Demon's Trial
Chapter Seven: The Demon's Trial
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Kubrick knew that people thought he was crazy, overzealous, whatever. But he knew the truth. He was a warrior for God, and he was meant to kill all things that threatened God's creations. At the moment, he was in Vermont, tracking a skinwalker.
He had just sat down to eat some canned beans when his cell phone went off. Not a lot of people tended to call Kubrick, seeing as how he was "crazy" and all, so there were only a few people it could be. With a shrug, he pulled it out and flipped it open.
"Hello?" After a moment, his eyes went wide and he dropped his spoon into the paper cup of beans with a small splash. A few moments later, a grin spread across his face. "I'm after a skinwalker in Vermont right now, but I can call Creedy, get him up here to finish the job."
Kubrick stared down at his canned beans as he listened to the speaker. "I'll be there by tomorrow," he said. "Take care." He flipped his phone shut, grin still firmly in place. This newest Hunt sounded like a really fun one, and he fully intended to enjoy every moment of it. With renewed vigor, he dug into his food.
The moment the demon grabbed Ava and held a knife to her throat, she froze up, panicking over the thought that Gordon had followed her and was going to kill her.
When it turned out it was a demon, Ava found she was still terrified and on the verge of a complete breakdown, but she was able to move and struggle slightly. Not enough to get herself pricked on the knife, of course, but enough to reassure herself that yes, she was still alive and yes, this was actually happening.
Now she was standing next to her car as Tara slowly advanced on Dean, who couldn't move. Ava was guessing this was part of the demon's power. "My purpose here is to test Sam," Tara told Dean. "We know he's completely detoxed of the blood we fed him, and we know he's unlocked the other psychic abilities, though in a way that causes them to be erratic until he can learn to control them one by one."
Demons had fed Sam blood? What the hell? Ava's eyes were suddenly drawn to the knife that was still clutched in Tara's left hand, and then to a pick-up truck parked next to her car. For some reason, the tailgate had been left down, and when she leaned forward slightly, she could see part of a tire iron sticking out.
This was probably going to be the stupidest thing she had done since leaving Peoria.
"Our little test here tonight," Tara continued as Ava slowly made her way over to the truck and carefully lifted the heavy iron tool, "is to see if he can sense a real-life demon nearby, to see if he's still attracted to demon blood. 'Cause I think, deep down, your brother loved the strength that came with his go-juice. And with you outta the way, he might just go for it again." Ava turned back to Tara as she held up her knife.
"Let's have some fun, in the meantime," she said, "shall we?"
"S&M," Dean said, sounding like he was all bravado and no show. "You kinky bitch."
Tara laughed and began to lift the knife up when Ava lunged forward and whacked one side of the tire iron across the back of the demon's head. She crumpled to the ground, completely unconscious, and Ava was left to stare at Dean, the iron tool still clutched in her hands.
"I did it," she whispered hoarsely. "I totally just saved your life."
A scowl crossed Dean's face, but she spotted the relief in his eyes, anyway. He hauled himself up off the hood of his car and bent down to check on Tara. "She's out," he said with a sigh, righting himself and striding around to the trunk. A minute later, Ava found herself helping to lift the unconscious demon into said trunk. There were no other people in the parking lot behind the diner, and no cars had driven by in ages. So, that meant there were no witnesses to see them stuffing a girl into the trunk of an old car.
This was turning into the most exciting day of Ava's life.
"What's that?" she asked, pointing to a strange drawing on the floor of the trunk.
"Devil's Trap," Dean explained. "The bitch ain't goin' nowhere while I find somewhere else to stash her."
"Somewhere else?" Ava echoed.
"My weapon's are underneath Tara right now," Dean said with a shrug. "I'm gonna need 'em later. C'mon, we're heading to the motel and then back to Scott's."
"Wait," Ava said, "I thought you wanted me to leave."
"I do," Dean said shortly. "I'm just not so sure now is the best time."
"Oh," said Ava. "Okay, I'm cool with that."
"Shit," Dean muttered suddenly, reaching into a pocket and pulling out his cell phone. "Sam and Scott could be in trouble right now."
"But I thought he'll do fine against —"
"Demons are a completely different matter than humans," Dean cut Ava off. "That also applies to a succubus in the same area as a bunch of Hunters." He was holding his phone to his ear as he strode to the diver's side door of his car and pulled it open. Ava quickly headed for the passenger side and climbed in.
"Dammit!" Dean cursed, snapping his phone shut. "All I got was voicemail. Something's definitely wrong."
"Are we going there now?"
Dean sighed. "We need to get rid of the demon bitch in the trunk, first." He handed over his phone. "Keep callin', would ya?"
It wasn't until they reached the Blue Rose Motel, drew another Devil's Trap on the floor with spray paint and tied Tara up inside it that Ava remembered something else the demon had said in addition to the fact that one of her best friends was possessed by a demon.
"He was gonna propose tonight," she whispered, standing just outside the motel room's door.
"What?" said Dean, looking up from checking the knots that tied Tara to a chair.
"My boyfriend, Brady," Ava said. "She said he was planning to propose tonight at dinner. Which I went and cancelled because of a freaky vision-nightmare-thing I just couldn't ignore," she added sardonically. "Still, this day's been pretty exciting, right?"
"Sure," Dean said, stepping away from the still-unconscious demon and pulling his jacket back on. "Anyway, we need to get goin'. Still haven't reached Sam?"
Ava shook her head and held out Dean's phone. He snatched it from her hand, snagged a bag of salt and poured it across the windowsill and the doorway. "It's to keep her from getting out in case she somehow manages to break the Trap," he explained before Ava could ask. "C'mon."
Less than a minute later, Dean had all of his and Sam's things in the trunk, they were back in Dean's car and speeding toward Scott Carey's house once more.
It was the succubus Gerry was supposed to be Hunting. Sam was shocked by this, to say the least, because he'd thought it was only going after teenage boys. Scott's father was easily in his fourties, so that was against its current pattern in the city. What the hell was going on?
Of course, between the door slamming open and Scott's cry of "Dad!" the succubus' attention was instantly drawn to them. Sam knew his dad had faced one once years ago, but the description in his journal didn't quite do it justice. This thing was ten times more hideous than he had imagined.
"Winchester," the succubus suddenly hissed, and Sam barely had any time to react before the demonic creature was flying at him. Scott yelled as the succubus slammed into Sam, which caused him to slam him into the wall behind him, making his vision black out for a moment. Thankfully, his super-human strength made it fairly easy to throw the thing off, but it barely hesitated before jumping at him again. He struggled with the thing, pushing it away and moving further into the room. Scott, meanwhile, had regained his senses and was pulling his still-groggy father from the room.
That's when the succubus jumped at him again.
Sam immediately realized his mistake. His back was to the large bedroom window, and the succubus had a lot of kinetic energy. Next thing he knew, they were crashing through the window and he thought he heard someone yell his name as he managed to get the succubus underneath him before they impacted with the ground.
He rolled off the bitch, gasping for air as he struggled to sit up again. Meanwhile, the succubus managed to get into a crouch, but it wasn't looking at him anymore. It was staring across the street like it had spotted something it wanted to mate with or possibly kill violently.
Gross, Sam thought, finally sitting up and using his telekinesis to throw the succubus across the yard and into the nearest tree. The thing shrieked loud enough to make his eardrums throb, but he managed to hold it against the tree. The only problem, unfortunately, was that Sam was running on so little sleep that it could be all to easy to break his concentration, allowing the succubus to escape. He hoped that he'd be able to hold it in place until someone else showed up to perform an exorcism.
"Sam!" Scott yelled as he threw open the front door, and Sam reacted by looking over at him.
It was enough. The succubus burst free from his hold and the tree toppled over into the car next door, setting off the alarm. Sam looked back around as the succubus crouched in the direction of the house across the street, and his eyes were drawn to the red car he was sure he had seen back at the diner, and then to the open second-story window.
It was Thomas and his uncle Gerald.
Succubi, Sam remembered, had incredible strength that enabled them to jump great distances with little effort. They were pretty much impossible to stop once they had started moving. Of course, this applied to normal human strength. Sam wasn't normal.
The succubus leapt toward the house, toward Thomas and Gerald, and Sam refocused his concentration before throwing out a hand and jerking. Instantly, the bitch was jerked away from the open window just feet away from its next targets, and Sam forced it face-down into the grass below.
He was still out of breath, and he was incredibly achy from the fall, but he couldn't let that distract him right now. Sam staggered to his feet, attention still glued to the succubus, which was now writhing and shrieking against his invisible hold on it. He slowly crossed the street, ignoring the neighbors as they stepped out of their houses, barely aware of Scott staying close to his side and looking around at the attention they were getting.
When he reached the succubus, it lessened its struggles and turned its head as far to the side as it could, glowing green eyes meeting his. "Let me go," it hissed menacingly.
"No," Sam said as Thomas and Gerald emerged from the house.
"LET ME GO!" the succubus screeched, causing Sam to wince. Damn it all, but he was tiring too quickly to keep this up.
"You got an exorcism ready?" he asked Gerald without looking up. "I don't think I can hold it down for much longer."
"Yeah," Gerald said, lifting up a book that he'd been carrying and opening it.
"Hurry," Sam urged him.
Gerald nodded and began to read as quickly as he could. As he recited, the succubus started screaming and jerking around in Sam's hold. "I'll kill you!" it shrieked. "I'll come back and find and kill you all! Pathetic little fucking machines! You're all gonna die in Hell, you're all gonna fuckin' BURN!"
Sam could feel his strength slipping, but Gerald's voice was rising in volume as he began to near the end of the exorcism. And then he sensed something else, something that was very familiar.
"You're not gonna last much longer, Sam." A woman with faded brown hair and brown eyes stepped into his field of vision. "Gerald still has a ways to go before he's finished."
"Mrs. Weston?" said Scott in bewilderment. "What are you —?"
"She's possessed by a demon," Sam said darkly, still focused on the succubus as Gerald kept reading.
Mrs. Weston's eyes turned black and she smiled in a calm, chilling way. "Good call," she said. "You know, I could help you be stronger, Sam."
"No," Sam said shortly, knowing at once what she was offering.
"But you can't hold onto the succubus for much longer," the demon said.
"I'll make it," Sam ground out.
"You mean to tell me that you haven't thought about it at all?" Mrs. Weston asked lightly. "Haven't thought about how it smelled, how it tasted, the way it sang in your veins when you used its power?"
Gerald faltered, clearly distracted by what the demon was saying, and a triumphant smirk crossed her stolen face.
"Keep reading!" Sam snapped. "Gerry!"
The older man's eyes finally met his. "Keep reading," Sam repeated, and the Hunter nodded and resumed the exorcism.
"Don't you want to feel strong again?" asked Mrs. Weston, voice still very audible despite Gerald's chanting and the succubus' screaming. "Don't you want that power back? I'll give it to you, I'll even let you send me back to Hell once you've finished with the succubus here." She pulled out a knife and held it to her wrist. "Just say the word, Sam, and it's all yours. No one to hold you back, no need to be protected or anything."
Sam was startled by how tempted he suddenly was. He remembered how it felt, how he felt. In those moments when he had used those exorcism powers, he had felt like he wasn't the little brother that needed coddling and protection. He could take care of himself, he didn't need Dean at all, not his protection, not his anything —
Dean.
"No," Sam all but shouted, and then Gerald had reached the end of the exorcism, and the succubus shrieked once more before bursting into a cloud of burning smoke that vanished into the ground, leaving behind a blob of blackened earth with singed grass edges. Sam slumped to his knees, energy pretty much all spent.
That was when Gordon Walker darted forward from nowhere with an iron chain, which he pulled around Mrs. Weston's frame, trapping her arms by her sides and forcing her to drop her knife. "NO!" she screamed, struggling, but Thomas ran over, a bag of salt in his hands. He quickly upended it into the demon's mouth, choking up her screams.
Sam felt Scott drop down next to him. "Who's that black guy?" he asked.
"Gordon," Sam sighed.
"You mean psychopath Gordon who wants to kill us?" Scott hissed in his ear, his panic overpowering the emotions from everyone else nearby. Sam nodded wearily, wondering where Dean was.
Just then, the sound of a roaring engine and screeching tires reached Sam's ears, and he looked up just as the Impala skidded around the corner and slammed to a halt right behind the red Pontiac. Dean jumped out and ran to the trunk.
"I got a Devil's Trap!" he yelled, and then Gordon, Thomas and Gerald were hauling the still-screaming demon over to the car, shoving her into the trunk which Dean closed with a snap.
"Oh my God, Sam!" Sam lifted his head as Ava dropped to her knees in front of him, her own panic joining in with Scott's. "You're bleeding!"
Sam dropped his head back down and saw that his stitches had ripped open, blood still oozing out around the broken stitches and down his arm. "Oh," he said blankly, realizing the bandage over it must have come off in his fight with the succubus. "That's nice."
There was a lot of shouting around him, a lot of confusion and anger filling his senses, and he thought he could hear sirens, but all he could do was watch as Ava pulled off her jacket at Scott's order so she could press it to his wound.
"Sam?" he heard Scott say. "C'mon man, don't check out on us now." There was a pause. "I think he might be going into shock or something."
"What?" Ava gasped and her levels of panic only increased further. "Oh no, Sam, you've gotta focus, honey, that man from my vision is here! He's gonna kill us!"
That should have mattered, but Sam just couldn't bring himself to care. He was just so fucking tired…
"Sam! Sammy!" It was Dean, he was grabbing Sam by his shoulders, worry rolling off him and overpowering his anger and fear along with Scott's and Ava's panic.
"De…"
Sam tried to make himself focus for Dean's sake, but it was just too hard. The world began to spin, he saw Dean's anguished expression and he heard his cry of "Sammy, no!"
Then the world went dark.
TBC...