HOWDY Y'ALL! Here's a new chapter, for funsies! TELL ME WHATCHUTHINKKKKKK! I have social issues...

How he ended up beneath her shoe, he wasn't quite sure. He only knew that the pressure she was applying to his neck was making him want to smoke out, get into a different vessel, pop back and kick her ass. Though there was no way of knowing whether or not he'd just end up right back where he started, beneath the crushing weight of her stylish yet affordable boots.

"Buffy-" Castiel said, turning the slayers attention to the angel and she finally let up the pressure on Crowley's neck, "We don't have time for this, we must find Rowena before she does something horrible. She has the book of the damned, who knows what she could do with it."

"What is that thing, anyway?" Buffy asked, backing off of the King of Hell and he was finally able to stand, brushing off his suit jacket, tightening his tie and rubbing the red mark on his neck.

"It's a very powerful book." Dean said, "It removed the mark of Cain from my arm-"

"And I get no thanks for finding the ingredients." Crowley said softly, he found the full use of his voice a bit bothersome at the moment, it'd heal shortly; then he would yell at that annoying little slice of blonde pie for hurting him in the first place.

"Shut up!" Castiel and Dean said at the same time, it was so cute how in sync they were. Come to think of it, Crowley had a lot of souls to collect from a demon henchman of his with whom he'd made a bet about the angel and the hunter getting together.

"Where would she be, Crowley?" Dean asked, "Where would she have taken Sam?"

"How should I know?" He defended, Dean eyed him angrily, even though he no longer had the Mark, he still had the look.

"Uh, gee, I don't know... Maybe because she's your mother!?" Dean replied, his tone was beginning to piss off Hell's royalty.

"You know better than anyone here my history with my mother!" Crowley shouted back at his former BFF. Buffy's brow furrowed and she stared at Dean in confusion. Dean sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers, he was defeated. Crowley smirked.

"Alright fine..." He said, Crowley knew what was coming next, "Look, we can do a locator spell... Or something. We still have Tara."

"I'm not sure she's in any kind of shape to be-"

"I-I'll do it." Tara cut Buffy off, but struggled against her restraints, "As soon as someone unties me."

"Oh!" Buffy exclaimed, running up to her friend and freeing her from the chair she was tied to. She rolled her shoulders, winced, and began to stand up. Crowley didn't feel bad, per se, he just knew that he'd be paying for hurting the witch sooner rather than later. That payment came in the form of a sharp, piercing pain bursting within him. Without knowing the source, he couldn't stop it, but he figured it was coming from Tara.

Crowley couldn't help himself, he screamed in agony and everyone in the room got really confused.

"Tara?" Dawn asked, the King had forgotten the littlest Summers girl was still there, "Are you doing that?" Through the haze the spell had created, he saw the small brunette walk up to the taller blonde and embrace her; the pain immediately ceased. He could hear Dawn whispering to her that it was okay, that she was okay.

He chalked it up to the fact that every witch had inner darkness and called it a day. He disappeared before anyone else had a chance to hurt him. He'd pop back in once he had his whits about him again.

"Dammit Crowley!" Dean shouted into the now empty space that the king had occupied only seconds before.

"Where'd he go?" Buffy asked, looking around.

"Probably to a safe house. Somewhere we can't get to him." Castiel replied; Buffy stared at Dean and Cas and wondered briefly how they both knew so much about Crowley. When did they all get a chance to bond? Questions for another time, at this moment, she had to console Tara.

She walked up to her friend, who was still being soothed by her little sister and rested a hand on her shoulder, smiling slightly in an attempt to comfort her. She returned the smile, albeit weakly, but it was there.

"Hey." She said, "You okay?"

"I'll be fine." Tara sucked in a breath to steady herself, "Once we find Willow and Sam."

"How are we going to do that?" Castiel asked, clearly racking his brain, trying to come up with a spell they could use.

"Willow and I always know how to find each other, but-" Tara sighed, "I"m not sure if it would work to lead us to her if she's in irons."

"So lead us to Rowena." Dean interjected, they looked at him, he shrugged, "She wouldn't clap herself in irons, she likes to be the most powerful bitch in the room."

"It's true." Castiel confirmed, they all exchanged a look and collectively shrugged; it was worth a shot.

Breathing was exceedingly difficult for Sam, every time he breathed in he felt like he might collapse under the weight. His throat was raw, he'd coughed up blood more than once. It was like he had undergone the trials again, all in one evening. He was trying to force himself to stay conscious, he knew the moment he allowed the blackness that was threatening to invade his vision take over, he'd be done. He wouldn't give up, not yet.

There was a spell forcing him to stay down, he'd discovered that much when he realized he couldn't actually feel anything keeping him there. No ropes, no harness, just a magical weight pressed down on him. If he could distract Rowena long enough to get her to do away with the spell, then he could move, if he could move, he could find the hex bag.

It was either that, or Willow would have to somehow escape her chains. Rowena had to let her out eventually to do the spell.

Currently, Willow was staring at him with horror in her eyes. Her tears had dried about ten minutes ago and her teeth were gritted. She looked like she might be in shock. He must look horrible, because he was sure she'd seen things in her time and if the sight of him made her look like that... Well it wasn't good.

"Alright everyone!" Rowena burst into the room, smiling widely, "Oh, Sam, poor thing. You don't look so good."

"Screw-" He tried to finish his insult, but it ended in a bloody coughing fit and he was gasping for air by the end of it. She merely blinked at him and then turned her back on him, staring at Willow.

"Okay, dear, time to show me what you've got!" The chains around Willow's wrists were suddenly gone and she immediately got to her feet and made an attempt to run towards Sam. He appreciated the sentiment, but he knew the moment she started that she wouldn't make it. She was suddenly flying back into the wall; from the looks of it, she hit it pretty hard and cried out in slight pain.

"Ah, ah!" Rowena scolded, "Don't try to help or I'll kill him sooner!"

Sam was almost hoping for that, the pain in his chest was becoming so intense that he almost couldn't stand it. Almost. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as having Lucifer in his head for months.

This was just a really bad evening. Nothing new, nothing different. Just a day in the life of Sam friggin Winchester. Had he the breath, he would have laughed about how extremely strange and complicated his life was.

"The spell we're going to perform is quite complicated, so I want you to pay attention!" Rowena said to Willow, holding the open book out in front of her, "It requires the blood of a lesser witch, so that's you, I'm afraid. But don't worry, you're not going to die, yet." She turned to Sam and smirked, "We're saving that for you."

"I won't utter a single word of your spell!" Willow spat, Rowena sighed.

"If you don't, I'll find your girlfriend and kill her slowly in front of you until you cooperate!" She drove a hard bargain, Sam saw Willow's resolve practically crumble in front of him.

"What do I have to do?" She asked, he didn't need to see the Queen Mother's face to know the look she had.

"It's simple, just a few simple lines, that'll be that."

"What will it do?" Willow croaked, Rowena laughed softly.

"What won't it do?" She breathed, "If all goes well enough, I'll be an all powerful God by the end of it. Better than the God, in fact."

Sam's vision began to go dark as Rowena began setting up the ingredients for the spell all around them. He thought he heard Willow howl in pain as Rowena cut her with a blade before the blackness that he'd kept at bay finally managed to overtake his vision. His head fell back with a thump.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a bright light.