A/N- I'm back, with another chapter! Yippee! I'm pretty excited about this one- it's meaty and juicy! Some revelations, and some suspense... Thanks to AlaskaForever, for being such an amazing reviewer. Man, I'm getting really excited about the plans I have for this story.

Chapter 10

The woman's face blocked out everything in his peripheral – or at least, that's all Dean could focus on. Upon seeing her face, that reaction was understandable. To say she was interesting to look at would be an understatement. Not from a beauty aspect, although Dean couldn't argue that she was beautiful in a supernatural type of way. Her full purple lips, high cheekbones, and statuesque figure complimented by a skin tight royal purple dress all highlighted her exquisite beauty, and even Dean had to admit, on a normal night, she was worth a second glance. Maybe one of his signature pickup lines.

As beautiful as she was, however, there was no doubt that this woman wasn't 'woman' at all. Her figure may have been human, but too many other signals were going off in Dean's brain to doubt that she was something else entirely. Her skin was a light grey with a tinge of purple, almost giving off a corpse-like appearance. Obviously her eyes were a huge tip off as well – Dean had never seen someone out of a hospital look so jaundiced. And her pupils were deep pools of blood red, eyeing him hungrily like a cat with a bird in its claws. On top of all that, her form seemed to shift around her, like the shape she was in was a temporary state. Her feet were nonexistent; all that was there was a cloud of purple smoke, and her hair, dark as midnight and longer than even Sara's, was swarming around her head like Medusa's snakes. Not out of control, but almost as if her hair was a separate entity, repeatedly falling gracefully around her face and figure.

Dean had never seen anything quite like her before, despite his many encounters and run ins with various gods and goddesses. All the ones he'd seen had opted for a more human appearance, probably to blend in with their human prey. This woman, however, seemed more reminiscent of the monsters he'd hunted. He didn't know what to make of her, and that was something that startled him. He was a hunter first and foremost, and not knowing what he was dealing with meant no sure plan of action, no game play.

Her companion stood off to the side, almost out of Dean's line of vision. To say she looked different than the woman in front of Dean was a vast understatement – it was almost like saying Dean kind of didn't like flying. She looked more girl than woman, due to her childlike height and thin, spindly limbs. Her emaciated form was paper white, and under the dim lighting of the room she seemed to glow with her sickly pallor. Compared to the other woman's flowing (literally), thick hair, her hair hung in greasy clumps in front of her dark eyes, over cheeks with bloody scratches crisscrossing. Her arms hung at her sides and thumped against her body as she swayed as if in a trance, blood dripping down from her long fingernails. Like the girl from the ring on Thorazine, Dean thought, trying to process it.

"How silly of me," a silvery voice said, and Dean felt his eyes sliding from Beautiful Mind girl to succubus woman in front of him. The woman's crimson eyes were boring into his like lasers, and coupled with the malevolent smile playing at the corner of her lips, it gave Dean no doubt that her only intentions were malicious. "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Eris, and that over there is Achlys, a dear friend. And you've already met Alec…"

Dean glared at her, trying to communicate his desire to chop her head off through hate alone. You fucking bitch. I will hunt you down, and kill you in the most creative, painful way possible. Her smile widened, revealing pearly whites with deadly canines, and he knew she'd received the message loud and clear.

"You don't remember me, do you, silly little man? Let me jog your memory – you've already seen me before. At the bar…".

And suddenly, Dean was sucked back into his memories…

He looked up from his beer, and following his instincts, cased the place carefully, taking stock of everyone in the joint. It was a relatively crowded bar, but not in a crazy or overwhelming sense. The booths and bar stools were full, but everyone here seemed to know each other and the air had a small town feel to it. Everyone there seemed slightly weathered and Bobbyish, complete with plaid shirts and a fair share of trucker caps. Only a woman and two men in the corner booth stood exception to this – her purple slinky dress reached the floor and caught Dean's roving eye immediately. It wasn't gonna be one of those nights though.

Dean eased his way into the bar. It was midday, so there were far less occupants than the night before. The only people he recognized was the woman in the purple dress, dark flower in her equally dark hair, who was sitting with a middle aged balding man.

Two different days, two different occasions, but she had been there both times. She had stood out like a sore thumb, a beautiful woman in a red neck bar, but somehow her peacocking had eluded Dean. Regret gripped his heart as he realized both times that she'd been sitting with future victims, obviously enjoying her prey before she did away with them for good. The fact that she'd practically flaunted this to the whole world and Dean hadn't realized it made him feel like the worst hunter in the world. He'd been in one of those men's house, for god's sakes, and hadn't even recognized the balding man in the picture as the man at the bar. The man marked for dead.

As Dean's eyes widened, Eris chuckled. "So you do remember me. I'd thought I'd made an impression, and I was so hoping I wasn't wrong. It was really too bad it took you so long Dean." With that she plucked a dark flower from her hair and twirled it in her fingers, assessing Dean as he took in the dark flower. It'd been in her hair at the bar, and at the crime scenes. It was in front of him the whole friggin' time, and he had no clue.

Eris shook her head slowly, eyes still glued to his. She gave a mock, exaggerated frown as she tilted her head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, Dean. All the clues were there. It would've only taken you a second to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, you know. I really had high hopes for you on this one, I have to be honest. The rumors made you out to be some larger than life, monster slaying machine. I was looking forward to watching you work. Instead, I'm kind of underwhelmed."

Dean glared at her, cursing the gag for holding him back, for making him seem weak and insignificant while she continued with her monologue. He hadn't realized how much he needed sarcasm until this moment – he needed something to fight back with, and if it couldn't be physically, he could at least engage her in sarcastic, biting banter. That is what he did best, after all.

Almost as if she read his mind, she sighed. "As much fun as you scowling at me is, I'd rather like to talk to you. Off comes the gag." She reached around and undid the knot behind his head and tossed it aside. Dean hated the dry feeling left in his mouth, but he was glad to have the muzzle removed. He flexed his jaw a few times, warming up stiff muscles, and then reverted his attention back to Eris.

"I'm so sorry to disappoint. I didn't realize I was being friggin' rated on my performance, sweetheart. And to be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting to be facing off against a high class hooker," he spat as he glowered up at her. If looks could kill…

"A hooker with finesse. Hm. That's actually fitting. I should put that on my business card." A smirk thrown his direction showed there was no way she was letting him get under her skin.

"I thought bitches like you used something cliché for a calling card, like a black flower. It's been done, lemme just say."

She rolled her eyes at that, and stroked a finger along his jaw line. A jolt of electricity passed through him, and suddenly all his pains were reignited under her icy touch. Everywhere burned with a fire that was icy blue, so subzero that it felt like flames. There was no part of his body that wasn't bathed in pure agony, in splitting knives and absolute zero temperatures and electric shocks. Dean curled in on himself, trying to maintain some control over his body, trying to blanket the flames and pad them down best he could. He was running damage control on a body Alec had already broken, and he was quickly running out of blankets to cover the flames. Even his mind was on fire, his brain stem seemingly dipped in acid and threatening to boil over, spilling hissing liquid over the top. He was aware of his breaths coming out in rough pants as his body was wracked with inhuman pain and squeezed of oxygen, and of his body shivering out of control like a live wire. It felt like he was being splintered and torn and shredded into a million pieces, and slowly he felt himself slipping away as he struggled to grasp onto something concrete, something tangible.

Eris laughed softly somewhere above him. Her finger left his skin, and abruptly all the pain stopped. It was like jumping off a cliff, soaring after Dean had been painfully grounded, and he couldn't tell his body the pain was over. He struggled to get his breathing under control, and he could still feel his heart sprinting a marathon into his chest. His muscles were twitching and spasming underneath his skin like small earthquakes. As he lay there on the ground, he had never felt more pathetic and weak. With one touch, Eris had sent him spiraling into pain he had never felt before and couldn't control, and there was nothing he could do to stop his. He was completely at her mercy.

"You know, for a human, you have an exceptionally high pain threshold. My touch should have knocked you out in an instant. That really is quite impressive," came Eris' voice from above him somewhere.

"Maybe…y-y-you're j-just los-sing…your t-t-touch…," Dean muttered through clenched teeth, cursing himself as his voice stuttered with the tremors coursing through him.

"And yet, I don't you'd last another round, do you? I don't think so," Eris retorted, smugness radiated from her haughty tone. "As far as calling cards go, who said mine was a black flower?"

Dean's shaking gaze fell on Achlys as her words sunk into him. Eris wasn't the one who'd left omens behind then…Achlys was. All along, with her sightings at the bar and her exuberant, boasting demeanor, Eris had been the easy choice behind all that had been happening in Sioux Falls. Achlys just seemed like a lost and disoriented child, unaware of her surroundings. But as Dean watched blood drip from Achlys fingertips, splattering around her with muted plops onto the sandy floor, his gaze fell on something behind her.

A shadowed mass rose from the ground, almost reached the ceiling. Dean squinted into the shadows, and suddenly he felt bile rising his throat, coursing up his esophagus as his body threatened to vomit. Against the darkness, limbs stuck out of the pile at odd angles, and he could see heads among random lumps of clothing. Shoes scattered the floor in front of the looming pile of colorless corpses. He realized with his gut twisting inside of him that he was looking at the victims.

Eris's eyes had followed his as he stared dumbfounded at the pile of lifeless humans in the corner of the basement. "Ah yes. Our collateral. I must say, Achlys has quite an appetite." Her voice was casual, as if Dean had just asked her a question about the weather, or current stock market options.

Dean felt rage rise to accompany the bile. "You sick, twisted monster. Those are children, and mothers, and fathers there."

Eris smiled ruefully. "Please. It's not like I indulged in any of them. That was all Achlys' doing. I was just assisting her in the delivery." An ornate silver knife, curved, with golden script down the side appeared in her hand in a puff of grey smoke. She started cleaning her nails with it.

Dean snorted. "What are you, the pizza delivery girl from Hell? Besides, why should I believe you? Why would you be so above killing humans?"

Eris shot a look of contempt at Dean before she returned to her nails. "Please. I'm hardly a delivery girl. I'm just…assisting an old friend. Achlys and I go way, way back, and we were both released thanks to your brothers doing." A wide smile spread across her face. "It is the Apocalypse after all. I just told her I'd help her get back to full strength. Sucking the blood and soul out of humans is hardly my cup of tea. My plans are a little more…complex, if you will."

He stared at her for a moment, analyzing her. Monsters were always bad news, especially the bloodthirsty kind, but the ones with plans and strategies were a whole other thorn in Dean's side. Monsters like those were intelligent as well as dangerous, and they always proved slippery and hard to kill. If she was as old as it sounded like she was, then Dean and Sam had their work cut out for them.

Dean let out a gruff laugh without any real humor behind it. "Listen, Eris, I don't understand your specific kind of crazy but I do admire your total commitment to it. But me and Sam, we're going to stop you and your plans, no matter how complex they are."

Eris was in front of him in a puff of smoke, and Dean did his best not to appear surprised. "Is that so? Well, if the great Dean Winchester commands it, then so it must be, right?" She cocked her head. "Please. It took no effort at all to lure you here. Throw in a damsel in distress, and you ran to me in a matter of hours. Alone, at that."

Another breath of purple smoke, and Eris was crouching in front of Sara, squeezing her still gagged face. "All it took was a pretty face, and you were under my thumb."

Dean wrestled with his bonds as pain shot across Sara's face, scrunching her face and making her body contort as Dean's had. "Stop! Your beef is with me, not her." He couldn't help the panic that leaked into his voice as Sara started to twitch spasmodically.

Slowly, deliberately, Eris's grey hands withdrew from Sara's face. As she did, Sara slumped back down to the ground, breathing heavily and twitching like a schizophrenic. Dean wished he could see her eyes as she curled in on herself, just so he could communicate with her, tell her it was alright, that they were going to make it out of there.

Eris had turned to watch him once more. "Of course, you have the most interesting taste in girls, you know that Dean? Of all the girls you laid your eyes on… Your girly here? She's special in ways you can't even imagine. It's pretty ironic, really. You'd laugh if you knew."

Dean knew she was trying to goad him, trying to tease him into wanting to know more. But he wasn't willing to fall for any tricks or traps Eris had up her sleeve.

A wicked smile, knowing and condescending, bloomed on Eris' face. "God, you have no idea what you've stumbled on, have you? Stupid, stupid, stupid. You have no idea what she is or what she'd capable of. Are all humans this naïve?" She continued on without waiting for an answer. "I'll tell you what. Let's play a game. If you win, I'll set you and your girl free."

Dean's green eyes narrowed. Games meant traps. "And if I lose?"

Her dark eyebrows quirked up. "Let's just operate under the assumption that you get the same punishment whether you lose or elect not to play."

"Don't sound like I have a lot of choice in the matter then."

Her wide grin was confirmation. "That's the spirit. My game has rules – I'll ask you questions, simple questions really. If you answer truthfully, your freedom is yours."

"Why should I trust you?"

Eris sighed irritably. "Because. I give you my word, as a goddess." With those words, she scratched a white, glowing x on her left shoulder with her pinky. It shone against her grey skin.

Dean's brows furrowed, her forehead a wrinkle of concentration. "Why should I believe your word as a goddess? Should that mean something to me?" After all, since when did gods promise anything other than death and destruction? Since when did they offer deals?

Her lips thinned for a moment. "Dean, when a goddess gives her word, she'd bound for all eternity." The x on her skin was slowly fading, leaving no trace or scar to ever prove it'd been there.

He contemplated. It didn't sound he had a lot of choice in the matter, but he still didn't like his odds. Making deals with demons and goddesses was no different than making a deal with the devil – you always ended up with your ass handed to you. He'd learned that from experience, and he really didn't want to rehash that. Besides, a game where he was just asked questions and…told the truth? Somehow he knew there was more behind the surface – it couldn't just be that simple. There had to be a loophole the goddess would exploit. On the other hand, if he refused to play along, she could very well kill them right then and there, sacrificed to Achlys, body and soul. He couldn't chance that, not with Sara on the line too.

Maybe, if he played along, that would buy them enough time for Sam and Bobby to find where they were and rescue them. He knew it was a long shot – they'd been there for who knew how long already, and there was no sign of a rescue team. Still, he couldn't give up hope. He just had to believe Sam was out there somewhere searching for them, and give him the time he needed. Knowing Sam and Bobby, they'd find a way to find them. Come on Sam. Hurry your ass up.

He nodded stiffly. "Alright. You're on."

She smiled so obscenely it made him shiver. "I knew you'd see it my way." She ghosted closer to Dean, her bottom half completely smoke. Eyes focused raptly upon him, she started. "Alright, we'll start small. Are you or are you not Michael's chosen vessel?"

He nodded stiffly. "I am."

"Of course you are. That was just a test question." In the blink of an eye she was behind him, a strand of her hair tickling up his neck. She spoke next to his ear, softly, and the hair on the back of his neck rose. "Next- we all know about the prize fight that's inevitably going down between Michael and Satan, aka you and Sam. Inevitably, one of you will lose. Could be you or Sam. My question is, are you willing to sacrifice yourself to save the world?"

Dean spoke quickly. "Yes, of course."

Suddenly Eris had reappeared next to Sara, knife twirling in her hand. "Are you though, Dean? Are you willing to die for this planet?"

He nodded his head, throat dry. "Yes." Her tone was started to raise alarm bells in his mind, and he watched the silver knife spinning like a top in her hand, too near Sara for any comfort.

"You're lying. You may be Michael's chosen vessel, but in order to potentially sacrifice yourself, you must first say yes to Michael. And you have no intention of doing that." The dagger was now curled in her fingertips. "You know what the consequence of lying is, Dean?"

Without giving Dean the opportunity to answer, she took the knife in her hand and slid it along Sara's thigh, from her hip to her knee. Dean let out a strangled yell as Sara's jeans quickly turned crimson, soaking through the fabric. Sara didn't even move, still motionless from the shock she'd received at Eris' hand. Dean struggled against the floor to be near her. "Sara! Sara, wake up, wake up, you'll be ok…"

Eris was suddenly in front of him, a sneer on her lip. "Lying is against the rules, Dean." Before Dean could react, her knife was sliding its way down his leg in a smooth, straight line. Pain was upon him before he even knew what was happening, coursing through his leg and throughout his body. Dean found himself slumped to the ground, watching in agony as hot, thick blood coursing in rivulets down his thigh. The cut flesh was on fire, and Dean tried to tell his throbbing limb to shut up. It's ok, I've had worse, he told his body. But the blood starting to pool around him was telling a different story, as well as his limb. If he wasn't looking at his leg right now, he would've been sure it was on fire.

Eris consumed Dean's vision once more as she crouched close in front of them. She was so close Dean could smell her fruity scent– apples, his brain connected foggily. "You have one last chance Dean. One last question." Her red eyes peered deep into his soul, and he tried to focus but his concentration was slipping away just as surely as the blood from his leg. "This one's better than the last. Maybe you are willing to sacrifice yourself to save the world – maybe not. But are you willing to sacrifice Sam?"

Sam. Sam, his little brother. Sam, the nerd and the researcher. Sam, the college boy. Sam, Lucifer's vessel. Sam, the virtuous and the caring. Sam, whom he'd vowed always to protect. Would he be willing to sacrifice the one person that he cared most for in this world, the one person left of his family, the one person who could even come close to understanding him? Would he put the world over his brother's life? The answer was simple, and he'd known it all along. No. No, he would not sacrifice his brother. He would rather die himself than know his little brother was dead and gone from his life forever.

He had always known his answer to this question, and Eris asking the question in no way changed his mind or his resolve. His silence was thick and telling, and Dean could see that Eris knew his response from his pursed lips. Whether he stayed silent, answered, or lied, she knew the truth. She leaned in close, her silky hair brushing against his face as she whispered in his ear, "When Lucifer's done with it, the world will be as black as your soul." She then tilted his head back and opened his mouth. As he struggled in vain against her powerful grip, she waved her hand and a vial appeared. It was filled to the brim with a purple liquid, and silver bubbles wobbled to the surface. In one quick motion Eris shoved the liquid down his gullet, and shoved his mouth shut before he could spew it back out. She kept his jaw shut until he was forced to swallow, the burning liquid making its way to his stomach.

He slumped to the ground as she let go, his head lolling as the liquid made its home inside him. He was aware of his entire body growing numb, his vision going blurry as he watched Eris tip Sara's head back and pour a black liquid in her mouth. A steady lethargic wave was passing through him, each crest washing over the next, and as all of his limbs fell asleep and his eyes shut of their own accord, he heard a thumping sound as blackness took over his vision and his mind receded to nothingness.

TBC- A longer chapter than my others, but I like it nonetheless :) So, what'll happen next? Please read and review!