Rating: M (strong language)

Thanks for reading!

Digging a grave was hard; even for the Winchesters. Without Dean Sam feared it would go slowly, but James was able enough to help him quickly get to the top of the coffin. Now came the all too familiar part, the part Sam could do easily in his sleep. How screwed up was that? Leaving Sam to finish uncovering Ms. Duvall James jumped out to get the salt, lighter fluid and lighter from the duffel.

James was fishing through the duffel for the lighter when he felt the characteristic cold spot pass over him and saw his breath crystallize in the air. The next minute he was being hurled away from the duffel and into a large marble gravestone. The impact knocked the air out of him and he knew he had dislocated something, probably a few things. White hot pain went up his spine! As he fought to get air back into his lungs he saw smoke drifting toward him. What the hell was it? It smelled strongly of sulfur, which meant it was most probably a demon. Fear caused him to attempt to draw in breath, he had to move before it possessed him. Ironically as he managed to gulp the first bit of air back into his lungs the smoke invaded.

He had never been possessed and honestly didn't know what it should feel like but shouldn't it hurt? Shouldn't he go darkside immediately? He just felt a tightness in chest for a moment and then nothing, not even the white hot pain of injury. Maybe he had hit his head harder than he thought on the gravestone? Maybe he had just imagined the smoke entering him because he hit his head? Sam's cries for help finally brought him to his feet. A hunter had to work through the pain, had to get the job done and save as many people as possible.

This time he was able to get what he needed out of the duffel. Sam was being choked to death by the spirit of Ms. Duvall. She had him prone under her on the edge of the grave and James could see he had only seconds before Sam lost the air in his lungs. He salted the bones and as he was going to douse them in fluid Ms. Duvall let go of Sam and knocked James into another headstone. This time he knew he had dislocated his shoulder! She was coming for him when he heard her shriek and then light up. As the flames went higher up her form he was reminded of the drawings he had seen in books of witches burning at the stake. That was how Ms. Duvall went, engulfed in flames and shrieking. A few minutes later and it was over – for them and Ms. Duvall at least.

"Watch it burn," Sam said as he threw James' sawed off to him. "I'm going to help my dad and Bobby."

From what Sam had witnessed James was going to be fine. He had handled himself well when Ms. Duvall attacked him. Had fought against the pain and come back to finish the job. James had saved his life and he had returned the favor. Now he had to help his family. James would be alright by himself.

James watched Sam's form disappear in the night before he turned his gaze to the fire inside the grave. He would watch it burn out and then start shoveling dirt back in, all nice and tidy. He liked hunts that went according to plan. As he gazed into the fire he took count of his injuries, and was shocked to realize that there weren't any. Even being thrown full force into two headstones his body physically didn't seem to be hurt. Odd he thought. Maybe he wasn't knocked around as badly as he thought at first.

As the flames mesmerized him, his thoughts drifted. When he came back to himself he realized the thoughts in his head were not his thoughts! They seemed ancient, malevolent. He couldn't describe the emotions flooding through his mind but they weren't appropriate ones for him to be having. Pride, lust, jealousy, domination –those weren't things he let himself feel. They were weaknesses and he was not weak! What was happening to him? And then all the emotions focused into one concrete thought and the power of it caused him to fall to his knees!

His head felt like it was going to explode! His body ached now. He felt like he was burning along with Ms. Duvall's bones! Blood started to run out of his nose and he could taste it in his mouth. Then as suddenly as it came it was gone and he was free to think his own thoughts. He wiped the blood away from his nose. No more bleeding, no more headache, but there were aches in other parts of his body that didn't belong. What the fuck he thought? As he composed himself somewhere in the back of his mind he heard an unfamiliar voice repeating only two words over and over and over – Sam Winchester. Luckily he could drown that voice out with his own, here and now, coherent thoughts.

John enjoyed using the Colt. He had taken four zombies out with it while Bobby exorcised Bune. They had decided to go after the demon that could assemble devils and the dead in grave yards first. Next they would work on Botis. Bobby had just finished the ritual exorcism when Sam came up. A zombie got the jump on him but John shot the bastard before it could hurt Sam. He would have to remind his son about not being aware of his surroundings later. Right now they still had one more demon to take down.

"You got her?" John asked as Sam got up and walked over to his father.

"James is watching her burn," he said as he just looked at his dad. He wasn't use to him being back and he wanted to make sure he was ok.

"Have the chick-flick moment later will ya," Bobby said from behind them. "We've still got another one to exorcise."

Botis was harder to exorcise because he kept jumping from tombstone to tombstone and not falling for a devil's trap. Eventually, using John as bait, they got the bastard into a trap and this time John exorcised it back to hell.

"All should return to quiet now, if the Coven doesn't start up again." John said as he helped Bobby pack up the remnants of the exorcism. Cover your tracks was the second rule of hunting.

John sincerely hoped that James would be able to prevent them from conjuring more trouble. He didn't want to come back to Ohio. After a quick check to make sure no more demons were hiding in the cemetery they went back to Ms. Duvall's gravesite. James was beginning to fill it back in. Sam grabbed the other shovel.

James was distracted by every movement Sam took as he shoveled the dirt back in. The moon wasn't giving them much light, and the flashlights were crap in the conditions but James could see enough. And the unrecognizable voice in his head was screaming 'mine' every time a load of dirt landed back in the grave from Sam's shovel. He was lusting after the hunter! What the hell was happening to him? After moments of thinking thoughts that were strange to him James was able to wrestle back control from whatever had invaded his body. Once he was in control all was forgotten. He was James Warman again and didn't remember the lust he had felt for Sam.

Dean was having his share of problems, but when wasn't he knee deep in shit? He was a Winchester and the curse wasn't broken yet – he still had pile after steaming pile of crap to wade through. It wasn't enough that Lisa had given birth early, or that Katie was fighting for survival. It wasn't that Vampires had attacked his house and his son had killed one of them, or that is parents were back, or his brother and Bobby were fighting demons in Ohio without him. Now he had to add the local sheriff's deputy on his ass about the break-in.

Deputy Curt wanted an explanation for the salt and other "satanic" symbols around the house. Dean had answers, answers that would make Curt Rozzano's head spin faster than an exorcism; but he wasn't going to tell this asshole the truth. He knew that there was nothing to accuse him of and that Ben and Lisa had already explained what had happened. Ben even offer up a great line about the symbols as a project for school. No, Curt had his own motive for harassing Dean, and that motive was Lisa. And Dean was going to take the son-of-a-bitch down with a single punch if he continued to piss him off! Dean had no time for his shit and somehow managed to politely tell him so in few words.

Curt Rozzano was an asshole ex-boyfriend of Lisa's who still bore a torch for her. He hated the fact that she had hooked up with Dean. He didn't know the man well, but Dean wasn't a local boy and he was mysterious which meant he was no good. Also he had been described by one of Lisa's friends as "Lisa's type" which meant a bad boy. And the police reports, though clearing Dean of murder, made Curt's skin crawl. The fact that he just showed up one night at her front door and she had taken him in, no questions asked, pissed him off the most! He watched Dean's every move and if he ever fell off the straight and narrow he would have his ass in jail.

Dean was watching Katie from the window of the neonatal ICU. She was so small, so many tubes. How could this tiny thing still be alive? He wanted to hold her but him and Lisa couldn't even touch her right now. Later this evening they could go in and stand beside her crib, but touching her would be months coming. He put his head against the window and closed his eyes. Fatigue was eating at him but he had to stay strong.

"I'll stay. Why don't you spend some time with Ben." Abigail said as she came up beside him. She was gently trying to nudge Dean out of the hospital. He had been with Lisa and Katie most of the night and all morning and now Ben needed some Dean time.

He turned and kissed his soon to be sister-in-law on top of the head. "Thanks."

He didn't want to leave his daughter but his son needed him. He needed Ben. Some sanity, some normalcy had to happen or Dean was going to lose it. He'd stop by Lisa's room and then head out.

In Lisa's room Dean's day got a whole hell of a lot worse. She was up and about which was good, but she was holding a leather bag in her hand. Dean hoped it was a hex bag but he knew his luck wasn't that good. It turned out to be a spell bag. It was only through years of practice at keeping volatile emotions inside that he was able to control the rage going through him!

Witches man, he hated fucking witches! So now it wasn't enough to protect his family against demons and rouge angels he had to protect his family against fucking witches! He was about ready to start his own Inquisition and burn some bitches at the stake! That was just his mood right now.

However he kept his game face on, though Lisa knew it was bull, and calmly explained to her what it was. Checking inside he saw contents of the bag was a love spell.

You've got to be freaking kidding me he thought to himself. Really? A love spell? Someone was trying to spell Lisa into loving them? What the fuck? He called Abby's phone. "Abby."

He didn't need to say anymore. "On my way." She could tell by the tone in his voice that he was about to break.

Whatever was in that bag was pissing Dean off and scaring the crap out of him at the same time! Lisa didn't know what to do. Witches? Vampires and now witches? Her head was swimming! The tension was broken momentarily when Abby entered.

He threw the bag onto the table in front of Abby. "Lisa found this shit in her drawer!"

Abigail went through it. "This makes no sense. There are things in here for a love spell, to undo love, death, and I'd swear this is used to cause harm." She held up a burnt bone from a small mammal. I think this stuff is amateur. Whoever did it isn't powerful enough to follow through with it, or know what the hell they're doing. It is novice enough to cause unintentional harm. It probably was suppose to be a love spell but its completely whacked."

"MAN I FUCKING HATE WITCHES!"

Lisa put a hand on his shoulder. "How do we dispose if it? It couldn't possibly work could it?"

"Don't worry," he said to her as he pulled her into a hug. "Nothing will hurt you." The tone of his voice was a warning to anything and anyone who would try. They wouldn't succeed and they would die.

Dean took the bag and its contents outside to torch. As he was walking into a deserted ally he heard the familiar rustle of wings and felt Castiel's presence before he saw the angel.

"Cas, just in time," Dean said as he sat the bag down and lit it. "Got fucking witches working mojo on us."

"No Dean. You have a love-sick young nurse trying to get your attention. I wasn't meant to harm. It was meant to make Lisa fall out of love with you. Opening you up for a new relationship."

"Freaking great!" Add humans to the list!

Castiel knew his friend was angry but there was more pressing matters than a love struck woman. "Gabriel is missing."

Cas was always to the point. "Excuse me?"

"Gabriel is missing."

"Like Loki missing or missing-missing?"

"I believe you would say he is missing in action. He is not in his Loki guise Dean. He is gone. And Heaven is imploding on itself."

"So what else is new?" Dean really didn't give a shit about Heaven's problems right now.

TBC