Part 4 – hostile takeover

Suffolk, New York
The next day

Dean Winchester faded in a block away from his intended target. The demon he was after was one of the Old Ones. Cruel and crafty. The bastard wouldn't hesitate to kill humans, especially if knew he was being hunted.

People and cars moved up and down the sidewalks and streets. No one noticed Dean's presence. He was a blind spot in their limited human perception. There were definite perks to being a Knight of Hell, and the ironic thing was said perks sometimes came in handy on a fugly hunt.

He raised his face to the sun and closed his eyes. The sunlight felt good. It warmed his skin, but something else warm and familiar bloomed inside his skull.

Hey, babe.

Dean opened his eyes and smiled at the female thought voice inside his head.

Casey.

Hey, yourself.

I hate being away from you for this long.

I miss you too. How's it going?

Through the link they shared Dean heard her sigh and sensed that she rolled her eyes. Nothing I can't handle. So this is what passes for rock stars these days? Pathetic. First this fool squanders the money he made from all those record deals. Millions of dollars. Then he starts a GoFundMe page.

Dean chuckled. How much has he gotten so far?

Sixty bucks.

Huh.

Now he wants me to rob a bank for him. Not gonna happen.

Want me to come out on my lunch break and talk to him?

No. I've got this. Calliope owes me big time for this one. I've got dibs on Nicholas Cage next time he goes crazy as a road lizard. At least he's entertaining.

You sure?

I'm sure. I'll be home tonight. I love you, Dean.

I know.

Casey laughed.

Dean allowed the warm feeling of her presence inside his head fade away. His smile faded and his face took on a curiously blank yet intense look as he turned in the direction of the house. He was on the job now.

Time to get to work.

The doorbell rang. The demon inside housewife Jessica Lively rolled her eyes and silently muttered an ancient death curse. Its name was Asuss. Her eyes flashed black and then faded back to an innocent light grey that was all too human and all too deceptive.

The doorbell rang again.

The possessed human stood in the front hallway glaring at the door, wishing that whoever this was would just go away. It had been bad enough pretending to be human during the family's morning routine. Those three damned brats were hustled out the door to the school bus. Before that she had to endure being pawed by that stupid meatbag of a husband. An unholy silence came over the house after the door was shut and the last damn human left. Alone at last.

There were so many things on the demon's to do list: lure that stupid Great Dane next door into the house so he could kill it with the sacrificial blade. Then it was time to pay a visit to the neighbors. After that he had to grind the corpse bones into powder. So many good things, so little time. Everything had to be in place by the full moon tonight.

Jessica Lively's remaining family members would be killed when they returned home this afternoon, one by one. And afterwards Asuss would use his host to spread the cursed fire oil through the neighborhood and set it all ablaze.

The woman screamed inside her head. HELP ME!

Asuss made her smile from ear to ear. Not today, bitch.

The doorbell rung again.

His annoyance gave way to a ravenous hunger. Well, why not? Ahhh, it was so considerate of the Fates to deliver brunch to her doorstep.

She quietly stepped to the door and looked out. The man standing on the front porch made the demon's mouth water. He wore casual clothes, a black tee shirt, jeans, and a brown leather jacket. He was tall, broad shouldered. Remarkably handsome, even for a human. Freckled tan skin, dark blond hair, with the most wonderful green eyes.

Asuss decided those eyes would make the perfect keepsake. Spells were sometimes like recipes. He could improvise with this one. He could start with human meat and get the damn dog later. His Gods wouldn't mind if he indulged his peculiar appetites, especially with a beauty like this one.

The demon smiled as the door opened. "Yes?"

The man smiled in return, bright and feral. Raw power flared in the air around him. "Party's over, jackass."

WHAT?

The Old One felt it then, a massive surge of focused power that was all too familiar. His host body shuddered as something powerful and unseen wrapped itself around her. The demon strained against this new force.

The man walked forward. He made a casual sweeping gesture with his right hand. The demon felt its host's feet rise up from the floor. The body drifted backwards, suddenly stiff as a board yet light as a feather.

The door closed by itself and the man was right there in its personal space. He gently put his hand on the back of the woman's neck and slowly lowered her body to the floor. Jessica Lively's mouth stretched open, wide and terrible. Demon essence surged out of her mouth in a long thick coil of black smoke that writhed back and forth. Instead of surging upward in a mad scramble for freedom the demon smoke curved downward and dropped through the floor.

Asuss the Terrible, He Who Should Not Be Named recognized this dread energy, even though there was something new and tainted about it. The knowledge came too late. This was demonic power corrupted by Heaven, wielded by the Knight of Hell with the soul of the Righteous Man.

Less than two seconds later he was miles underneath the earth's crust and dropping fast. He could already smell the sulfur and brimstone. That amused him. This wasn't the first time he'd been banished back to Hell. Asuss laughed.

I'll be back, Knight. It may take me years to claw my way back up into the sunshine, but I'll be back!

Dean Winchester's reply was equally amused. Dude. I never said I was sending you back.

Asuss gasped as he felt himself unravel. The color of his essence faded from rich black to dead white wisps of grey smoke that finally faded away, gone forever.

Miles beneath the earth's crust He Who Should Not Be Named died screaming.

Dean sat back on his heels. As far as he could tell Jessica Lively was fine. No physical damage. Breathing was steady. Heartbeat was good. He felt her consciousness stir underneath her skin.

Jessica blinked. Dean saw the light dawn in her eyes.

She remembered.

Allowing his vessels to remember how helpless they'd been was a typical dick move for a douche like Asis. The feeling of being trapped inside her own body was something Dean couldn't take away from her, as much as he wanted to. Tampering with the human mind was something he refused to do. At least he'd gotten there before things escalated. Still, maybe she could use that memory to be more careful in the future.

"Ma'm? You okay?"

She blinked again, swallowed hard and nodded.

He reached out with his mind and located the source of the trouble: that damn Ouija board on the table in the family room. The board disappeared in a flash of red light, only to re-appear on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean fifty miles out from New York City.

A curious shark swam over to investigate. The fifteen foot great white mouthed the board. After she determined it wasn't edible she spat it out and swam further on out to sea.

Dean glanced at his watch. Damn. He was due on set in Vancouver in five seconds.

Four seconds.

"It's best to leave the spirit boards alone, okay?" he said gently.

Three seconds.

The warm smile he gave her was meant to be reassuring. She stared blankly at him, unbelieving.

Two seconds.

"Your mom and dad asked me to come help." Dean flexed his power and the spirits of Henry and Anita Bowden faded into view on either side of him.

Jessica's eyes widened. "M-Mom? D-Dad?"

Anita Bowden smiled. "Hello, sweetie."

One.

Dean vanished in a snap of fiery red light. That wasn't the worst thing she'd seen all day anyway.

My Bloody Valentine 2: Heart of Darkness movie set
Vancouver, Canada

Dean shrugged out of his jacket as soon as he walked into the lobby of the Lambert Hotel. The set was full of energy as the techs strung lights and scaffolding for the various camera positions.

Benny LaFitte was over at the hotel counter with his back to the door. He turned around and smiled when he saw Dean. The vampire could sense him even before he saw him. "Hey, there you are, sport. Good morning!"

"Hey, Benny. What's up?" Dean nodded in greeting as he walked over. He felt comfortable with Benny. Maybe that should have bothered him, but it didn't. The irony was not lost on him. He used to hunt vamps. Never in a million years would Dean have imagined that there was such a thing as a 'good' vamp. But then, he never imagined himself as a demon either, much less a Knight of Hell.

Working in the movie industry was another thing he never even considered. Fooling the humans was the whole point of this exercise anyway, even though Dean had his doubts about how many he actually fooled.

"Hooper!"

Dean turned in the direction of the voice. Lou Graham was jovial and smiling as always.

"Too bad the rep with the insurance company threw a fit and wouldn't let you do it solo. That would have been a sight to see. You did pretty damn good with the rigging crew during the rehearsals." Lou clapped Dean on his back. "Ackles has some scenes to shoot this morning. After that, it's showtime. So, you ready for your close up?"

Dean grinned. "Heck yeah."

TBC Monday