A/N:

Thank you so much to goldacharmed and Kajensen07 for the reviews!

Bowman's eyes were focused and keen even before Jacob and Dean fell behind, taking with them the scant protection afforded by their sheer size. His ears were primed to the sound of any nighttime predators that might distract them from their mission. His instincts as a member of a prey species wouldn't let him discount the possibility, despite the way the forest had fallen eerily still. His wings became barely a whisper as they cut through the air to hide him from the sharp hearing of an owl.

The sun dipped lower and the green of the forest became further shaded as less light illuminated the leaves. Oranges and purples and yellows flashed through gaps in the canopy as the sky made way for nighttime. Bowman sighed, every nerve primed. Night flying was entirely different from daytime flying. Even the air currents were different. The warm updrafts they used to gain height settled more during the night, and could be harder to find.

Not far from Bowman, Sam let his glider drift on the air currents, aimlessly passing over the field. They could make out the sound of their two humans in the distance, footsteps crashing through the forest.

Sam's brow creased. He could only hear one of the humans. The other had faded into the background like he never existed.

Dean. Always the hunter.

Sam didn't let it bother him. It was simply who his older brother was. Even as children Dean had been a natural at games like Manhunt and Hide and Seek. Sam was better suited for climbing the trees and exploring the fields around Bobby's.

At least his life with the sprites let him keep exploring, pushing the wilds for new and unknown places.

Slowly, he and Bowman drifted further and further apart, both paying more attention to the ground below than each other as they extended their search radius. It was important that they tracked down Bobby before he slipped around the hunter and found the village. Scar and the nobles would have no choice but to get everyone to safety and pray a scout could find Dean in time. The demon would make child's play of the village's few defenses.

A different crashing came from the side and Sam angled his glider to investigate. It could be an animal, a wolf or a raccoon looking for a nighttime meal.

Instead, there was a flash of pale skin and blond hair. Nothing that lived in the forest was so fair.

Sam gave a start, and hauled his glider a full 180. It was difficult. The leaf glider was best when the wind supported it. If he needed to fight the air currents, he would rather have Bowman close for support.

But the sprite was out of sight, and the demon was close.

All Sam could do was train his glider towards a different source of distant crashing and pray it was one of his friends. The light in the sky waned even more, and they'd be vulnerable if they engaged the monster in the dark. The exorcism taunted him in his jacket. He could say it now, if he wanted to, but without a distraction he would get knocked out of the sky the second his glider came into range- and without Bowman's help, or a current of warm air to rise on, Sam would only continue to drift ever downwards.

A tense minute passed, and Sam relaxed when a head of brown hair came into view along with a familiar hoodie. "Jacob! I found it!"

Jacob's gaze whirled around to face Sam, taking a second to actually zero in on the tiny green shape making his way towards him. He opened his mouth to say something, but instead his hand tightened on the bottle of holy water and his other hand patted his pocket to make sure he still had the salt.

Then, he let Sam lead him back towards the demon.

It took him a few minutes to come close to where Sam had last seen Bobby. They had to assume that Dean would hear any commotion and come running, because the second he slipped behind a tree earlier, he was as good as gone to Jacob. The man used the night to cloak himself as well as any wolf. He didn't even need a sprite's leafy wings to vanish from Jacob's sight.

Jacob felt more and more out of his element, but he could hear footsteps ahead. There was no time for doubt. He glanced up at Sam's glider, hoping the reliable little knight could stay out of reach long enough to say his exorcism. Jacob could keep the demon occupied. Probably.

He stumbled around a tree and found Bobby leaning idly against another fifteen feet away. Bobby, or, rather, the thing using Bobby as a puppet, smiled in greeting and straightened. He was over half a foot shorter than Jacob, but his confidence more than made up for it.

"Hey, Jake," he greeted. "Damn, that bruise is it? I must not have hit you as hard as I thought. Dunno what I was worried about."

Sam stayed as high up in the air as he could, knowing that at night there weren't as many updrafts for him to take advantage of.

His glider could do a lot of things, but true flight wasn't one of them. It was made to glide on a breeze and use the air currents around it.

"Jacob!" Sam shouted down, doing his best to keep his circles over his young friend's head, and keeping his distance from the demon-infested teenager. "Don't listen to him! Demons lie, and they can read minds! That isn't your friend Bobby anymore, no matter what he says."

After that, he dug the exorcism out of his jacket. It had been thirteen long years since he'd been trying to learn Latin in school, and his enunciation was probably rusty, but he had to try. Bowman would never be able to say it, and Jacob couldn't read it.

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas…"

Bobby made a disgusted face for a moment, watching Sam with nothing but malice in his eyes. "Jacob, there's a gnat following you," he spat, looking around him for something to throw at the small glider.

Jacob couldn't let that happen. He took a step forward, and his possessed friend focused lazily on him again even while Sam's soft voice spoke haltingly overhead, working his way through unfamiliar Latin phrases he hadn't seen or heard in over a decade.

There was a limited time before the remaining sunlight winked out and left Sam with no way to read his exorcism. Jacob had no idea how best to keep the demon occupied, but for the moment it was smirking at him like a spider might smirk at a fly. That was a bizarre expression on his friend's face.

"Listen, you-" Jacob couldn't finish his thought before Bobby rushed forward and punched him in the sternum. The wind rushed out of Jacob's lungs and he stumbled back several feet, his eyes wide. The strength from an almost casual strike felt like a baseball had been pitched at him, a level of strength that Bobby had never come close to before. Dean hadn't exaggerated the demon's capabilities.

"That worked better on the other one," Bobby commented. Then, he grinned. "How is Chase?"

"He's fine," Jacob forced out, regaining his breath. "Probably going home tomorrow."

Bobby tutted. "I really oughta pay him a visit after we have our chat out here and apologize. I did a real half-assed job and he just deserves more effort from me."

Jacob frowned. "Sorry, dude, you've had your fun already. You're not getting any more than your stupid jaunt in the woods."

Bobby narrowed his eyes and glanced up at the glider still circling above. "What is that little thing, anyway? I'm gonna tear it in half."

Jacob's heart did flips at the very thought of that demon getting its hands on Sam or Bowman or any other sprite. While Bobby's eyes flickered to black and tracked Sam's movement in the sky, Jacob popped the top of his bottle of holy water. "Hey! Eyes on me," he said commandingly, flicking his wrist and flinging the normal-looking water at Bobby's face in a hasty arc.

As soon as it made contact, there was a hissing sound like something searing on hot metal. Jacob winced as Bobby thrashed backwards, hands over his face. When he lowered them, his skin was unmarked, and Jacob's eyes widened at the sight. Before he had time to throw more water, the demon wearing his friend's face rushed at him and both hands slammed into Jacob's broad chest.

He was thrown off his feet and flew backwards until there was an impact at his back and Jacob dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"Jacob!" Sam cried out in fear as the demon attacked, derailed from the exorcism he was chanting. The massive teenager was tossed into the air like a ragdoll, and he crumpled to the ground.

Sam had to grit his teeth, keeping his glider in its calm circle. There was nothing he could do if he went down there to help. The demon would attack him in a second, and he had no defense, not even the holy water that rolled out of Jacob's limp grasp. The precious liquid inside spilled onto the ground, soaked eagerly up by the dry dirt and tree roots.

He had to keep going.

Blue eyes shifted to black for a brief second as the demon regarded the result of its attack on Jacob. Then it turned and stared up at Sam, narrowing its eyes at the tiny person still stubbornly standing against it.

"Don't worry, Bobby!" Sam yelled down at the human. "We'll get it out of you, I promise! Just hang on!" Those malicious black eyes tracked him and the demon was silent.

His voice was steady as he continued the exorcism. Just fifty words of Latin, and everything would be better. The last rays of sun lit up the sheet of paper from John's journal, delicate sprite script covering the page in the markings of a pen saved from years ago at a motel.

"...Libertate servire, te rogamus, audi-"

Before Sam could get out the last syllable, Bobby's neck snapped back. A rushing roar of black smoke poured out of his mouth and rose into the air. Sam clutched to his glider as he was buffeted by currents, and for a second the black smoke hesitated. He could almost feel its interested regard before it turned and flew up into the darkening night sky.

Sam breathed heavily as the last of the smoke vanished. Down below, every ounce of tension left Bobby's body like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and he collapsed bonelessly to the ground. Sam felt a shock crawl up his spine.

Were we too late?!

The glider went into a stoop, diving for the ground. Sam snapped the wings up at the last second, coming to a running halt. "Please be okay…" he muttered to himself as he yanked off the belts, releasing him to the forest ground below.

The pale-skinned human lay prone on the ground as Sam dashed up to him. One arm was skewed under his body and the other lay outstretched, and that was where Sam went. "C'mon, kid, you've gotta be okay," Sam said, continuing his even tone and hoping he could draw Bobby back to life.

He shoved both hands down on the kid's wrist, and the tension left his shoulders as a pulse thudded under his touch.

"Thank God…"

Out of sight from Sam, ice blue eyes snapped open.

A/N

Next: December 12th, 2018 at 9pm est

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