Before Sam had even met Crowley, he knew that this demon was far more powerful than his brother. Doors were opening and closing on their own, allowing them to pass through, and candles were being lit as they walked through the hallways. These were things Dean had to concentrate to produce and didn't nearly come as effortlessly.

With only the dim glow of the candles, the hallways were eerie and Sam found himself walking only a step behind his brother. He felt like he had at six years old at the carnival, terrified of the creepy looking clowns and sticking close to Dean, knowing that his brother would keep him safe.

They passed by dozens of doors and it didn't take a genius to notice just how rich Crowley was. Expensive-looking paintings and statues littered the halls, there was red satin carpet at their feet, and chandeliers hung from the ceiling.

What demon would put such painstakingly good care into his house? Why would a demon want to be domesticated anyway?

"Remind me what Crowley does again," Sam whispered to his brother. He couldn't remember if Dean had ever told him.

"He's a crossroads demon; king of the crossroads, actually," Dean said like it was the most casual thing in the world.

"And he needs this house because...?"

Dean let out an irritated sigh. "Crowley is a businessman so to speak. He stays put and tries to keep things in order for the most part. He's not a fighter, that's why he needs us. It's why he brought me out of Hell in the first place." Dean stopped at a fancy-looking giant door that didn't open on its own this time. "Okay, we're going in. Don't freak out and just relax. You're safe here."

Dean opened the door and the brothers entered what looked to be a huge lounge room, complete with satin sofas and a grand piano. To make the room more modern, there were flat-screen TVs mounted on the walls in several places.

Sam didn't get to take a better look however, as they were soon surrounded by several people... or demons. Sam tensed up, grabbing the demon-killing knife and holding up his arm in warning. A woman in clothes that looked fit for a maid let out a high-pitched innocent squeal at Sam's actions, and that got him to pause. No demon would make that noise and seem so frightened by a hunter...

Dean grabbed Sam's arm and hoisted it down with his inhuman force. "Chill out. These aren't demons. They're Crowley's human servants."

A skinny middle-aged man who held hangers in his hand let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Dean."

Dean spun around to glare at the man. "Shut up, Henry," he hissed and let his eyes fall to black, but the humans didn't seem frightened in the slightest. They seemed to know his brother. It would make sense, Dean had told Sam that he had stayed here for the months he was working on a plan with Crowley while restoring his body.

"This is your brother?" the maid asked. Her eyes held awe and Sam realized that she couldn't be older than twenty-three.

"Yes Mindy, and if you knew what was good for you, you'd quit ogling at him." It was obvious that Dean was trying to come across as threatening, but Mindy didn't hesitate in talking to Sam some more.

"You're going to help save the world. You're the one that can stop Lilith. If there's anything, anything at all that I can get you, please let me know and I'll be happy to help."

All of the other humans started nodding their heads, and Sam instantly thought of the silly baseball player bobble heads that Dean would find for him when Sam was going through his "I'm gonna play for the New York Yankees" faze.

"Enough!" Dean growled. "Leave Sam alone and get us some of that fancy appetizer shit."

Heh, Dean... always the gentleman. Sam rolled his eyes. "Thank you," he politely told Henry as he took both his and Dean's coats and duffels.

Dean sauntered over to the expensive couch and plopped down, placing his feet on the glass end table in front of him. Despite Sam's irritation about his brother's attitude, he followed Dean and sat next to him. He didn't dare mimic his brother's posture.

"Please tell me why in the world humans would want to work for a demon."

Dean chuckled, leaning back on the couch. "They don't, moron. They belong to Crowley. They're souls that he collected but took a liking to. If he found them useful enough he would offer them another deal once their time was up. Either don't age and work for him forever, or go to Hell for eternity."

"Why didn't he offer that to you?"

"Crowley had no control over my deal. Lilith made sure of that. No one could get ahold of my contract but her. Anyway, I needed to go to Hell for all this to happen anyway."

A man in a chef's outfit hurried out of a door carrying a bunch of gourmet appetizers on a silver tray. Sam took a couple with a smile while Dean scooped up the rest and dumped them into his lap. He shoved one into his mouth and chewed loudly, with his mouth open.

The chef scrunched up his face unpleasantly. "Please tell me that he had better manners when he was human."

That got a laugh out of Sam, his nerves pushed to the wayside for a moment. "If you can believe it, he didn't. Sadly, he's always been a pig."

The chef looked like he was bracing for an angry retort from Dean. Instead he ended up seeming shocked when Dean punched Sam in the shoulder and flicked a piece of food at his brother's face.

"Where's Crowley, anyway?" Dean asked, swallowing loudly.

"He had a deal to take care of, but will be back in a half hours' time. He asked us to make sure you were both comfortable. Would you like anything to drink?"

"Yeah, give us a couple beers." Dean waved his hand for the chef to hurry off and grab his drinks.

Sam watched the man leave. "They're not afraid of you," he stated.

"Heh, compared to the other demons here, I'm a saint." Dean ate another strange-looking food. "Not sure why they don't seem scared at all, though."

"Probably because you're not trying to tear them apart."

"Why would I want to do that? They're just stupid fools, they're no threat."

"You know better than I do that most demons just don't care. They kill for the fun of it."

Dean grumbled something and held his hand out. A remote came flying from a table near the TV and straight into his hand. Dean flicked through the channels as they drank their beers and Sam started to feel comfortable here with his brother at his side...

Of course, things had to get a move on. The door to yet a different room flew open and another middle-aged, black-haired man in an expensive suit walked through. He had a smug expression on his face.

Dean confirmed Sam's thoughts on who this man was when he stood up and spoke. "Crowley, finally decided to get your ass back here and keep us from waiting?"

"Dean, always such a lovely choice of words." His voice was unexpected- calm and controlled with a British accent. He glanced over at Sam who was now standing as well. "Ah, Sam. Thank goodness you're here. Maybe your brother will finally shut up about you now. I was getting rather bored from listening to him fret over you."

Sam was happy to hear that Dean hadn't forgotten about him in the months he was here. But how was he supposed to answer this demon that he couldn't read at all?

"Uhm, hi?"

Dean rolled his eyes beside him and Crowley raised his eyebrows. "Don't share your brother's extensive vocabulary, I see. That's wonderful news. Anyhow, I normally wouldn't allow a human free reign of my property, but since you're going to be a part of our plan and have Dean with you, feel free to roam." Crowley snapped his fingers and Mindy appeared at his side quickly.

"Mindy darling, why don't you show the Winchesters to their bedroom and make sure everything is in working order."

"Of course, sir," Mindy said, and Sam was surprised at how light her tone of voice sounded. "This way, boys!"

"I have business to take care of; I will call someone to fetch you both later so we can converse." And with that he left to go back into the room that Sam could only guess was an office of some sort, leaving the only option to follow Mindy.

Mindy led the brothers back to the main room where they came in and climbed the glamorous staircase. As they reached the top, Mindy turned to lead them to the right. That only left Sam curious to know what was to the left. He turned only to see a group of people… no, not people. They all had black eyes, and they were all staring Sam down.

Sam rushed to catch up and tugged on his brother's shoulder. "Dean!"

"What?" Dean grumbled and his eyes followed Sam's pointing finger to the group of glaring demons that didn't dare leave their hallway. Dean offered them a glare back that just as menacing before he grabbed Sam by the shoulder and placed his brother in front of him.

"They won't hurt you," he said, although his voice sounded dark and he continued to look back at the demons.

"Sure they won't. That's why you placed yourself between me and them. It's obvious they're not happy with me."

"Yeah, well they're not exactly on good terms with me either. They hate us both and they don't think we can stop Lilith. I think half of them don't even want Lilith to be stopped but they're too chicken to try and stop Crowley's plan."

"Is that where they live? Down that hallway?"

"Yeah. As long as you stay away from there you'll be fine." Dean suddenly smiled. "Hell, they're probably scared of you. Soon you'll be able to rip their souls from their body and send them to Hell."

Mindy stopped at one of the many doorways and unlocked it, sending the brothers into the nicest place by far that they had ever stayed in. The room was actually multiple rooms, bigger than any place they'd lived in. Sam made a point to take off his boots as he walked through what had to be the living area, with the same kind of satin couches as the lobby, and another flat-screen TV. There was a window that took up the entire far wall and he could see down to Crowley's backyard… or should he say… paradise. There seemed to be everything possible in those never-ending acres; fields and hills, ponds with jumping fish, and another maid was walking down a trail that led into a wooded area…

He noticed the fully-equipped kitchen, but skipped it to check out the bedroom. Sam nearly sighed in contentment when he saw the king size bed. He hurried over to feel the memory foam mattress and pillows with an assortment of fleece and satin sheets. Turning to the nightstand, Sam came across what looked to be a TV remote, but the buttons didn't look right. He pressed an up arrow and instead of the TV going on, the left side of the bed began to shift. He realized with amazement that it was one of those mattresses that would shift to whichever position the person prefers. He was going to sleep well tonight.

And to top it all off they had their own bathroom connected to their room, and a glass shower with various settings that Sam had never seen before. An automatic sink, a tub and a Jacuzzi. Sam could even see his reflection in the floor tiles.

Maybe he should be extra nice to Crowley and they could make this place their part-time home.

Sam walked back into the main room just in time to catch the end of Dean and Mindy's conversation.

"So you know where my room is still, right? In case you get bored at night…" Mindy whispered seductively.

"No can do, sweetheart. I'm on a mission this time around. Gotta spend all my time training Sammy."

Sam's mouth fell open as he ran over to them. "You two slept together?"

Dean grinned. "You know me better than that to ask such a stupid question, Sammy. Don't act so shocked."

Sam ignored his brother and turned to Mindy. "He's a demon! You knew he was a demon and you slept with him?"

Mindy shrugged. "I'm around them all the time. Trust me, I know which demons to stay away from and Dean's different. Besides, he's got more personality than any of the boring humans here." She then reached over to stroke Dean's arm.

"You can't go around sleeping with demons! What if Dean was different? They could kill you!"

"Says the guy that was going to sleep with fake-Ruby." Dean chuckled.

"I was never going to sleep with fake-Ruby!" Sam spat.

"You're saying that now. Wouldn't be saying that if I waited a month or so longer."

Sam glared back at his brother and Mindy took it as a smart opportunity to leave. "See you boys later." She laughed and then winked at Sam.

"Dude! Did you see that?" Dean gasped as he watched Mindy walk down the hallway. "She was totally inviting you over to her room now."

Sam paled. "That is so disgusting."

"I'd say take the offer."

Sam pushed at his brother. "You pig! I've had enough of your hand-me-downs to last a lifetime. The last thing I want is your women, too."

Dean offered Sam a sly grin, but thankfully didn't continue the conversation any longer. Sam watched as Dean started going through his duffle that the servants had brought up earlier.

"So… Crowley doesn't seem so bad. Not like I expected, anyway," Sam brought up in order to get back to a more normal conversation that didn't have to deal with Dean's sex life.

"Oh trust me, he has a temper. He'll get really angry if you get on his bad side. But luckily for us, he needs our help."

Sam glanced around the luxurious room they were staying in. "I expected him to live in a cave or something, not some Hollywood-type mansion. I never thought we'd ever stay in a place so nice."

"It would be a lot nicer if it wasn't crawling with his arrogant demon savages." Dean pulled out what Sam knew was his brother's favorite knife. "Hand me a glass half-full of water. Oh, and a spoon. There should be a sugar jar on the counter, put a couple spoonfuls in."

"Umm…okay?" Sam was confused as he followed his brother's orders and handed the glass to him. It suddenly became very obvious what was going on though, once Dean grabbed the knife and cut his arm.

Oh my god. He was going to drink the demon blood, Dean's blood, right now. It was too soon. Sam thought he had been prepared, but as his heart starting racing and his hands began to shake, he knew he wasn't ready.

"I can't do this, Dean. Not yet." Sam shook his head wildly as he watched the drops of his brother's blood mix with the sugar water.

"It won't taste so bad. You already have demon blood in you; you'll be accustomed to the taste." Dean let his arm drip blood for a little while longer before he pulled away. Even though Sam's mind was numb, he still grabbed a paper towel from the kitchen and handed it to Dean on instinct.

"Thanks." Dean pressed down on his arm and wiped the blood away. Sam watched as his brother's wound began to already heal slowly before his eyes.

Dean stirred the contents for a while. If Sam thought hard enough he might be able to fool himself into thinking it was cranberry juice.

Dean patted the spot next to him on the couch. "Come on, sit down and relax."

Sam did as Dean instructed and sat next to his brother, his eyes never leaving the strange liquid.

He carefully took the glass from his brother's hands and finally looked up into Dean's black eyes.

"Promise me that this isn't going to hurt me."

Dean's face actually softened. "I'd never give you anything that would hurt you, Sammy."

"And this is the only way to get rid of Lilith."

"Me and Crowley tried finding other ways. She's too powerful. But this way, you'll be the one in control, the stronger one, not her."

Sam nodded; he needed to hear that. He needed as much reassurance as he could get.

"This isn't going to change me, right? I'm not going to turn into a part-demon or something?

"You won't be much more of a freak than you already are." Dean chuckled and Sam elbowed him. "You already have the demon blood in you that hosts these powers. You just need more in your system when you want to access them. It helps wake your powers up, so to speak."

Even though Sam was scared as hell, he didn't miss how considerate Dean was being with him. He wasn't rushing this, he was patiently answering Sam's questions, and above all, he was staying at his side through the whole thing. He had even gone through a process to make the drink seem more appealing.

Sam took a deep breath and brought the glass to his lips, not yet taking the first sip. He felt Dean gently pat him on the back like he had done when Sam had learned to tie his shoes, ride a bike, graduated from high school, and got accepted into Stanford. When he was….

When he was proud. Dean was proud of him.

It was with that knowledge that allowed Sam to gather the bravery to tip the glass back a little more and take his first, timid sip of his brother's watered-down blood.

Huh. It tasted sweet. Not anything like when he bit his own tongue and tasted the metallic coppery tang. No… this was different. Sam tried another sip. The drink was strange, that was for sure. But Sam found it tasting almost refreshing. His head buzzed pleasantly with energy as he continued to drink and his whole body seemed more aware of its surroundings.

Sam tipped the glass back once more only to find it empty. He frowned; it hadn't seemed like that much. Surely he couldn't have drank the entire glass that quickly.

"See? Not so bad, huh?" Dean's voice sounded happy and Sam turned to agree with his brother only to fall back in shock. He was so taken aback that he jumped from the couch, baking away slowly.

Dean was still there, the Dean he had always known, but now there was something else. Sam could see a floating black substance… smoke… inside of Dean. It was almost like Dean's skin was semi-transparent and he could see inside to his… to his soul. That black cloud was Dean's soul.

Sam shook his head and focused back on his brother. Dean was frowning, but Sam looked past that. His soul which had been floating gracefully around his body now seemed to move faster. Little bits of light sparked up in what looked like mini-lightning from the dark cloud.

The cloud… the soul… seemed to be at unease. Dean was at unease. That black cloud was Dean.

"Sammy, what's wrong?" Dean rushed to Sam's side and that's when it all connected. The cloud's change in behavior and motion, Dean's tone and his urgency… Dean was concerned. The change in his soul's appearance had to do with Dean's emotions.

Sam calmed a bit at understanding that. He had been right a couple days ago when he had guessed that he could recognize Dean's soul as his brother's. Sam wasn't scared looking at that black cloud, he didn't feel uneasy in the slightest.

"I… I can see you, Dean. Your soul... you know, the demon cloud."

Dean's mouth opened in wonder. "Huh, so Crowley's theory was right. That's going to come in handy now that you can just pick demons out of the pack. It'll probably help you learn how to get a grip on their souls since you'll be able to see them."

Sam watched in amazement as the cloud that was Dean calmed down again, seeming rather peaceful as it floated around slowly inside of his skin. Maybe this would help Sam read his brother's emotions easier; although he was pretty sure he never had much trouble in that department.

Sam suddenly felt really good. He almost felt powerful, in control and safe. He grabbed his brother's arm and hoisted them both up. There was no need to be sitting in this room doing nothing. There was a whole mansion to explore that Crowley gave them free reign of.

Wow, he really did have more energy.

"Come on, let's go for a walk." Sam noticed that this time when he dragged Dean, it was much easier. He was stronger with this blood than he was without it.

"Someone's eager." Dean laughed as he followed Sam down the hall and back to the staircase.

Sam nearly stopped dead when he reached the middle that separated the demons' hall from the brothers' hall. Sam could see them, too. They couldn't be more different from Dean if they tried.

These black clouds seemed to shoot out angry lightning non-stop. Their souls didn't seem to fit in their bodies like Dean's did. Some were too big or small and they moved about restlessly, as if wanting to escape. As if… wanting to attack. They were angry, frustrated. Their souls seemed to want to lunge outward even though their bodies remained motionless.

"Pretty scary sight, huh?" Dean asked him. Of course Dean would be able to see the demons' real souls as well.

"They can't see you though, right? Since Bobby locked that ward in you?" The thought of any demons being able to see Dean sent anger through Sam. They'd be able to see that Dean was different, that he wasn't so angry, and they'd probably use that to their advantage. It would make his brother an easy target.

For the first time, Sam thought that maybe he could protect Dean for once.

"Nope, can't see me anymore." Dean answered casually.

"Good." Sam's voice was gruff as he stared down the demons this time. Don't even think of going after my brother or I'll come back for you.