Author's Notes: Oh man, I'm loving season four so far. I watch The Office in the time slot, but I manage to watch Supernatural through other means. How many people loved Monster Movie? I thought it was pretty good. The black and white was a nice touch, too.

Anyway, here is chapter sixteen! I think I'm gonna make it a habit now to just post on Sundays after work. That'll be an easy thing to keep up with. So from now on, expect updates of the story on Sunday. :) Enjoy, as always! And please don't forget to leave me a review with comments, questions, or whatever. They always make me a happy writer.

It didn't take them long to find a barn. As Sam had said, just on the outskirts on the road they had driven in on lay a large, open field. A huge, classic red barn with white trimming sat off-center in it, surrounded by old farming equipment and machinery. The field—a wheat field, just like the one near the bed and breakfast—was bare. It had recently been harvested.

Although they had found a barn, there was no way to know whether or not it was currently occupied. From the looks of it, whoever used it did so rather frequently. Sam and Dean's investigation of it led both of them to believe that they might have a bit more difficulty in finding an empty barn than they originally thought.

The two of them eventually got back into the impala and drove further around the town. They came across another field, but this time, one full of wildflowers and somewhat tall grass, as well as scattered trees. Deep within the field lay another barn, although it had seen better days. The wood used to make it had begun to rot in some places, and its doors hung crooked and ajar. There wasn't a single piece of farming equipment visible within the radius of it.

"Think this one should do it?" Sam asked.

"Seems okay," Dean responded.

They had to walk a few minutes through the field to make it to the barn. This kind of distance from the road and from anything civilized would be perfect for what they had planned. And not only that, but if anything went down, they had the added benefit of not having to worry about civilian casualties. There was a farmhouse off in the distance, but it looked more like a speck on the horizon than anything else. Not nearly close enough for danger.

Dean cleared his throat. "All right, so we come back here tonight and do the deed. We need to stop by the grocery store or supermarket or whatever it is here and grab some blood and an altar mat."

"We're not gonna use Spongebob again, are we?"

The look Dean gave him did nothing to settle Sam's slight worry. But, all he could do was hope that there would be something decent in the way of placemats at the supermarket. If not, Spongebob it would likely be.

It was late afternoon by the time the two of them got back to the bed and breakfast with all the required materials. They had found a Dairy Queen deep within the heart of the town, and, starved for fast food as they were, they had stayed there for some hot eats and cool treats. They sat out the rest of the sunlight in their bedroom, watching some television. By the time night had fallen and the moon had begun to rise, they were more than happy to get out of there.

"Remind me to never watch local access television again," Dean muttered, eyes focused on the road ahead of him.

"Seriously."

That had been a real experience. And one that Sam did not want to relive any time soon.

Dean drove them right back to the barn from earlier that afternoon. The moonlight washed over the field, giving it an ethereal sort of glow. As the brothers walked through it, Sam took a slower pace. He wanted to enjoy the beauty. Above, the stars twinkled brightly in the sky. This was definitely the kind of view you only got from being out in the middle of nowhere, with no air pollution to cover it up. And with so few clouds in the sky, it was even more beautiful.

"Sam!" Dean's voice shook him from his temporary reverie. "Come on. Stop getting all hippy nature lover on me and let's get this thing done."

The younger hunter hurried his pace to catch up with his brother. Soon the two of them were standing just in front of the large, broken doors of the barn.

"See if you can't close those while I get everything set up inside," Dean ordered.

When at first Sam tried to move the door, he found that it was more or less stuck in a crevice in the ground. He lifted it after a few moments of careful fidgeting, and finally managed to make it budge. It took a bit of work, but the door began to shut, a horrifically loud creaking noise following. It only stopped once the door had completely closed.

Sam surveyed the field to make sure that nobody was coming. Nothing was even out there, not even a single animal. That was a little unnerving. But, he shoved that to the back of his mind and proceeded to shut the second door. For the sake of safety he left it open just enough so that they could escape if necessary.

But something in the back of his head told him that they wouldn't need to worry about that.

Sam stood silently while watching Dean draw a large devil's trap on the ground. Hay was strewn about the floor. From both the look and the smell of the place, the younger hunter surmised that it hadn't been used in quite some time. Stalls lined the left side of the barn, all about the height for a horse. Sam wondered what other animals might have lived here.

That thought soon disappeared from his head. Dean was clapping his hands together and coughing. "God, you'd think in a place this big, the aerosol would spread out. But that's some stinky-ass crap."

"I'll set up the altar," Sam said.

Dean proceeded to mark other devil's traps around the barn. Sam figured it was just in case they summoned more than one demon. If not that, then so they had options of where to chase the demon when it arrived. Thankfully, enough hay was on the ground that they could hide them, for the most part. It was the moonlight pouring in from above that would give them away—them and the bright, silvery color of the spray paint Dean had used.

By the time Sam had set everything up, Dean had spray-painted three more devil's traps around the barn. Their defenses were sure to be strong, although Sam still had that nagging feeling in the back of his head that they didn't have to worry about anything. Was Dean right? Was this weird feeling, this voice inside of him…was it his demonic powers talking?

"All right, Sammy, let's do this."

Dean wasted no time in performing the ritual. He followed it word for word, motion by motion. At first nothing happened. But the further into it he went, the more raucous the barn became. It started out with a sudden wind outside that rattled the shingles on the roof. Then, the very walls of the barn began to shake, as if there were something huge outside jerking it around. As Dean continued, the wind outside picked up, pouring into the barn and blowing around the hay that hid their traps.

"Dean, hurry! It's blowing over the hay!" Sam exclaimed.

Dean hastily finished the ritual, at which point the very light from the moon above disappeared. It was brief, however. Soon the eerie silver glow bathed over them once again. And they were not alone.

"This had better be good."

The deep voice belonged to a large man—larger than Sam, even—with dark skin and even darker eyes. He had appeared by the front doors of the barn. Dean and Sam turned to face him.

He smirked. "Ah, Dean, nice to see you again. How was Hell?"

The casual tone with which the demon spoke touched Sam in all the wrong ways. A frown instantly settled onto his face, almost a sneer. But he said nothing. Instead, Dean stepped forward and said:

"Hellacious, as always. But I'm sure you know. You've been there."

"Not in a long time," the demon said. He gave a low chuckle. "And I don't plan on going there any time soon. Anyway. Let's get to business. What do you want?"

"Oh, you know, same old, same old," Dean said. "Just thought since you demons don't wanna come to us on your own, we'll make you do it."

"So you're gonna single-handedly summon every demon in the United States? Ha! That's rich. Good luck, you idiot. You think that's gonna happen?"

"No, no, no. Not every demon. Just a few. You know, to catch everyone's attention."

"You already caught everyone's attention when your brother, here, sent nearly a dozen demons to Hell without even so much as a scratch on himself." The dark skinned man turned his head to Sam to stare at him. Sam could feel the hate behind the look. "Oh, yes, don't think we don't know about that, little Sammy."

To Sam's surprise, it was Dean who said quickly, "His name is Sam, you got it?"

The demon snorted. "Whatever. But I don't know what you think you're gonna accomplish, here. I've got work to do."

"I'm sure you do." Dean approached the demon. Just beneath the hay a few feet in front of him was a devil's trap, and Sam knew his brother was trying to instigate a fight so the demon would fall into it. "But we've got work to do, too. So you'll have to excuse us if we don't just let you skedaddle on out of here."

Everyone suddenly quieted down. Tension built in the room at an alarming rate. Sam knew that this particular demon would kick his brother's ass—and probably even his own—based on the sheer size of him. He had at least two inches on Sam, and maybe even thirty or forty pounds. Added to his supernatural powers…

But then he struck. Before Sam could even react, the demon was shooting forward toward Dean. His brother jumped back just in time, and the demon, now snared in the trap, hit what looked like an invisible wall as he collided with the border of it. His eyes went black and he growled angrily.

"Dumbass," Dean said, clearly amused.

"Let me out of here," the demon ordered.

"Ah, ah, ah…play nice, or we'll fry your guts."

Dean moved closer to Sam then. He clasped a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You're up, Sammy. I'm gonna grab the holy water."

When Dean moved past him, Sam stepped forward. The demon flinched just slightly; the look on his face read somewhere between disgust and a morbid sense of curiosity.

"So why haven't you guys been coming after us?" Sam asked.

"That's a good question. You know, I just don't know. Sometimes, there's more to the world than Dean and Sam Winchester." The demon suddenly clutched his throat, pretending to choke. But then he snorted. "You two and your egos. It's amazing anyone can be in the same room with you without suffocating."

Sam ignored his comment. "There's a reason. Lilith was on my trail just a few months ago, wanting my guts on a stick. And now I'm supposed to believe that, all of the sudden, she doesn't care anymore? Yeah, right."

"Then summon Lilith," the demon grunted. He shrugged his shoulders. "Or are you too chicken, Sam? Even with all those little powers you've got growing inside of you?"

Sam knew that he could punch him. They were certainly close enough. And the idea was very, very appealing. But he set his jaw, and let out a terse sigh. "Listen. I don't have time for games. There's something going on, and we need to figure out what it is. And you're gonna tell us."

As if on cue, from over Sam's shoulder came a stream of holy water. Dean stepped up beside him and the two watched the demon's sudden pained reaction. Smoke rose from his face and neck. A few moments later, the demon shook his head.

He stood firm. "I'm not saying anything."

Another splash of holy water followed, and the demon cried out once more. It sounded almost like a roar this time around. He stepped back.

"Fine, fine," he muttered. "Put that crap away before you hurt yourselves."

"You mean, hurt you," Dean corrected. But he did as the demon asked, spinning the top onto the flask and sticking it into his pocket.

"So why aren't demons coming after us?" Sam pressed.

"I think, Sam, the question shouldn't be so much why we aren't as it should be who is stopping us," the demon said evasively.

Dean and Sam shared a look.

"So someone's stopping demons from attacking," Sam said. The demon nodded. An idea popped into the younger one's head. Why hadn't he thought of it before? "It's Lilith, isn't it? She's stopping you."

"Ding, ding."

"Well, now I'm gonna ask why."

"You're not gonna get the answer from me," the demon said firmly. "I'll go to Hell and back again before I answer that."

"You're gonna go to Hell either way," Dean snapped. "So either you tell us and she sends you to Hell, or you don't tell us and we send you to Hell. Who are you more afraid of?" It was obvious that Dean had expected the demon to say them, but when he stayed silent, it made the older Winchester snort. "Oh man, are you serious?"

"You don't know what Lilith is capable of," the demon said, sounding fearful for the first time. "Compared to her, what you do is child's play."

"I can make it worse," Sam said darkly. A sudden flash in his eyes caught the demon's attention.

"You're still a newbie," he said. "Nothing you can do, even with your piddly powers, would be worse than what Lilith could do. And nothing you say can change that."

Dean splashed the demon again with more holy water, but aimed specifically for his eyes this time. It made him shout, and smoke sizzled up and out of his sockets, which he clutched in his large, meaty hands.

"Why is Lilith keeping the demons at bay?" Sam asked insistently.

The demon, now panting, let out a frustrated growl. "Think about it, idiot. Why would she? What would she stand to gain with more demons?"

Dean shot more holy water at the demon, who cried out and stumbled back. He obviously hadn't liked the way he spoke to Sam. The younger Winchester's face fell pensive. Why would she hold demons back? What good would that do?

Then it hit him. He remembered what Yellow-Eyes had said about an upcoming demon army. He remembered that it was going to be the apocalypse, and he was supposed to lead it. But when he had denied his supposed destiny, the newcomer Lilith had taken it over.

She was building an army to help her bring the apocalypse on Earth.

Sam's face suddenly grew fearful. Just before Dean splashed the demon again, he stuck a hand out. "Dean, stop."

"Why?"

"Lilith's…building herself an army for the apocalypse."

Dean snorted. And Sam knew exactly what that meant: he didn't believe him. "What? You mean little Miss Superpowers can't bring it on, herself? She needs help?"

"Lilith is powerful, but I don't think she can do everything alone."

The demon stirred in the devil's trap. Sam saw Dean jerk, and again he forbade him from splashing him with water. Dean stiffened.

"If you were smart," the demon began, revealing his face from behind his hands, "you'd be doing the same. Because she still wants your…how did you describe it? Oh, yes. Your guts on a stick. And you're no match for her."

"Why do you care what he does?" Dean snapped.

"I don't. I'm just saying. She'll come for you before she brings the apocalypse, Sam. And she's gonna kick your ass."

Sam didn't know what possessed him at that moment, but he felt a surge of anger like nothing he had ever felt before. Narrowing his gaze, he stuck his arm out, palm flat and extended toward the demon. Before he knew it his eyes closed, and he used his powers within. But this time, instead of choking to death like the other demons, this one began to sputter as thick, grey-black smoke exuded from his mouth, eyes and ears. The large body fell to its feet as the smoke continued to pour from it.

"Sam," Dean said warily. Then, almost worriedly, "Sam."

But Sam didn't stop. He focused harder at his brother's calls, and the demon further expelled from the host's body. The ground around it began to crackle and hiss, almost like an electrical current ran through it.

"Sam!"

In a matter of seconds the demon had completely detached from the host body. It swirled around the man for a moment before it suddenly shot up through the roof, disappearing from view. The body inside the devil's trap collapsed onto the ground.

Sam opened his eyes.

"Damn it, Sam!" Dean exclaimed.

"We got all we needed from him," Sam said in a quiet, but firm, tone. He turned to face his brother. Dean couldn't disagree. "We should probably go to dad's lock up and see if there's anything there that can help us."

"How the hell is anything in there gonna stop an army of demons from bringing the apocalypse?"

Sam paused. He didn't have an answer to that. But, it was all they had to go off of for the time being. That was better than nothing. Maybe something inside the lock up could help them to prevent Lilith from bringing the apocalypse. It was a long shot, but it was their best one. He explained all this to Dean, who stared at him almost awkwardly, hesitantly.

But he gave in.

"Fine. Let's go."

It would be a long trip to New York.