, getting him in the back of the truck, covered up. Beth hadn't moved, she was like a ghost. I had a moment to wonder how I was going to bring her back to us, but it was lost as we needed to get out, we headed North...
Since then it had been four days.
We left her alone with him. We had to. She wouldn't leave, she wouldn't let us move him. She was distraught, inconsolable. I'd tried several times to move her away and she'd lashed out at me, hitting and pushing. Screaming for me to get away from him.
Bobby was pacing outside the room glancing in the little window in the door every half hour or so. She hadn't moved. She had to be freezing, she'd turned the air conditioner on and just sat there until I'd wrapped a blanket around her. I wondered absently if that was what she was trying to achieve, to give up and die with him.
"We should..." Bobby started.
"No." I said, shaking my head.
"But..." He tried to reason.
"No." I said again, quietly.
Bobby sighed. "You know a wake usually only goes for three days, Sam."
"This isn't a wake. This is grief Bobby."
"He needs to be salted and burned!" Bobby growled.
"No!" I said. "No, we'll bury him."
"Bury him!" Bobby looked at me as if I was an idiot.
"He'll need a body when I get him back."
"What?!" Bobby looked at me in shock. "Of all the dumbass, stupid things you could be planning, you think you're gonna get him out of the Pit? You think he's gonna want to come back into that body?! It's a mess, Sam!"
"We'll think of something." I said calmly. "We bury him."
I walked into the room. I'm not sure she'd slept, not in four days. Maybe she had, we all had to some time, but if she had it hadn't been when I'd been watching. I moved around and sat next to her. Dean's body was past starting to decompose, she didn't see it, but it was time.
"Beth..." I said softly. She just stared at his face.
"Beth, you need to talk to me." I said. She turned her face to me. Dark circles ringed her eyes, she looked drawn and haggard. I gave her a smile, one that I knew didn't reach my eyes. I knew what she was feeling. I knew the emptiness, the guilt, the despair.
"It's time Beth." I said gently. She seemed to understand what I was saying. Fresh tears welled in her eyes, and I took her hand in mine.
"I can't Sam." She whispered. "I can't."
"Yes, you can. We have to. It's not right, it's time to bury him." I said.
"Bury him?" She looked at me, questions in her eyes.
"I'm not going to salt and burn our brother, Beth." She nodded, looking back at Dean.
"I'm going to get him back." I promised. "I don't know how, but I'm going to."
She took all this in, I could see the light coming back into her eyes. Hope. That's all we had left now. I reached over and took the rosary from her neck, putting it in her hands. She looked at it with a detached curiosity.
"You pray, Beth. You pray harder than you've ever prayed before, because we are going to get him back." I said, trying to bring her out of the darkness she was in.
She looked up, and nodded.
"Okay." She said. "Okay. But you take me with you Sam. We do this together."
I nodded a promise to her.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Songs for this chapter are: My Last Breath by Evanescence (so sad!) and This is what it feels like by Armin Van Buuren
Annnnd... I have nothing to say really. I'm all talked out. Some original pieces coming up next as we see how Sam and Beth deal with Dean's death in Season 4, and the Ghostfacers will make an appearance in a flashback.
Thanks for reading and please be sure to favourite me because the next segments will LIKELY be in Season 4's story, which I haven't uploaded yet. So make sure you're going to get the updates when they occur :D
I've been quite sick this weekend, but starting to make a recovery, so hoping to reply to reviews tomorrow sometime :D
Please make my day and leave me a review :D You know I love it!